Every day farmers rise to the challenge. They put on their boots and get to work — when the sun is beating down, when the wind rages with an icy chill, when the sky unleashes the rain. They face every trial life throws at them with resilience and determination all because they love to farm. If you ever wonder why a farmer does all he or she does, just talk to one, or four.

In light of the remarkedly wet season that most of the Midwest has experienced, irrigation is likely in the back of most farmers' minds right now. That said, we continue putting irrigation/fertigation systems to the test with our Practical Farm Research (PFR)®. In the case of sub-irrigation, three of our PFR sites have been able to utilize tile drainage systems in certain areas on the sites and backfl ow water through them for a multi-functional drainage plus irrigation system.

The never-ending rains and flooding of this season have provided each of you with a host of challenges along the way. The excessive moisture has led to many issues that are obvious and easily detected – compaction, nitrogen (N) defi ciency, foliar diseases, weed issues, etc. However, a potential lurking issue may be just at your feet or, more importantly, just below the soil surface.

The spring of 2019 has been nothing but challenging for most Midwest farmers. Because of these challenges, we could see more soybean diseases. Because we experienced plenty of rainfall both before planting and after soybean emergence, certain diseases like phytophthora root and stem rot, brown stem rot, rhizoctonia, brown spot, and white mold could show up in soybean fields. These diseases prefer wet/saturated environments and spells of cool/humid conditions. As a result, crop management throughout the growing season will be key to protecting yield potential.

A really long time ago on land 100 miles south of Beck’s headquarters in Atlanta, Indiana, a six-ton mastodon found his final resting place.

There's often talk about variable rate (VR) fertilizer applications or VR planting, but have you ever heard about variable rate irrigation (VRI)? In the same manner that a prescription can be created to apply different rates of fertilizer or seed to defined areas of a field, farmers with pivot irrigation can also vary the rate of water within a field. Much like creating a VR planting prescription, a VRI prescription requires a strong data set that would include elevation, soil texture, and water holding capacity.

Spring of 2019 will be one that sets the standard for challenges. Farmers are resilient and went to great lengths to get the crop planted, but in low-lying, wet areas of many fields, there was no opportunity to plant row crops. So now, in addition to managing crops, many farmers must also manage their unplanted acres.

Your phone rings. It’s a number you don’t recognize, but you answer anyway. On the other end, you hear a voice say, “Congratulations! You are the winner of the We Care for Orphans Adoption Fund Sweepstakes!”

The idea that population is one of the key factors in yield has been widely accepted. With many advancements in planting equipment and monitoring, we can place seed with unprecedented accuracy and generate an exact record in real time. There is one factor in agriculture that no current technology can control, though. The weather can foil even the best-laid plan or best planting equipment. Historically, farmers who already find themselves with a very busy schedule calculate stand counts manually.

Applying foliar nutrition products to ensure your crop has the nutrition it needs to finish strong is nothing new! In fact, Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® has identified five PFR Proven™ foliar nutrition products for use in soybeans and four products in corn. If you are unfamiliar with the PFR Proven concept, it is any product or practice that has been tested in PFR and found to provide yield gains each year and a positive Return on Investment (ROI) over a minimum of three years. While it may seem like an obvious choice to incorporate these products on your farm, it may be more beneficial to take a targeted approach to foliar nutrition.