Four Questions to Ask Before Buying Seed Treatments
We are about three to four months away from bringing out the dedicated soybean planter and starting to plant the 2021 soybean crop. At this point, I hope the question is not whether or not to have your soybeans treated, but what to have them treated with and where will they be treated. Seed treatments have been on the market for many years now and has had a strong adoption amongst progressive growers. It’s hard to prove if a seed treatment will directly make you money, however they will indirectly make you money most of the time. This is [...]
Building a Successful Soybean Budget
Farming in the modern era is a skill that must balance biology and agronomy with cost and markets. Thus, it’s important to understand what the top influencing factors are for raising high-yielding soybeans. Once you know the factors, you can balance them with the current market. Like any budget, it’s important to separate cost into fixed and variable. Fixed costs: Seed, crop insurance, herbicides, fertilizers, land payments Variable costs: Storage, trucking, labor, fuel, parts Fixed to Variable: Seed Replant: Understand service policy and try to get 100% replant to move this into the fixed cost category. Overseeding: It’s important [...]
Three Tips for Successful No-Till
2021 could bring a lot of discussion about increasing the number of soybean acres because of profitability factors, logistics, etc. This change in crop rotation could allow for a large percentage of soybeans being no-tilled across Illinois. No-till has several great value points. However, if you don’t do your homework, this practice could result in added challenges and the potential that you don’t no-till soybeans again. Below are three areas to spend some time this winter researching to ensure no-till soybeans are successful for you. 1. Stand Establishment a. Seed To Soil Contact: i. Challenge: No-till soils tend to [...]
Sowing the Seeds in Water Management
Perhaps farmers have been facing their most challenging decade ever. Water management has been an important issue that is discussed globally. The critical nature of water conservation and drainage can have a lasting effect on the investment that farmers and landowners make. Given the competitive nature of the industry, many service providers are competing on low price. Recognizing the delicate balance between price and equity might be the key to maximizing the investment. Traditional methods of conducting business may not be applicable in the world we live in today. Outdated techniques can lead to inefficiencies and intensifying volatility. Professionals [...]
Soil Erosion
Illinois soils are some of the most fertile and desirable soils in the world. Soils—comprised of minerals and organic matter—are heavily influenced by climate (water, temperature), biology, humans and time. Illinois soils were largely shaped and influenced by the glacial activity that took place prior to modern cultivation. This activity allowed Illinois soils to develop deep soil layers of the A horizon, B horizon and organic matter. It’s these layers that allow for high crop productivity in the modern agriculture production era. Soil Organic Matter is comprised of dead plant parts, living plant parts and living microorganisms. It’s the [...]
End of Year Deadlines at the FSA Office
For most, the 2020 harvest has come to an end and now it’s time to quickly complete all the year-end tasks. It’s important to remember that between now and the end of the year there are very few open days of business for the county FSA offices, so be proactive and address any needs sooner rather than later. I recently had the opportunity to visit with FSA State Executive Director William Graff. During our conversation, I learned about upcoming FSA deadlines and the importance of updating FSA farm records. We both agreed that with the holiday season upon us [...]
The Bottleneck
Now that harvest is over, all of the bushels will soon be accurately counted and from the profit capital investment can be purchased. Regardless of your farm’s size or how much money is in your checking account, you are the CEO and president of your company and your farm. It is 100% up to you to make sound agronomic decisions, but to also make good, sound financial decisions. Several years ago I was talking with a family member who farms, and they were telling me how they just got done with harvest and were thinking about buying a new, [...]
After Harvest Action Steps
The November 9, 2020, USDA Harvest progress report indicates that, on average, the 18 states that are monitored are slightly ahead of the 5-year harvest average. Bringing the information closer to home, Illinois is about 96% (+/-) complete with harvest, with its 5-year average at 92%. For many Illinois soybean farmers, harvest has come and gone somewhat quickly. Soybean plants were able to mature relatively nicely, allowing for harvest to begin earlier than usual. The benefit of early harvest in soybeans is that it allows for corn fields to have additional time to dry while overall harvest operations can [...]
How To Evaluate Your Treatment Plan
In modern soybean production there are a lot of products and a lot of research being done to help improve growers’ yields and profitability. Yet, there is no way a farmer could utilize every single product on the market to improve yields. If they did, there would not be any room in the budget for profit. That is why it is up to each farmer to conduct their own research to validate products that work, improve profits and have a high percentage of wins. When evaluating performance there are three types of yield: biological yield improvement, yield improvement and, [...]
What and Where Is Your Weed Problem?
This time of year, growers are riding in combines and grain carts over thousands of acres, and it’s hard not to find areas of weed pressures that broke or even new green weeds starting to emerge. As you find those areas, it’s important to determine why there was weed pressure in the field and how to properly manage next year. It was Albert Einstein who said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Now is the time to recognize the issues, soon will be the time to learn about [...]
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