Week of June 16, 2025 Local, professional reports straight from the field,
from all regions serviced by Ag Partners.
Meet this week’s featured agronomists:
Morristown, MN
Wanamingo, MN
Stewartville, MN
Ellsworth, WI
WEST
Belle Plaine – Le Center – Le Sueur – Morristown – Traverse
June is living up to its title as the wettest month of the year. Last week my team and I had conversations with growers about the crops being further behind than what we may have thought, but over the weekend we saw them shoot up! Corn post spraying is wrapping up and side dress/top dress applications are about halfway done. All of this means we are just starting the grand growth stage. Once you get into the grand growth stage there are still a few things to keep in mind. The two most key factors being nutrient availability and plant health.
When talking about nutrient availability this graph is a great way to visualize the uptake of what is actually happening out in the field. Right at V6 we see a spike in Nitrogen, which continues up until about silk or R1. You can see a similar trend with potassium as well. During this time, it is crucial to yield to have an adequate level of these nutrients. If you have not talked with your agronomist about an in-season Nitrogen application there is still time!
Plant Health is another crucial factor to keep in mind for the grand growth stage. In certain areas of the territory the corn got a little beat up from the recent weather. Tears in the leaves from wind or hail can make the plant more susceptible to diseases. The temperature fluctuations we have had the last few weeks have also caused stress to the corn which can impact the plant’s health. Fungicide can be a great tool to aid in plant health, stay tuned into the agronomic insights the next few weeks and talk with your Ag Partners Agronomist/AYS Specialist to make your fungicide game plan! – Carly
EAST
Goodhue – Kenyon – Lake City – Pine Island – Wanamingo
It won’t be long until we are putting fungicide on tasseled corn. In particular areas or if conditions are too wet, a drone application is warranted. Some common questions regarding drones:
- What is the Swath width? 24-27’ wide! The drones are great but can also struggle on fields with power lines/ trees over hanging, just as row crop machines do.
- How many gallons/ acres can you do? 10 gallon tank, 5 acres per batch @ 2 gallons per acre.
Reach out to your Ag Partners Agronomist to start discussing your upcoming fungicide applications.
In our region, corn side-dressing and spraying should be getting wrapped up soon and we will be moving heavy into soybean post applications. With second cutting alfalfa around the corner, let’s make sure to keep an eye on insect pressure. Contact your agronomist to come take some sweeps.
Here is an example from last summer on what heavy alfalfa weevil pressure can do! Have a great week and stay safe! – Hayden
SOUTH
Elgin – Lewiston – Stewartville
Last week, Erin shared some early observations from the West side of the territory regarding nitrate sample results. As we move further into the heart of both sampling season and nitrogen applications, I wanted to provide an update on what we’re seeing here in the Southeast region.
Overall, the nitrate sample results in our area appear to be following a more “normal” and expected pattern this year. That said, even within this normal range, we’re still observing considerable variability across fields—often with nitrogen recommendation differences of 50 to 60 lbs per acre, and in some cases, more than 100 lbs. Given today’s nitrogen prices, this can translate to a cost impact of $50 to $80 per acre. Matching the current soil nitrate levels with crop demand for the remainder of the season is critical to maximize both economic return and crop performance.
Most of our current recommendations are being made with planned sidedress applications in mind, in combination with nitrogen that has already been applied. In many cases, the total nitrogen applied across the field ends up aligning closely with what was planned at the beginning of the season. However, the key difference is in distribution—ensuring nitrogen is applied where it’s most needed within each field, rather than uniformly.
While many of our samples have been scheduled ahead of time, we’re starting to receive more requests to sample fields where all nitrogen has already been applied. These are often manured fields or areas that have experienced significant rainfall. If you’re in this situation and looking to evaluate residual nitrogen levels, please reach out to your agronomist or AYS Specialist soon. We realistically have about a week left before corn growth makes further sampling impractical.
Soil nitrate sampling remains our best tool right now to identify field variability. However, we do have other options to build nitrogen prescriptions. If you’re an AYS customer, we can create prescriptions based on management zones (similar to how we manage planting populations), or we can utilize plant health imagery from satellite data. Last year, we saw success with nitrogen applications even into July—so if you’re wondering where your nitrogen stands, don’t hesitate to contact your Ag Partners advisor for a timely discussion. – Joel
Nitrogen prescription map based on soil nitrate sampling showing variability within a field.
WISCONSIN
Ellsworth
Things are looking great in Western Wisconsin! This week there has been a lot of pop-up showers here and there, but we’ve been able to keep machines running. We are wrapping up most of the corn spraying this week and have most machines switched over to spray beans. Sidedress is in full swing with 9 machines picking away at acres. With the heat coming, the corn is really going to take off over the weekend.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about “Can I use less gallons per acre to spray my corn/beans so I can get more acres done on a load?”. I would say especially if you have waterhemp or giant ragweed, the answer is absolutely not. In the picture above, this is waterhemp that lived through Dicamba sprayed at 10 gallons per acre. If you are spraying your residual herbicide pass and you have Sterling Blue or Status in the tank because you have broadleaves out there, you must be spraying a minimum of 15 gallons per acre. Same goes for Enlist on the beans. You must be at 15 gpa, and if you have Liberty in the tank you must spray at 20 gallons per acre. Remember that Liberty works best with full sun and warm temperatures. Coverage, coverage, coverage!!! I hope everyone has a great summer. The 4th of July is right around the corner! – Chace
