One of the books or publications quoted most often here is the Purdue University Corn & Soybean Field Guide. Prepared by Corey Gerber and the Purdue Diagnostic Training Copy, nearly 50,000 copies are distributed each year. It's 300+ pages of handy scouting and crop management information. A new version is printed annually.

If you are into iPads and technology, you can use an app to download the Corn & Soybean Field Guide, Gerber says. It's an effort to stay on the cutting edge of technology, he notes. What the app does that the book can't do is provide some video clips of key techniques, plus high-quality images of weeds and insects for identification purposes.

Users of iPads can now access an app for the Corn and Soybean Guide

The app was actually prepared by 3iD, a company in the Purdue Research Park. All the content was supplied by Gerber and the people who help him write the book every year.

Right now the only app version available is for iPads. However, Gerber says he hopes that an iPhone version will be available later this year. You can download the current app for iPads at the Education Store, which distributes all Purdue Extension material. Click the link and and search for ID=179-APP. This app will cost you $12.99.

Gerber hopes farmers and ag consultants will find this a useful tool in the field.

"We developed the app to help farmers and crop professionals," he says. "The printed edition of the Guide is and will continue to be a great resource, but growers and consultants are increasingly plugged into the latest technology. We wanted to create an app that would continue to be essential and useful to those who carry their mobile devices into the field."

As noted the print edition of the Guide will continue. The technology of apps, now for iPad, simply adds value to those who can access it, Gerber concludes.