Agronomic Insights 4/26/24

Ag Partners Agronomic Insights

Week of April 22, 2024

Local, professional reports straight from the field, from all regions serviced by Ag Partners.

Meet this week’s featured agronomists:

Chad Wiersma
Morristown

Ethan Bany
Lake City

Kjersten Veiseth
Elgin

Eric Soley
Ellsworth

WEST

Belle Plaine – Le Center – Le Sueur – Morristown

It is finally here. The time of year we all look forward to. It seems like now days if you blink, it’s here and gone. Often, I need to remind myself to slow down and enjoy it. Farming is what we all love to do. It can be easy to get stressed out about short windows of opportunity to plant, so my encouragement would be to make sure you are not forgetting to slow down, take it all in, and have fun.

Much progress is being made in our area. Conditions are variable, some are just getting started, while others are nearing completion on corn planting and getting a good start on soybeans. Soil temperatures have been very cold, probably concernedly cold. We will have to be diligent to scout these fields as they germinate to verify good stand.

Shown in the pictures below are soybeans that were planted April 11th and corn that was planted April 12th.

-Chad

EAST

Goodhue – Lake City – Pine Island – Kenyon

The weather has been improving and planters have been rolling! Initially when planting season began the ground temp was considerably cooler. Let’s look at when ground temps are cool and how that effects emergence and plant quality. Planting corn into cool soils increases variability not only of emergence, but also plant sizes and development stages. Corn takes roughly 90-120 GDD (growing degree days). A good rule of thumb is if corn has been in the ground longer than 120 GDD and not yet emerged, an inspection of the seed condition is recommended.

GDD are calculated by (Maximum Daily Temp + Minimum Daily Temp) / 2 – 50

Pictured below is corn that was planted 4/12/24. The photo was taken 4/25/24, which is an example of slow seedling development in cool soils.

-Ethan

SOUTH

Elgin – Lewiston – Stewartville

With the forecast looking like a large chance of rain over the weekend, we have seen a lot of planters in the fields and a large push to get seed in the ground this week! Something to remember with the rain coming is to not rush back into the field. In order to achieve our yield goals, we need to plant into good conditions. Planting when too wet can lead to sidewall compaction which will affect the roots of our young corn plants and ultimately our yield at the end of the season.

Corn roots with sidewall compaction

Normal corn roots (left) vs roots effected by sidewall compaction (right)

Also, good data in means good data out! Another thing to remember is that while this time of year is busy and can be stressful, we need to make sure that we are recording data correctly in the cab. Be sure to record varieties and make some notes about things you see in the field for your Ag Partners Agronomist and AYS Specialist to look at throughout the growing season. Make sure that your out of bounds and loss of GPS rates are also correct in your monitor to avoid skips or planting at populations that are too high or too low. Contact your AYS Specialist if you have any questions about your monitor and the best ways to record data!

-Kjersten

WISCONSIN

Ellsworth

It’s been a busy week in western Wisconsin. What had been a steady start to the fertilizer season for two weeks turned into a full out sprint on Monday. Corn and soybeans have been going in at a fast rate, with quite a few farmers choosing to plant soybeans first while waiting for the soil to warm up to plant corn. With the weekend forecasted to bring in some rain many sprayers have been running long hours, when the wind allows, to get a pre-herbicide down on the soybean acres. Once this upcoming rain stretch passes, it will be go- time for everyone. We were fortunate to get a good start on fertilizer before most planters left the shed and are looking forward to the last push of preplant fertilizer. Stay safe!

-Eric