By: Chase Gingerich, ProVantage Specialist and Agronomy Sales
Many will read the headline and think this article is about soybeans. It’s not. This is about corn-on-corn, particularly continuous corn. 2020’s drought gave growers across the Corn Belt major challenges, but why else did continuous corn suffer an immense yield penalty? This is the question that many farmers are looking for an answer to.
Salford-Valmar’s Airflo pull-type spreaders have been very popular with sod farmers for years, but one Keota, Iowa operation has found the Airflo 8608 (today’s 8708) to be a staple on their corn and soybean acres. Since Klein Farms put the machine to work on fall rye and spring urea, they have never looked back.
In late September, we welcomed Illinois-native Kylee Sutton to the Stutsman team. Serving as an accounts receivable-accounts payable clerk, she takes care of accounts payable for the agronomy, field equipment, grain handling, hose/valve, manure, and precision agriculture departments. Kylee’s positive attitude and attention to detail are two qualities that help her serve for success.
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By: Lucas Gillmore, Seed Manager
Each year we look forward to digging into test plot results to identify learning opportunities. We’ve found that 2020’s data definitely provides just that. Our weather in 2020 was less than ideal and created a perfect storm as far as growing conditions go. The model planting season was followed by cold, wet weather in late April and early May, then a cooler than normal July. Add in July’s windstorm and the August Derecho, and it’s not a surprise we got the corn yields that we did. After evaluating our test plot results with these tough growing conditions in mind, here are my top takeaways.
As growers continue to hone in on fertilizer application precision with VRT, we are constantly looking for ways to better serve customers in this manner. While it’s common to variable-rate macronutrients like phosphate and potash, some growers also like to work in micronutrients with VRT, or even seed cover crops at a flat rate. With traditional methods, three products can be applied at once but only two of them would be applied at a variable rate. Another option would be making an additional pass to variable rate the third product or seed the cover crop. To solve this issue and maximize the trip across the field, we added a three-bin spreader to our fleet this fall.
It’s that time of year again to make your seed selections for the upcoming season. With the various soybean trait packages available, it can be tricky to know which options are best for you and your operation’s goals. To help with your seed decisions, here’s the lowdown on the products we’re offering for next season.More
By: Lucas Gillmore, Seed Manager
A quick recap from this summer: as I’m sure most of you remember, the Ninth Circuit Court vacated the label for Dicamba, and the EPA announced that the current supply could be used up. More
By: Allyn Francis, Agronomist
Although there has been a lot of buzz on drones over the past several years, we’ve observed very few practical instances where they help growers learn more about their fields. However, this past spring (and part of summer 2019) we flew some fields as a trial run with an aerial imagery service called Taranis. Beyond the basic images standard drones provide, Taranis identifies and pinpoints weeds, insects, individual plants, and deficiencies within a field.More
We all know how valuable manure is as a nutrient source. So, it’s to no surprise that one of the most common questions we get asked near application season is ‘how do I maximize my manure’s value?’ Since stabilizing nitrogen is the biggest industry challenge, regardless of fertilizer type, our go-to recommendation is Corteva’s Instinct Nitrogen Stabilizer.More
Each year, we enjoy having interns on the team and watching their growth throughout the summer. Not even a pandemic could stop 2020 interns Zachary Badtram and Parker Werling from serving our customers, conquering an escape room, and broadening their agricultural experiences. On top of their daily crop scouting responsibilities, the interns researched, experimented, and prepared presentations for their end of summer capstone projects. Take a look!More
