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.

With prominent wet conditions this past fall and spring, switching to more in-season nitrogen management programs is a task many farmers are faced with this year. So what options are available for in-season nitrogen application? Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® team has past data on yield-gaining nitrogen management programs. One new product we are testing this year is PinnitMax™, a nitrogen stabilizer product.

This latest PFR Report features Clayton Stufflebeam, PFR Location Lead at our Central Illinois PFR site as he talks about an exciting new-ish study we will be conducting this year! 

The brim of my hat shaded my face from the harsh sun as I stood on a gravel road. In the distance, I could see the continuation of the gravel path, rising out of the still, murky water that was hiding a large portion of it. A small motorboat was anchored on the muddy shore, barely swaying back and forth in the light breeze. It looked as though it was in its natural habitat. Instead, it was floating atop a cornfield, harvested only a few months earlier.

Let's begin by addressing the term “pigweed.” Typically, when referring to pigweed, the first thing you need to consider is your location. If you are in Central Illinois, then most likely you are referring to waterhemp. If you are in West Tennessee, then pigweed most likely means Palmer amaranth (Palmer). Pigweed is a general term that can be used to describe most amaranthus species. Palmer amaranth is Amaranthus palmeri and tall waterhemp is Amaranthus tuberculatus (=A. rudis). You can see the confusion. In 2016, The Weed Science Society of America ranked waterhemp and Palmer in the top three most troublesome weeds for corn and soybean production; however, for the purpose of this article, “pigweed” will be considered Palmer.

While Sudden Death Syndrome and Brown Stem Rot steal the spotlight in most soybean disease discussions, there is another disease that plagues soybean production in the northern geographies, White Mold. White Mold can take a high yielding field from 80 to 20 Bu./A., so farmers are constantly looking for solutions to combat this devastating disease. Thankfully, we are gaining more and more insight as to how we can use multiple management techniques to avoid significant yield loss from White Mold.

This spring, Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® team is testing new equipment technology. Jared Chester, PFR Location Lead in London, OH, gives an overview of our study on Yetter’s 2984 Strip Freshener. Just a week after using this equipment, we already see a difference. The question is will this visual difference translate to increased yield this fall. Stay tuned for updates on this study in the coming months.

Rolling ground is always an interesting topic of discussion. If you talk to farmers in the Northern U.S., they’ll say it’s a great way to push down rocks and create better field conditions for planting any crop, as well as for harvesting soybeans. Farmers further south will say it can promote branching and increase soybean yields when rolling once the soybeans are up.

Pouring sugar…on plants? What kind of madness is this?

Not madness at all! Plants need sugar for carbohydrate transport, energy, and stored fuel. Carbohydrates in the form of simple sugars, like glucose, are converted to complex sugars by means of starches. When this conversion process occurs in plants, better growth + development, improved regulation of various biological systems, as well as respiration & transpiration steps can occur. Graphic 1 (below) shows the process of photosynthesis.