Fertilizer
KARTA Meeting Review
Last week, as you know by now if you read this blog or follow me on Twitter, I attended the KARTA meeting. KARTA (Link Here) stands for Kansas Ag Research Technology Association.
KARTA (originally KARA) was organized in May 2000 by a group of innovative Kansas producers, university researchers, and industry members who shared a common desire to learn more about production agriculture and continue to be a part of the leading technological and informational changes taking place on today’s farms
This year was the fifteenth annual conference. It was an applied workshop consolidating information about new and old technologies with a focus on supporting scientifically valid on-farm research efforts and increasing overall farm business profitability.
Topics included precision ag, social media, economics of travel logistics between fields and farms, on farm research, and crop nutrition as well as various presentations by industries on their new, current or trending technologies.
The Thursday night after dinner topic covered land rents and land values. This particular discussion was led by Dr. Terry Kastens & Dr. Kevin Dhuyvetter. I would call it the “Bear Pit” of KARTA. It was a fantastic discussion involving any and all attendees of the meeting. The topic was batted back and forth and ripped apart…and that was just the three hours or so that I stayed for it! Very good discussion…….
While the evening session or Bear Pit was my favorite part of the meeting, I must say that I give the entire meeting a “10″ as far as meetings go. It was very well organized, very well attended by producers and industry. It was an open exchange of information. Information was CURRENT, RELEVANT, FORWARD LOOKING and it was HONEST. It was everything that an agriculture producer meeting should be.
I think so highly of the meeting that I believe we need something like it here in Southern Illinois!
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how much I hate the usual “rubber chicken and roast beef” agriculture meeting circuit here in Illinois. Well, this wasn’t a rubber chicken meeting by a long shot………in my opinion it very closely resembled, for the production and precision side, what Farm Futures Management Summit is for the economic and business side.
I left there with that good feeling, that positive feeling of knowing that I had been rubbing shoulders with the progressive life long learners of agriculture. When that happens you know you have been to a good meeting……….yes their world is different than mine here in southern Illinois, but that doesn’t matter. It’s the mindset I look for. The mindset of being proactive vs reactive.
KARTA is a great proactive meeting………I highly suggest you attend the 16th meeting if at all possible.
krfarm year in review
Instead of the “Year in Review” recap that is typical this time of year, how about something different…….
My Top 5 Blogs of 2011
#1 ICCA Board works to kill off CPAg Certification
#2 Combines, Grain Bins, Grain Trucks and Bush Hogs
#3 Harvested Nitrogen Plot Today
#4 Corn Harvest Begins for Some
My Top 5 Categories Viewed in 2011
#2 Soil Testing
#4 Ham Radio
#5 Guns
2011 was a record year for krfarm.net
Almost 27,000 unique visitors who made 77,000 visits this year with 835,000 page hits while they visited. December, November, September and May were the biggest months for visitors and page content viewed.
Thanks for visiting! Thanks for commenting! Thanks for telling your friends about us!
We are going to try and ramp it up a notch for 2012…….stay tuned!
My .02 on Nitrogen in 2011
Seems like everyone has a blog, newsletter or magazine article on nitrogen and corn yields for the 2011 crop. Well I guess I will chime in with my .02 worth on the topic this Friday.
A pound of N is a pound of N. (Yea, we all know that I hope by now.) It is where, how and when you place that N that matters most. In 2011 where, how and when made all the difference in the world. Yet there are still fertilizer dealers and farmers who are flat out in denial.
I have been told that some calculations have already been done here locally by a few farmers that their sidedressed corn had a $200/ac advantage to their preplant corn. I believe that is the case and think is higher in some instances. A lot higher in some instances. Based on the available N testing that I did this spring, testing for both Nitrate and Ammonia N, there were many instances of preplant N loss, (urea, solution and anhydrous) of 50% with some fields I tested losing 75% by the time the corn was V2 – V3. Some of those fields didn’t have corn growing in them by the 20th of April either…………
Fields with preplant N, where the farmer either tested and believed the results or assumed a N loss based on crop color and looks by V5-V6, and then sidedressed supplemental N at between 50 and 75 lbs/ac, and reported to me a 50-70 bu/ac yield increase over doing nothing.
So 50 bu/ac @ $6/bu = $300/ac Gross minus 75 lbs N/ac @ .50/lb = $37.50/ac Cost equals $262.50 NET/ac (no labor or machine cost subtracted).
So on 100 ac that’s another $26,250 of profit…………..Sidedressed N, applied with a knife, in the ground, between the corn rows.
Will that hold true every year……….. probably not. But if a pound of N is a pound of N and placement and timing are everything, then how much are you willing to give up for convenience? $262/ac? $200/ac?? $50/ac??
In that range of numbers above is a lot of the cash rent that is paid in this area……….Where, how and when could have easly paid your cash rent………plus a great return on your time an machiney investment.
Where, how and when was everything this year……..
Yields, N Plots, repairs and more repairs
A quick update this morning, on the run this week.
Took this picture of my oldest and favorite son shelling corn on Saturday. He just loves running the combine but loves being annoyed by his Daddy even more!
Corn yields continue to be good for us but we know there is the June replanted stuff to get yet. That being said if it doesn’t tank to bad we could have a just below average crop. Still a week or so away from trying it though, to many things to do yet on other fronts.
Harvested the second N plot and this one is significant in its results. The 100# rate yielded 171 bu/ac and stair stepped up to the 200 # rate making 194bu/ac. Looks like the optimum rate is about 170 or so (without doing the math) with puts it right in line with our previous plot results on this field of 165 #/N or so. Will post more results when there is time.
Larry Cooper with Opticrop came and calibrated the wheat drill so as soon as I get a few repairs made to it and the gauge wheels back on we can drill wheat. Or after I get the repairs made and get the fields sprayed I can plant wheat. That is one of the jobs to day is to get the chemical to spray I hope in the next day or so.
Also I have to pull a bin fan today and take it to the shop, its pulling way to many amps on start up and causing problems………plus the Cat is still sitting in the shop with one track off waiting on seals and tracks….. and we had to put a new bearing in the unload auger……..and there is more but there isn’t space or time to list them all.
It goes without saying that if you farm, you know……..about repairs.
Harvested Nitrogen Plot Today
Took out one of the nitrogen plots today. Its a calibration study of N testing to rate response.
Results were (are) most likely not significant and had more to do with field position and water movement in the field than anything. The result could be broken down into two different field positions, one averaging ~147 and the other averaging ~161. That being said when your 150# rate and your 225# rate yield the same in the same field location, then its not N that’s contributing to that yield, or at least this year.
Randomized plot design helps tell treatment affect from field position. This is why I am so, lets say….skeptical with all the fertilizer dealer “research” that is done in this area. They don’t randomize and replicate. The side by side it, among a lot of other things, and call it research.
This year it seems that yield response studies are not going to be very reliable between the massive amount of rain we had from April to July and the intense heat and lack of rain from July to August. Not to mention that some studies had replants and replant of replants in them in this area.
Big thanks to Christopher Johnson, my Pioneer sales rep for taking the time out of his day to bring the weigh wagon over and collect the data while I ran the combine. Now all I have to do is forward the data on the the researchers and my work is done on Plot #1.
The good news is that my yield monitor calibration is pretty darn close on these plots, which means that I can do the next one with just the monitor and not bother anyone trying to work around schedules!!
Rain day and mid September observations.
Well it rained all day yesterday. We ended up with 1.41 inches in the gauge and it was greatly appreciated. It will help the double crop soybeans and it helped settle the dust. Cool weather followed the rain in and you need a sweatshirt this morning outside.
Some general observations this morning as we hit the middle of September. Corn harvest has started for about 80% of the farmers in the area but it is not a sprint this year but more of a walk-a-thon. Very casual. I think this has to do with lower yields and areas of higher moisture due to replants. I have yet to see the roads loaded up with trucks but I know it is coming.
Fertilizer prices keep going up and as more corn is shelled the amount of P and K that is going to get spread keeps going down. After a big hurry to get tonnage for prepay lots of folks are just not going to spread that much fertilizer this fall it seems.
Wheat acres are down it would appear. I say that now but know that a quick bump in the price will bring out more seed and more planting pretty fast. Corn prices have everyone looking to Dec 12 and not July 12. That being said there is also a lot of PP acres of DC Beans that will not get wheat planted back on it.
And last but not least……….the economy and the lack of direction and leadership out of Washington DC is weighting heavy on a lot of folks. Enough bad news beats down on everyone. Even in the Ag community where things are bright from a $ standpoint. This country needs a warm fuzzy reason to have hope and I fear we are not going to get more than a cold slimy from Washington for a while to come.
Why is buying fall fertilizer always a panic?
I realize I am pretty simple minded, or at least I think I am. So it mystifies my simple mind when every year about this time we have a panic attack initiated by the fertilizer dealers.
Prices are going up, buy now before we run out, I dont know what its going to cost me to replace what I have in inventory, we dont know about the supply. Panic Panic Panic. The sky is falling.
I realize in some years that these statements might be true. But as with the little boy who cried wolf, I aint buying it anymore. I mean I am buying fall fertilizer, but I am not going to make a panic or impulse buy. For some reason I dont think the big dealers think you are going to make an impulse buy either. I think its just a way to lock in your business and not let you shop around for better prices or service.
I mean lets review: Dealers know what the crop outlook is for the area, they know how big the crop is or isnt and how likely you will be to buy based on yield. They know what the supply outlook is and delivery outlook is and they are going to buy and fill up based on this. They know what the outlooks are for financing and carry in the market. They know how much we buy based on economic factors, yield, new equipment cost etc.. In other words every dealers has a very good idea of how much they are going to sell and need to buy so there is really no need to panic to hurry up and make a purchase based on any of the above mentioned factors of why the salesman says you should buy.
So where is the panic? I don’t see it. Unless they are such poor managers that they don’t look at all these factors. If that’s the case, then they don’t need to be in the fertilizer business.
The only thing that the dealer doesnt know and we dont know is what the fall weather is going to be like. THAT will have an impact on what gets spread and what doesnt a much as yield and cost.
To be fair, my dealer hasn’t pushed the panic button on me yet and I don’t expect him to either. Its just funny watching the big Coops and big dealers sales people run around like chickens with their heads cut off yelling ” the sky is falling the sky is falling”.
Comments on N sampling results.
Thanks to Luke Baker, Agronomist at BLI for contributing to this post.
Just a follow up on the N testing and the trend we are seeing here in Southern Illinois. I continue to see PSNT (Pre Sidedress Nitrogen Test, the nitrogen test I am running to test for nitrate and ammonium N) return at values less than half the original amount applied. I have even seen samples return that are within the range of what we would see as “background noise” or what we would expect to see from a DAP application or from residual N from a legume.
Again this continues to be true of Anhydrous, Urea or Liquid, stabilizer or no stabilizer. The fields tested so far have ranged from those fields not planted or just planted to fields where the corn is ~ankle high or about three-four leave stage. N has been applied anywhere from mid March through Mid to late April prior to the rains at the end of April. I attribute this to mainly two factors: Soil temperatures above 60 deg F and half a years worth of rainfall over a two week period.
There have been claims that the pre-sidedress nitrogen test (PSNT) does not pick up on N that has been applied with N-Serve. This is wrong. All N-Serve does is “poison” microbes to stop nitrification. The PSNT measures ammonium and nitrate in the soil, thus, we will be able to measure any nitrate and ammonium that was applied as fertilizer because N-Serve only influences the microbiology. This is also true of other stabilizer for urea or liquid N. They do not keep the N from being detected in the testing procedure.
Could there have been loss of spring applied ammonium treated with a stabilizer? Most certainly. In a study done near Brownstown, Illinois (this is available on the N-Serve website) anhydrous was applied on March 15th and April 1st. Samples were taken on for ammonium and nitrate on May 13th and the found that for the March applied N 53% of the total was in the nitrate form when treated with N-Serve. This N is now available for loss. However, this is better than the sample not treated with N-Serve where 100% of the ammonium was all ready in the nitrate form. For the April application, both N-Serve and no N-Serve treatments showed a conversion of ammonium to nitrate of about 50%. In this case the N-Serve did not out perform just anhydrous alone.
Was there loss this spring? More than likely yes. How do we know? When PSNT’s come back low we know there was a loss. For example, if 200 pounds of N was applied in April and the PSNT results come back 20 ppm nitrate and 5 ppm ammonium there was loss. Typical background levels of soil nitrate and ammonium are aroud 5 to 8 ppm for nitrate and 1 to 4 ppm for ammonium. The field that had 200 pounds of N put on is now only showing 100 pounds of N (20 ppm + 5 ppm x 4 [4 is the depth factor] = 100 pounds of N per acre). Also, if the N-Serve was still being effective we would see much higher ammonium levels (25 to 40 or more ppm of ammonium) than we did in the above example.
Once N is in the nitrate form it can rapidly be lost to leaching and denitrification under saturated conditions (which you guys here in Southern Illinois had for many days at the end of April first portion of May). Most of the PSNT analyses that I have looked at from Southern Illinois appear as if farmers are going to come up short on N even though they applied 150 to 200 pounds of N as anhydrous with a stabilizer.
In fact, some samples have had complete loss of N because the PSNT is showing only normal background levels of soil N (8 ppm of nitrate and 1 to 2 ppm of ammonium). In these soils, another 150 pounds or so is likely to be needed for good corn yield. These fields have corn that was just planted or just coming up.
Do I need more N? Most likely yes. In my above example showing 100 pounds of N per acre, 80 of those were in the form of nitrate. If the weather continues wet this N can be lost rather quickly too. One recommendation that I heard was to “fly on” urea at tasseling. This would give you quite a bit of bang for you buck. However, you need rainfall to get the urea into the soil. If the weather turns dry…as I heard that it might the urea would just sit on the surface and volatilize (be lost to the air), which does your corn no good. Side dressing N now or later with a high boy so that it gets into the soil is a much better option. If sidedressing now, it may be wise to use a stabilizer to limit N loss if weather is expected to stay wet for another few weeks.
Who needs Vegas when you can be a farmer? Don’t guess or rely on the past to assume what is left in your fields. This year you are going to be very short.
Don’t guess, soil test.
First Shot of N on Wheat
Got the first shot of nitrogen on the wheat yesterday. Applied 50 units with Agrotain. Two good things about yesterdays N app: First the ground was frozen and two the sprayer got rid of the “sky carp”.
I shouldn’t complain, these geese were Canadians and not Snows. So the damage is very minimal. A Canadian will only eat a little bit off of each plant because they want to come back and eat again someday. A Snow will pull the plant up and chew on it and then spit it out. I have no use for Snows, but the Canadians are pretty and fun to watch. Either way this year I am glad they are gone so people will quit asking to hunt them!
Shortly after this picture was taken it started to snow, as in precipitation, no geese. Got about an inch. It wont last long, to be in the high 40′s to low 50′s by Sunday.
NRCS Photos Reveal Custom App Problems
“My corn yields suck. They have sucked for the last three years, something is wrong and I need you to soil test them.” A Pretty straight forward comment from a grower and one of the numerous valid reasons why we should be doing soil testing.
But the soil tests show nothing is really wrong. Field observation at time of soils sampling shows that nothing is really wrong. So your mind begins to wonder, what could be wrong.
Then the “Oh My Gosh” moment happens, when you process the sample maps from the GPS.
The NRCS color compliance photos that are taken each summer are what I use for backgrounds on the soil sample maps I produce for my customers. They are very useful tools if you know how to manipulate them for something other than a pretty picture. A simple color photo can be used to direct soil sampling or detect problems if you know how to look at them and manipulate them correctly. Well it didn’t take much manipulation to see what was wrong with corn yield in these fields.
Blow is the NRCS photo from 2009. The field was in corn that year, beans in 2010. Can anyone pick out the problem…………..if you look you can see where the custom applicator drove applying Urea pre plant prior to incorporation into the soil, as are the practices of this farmer. Those are the green strips, you can also see where he left the spreader on during turns on the headlands and if you look real close you can see where he ran out going across the field.
In 2009, on this particular farmer’s farm, 80% of the corn fields have this pattern in them. In other words 80% of his corn acreage was spread with a problem. We can determine that the strips are ~50 ft wide from center of green to center of green. So we have either have an issue with the truck or with application width or both. Then again maybe even more problems than that.
When we manipulate the maps by changing the color bandwidth, we can estimate that 50% of this field never got any N. 50% of this farmer’s corn never got a fighting chance to develop to its fullest potential.
And it wasn’t just 2009. It happened in 2008 and I am told that yields were bad this year in 2010. But we will have to wait until July next year to get the 2010 NRCS photos to confirm that the problem still exist.
Let me be clear, the Custom Applicator here has a problem that needs to be fixed, but it is not a slam or indictment on just this Applicator. Note I said Applicator……..Custom or Personal, it could happen to anyone. This is why we need to always check not only the job of those we hire to perform but also our own spreading, spraying and other applications. It is important to do pan test on spreaders, nozzle checks on sprayers and make sure you have the application width correct for any device you operate.
It is important to get as applied maps made of not only what is custom applied but what you and your hired men do. Keep those app files, those guidance lines those planter records. Keep and ANALYZE it all.
To quote the theme from the Six Million Dollar Man: “we have the technology, we can rebuild him”.
Folks we have the technology; spreaders, sprayers, GPS and NRCS photos. From high tech to low tech but we have the technology so USE THEM to insure that you and those you hire are doing the best job possible on your farm today. The volatility and risk are too much just to assume that all is well
Back to work
Just finished a drive back from Phoenix, all 1600 miles of it, and now its time to get back to work. But first some random thoughts this morning.
We have had about .75 of an inch of rain from the storm that went thought this morning. I really hope that’s enough to get the wheat to come up. It has been a long time between rains here, like August I think, so we needed every drop.
I continue to watch with great humor the liberal left eat their young and euthanize their old: The Juan Williams firing. NPR really messed up this time and I think it is going to hurt them were it hurts the most, their pocket book.
The President seems to be using racial slurs now to describe the Republican Party at some campaign stops. Note that NPR or the other three letter left wing news organizations aren’t picking it up and reporting it. The national double standard continues for this President.
In driving back from Phoenix all you heard on the radio was campaign ads. Negative ones at that, and they all sounded the same, from one race to the next, from one market to the next, from one state to the next. Sad, sad, sad. Its no wonder good people don’t run for office.
I continue to be amazed at the lack of service that one can get at equipment dealerships, fertilizer dealerships, chemical reps and so forth. Get the money and don’t worry about the customer. I am lucky in one respect, I have a good fertilizer/chem dealer who takes care of me, even if they are an hour away. TC and the folks at Browns Feed and Chemical at Galatia have once again done a great job spreading P and K, as well as my lime. Good job guys!
Learned yesterday that Miles Farm Supply/Opticrop has sold to CPS. Really sorry to hear that. I liked Miles and Opticrop and the jobs they did. CPS doesn’t have a good track record down here. Will have to wait and see what happens in the transition.
Time to go, more later.
Lots and lots of VRT
There seems to be the greatest interest in VRT this fall. From lime to P and K producers who never gave VRT a second thought seem to be fascinated with doing it. Its about time for many of them.
With fertilizer cost where they are and the prospect of a below normal or less than normal crop in many areas because of the heat this summer producers are looking for small ways to cut back on cost. This is funny in some ways because not to long ago when Potash spiked at $1200/t producers either put some on or didn’t put any on at all. In that year I wrote many a VRT recommendation, more than I had ever done, but it still is nothing compared to this year. This year has seed a whole new level of interest.
I think that we have found our point of “balance” between the price of an input and yield. Kind of like $4 gas for our cars. When gas gets to a point we watch our trips and how much we run in the tank. When gas is $2.50 we buy gas and don’t think to much of all the running around we do. But when gas is $3.00 we all at once buy gas and watch were we go because we know we are only going to buy what we need at $4.00.
So I think we have reached that balance here in Southern Illinois. Price is to the right of the middle. Its not as high as it has been but its going up. Yields are average to below average. So between the two, farmers say lets buy but lets buy with caution and apply it in a conservative manner. And VRT fits that line of thinking.
This is not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination.
Wheat, Beans and Fertilizer
Well the Russian drought has caused all kinds of panic in the wheat markets that have pulled the corn and bean markets along with them. However the basis has widened each day so the flat price has stayed the same. But that has not deterred people from jumping back on the wheat band wagon. Seed is getting scarce around here.
People dont understand how something like the Russians can cause the wheat price in Illinois to go up. Hey folks, we are all connected now. As Disney says so well, Its a small, small world!
I got jury duty over with yesterday evening late and spent today trying to get back the three days I lost to my civic duty. I made some progress with a computer project started and near finished, got the sprayer out and got two loads of weed killer down on the double crop beans, two more to go, and got the wheat sampled to send off for a germ test.
Well it was a good start, anyway. I think that got me only three and a half days behind instead of four……….
I have got to get with my trucker and get some lime ordered. Soil test show that I need to spread some lime this fall. I hope it is dry enough to get the job done this year. I have also got my N, P and K fertilizer ordered for the wheat ground that I intend to plant. Prices on inputs are creeping up at a fair pace around here right now.
Tomorrow I hope to finish up the last two loads of spraying so we can put that to bed for the year. Then its off to the Surgeon to see about my shoulder……….not something I am looking forward to by the way. After that I need to spend some time on the phone, lime spreader to contact, seed cleaner to contact, seed treater to contact and last but not least is to get ready for Saturday.
Saturday is, I was informed today, yard day here at Robertson World Wide Headquarters. Which is necessary, it’s time for more than just a mowing………but not something I am looking forward to. However she who must be obeyed has spoken. I am wondering who will figure out how to sneak off first, me or the kids.
Now He Wants Your Fertlizer
Seems like Obama wants to regulate your fertilizer now farmers.
First your health care, now your banking and next your fertilizer.
Just cant wait for him to come after our guns…………
For Immediate Release: Contact: Kathy Mathers May 6, 2010 (202) 515-2703 The Fertilizer Institute Disputes Assertions Regarding Fertilizers in President’s Panel ReportWashington, D.C. – The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) issued the following statement today regarding the inclusion of fertilizers in a report by President Barack Obama’s Cancer Panel titled “Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk, What we Can do Now.”
“The Fertilizer Institute is unaware of any scientific information that warrants fertilizers’ mention in this report, when in fact the nutrients found in fertilizers are required by all living organisms.
Further, the references to fertilizer in the report released today are contrary to the available body of literature which demonstrates that fertilizers have a positive effect on human health by enhancing the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables.
Finally, all major fertilizer products have been proven safe after rigorous human health and ecological toxicity testing. The results of these tests were successfully submitted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into an international database of chemicals managed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.”
The Fertilizer Institute represents the nation’s fertilizer industry. Producers, wholesalers, retailers and trading firms which comprise its membership are served by a full time Washington, D.C., staff in various legislative, educational and technical areas as well as with information and public relations programs.
How many more years of this jerk do we have before the next election anyway? He is like Balgo, cant find anyone anymore who voted for him……………
Friday out the back door picture…..
I am in the corn field, applying anhydrous. Or side-dressing anhydrous to be more technical. Fields are about 80% right, with the swags still wet. Wit the weather forecast they will get wetter, so its time to roll.
So slow posting until I am done.
Here is a bit of a teaser for the auto steer video. Guess where the auto steer was used and where it wasn’t………….
Choice A
Choice B
