Precision Pays

Just about this time last year, the GROWMARK Plant Food Division reorganized for continued growth both within and beyond the core Midwest FS territory. A year later, they have lots to show for it – including a brand new dry and liquid plant food storage facility in Casey, Illinois.

Core Market Plant Food Sales Director Joe Kilgus says the new facility was a good investment for GROWMARK to help support their FS members. “Obviously we need good distribution, having fertilizer in the right place at the right time,” he said during a recent tour of the terminal. “Teaming up with TGM gave us a location with capabilities of bringing in unit trains, which is valuable for purchasing fertilizer.”

Kilgus says GROWMARK’s Plant Food Division offers a variety of services for FS members that have become increasingly important in our global economy. “What happens in China, what happens in India, Europe, all around the globe, does have an affect on the prices of fertilizer here in the U.S.,” he said. “GROWMARK provides the service and the manpower to keep up on that world market. You have to be in that market every day and watch it. The price of oil, the value of the dollar, all of that affects fertilizer prices.”

GROWMARK also helps FS member companies and grower members by encouraging more efficient use of fertilizer. “GROWMARK’s a big supporter and promoter of precision farming. We also promote the 4Rs – right product, right place, right time at the right rate. We don’t want to see fertilizer over-applied, we want to see it put on correctly. We have a growing population to feed and we want to help farmers maximize what they produce.”

Listen to my interview with Joe here: GROWMARK's Joe Kilgus

The new GROWMARK dry and liquid plant food storage facility in Casey, Illinois is in business to serve farmers in the south central part of the state this spring.

“It is a 25,000 ton dry fertilizer blend facility and a 10,000 ton solution facility and this is the first spring we are using it,” said South Central FS CEO Randy Handel of the new facility which just opened at the end of February and is located on the same site as Total Grain Marketing (TGM). The fertilizer facility also benefits from being right on the rail line. “It’s a very good location being on the CSX track and it’s good sharing the resources with our grain elevator and it’s a very strategic location.”

Listen to my interview with Randy Handel here: South Central FS CEO Randy Handel

GROWMARK Southern Region Manager Brian Koenig says the liquid fertilizer terminal is fully automated and features around-the-clock load out capabilities. “It’s very efficient. We don’t need a lot of manpower here to operate the facility. It’s very technically driven,” he said during a recent GROWMARK media day tour.

Koenig says the new facility is very beneficial for FS member co-ops in the region. “It really helps Illini and South Central the most.” he said. “They’re able to retail right out of here. It’s a really key facility for them.” The facility’s location on the CSX rail line allows for nitrogen solution to be sourced from a number of points on the U.S. East Coast.

Koenig is pictured here during the media day doing an interview with Rita Frazer with RFD Radio Network.

Listen to my interview with Brian Koenig here: GROWMARK's Brian Koenig

A coalition of environmental groups has filed lawsuits in New York and Louisiana to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Water Act to address nitrogen and phosphorous runoff in the Mississippi River basin.

The lawsuits allege that nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizer run-off from farm fields adversely affects water quality in the Mississippi River basin and creates a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the environmental legal firm of Faegre Baker Daniels, the implications of the lawsuits are significant for the agriculture industry and farmers, noting that the cost of complying with the nitrogen and phosphorous standards sought by environmental groups could be as high as $600 million per year nationwide.

Industry groups are considering intervening in the actions. Industry intervention in the Gulf Restoration Network case appears particularly likely because that action addresses the question whether EPA acted reasonably in rejecting a nationwide nitrogen and phosphorous standard in favor of EPA’s existing cooperative, state-by-state approach to nutrient management.

Growers want to hear what other growers have to say, so the grower panel was most popular at the two FS Green Plan Solutions Pursuit of Maximum Yields (POMY) events in Iowa and Illinois over the last two weeks. The growers on the panel were Phillip Hartke (left) and Steve Sondgeroth, both from Illinois.

Phil is a crop and livestock producer from Teutopolis who got involved in pursuing maximum yields at the start of the program about three years ago. “Historically, we’ve tried different things as they come down the pike through the FS System, so we were more than glad to participate,” Phil said, noting that his interest was piqued when his crop specialist talked to him about multiple applications of nitrogen. “We were already applying nitrogen in the fall then we came back in the spring and applied with a little anhydrous,” he said. “We went with two more applications of nitrogen, one with our chemicals and then another time with urea with Agrotain in it. So we did four applications of nitrogen and I think that’s been key to feeding that plant as it grows.”

That has helped him get a 189.5 bushel five-year average yield, about 35 bushels an acre better than the county average. “We’re in livestock so 65-70% of the corn we raise goes to the hog operation and with the extra yield that gives me more to sell in the market,” Phil says. “I like to have that cash flow.”

Listen to my interview with Phil here: Phillip Hartke Interview

Steve Sondgeroth grows corn and soybeans in Vero County Illinois and 2011 was the first year he participated in the Pursuit of Maximum Yield program, specifically on his soybean crop. For him, it was all about removing stress. “Pursuit of maximum yield means just that and I just pulled out all the stops,” he said. “I think I hit the home run this year. My soybeans averaged 82.4 bushels an acre.”

Steve says some of the things he did were a little outside the box. “I have not inoculated soybeans since I was a little boy, but this year I did,” he said. “I wanted to make sure we had plenty of rhizobia bacteria to increase the nitrogen fixing.”

What really excites Steve about the POMY program is how it allows farmers to share practices that work with each other. “It’s most unusual in the sense that there is real openness and willingness to share ideas,” he said. “There’s not too many businesses that I know of where you actually share the information that is most vital to your operation.”

Listen to my interview with Steve here: Steve Sondgeroth Interview

Photos from Illinois Pursuit of Maximum Yields Event

Photos from Iowa Pursuit of Maximum Yields Event

In a world where crop yields need to continue growing to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for food, what can farmers do to manage and protect the environmental resources that will support those higher yields?

That was one of the main questions that Delaware-Maryland Agribusiness Association Executive Secretary Bill Angstadt addressed at the Pursuit of Maximum Yields event organized by FS Green Plan Solutions in Bettendorf, Iowa Thursday. He noted several examples of pressures being placed on growers to produce more with less. “There are several initiatives, one called “Food to Market,” where food companies like Coca-Cola, General Mills, Walmart have come together,” he said. “What Coca-Cola originally wanted was to be able to put a label on their bottle that says ‘the corn syrup that was used in making this product did not harm the environment.’ Those kinds of concepts are out there.”

Angstadt also discussed the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Limit (TMDL) requirement by EPA in his area of the country that would limit nitrogen and phosphorus used in the region. “This public policy of trying to established when and how to quantify that a farmer is meeting water quality standards and how can a farmer verify this as an assurance to EPA is the debate that we’re in right now,” he said. The proposal is currently facing a legal challenge by the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Listen to my interview with Bill Angstadt here: Bill Angstadt Interview

Photos from Iowa Pursuit of Maximum Yields Event

We already got an update on the Pursuit of Maximum Yields (POMY) project in Ontario – now we hear from Central Illinois.

Jerry Harbour, an agronomist and certified crop specialist with Lincoln Land FS in Illiopolis, says the objective of POMY is to get consistent 300 bushel yields on corn and 100 bushel beans. “We do a lot of corn on corn so that’s another challenge here in central Illinois to get consistently high yields as we grow into continuous corn acres,” he said.

Jerry says when it comes to gathering information, they are using lots more precision farming techniques. “Trying to be more accurate and knowing what we’re doing, instead of flags and pens and paper, we’re trying to document with GPS as well,” he said.

Nitrogen application is a big focus of the POMY trials and this year trials came out very well. “I had about six different trials and they all turned out very positive,” he said. “We did a lot of work this year with impregnated urea for a side dress application for corn – and all of those showed a profit. It seemed like everything we did with nitrogen this year was a win for the grower. Worst case was that they broke even in a couple of cases.”

Jerry says he is blessed with some very progressive farmers in his area who are willing to take some risks to improve their yields and share their knowledge with other growers. Results of this year’s POMY trials will be presented to growers at meetings in February.

Listen to or download my interview with Jerry here: Jerry Harbour Interview

Idaho is synonymous with potatoes, but there is more corn in the ground there these days to support a growing dairy industry.

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found that some Pacific Northwest farmers can increase corn yields by using strip tillage and banding fertilizer instead of conventional tilling. Strip tillage and banding involves excavating a single row for planting about 6 to 12 inches wide and 6 to 8 inches deep with a knife-like shank that can also inject fertilizer directly below the seed.

The scientists found that using these practices increased corn grain yields on severely eroded soils st higher elevations by 12 percent the first year and 26 percent the second year. This translated into yield increases between 11 and 26 bushels per acre.

Read more from ARS here.

Photo courtesy of David Tarkalson, ARS.

This week I participated in the Conservation Technology Information Center’s Indian Creek Watershed Project field tour. Several bus loads of participants visited Livingston County, IL area farms to see and hear how they are implementing best management practices for things like nutrient management.

One of the people working on the project with CTIC and a presenter is Harold Reetz. I visite with Harold prior to the start of the day’s activities. I’ll see him again next week in Sprinfield, IL for the InfoAg Conference. Since that’s all about precision agriculture and since that is an integral part of the BMP’s being implemented on the tour stops here we decided to call it “precision conservation.”

Harold says the project purpose is to demonstrate different best management practices for nitrogen. It’s a relatively small watershed with mostly corn and soybean crops. So the goal is to come up with practices to improve nitrogen efficiency which will reduce the amount that will get into the ground water. Local farmers have volunteered in this first year of the project to implement suggested practices and it is their farms we visited.

The project is receiving funding from a variety of sources that includes the Illinois EPA. It is a proactive approach to voluntarily manage natural resources without the need to have new regulations. That sure seems like a potentially win win situation for all parties.

You can listen to my interview with Harold here: Harold Reetz Interview

CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour Photos

“Balancing Fertilizer Price Risk and In-Field Management to Optimize Yield and Profitability” was the topic of a Learning Session at the 2011 Commodity Classic in Tampa last week, sponsored by John Deere.

Deere’s Pauley Bradley, manager of nutrient applications, had a full house for the session which discussed nitrogen practices today, concerns that fall anhydrous application may not be around in the future, and the “Four R” approach to nutrient stewardship. “Right now, our corn stocks to use ratio is very tight, so yield is important, but we have to balance that with the environmental concerns,” Pauley said. “So we’re trying to maximize yield while having the least amount of environmental impact.”

Pauley says John Deere introduced the 2510 line of nutrient applicators a few years ago, one of which provides a way to apply anhydrous ammonia allowing for more side-dressing or in-season capabilities. “We’ve really tried to focus on the in-crop application, doing a better job of reading the crop’s needs as it’s growing and responding accordingly,” he said.

Find out more here.

Listen to or download an interview with Pauley here: John Deere's Pauley Bradley on Nutrient Management

Thanks to John Deere for helping to sponsor our coverage of the 2011 Commodity Classic!
2011 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Precision agriculture is playing a much larger role in helping potato growers become more sustainable, according to a recent story in Spudman.

Bruce Crapo, a grower of 6,000 acres of commercial potatoes and 2,000 acres of seed potatoes in Idaho, is a good example of how the average potato farmer looks at precision agriculture – he uses technology to reduce costs, increase output and improve profits.

Crapo isn’t thrilled at the cost of high-tech equipment such as GPS-guided tractors, but he knows it’s saving him money and there’s no way he can turn back now.

“There is a substantial initial cost involved,” Crapo said. “But I also know it is saving me money. What do you do? Go back to what you were doing before? That’s not an option.”

Crapo, who uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology on all his planters and harvesters, said the latest precision ag technology has taken farming to a different level.

“It’s light years ahead of what it was when we were doing it by hand,” he said. “We’re not going to go back to not using it, but we are wincing a little at the cost.”

Precision agriculture can loosely be defined as using new technologies such as GPS, sensors, variable rate application equipment and aerial or satellite images to make farming easier and more profitable.

Simply put, precision agriculture can help farmers improve their margins by decreasing their operating costs.

Idaho farmer Robert Blair, owner of PineCreek Precision, says the biggest benefit of precision farming is that it gives producers the ability to manage their farm on a production zone basis rather than a whole field basis. This shift, he said, allows farmers to save time and money and helps them offset the rising cost of chemicals, nutrients, fuel and fertilizer.

Blair uses a wide array of precision agriculture techniques on his 1,500-acre farm and said the technology is saving him tens of thousands of dollars every year.

Read on to learn more…

Precision agriculture means more than just the use of equipment and technology to save time and money, it also means the “application of technologies and agronomic principles to manage spatial and temporal variability associated with all aspects of agricultural production for the purpose of improving crop performance and environmental quality.”

At the recent GROWMARK FS Green Plan Solutions “In Pursuit of Maximum Yields” conference in East Peoria, growers and consultants heard from two University of Illinois experts on how to maximize corn and soybean yields.

Dr. Fred Below gave his “Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World” presentation to the audience. “The seven wonders concept was designed for us to put a value and ranking behind those factors that every year impact corn yields,” said Dr. Below. “Number one is the weather, number two is my favorite – nitrogen, three is the most important decision farmers make each year – hybrid selection, number four has to do with crop the year before, number five is plant population, number six is tillage or no tillage and number seven is a new broad category called growth regulators. And these factors together can combine and maximize to produce up to 260 bushels.”

Listen to my interview with Dr. Fred Below here: Fred Below Interview

Dr. Vince Davis discussed how it takes a total management approach to increase soybean yields. “In soybeans, increasing yields is a really tough game to get into,” Vince told me. “About 10 bushels, 9 and a half bushels an acre is about what we were able to obtain in our large plots, and that’s about what I’ve seen as a maximum level that we can increase. If you can put up 10 extra bushels at $13 beans, that’s a lot of extra money.”

Vince urges farmers to get as much information as they can and experiment to find out what works on their own operations and he had praise for GROWMARK and FS Green Plan Solutions agronomists working with producers. “We worked with one of our local agronomists at the Illini FS location and they are doing a great job getting on the farms, finding out what growers are interested in doing, what does and doesn’t work on the farm, and do it all from the standpoint of economics,” he said.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Vince Davis here: Vince Davis Interview

FS Green Plan Solutions, an integrated, solutions-based approach designed to help producers enhance farm profitability by providing complete agronomic recommendations from a trusted team of FS specialists.

For wheat growers who normally top-dress nitrogen, the use of crop sensors could boost yields and reduce over or under application.

Today, Ag Leader Technology, Inc., a leader in the development of precision farming solutions, announced the release of the North American Wheat algorithm for OptRx, a crop sensor used for mapping, data collection and real-time variable rate nitrogen application. OptRx crop sensors determine a vegetative index reference value based on a plant with sufficient nitrogen and prescribe nitrogen rates based on plants’ crop vigor, taking into account field variability and crop conditions.

“Using OptRx for nitrogen application in wheat can help prevent yield loss commonly due to overapplication, especially in early growth stages,” says Roger Zielke, Product Manager. “Another major factor that OptRx can help account for is the variability in organic matter within fields. Variable rate nitrogen application with OptRx can compensate for these differences in organic matter, and our field trials have shown that it will help maximize profit potential by delivering the right amount of nitrogen to the right plant.”

OptRx can help improve nitrogen efficiency by scanning and measuring the impact of growing conditions on a plant, ultimately helping growers improve environmental stewardship and maximize profit potential. Nitrogen application on wheat can occur anytime between tillering and stem elongation, and any top-dress applicator can be used with OptRx for nitrogen application. Because OptRx uses a light-sensing technology that is not dependent on ambient light, OptRx can be used to apply nitrogen, whenever optimum conditions are available day or night. OptRx crop sensors are also available for nitrogen application in corn.

Researchers with the University of Missouri have found a way to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by agricultural operations, while increasing the yields of the crops. And precision agriculture equipment is playing a key role.

Research agronomist at MU’s Greenley Research Center in northeast Missouri Kelly Nelson says that ag operations in the U.S. create 58 percent of the world’s nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes 300 times more to global warming than carbon dioxide. His work is focusing on the placement and source of fertilizers to reduce that nitrous oxide number.

“The fertilizer placement for a no-till system would be, for dry fertilizers, would be broadcast applied over the soil surface. We thought with a strip-till system we can till a small area, usually about 12 inches wide, usually less than 30 percent of the field, and maintain good soil cover, and apply that fertilizer in a band right under the plant so it has easy access to the fertilizer.”

He says using an enhanced-efficiency polymer coated urea and non-coated urea, they were able to test in a clay pan soil, where there is very poor internal drainage and fertilizer loss can be substantial.

“We saw that over the entire growing season, we were emitting about 2.4 to 3.8 percent of the nitrogen applied as nitrous oxide.” Nelson says that while it doesn’t seem like a big number, it shows how much greenhouse gas can be emitted into the atmosphere. Plus, he says this system was able to increase yields. “We were seeing that our strip-till system was increasing yields by about 50 bushels to the acre (in corn), compared to our no-till system.” And it reduced greenhouse gas emissions by about 25 percent, compared to no-till systems.

Nelson admits that they didn’t compare the amount of emissions for running the extra equipment in the strip-till versus no-till operation, but that would be a comparison of CO2 emissions, and as stated earlier, much less impactful when you are considering greenhouse gases. Plus, the increased yields should help make up any differences by increasing the amount of carbon sequestration going on in the higher yielding strip-till operations.

He credits new, advanced precision agriculture equipment and practices for even making this kind of work possible.

“Getting the right product at the right time in the right place, that’s what we’re working toward. Precision ag is moving us in that direction.”

Listen to my interview with Kelly here: Kelly Nelson, MU research agronomist

Trimble offers a new Field-IQ system that controls and monitors seed and fertilizer delivery capabilities to enhance variable-rate functionality.

The Field-IQ system pairs seamlessly with the guidance capabilities of the Trimble FmX integrated display or CFX 750 touch screen display, which both run Trimble’s unique overlap detection technology. Farmers using the Field-IQ crop input control system for seed placement have reported average savings of 5-10 percent from reduced seed input costs and less waste.

Trimble’s Field-IQ system is compatible with a wide variety of crop and application equipment, providing monitoring for planters, air seeders for small grains, or granular strip till systems. Seed monitoring on row crop planting systems allows operators to obtain information related to how their seeding system is performing. This includes factors such as singulation, skips and multiples, and quality of spacing for an entire planter average or detail by individual row. For fertilizer, variable rate application capabilities can be driven by a prescription map or real-time with Trimble GreenSeeker sensors.

The Field-IQ system is easy to install on application equipment from a broad range of manufacturers, allowing farmers and custom applicators to use and enhance the performance capabilities of their existing equipment without having to start from scratch.

“The new Field-IQ enhancements optimize planter operation by delivering more accurate seed placement, giving the operators more confidence in their planting applications,” said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager of Trimble’s Agriculture Division. “With the addition of rate and application control for up to six different materials, the system now manages functions that span the entire growing season.”

The new seeding and multi-rate capabilities for the Field-IQ system are expected to be available in March 2011. Contact a local Trimble dealer at www.trimble.com/locator for more information.

The fourth largest indoor farm show in the country is prepping for it’s 56th annual show in Des Moines, Ia., on February 1-3. It continues to break attendance records now for seven years in a row, with around 19,000 attendees spread out among six floors in the three buildings that comprise the Iowa Events Center (Hy-Vee Exhibit Hall, Wells Fargo Arena and Polk County Convention Complex). This year you’ll find around 640 companies exhibiting their products and services.

I caught up with Katie Beeler yesterday, Ag Leader’s marketing communications coordinator, to talk about their presence at the show. Aside from being a major sponsor at the three-day event, the company will conduct three educational sessions during the show.

• Tuesday, February 1 at 11:30am, Ag Leader’s Chad Huedepohl will talk about the OptRx Crop Sensor system. You’ll learn how they measure and record data as you drive through the field—providing information on crop health, while allowing you to apply prescription nitrogen rates based on plant need.

• On Wednesday, February 2 at 10:45 am, Jeff Bentley from Ag Leader will help growers understand its ParaDyme Autosteer system and CORS networks. Come learn about the most advanced guidance system, and how it has the capability of using built-in cellular signals for remote service and connection to the CORS network.

• Also Wednesday at 12:15 pm, Ag Leader’s Michael Vos will discuss the power of all the data that can be collected during a cropping season, and show how the company’s SMS software can work the data to help improve management decisions.

Click on ‘Seminars’ at the Iowa Power Farming Show website for the entire rundown.

And if new products excite you, Beeler says Ag Leader will be talking about three new precision farming tools at their booth, along with their full product line. “Come learn about our new Advanced Seed Monitoring through the SeedCommand system that improves planter performance monitoring and control through the INTEGRA display. We’ll also showcase the new GPS 2500 all-in-one antenna and GNSS Receiver that can utilize GLONASS satellites and differential correction from WAAS/EGNOS and OmniSTAR XP/HP/VBS. And we’ll have the new Mesa Rugged Notepad at the show running our SMS Mobile software so growers can check out this valuable in-field tool,” she says. Ag Leader will be in Booth #306 in the Polk County Convention Complex.

The Iowa Power Farming Show is sponsored in part by Farm Credit Services of America, Ag Leader Technology, Bayer CropScience, Stine Seed, and The Stewart-Peterson Group. The show is owned and managed by the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association (I-NEDA). I-NEDA represents over 400 agricultural, outdoor power and industrial equipment dealers throughout Iowa and Nebraska. For more information about the show and a list of show exhibitors, visit www.iowapowershow.com.

Visit these links for more information.
Iowa Power Farming Show http://www.iowapowershow.com/

New Advanced Seed Monitoring
http://www.agleader.com/2010/12/03/ag-leader-announces-advanced-seed-monitoring-functionality-for-integra™-display/

New GPS 2500 GNSS Receiver
http://www.agleader.com/2010/11/01/ag-leader-announces-new-gps-2500-gnss-receiver/

New Mesa Rugged Notepad
http://www.agleader.com/2010/11/01/ag-leader-offers-new-hardware-option-for-sms™-mobile/

Ag Leader dealer locator http://www.agleader.com/dealer-search/