Preview
Identifier
Peoples' Choice
Creation Date
Spring 2021
Description
In Illinois one sees miles of corn or soybean fields, but they are never planted together in today’s agriculture. Corn and soybeans are valuable commodities contributing to essential products. This image highlights the production system when corn and soybeans are planted together, described as intercrop farming. This aerial image was taken on July 21, 2020 when the corn crop was at maximum height creating seeds and the soybeans were in the middle of flowering. This aerial image was captured by a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), a growing technology in agriculture. The image captures the essence of an experiment testing the significance of four popular corn or soybean monoculture management practices and the intercropping treatment. The overall goal of the experiment is to compare the productivity of the different monoculture systems to the intercropping system.