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2017 Fertilizer Incentives

Category: Crop Management
Published on October 07, 2016
Written by John Viertel
It’s hard to believe that it is already October. Harvest is in full swing; good yields being reported from everywhere. Watch for our yield reports coming later. Starter fertilizer prices have softened from last year, and I want you to be aware of the fantastic incentives that we are offering beyond the lower per gallon […]

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5000 Stalk Devastator from Yetter

Category: Crop Management
Published on August 24, 2016
Written by John Viertel
If you missed the SOIL SERVICE, INC field days last week, you really missed out on a lot of great information. Of course the corn and beans looked awesome in the plots, and there will be lots of data to go through after harvest this fall. However, the information given by our presenters was equally […]

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Soil Health Study Update

Category: Soil Amendments
Published on August 12, 2016
Written by John Viertel
Do the larger root systems on the plants on the right of the picture below peak your interest? I decided to go into the Soil Health Study field and dig some plants up last Tuesday. I also went to an adjoining field that has not received the Nutrient Recycling Program, but has had cover crops, […]

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Getting The Most Out of Your Soybean Crop with Crop Choice Foliar OPP

Category: Fertilizer
Published on July 13, 2016
Written by John Viertel
Getting the most out of your soybean crop.The rain that we have received at the end of June (and now more in early July) has really made the crops look so much better than they did a month ago. Wheat came out just a little early (with really good yields) and double crop soybeans went […]

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Fallow Corn Syndrome: Causes and Prevention

Category: Crop Management
Published on June 29, 2016
Written by John Viertel
There has been a lot of talk and several articles over the last few weeks concerning the uneven corn, especially in the areas where crops were not planted last year. What gets me is after talking to an independent agronomist yesterday, no one really seems to know what the cause is. Here are a few of the ideas going around: (1) Some think it was because the soil mycorrhiza didn’t have the proper host last summer due to bare ground. (Even where there were a lot of weeds that were allowed to grow.) (2) Some think it was because we had such a mild winter—that the freezing and thawing did not get rid of some shallow compaction. (3) Others think it was because some growers cut fertility programs to save on costs this spring. (4) Still others think it was just a function of the cooler, wetter spell after such good planting conditions and early corn planting.

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Streamline Application with the Ag Leader DirectCommand System

Category: Precision Ag
Published on May 17, 2016
Written by Jason Smith
With the 2016 planting season wrapping up here in Western Illinois, now is the perfect time to check for uneven emergence in our corn. This can help with making future planter decisions concerning hydraulic downforce. As we scout our fields after planting, we start switching our focus to application. Waste is the number one threat to your bottom line. In application, this is especially true. Wasted time, energy and inputs can put stress on that bottom line. With the Ag Leader DirectCommand system, we can streamline that process to be as efficient and profitable as possible.

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Fungicide Application Tips for 2016

Category: Ag Chemicals
Published on May 17, 2016
Written by Brent Schmitz
For the most part, corn planting is finished in West-Central Illinois, Eastern Iowa and Northeastern Missouri. Now it’s time to think about protecting that investment with fungicide applications. As I’m writing this, corn for October delivery is $3.52 to the river. That certainly makes finances tight, and we must evaluate the economics of everything we do more closely. It’s critical to do everything possible to increase per acre profit. Fungicide is one product that you can use to increase that per acre profit with very little effort.

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Corn Crop 2016: Advice from John Viertel

Category: Ag Chemicals
Published on May 01, 2016
Written by John Viertel
WOW! In all my years of traveling the state of Missouri during the month of April, I don’t think that I have ever seen the corn crop go in the ground faster or under more ideal conditions than it did this year! After scouting some fields on April 28, the newly emerged plants look excellent. One field was almost in the V-2 stage, and there are probably some fields in Missouri that are further along than that. Emergence and population were virtually perfect. Weed control – excellent!

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Crop Residue: Understanding the Basics from Planting to Nutrient Breakdown

Category: Soil Amendments
Published on April 30, 2016
Written by John Viertel
Did you plant soybeans into a lot of residue this year? This practice is becoming more and more common all across the country. The picture on the right shows a field that beans were planted into on Monday of this week. While part of the field was rolled, the majority was planted into the standing cereal rye. As you can see, there is a huge amount of cereal rye straw both on the ground and still standing. There should be no worries, right? The question is: what is going to happen to all that residue by this fall, and even next spring for the next crop? Will it break down and be easy to manage? What is happening to the nutrients that that cover crop has sequestered?

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Precision Focus: New Technology from Ag Leader Promises to Help Growers Be More Profitable

Category: Precision Ag
Published on March 01, 2016
Written by Jason Smith
It’s hard to believe that 2015 was here and is already gone. Seems like yesterday that I was setting up the first planter of the season. We saw many challenges last year, much like we do every year, and at the end of the day Mother Nature still reigns as queen. That’s the only factor that we can’t control. So with today’s corn prices still under $4.00, it’s up to us to make sure that we make the best of our decisions when it comes to precision ag.

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