With spring fieldwork starting in some areas, we'll be going full speed with fertilizer and herbicide applications over the next few weeks if the weather cooperates. Hopefully, planters will start to roll on time as well, and before we know it, we'll be ready to scout emerged crops.

It's hard to tell what surprises Mother Nature will have for us between now and then, but it sure seems like we fight cool, wet early-spring weather more often than not. With soils cool and wet around soybean planting time, we are set up for more potential challenges that call for early-season scouting, with diseases toward the top of the list.