APRIL 28TH AGRONOMIC INSIGHTS

The one-stop-shop to hearing everything you need to know this week about what is happening in your fields.

 

This week’s featured agronomists are:

Ben Wagner – Le Sueur
Ryan Ness – Goodhue
Erin Stackhouse  – Morristown
Matt Kimm – Lewiston

Luke Daninger- Ellsworth

Scroll down to hear from your local agronomist.


West 
Belle Plaine – LeCenter – LeSueur

Ben Wagner

Let’s all hope the cold and dreary days are in the rearview mirror for all of us, as planting is on everyone’s mind. Also, on everyone’s mind, is the rising cost of inputs. An important task to consider is soil sampling- to help allow you to maximize every dollar spent. Soil sampling is an integral part of a grower’s fertility plan because your agronomist can create a prescription to variable rate your fertilizer across the field based on the soil tests. With a variable rate application, you are placing what is now high priced fertilizer on areas of the field where you can maximize its return on investment.

We are just starting to get into some of the drier fields with our rigs, so be on the watch for our grid samplers. With Spring nearing, contact your local agronomist if you have any questions on grid sampling.

Here’s to warmer weather and I hope everyone has a safe and productive planting season!


East  
Pine Island – Cannon Falls -Goodhue -Lake City

Ryan Ness

I heard a funny quote a couple of days ago, ‘I can’t wait for some precedented times!’.  Although we are certainly not in an unprecedented planting window, we are certainly having conversations about how we can take advantage of each planting day we can get.  The vast majority of spring nitrogen in our trade area is preplant incorporated.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that with everyone trying to plant corn on the same day, there is likely to be a few bottle necks this Spring.

 

One thing we can do to stretch things and ease the pressure is spread urea after the field is planted.  For many, the idea of this raises concerns of volatility and nitrogen loss.  Ironically, research has shown greater risk of loss with shallow incorporation compared to surface application with Agrotain or Anvol nitrogen stabilizer

Adding a stabilizer to the urea reduces the dependency on rain to incorporate it.  In the graph below, we can see that small amounts of precipitation can actually make losses worse if the nitrogen is not stabilized.

While ‘Plan A’ is to get all of our applications done according to plan, if necessity demands, there is still a very suitable ‘Plan B’.


Central  
Morristown – Wanamingo – Kenyon

Erin Stackhouse

April has given us quite the run for our money this year. We have had lots of cold, rainy, and windy days. As we start to warm up and prepare to hit the fields, here are a few reminders:

  • Changing Hybrid/Variety in Your Monitor
    • Making sure you are changing your hybrid/variety in the planting monitor; we want to make sure we are capturing GPS location of the hybrids so we can use the data at the end of the year for hybrid/variety selection
  • Loading Variable Rate Planting Map
    • Making sure we are pushing our “A Zones” to their maximum potential is huge for big bushels
  • Monitor Display Accuracy
    • Double check that your monitor is set to the correct date and time

 

GOOD DATA IN, GOOD DATA OUT

If you have questions or need help with your monitor during planting season, please reach out to your AYS Specialist. Happy SPRING!


South
Elgin – Lewiston – Stewartville

Matt Kimm

We are finally getting some fertilizer spread to the South and East this week and hope to continue to do so through the weekend. A subject that has come up often the last 10 days is finding the right time frame for our spring burn down. It seems like we are approaching a window where we can start to get some of it killed off.

 

Some key points to remember are:

  • It typically takes 55-degree days with some sunlight and nightly low temperatures above 40 for the crop to be actively growing.  This is required for glyphosate uptake that is needed to adequately kill the crop.
  • Include a full load of AMS, an NIS, and 15 gallons of water.
  • Try to steer clear of using UAN as the carrier, because typically you can tend to see some antagonism.

Stay safe this Spring & thank you for your business!


WWAS
Ellsworth

Luke Daninger

Join Luke Daninger in the field, for an update on alfalfa stands.