As part of our 75th birthday, we look back at interesting editorial stories during each decade.

We begin this snapshot of the 2000s – the seventh decade of Soybean Digest – by examining one year of back issues from January through December 2005.

The 2000 decade began with a continued historical cycle of low prices, supplemented by higher government safety net and emergency support. As the decade progressed, technology such as autosteer and sectional sprayer boom and planter row control took off. Ethanol continued its huge rise in use and in grain market support, forever linking corn with oil. And farmers began a heightened awareness of the market impact by global weather and other issues.

In this snapshot from the first half of 2005, editorial focus dealt with such issues as less tillage, higher yields, planting precision, conservation, land prices, early RTK guidance, cost of nitrogen, farming better before bigger, controlling super weeds, excessive glyphosate use, rootworm issues and more. Take a look…