About 50 people gathered near Altona Thursday for Wesmar Seeds 2017 Summer Information Plot Tour.

The company gave an update on brand new varieties regarding the Xtend soybean and Enlist corn programs. The tour featured sobyean and corn varieties from Thunder, Legend, Pro Seed, and Prograin. There were also presentations on various seed treatments, innoculant, and fertilizer enhancement trials.

Owner Wes Martens says iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) in soybeans was a big concern this year.

"This was probably one of the worse years for IDC that I've seen," he commented. "We've seen it before of course, but this year was very bad in some fields, non-existent in others. It has to do with a variety of factors. The biggest thing is the amount of carbonate in your soil...Some varieties are more or less resistant to IDC, but this year was bad enough on some fields that all of it showed up as turning yellow for a period of time."

Martens notes one obvious thing they noticed, was that fields that were treated with Soygreen kept the crop green.

Another issue that growers faced this year was soybean aphids.

"One thing we are noticing is that fields that were treated with CruiserMaxx Vibrance, which in my case is nearly all the customers, the populations are considerably lower than the guys that did not treat with Cruiser," said Martens.

He added the majority of the crops in the area are looking good, despite the shortage of rain this summer. Martens said moisture will be necessary in the coming days and weeks for the soybeans and corn to reach their full potential.