The ever-popular PFR Book that many of you know and utilize on your operation is not the only publication the Practical Farm Research (PFR)® team at Beck’s develops. We also publish a PFR Wheat Book each year!

When it comes to winter wheat production in the Midwest, sometimes get “stuck in rut” with our yields. Unlike corn and soybeans, wheat management is often put on the backburner in both time and investment into our crop. However, at Beck’s Southern Illinois PFR site, the winter wheat followed by soybean double crop system has produced some of our largest returns on investment over the last several years. So, the question arises, will this trend continue?

As farmers, we do our best to create an environment that encourages positive plant responses like higher yields. For example, we may alter the environment by planting a different population, utilizing a new method of working soil or, perhaps the most obvious, adding a fertilizer. All of this is done in the hopes that the plant’s response, or its phenotypic alteration in response to its environment, creates additional yield and profit.

The topic of applying fungicide on wheat usually sparks many questions and concerns. Many farmers apply fungicides and often wonder if it was worth the investment. When Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® team tests fungicides, it’s done based on product timing recommendations. 

One question we get asked a lot is how we apply nitrogen (N) on our wheat acres. What we have observed in Practical Farm Research (PFR)^® is that, regardless of the source of N applied, split applications pay. Some of the benefits of split applications include increased yield, increased N efficiency, and the potential for lower environmental losses.

Nathan Ashcraft has a lot of memories on his family’s farm near Sugar City, Idaho. It’s where he grew up. And now, he’s raising his family, and diverse range of crops.

After getting a Ag Systems degree at Utah State, Nathan wasn’t sure he was ready to come home. But, looking back, he’s thankful he did. 

Jessie Hobbs jokes he should call his place in Alabama "Total Chaos" instead of Hobbs Farms. He’s the fifth generation to care for the land where he now raises seven different commodities and his four children. Between ball games, community meetings, and farm work, life is never boring. It isn’t always easy to juggle it all, but Jessie has never dreamed of doing anything but farm.

All his life, Brooks Barnes has known he wanted to be a farmer. “I used to go to the field and ride between my daddy's legs in the combine. I'd take naps there. They couldn't get me away from it.” Brooks recalls.

In high school, Brooks was a very talented athlete but by his junior year, something else was calling him. "I decided I didn't want to play sports anymore. I wanted to come home and burn diesel fuel or go hunting or fishing. I'm an outdoors person.”

Now Brooks and his family grow tobacco, sweet potatoes, corn, soybeans and wheat.

February is a very busy month for most farmers. For those of us growing wheat, it is the time to start scouting and planning applications of our first round of nitrogen (N) to this year’s crop. The teams at the many of Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® sites, including Kentucky, are conducting a number of N studies this year including rates, timing, and forms.