CropsMichigan sugarbeet harvest is behind the official figure, growers' leader says
NASS put the state's harvest at 50 per cent on 1 November. Clint Hagen says it is nearer the mid-to-upper 30s, after drought, root aphids and a delayed start.
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Michigan
Crops
CropsOntario growers take both top prizes in Great Lakes winter wheat yield contest
Ontario's Jeff Cook topped the 2025-26 Great Lakes Yield Enhancement Network with 163.2 bushels per acre and Laurent Van Arkel reached 108% of his field's yield potential, while participants averaged 112 bushels per acre in a difficult season.
CropsSugarbeet root aphids surge in Michigan as researchers test controls
Unusually heavy sugarbeet root aphid infestations in 2025 and 2026 are cutting yields and sugar content in Michigan; Michigan State University, Michigan Sugar and USDA are running trials and monitoring to find the causes.
Daily lifeMichigan logs 114 farm equipment road crashes this year as harvest traffic builds
With most of Michigan's corn and soybeans still in the field, the state Farm Bureau is reminding drivers and farmers to share rural roads safely, as October historically brings the second-highest number of crashes involving farm machinery.
EnvironmentMichigan puts nearly $2 million into research on PFAS in farm soil and water
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is funding five studies on how PFAS gets into fields, which crops take it up and how farmers can test for it cheaply.
CropsLate-sown winter wheat loses yield that extra seed cannot win back, MSU trials show
Three seasons of Michigan State University trials found yields fell steadily as planting moved from mid-September to mid-November, mainly because late wheat forms fewer heads, and higher seeding rates narrowed the gap but never closed it.
CropsMysterious corn leaf disease spreads to 20 Michigan counties
A fast-spreading leaf spot resembling maize white spot, or Phaeosphaeria leaf spot, has been found in at least 20 Michigan counties; MSU says the fungus is not yet identified and warns of inoculum for 2027.
Agribusiness
Michigan diesel hits a record US$6.67 at harvest, and an analyst warns it could reach US$7
On-road diesel averaged a record US$6.67 a gallon in Michigan on Friday with off-road at US$5.55-5.80, just as combines roll; GasBuddy's Patrick DeHaan blames Ukrainian drone strikes that have taken Russia's one-in-nine barrels of global diesel offline, Middle East escalations and US refineries runn
Environment
Michigan to bar untreated firewood from crossing its border to keep invasive pests out
From the start of 2027 only certified heat-treated firewood may be brought into Michigan under a new quarantine announced by the state agriculture department to protect farms and forests from invasive insects and plant diseases.
Agribusiness
'I really believe in H-2A': a Michigan cherry grower takes the wage fight to Congress
Antrim County farmer Greg Shooks, who has used H-2A for eight years on 1,100 acres of cherries, wine grapes, grains and hay, met eight congressional offices with Michigan Farm Bureau after a California ruling threw Adverse Effect Wage Rates back into chaos; his ask is the Supporting Agriculture's Wo
Crops
Deer at $200 of damage each: Michigan farms open fields to hunters to protect soybeans
The Hunt Michigan Collaborative and the National Deer Association ran seven 'farm tour hunts' across five counties on 12 September with nearly 100 participants, using state Deer Management Assistance Program permits for antlerless deer; Croswell grower Shawn Petersen, who once counted 50 deer a nigh
Crops
Michigan's sugar beet harvest starts three weeks late, chasing tonnage through disease
Early dig began on 9-10 September with Michigan Sugar's four factories slicing from 11 September; the cooperative planted about 143,000 acres, 4,000 more than last year, and forecasts 29-31 tons an acre, but Sanilac County grower Matt Frostic says Cercospora leaf spot is exhausting fungicide options