What has three years of implementing water management practices at our Practical Farm Research (PFR)® facility in southern Illinois (SIL) taught us? That in environments that struggle with drainage, tile has payed dividends. Despite the common belief that tile does not work on clay pan soils, our data has proved otherwise.

So, the question is, why did tile work? To gain a better understanding, we must first dig deeper into the soil moisture and temperature data we have gathered over the past three years with CropX LLC moisture sensors.

Unlike corn and soybeans, there hasn't been a lot of work done to determine the optimum planting date, row width or populations for wheat. Until now. Beck’s PFR started their Wheat Planting Date Study in 2017 and will be continuing that study, along with a row width and population study this year.

Join Eric Wilson, Field Agronomist, and Miles Mcgovney, PFR Agronomist, for some post-harvest updates on our Landroller Study.

Based on the numerous requests received from farmers, Beck’s PFR team is testing the Mandako Landroller for the first time this year. We launched this study in an effort to determine if Land Rollers would provide any yield benefit to a soybean crop.

Beck’s PFR team has tested fungicide and insecticide applications on soybeans for a number of years. The one consistent finding in terms of increasing yields and ROI is making applications at the R3 growth stage.

Join our Central Illinois PFR Team in this PFR Report as they talk about a few new studies being conducted this year.

Breaking ground – literally and figuratively. Hear the most recent updates from the Beck’s PFR Team about our multi-row, multi-hybrid planter that’s the first of its kind.

Can in-furrow applications of sugar increase nutrient availability and yields in corn?

In this latest PFR Report, Jared Chester, PFR Location Lead in Ohio is joined by Field Agronomist Luke Schulte to discuss water quality when it comes to spraying.

As commodity prices leave us looking for new ways to be leaner and leaner with our on-farm practices, one consideration that rises to the top as a cost effect practice is applications of sugar in-furrow. Why sugar in-furrow? You may have noticed that many in-furrow starters already have a small percentage of sugar within their fertilizers. The idea behind applying sugar in-furrow is to stimulate the microbial activity. If we can stimulate microbial activity in the soil, then more nutrients will be readily available to the plant, thus promoting yields.

Each year the Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® program aims to test 1) products and practices on their way to becoming PFR Proven, 2) new technologies just introduced to the marketplace 3) cost effective management practices and 4) timely topics that farmers are considering on their operations.