It’s easy to look around and see how agriculture impacts our world. This might be one of the reasons you chose a career in production agriculture. Even though you love your chosen career path, it doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges out there every day. The difference between the successful growers and the ones who aren’t as successful is how they approach the challenges that come their way.

The best way to solve a challenge is by looking at the opportunities behind the challenge and then taking control of your own destiny. The following are three very different challenges, but each with opportunities for you to succeed.

1. Shrinking profit margins

We will start with this one because it is a big one and most likely related either directly or indirectly to all your other challenges. This is a great opportunity to take back as much control as you can. We understand that you can’t control the prices of commodities directly, but you do have an opportunity to manage the price volatility.

The first step is to understand your breakeven cost of production. Do you know what it costs you to produce a bushel of the product you plan to grow next season? If not, today is the day to start figuring it out, as that knowledge will help you with this challenge and many future ones.

If you need help, consult a professional who can help you look at your individual scenario and figure out the numbers. Your lender might be a great place to start, but there are also other farm management resources you can look to such as the USDA Farm Services Agency (FSA). They have offices in every state and in many counties within those states.

Once you know your breakeven, take the appropriate marketing options when pricing hits that level or higher. There is not one correct answer for all growers, so look at a plan that will make you successful. If you need help, there are professionals who will help you or attend a class or meeting on crop marketing in your area. The Cooperative Extension Service has county offices throughout the country. Many offer these types of classes or can provide you with information about how to find them.

2. Determining What Crops to Grow Next Season

As you are looking at your own business situation, you will review the different crops for your area and your breakeven cost of production for each of these crops.

This will be a big step in helping you determine what the best crops will be for you to produce next season.

In addition, consider other variables related to that crop as you make your decision, including equipment needs, crop nutrition and crop protection inputs that will help you achieve your yield goals.

You will also want to look at historical yields for the crop to see what opportunities exist. A best practice is to not always count on higher yields to offset lower prices, but to always strive to get the best yield possible. With that in mind, make sure you keep fertility and crop protection as an important part of your plan.

Plan early so you have a chance to take advantage of any seasonal or pre-pay discounts that your retailer may offer on seed, fertilizer and crop protection products as it may be financially better for your operation if you are able to make commitments earlier and save money on input costs.

3. The New Herbicide and Trait Technologies

Sometimes bigger decisions within our industry create challenges for you as an individual grower. An example of one important challenge currently facing many soybean growers is the new herbicide and trait technologies that have been approved or are in the process of being approved for the 2017-growing season.

As with any changes, there are always a lot of unknowns out there. However, there is also the opportunity to achieve better things with the new opportunities that technology brings. Weed management is very important topic within the ag industry. Information on this topic is available regularly from a variety of resources including university researchers and industry organizations, large manufacturers and the USDA. Make sure you stay informed and use the knowledge from these resources to help you make decisions for your own operation.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or don’t understand all the requirements and procedures related to the new products and technologies, reach out to our team. We can help you use the information to help you achieve your own operational goals.

Original Source: Leaders of In-Furrow Technology, West Central

Delegates to the CHS Annual Meeting have approved amendments to the CHS Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. The amendments created a new membership class structure and criteria.

“We appreciate our owners’ commitment to the governance of the company they own, as evidenced by their strong interest in the proposed changes to the core CHS governing documents” says CHS Board Chairman David Bielenberg. “Having a voice in the governance of the company you own and do business with is an essential point of difference of the cooperative business model.”

The two resolutions – one amending the company’s articles and the other amending the CHS bylaws – each received a “yes” vote of more than 86 percent.

When the CHS Board reconvenes in 2017, it will work to develop procedures regarding implementation and for members to periodically certify their ongoing eligibility for their membership class. “We are committed to keeping members fully informed,” Bielenberg says.

Steve Fritel, chairman of the CHS Board’s Governance Committee, says the board took its commitment to communication seriously by listening to owners, keeping the proposed changes simple and ensuring there was time for learning and conversation.

“Our goal is always to ensure that CHS remains an agricultural-focused and producer-governed cooperative,” Fritel said. “At the same time, we also recognize we must accommodate our current members as they change to stay relevant to their customers. Our articles and bylaws need to line up with the ways our members do business today, while recognizing the strong heritage of the member cooperatives who built today’s CHS.”

View details of the new membership classes on the CHS Governance page.

Growers are often called stewards of the land, and with the supply and demand increasing at a rapid pace they are also looked upon to produce higher quantities of food and grain in the same amount of time, all while protecting the environment.

Thanks to today’s innovative technology, environmental concerns including soil erosion, animal welfare and nutrient runoff can be minimized or prevented.

Farms are becoming increasingly progressive and the use of technology has made farming practices more sustainable to the environment than we have ever seen in history.

Improvements in technology continue to help growers with their environmental stewardship efforts, including:

Precision Maps: Growers are using location-specific information about soil, nutrients, moisture and yield to help them make educated decisions about fertilizer placement and application levels. This contributes to smarter use of nutrients such as nitrogen, which helps reduce nitrogen runoff and leaching.

• GPS: Today, most tractors and many other types of farming equipment are guided by GPS signals, improving the accuracy of their route for planting, fertilizing and harvesting crops.
• Farm Equipment: Improved equipment features help growers work faster, but also smarter. Upgraded planter technology allows growers to adjust seed rates and plant multiple varieties throughout their fields without stopping their planter – improving the yield, but also allowing farmers to account for different soil types and conditions throughout their fields to improve environmental stewardship efforts. Tractors, combines and other equipment have been designed to be more fuel-efficient and operate with lower environmental footprints. Sprayers have been designed to provide more accurate product application and more efficient product usage to help farmers maximize the products they are using in their fields.
• Soil Sensors and UAVs: Growers are also using sensors to measure moisture, chemical and biological properties in their soil and drones (UAVs) with cameras and sensors attached to them to help leverage environmental stewardship practices and improve crop yield to meet the growing demand for food production.

An Industry-wide Priority

Growers and ag business professionals know the importance of protecting our environment and leaving it in better condition for the future.

To recognize these efforts, many state organizations have implemented agricultural environmental leadership awards to annually highlight innovative farm practices throughout the country. National industry associations such as The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) have also implemented programs to recognize environmental leaders. Their 4R Advocates program encourages ag retailers to recognize their growers who are leading the way with exceptional nutrient stewardship practices. Winners are named 4R Advocates and help TFI share insight and success stories from the field level.

Environmental stewardship requires using fewer resources, developing new ideas and managing current resources provided by the environment to help protect the land. Protecting the world we live in is everybody’s responsibility, but farmers, ag retailers and ag industry professionals and trade organizations are proudly leading the way.

Original Source: Leaders of In-Furrow Technology, West Central

Image courtesy United Soybean Board

There are a number of factors that need to be considered when selecting a seed variety, and it’s no easy task for growers these days. Below are some considerations for seed selection, for soybeans and for corn.

Soybeans

1. When selecting soybean seed for the upcoming planting season, the first factor to take into account is the maturity rating of the soybean you’re selecting. Selecting a seed variety that’s well suited to your geography enables the crop to move through its lifecycle efficiently in a way that best matches its environment. Selecting the correct maturity rating allows the crop to take full advantage of the growing season in your area and helps maximize your yield potential.
   A bean with too early of a maturity rating for your geography can leave yield potential on the table by not taking advantage of the additional growing days. On the other hand, if you select a variety with too late of a maturity rating for your geography, you risk the beans not reaching physiological maturity before the frost. Knowing how a variety will work within your specific geographic conditions help strike a balance that will aid in procuring the highest potential yield for your crop.

 

2. Yield performance, what a specific variety is capable of producing in your geography, is also an important consideration when selecting seed. Advances in plant breeding and the genetics in available varieties are continually improving and pushing the yield potential higher and higher. As a grower, you should be trying to select varieties that are the best available, based on the maturity rating for their region as well as some of the following important factors.

 

3. Disease and pest tolerance is another critical consideration for maximizing yield. Diseases like white mold, sudden death syndrome (SDS) and soybean cyst nematode (SCN) can be better managed by selecting varieties with tolerance to such diseases.

 

4. It is also important to consider the potential for iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) in your geography as you are selecting your seed. IDC can be a crippling situation, when growing soybeans in soils prone to IDC. Selecting a bean variety that performs better in IDC-prone soils can help tremendously on those affected acres.

 

5. A more recent, but very important determining factor in bean selection is the growing pressure of resistant weeds. If you have encountered weed-resistance problems personally or even if weed resistance is a problem in your area, you may want to consider the new traits available for soybean varieties. Over the last year, the industry has seen the emergence of 2, 4-D and dicamba tolerant traits. These traits offer the ability to apply a new class of herbicide chemistry to soybeans allowing growers to battle back against current weed resistance problems. The new herbicide chemistries are currently being approved or in the process of being approved by the EPA to be applied over the top of the new trait soybeans. The new soybean traits have the most advanced genetics package and have been reported in many cases to produce impressive yields across several maturity groups.

Corn

Corn hybrid selection comes with similar, but a slightly separate set of challenges.

1. When selecting a corn hybrid, it is also important to consider the maturity rating of the hybrid for your growing region. You need to ask yourself if the specific hybrid that you are considering fits into your region’s maturity rating.Selecting a hybrid that fits into the growing degree days and maturity rating for your geography allows you to take advantage of the longest growing season to maximize your hybrid’s yield potential. Similar to soybeans, by selecting a hybrid with an earlier maturity means that you aren’t able to capitalize on all the potential growing days and might miss out on a higher yielding crop. Selecting too late of a maturity rating risks the chance of your crop not reaching physiological maturity before the first frost in your area.

 

2. Corn yields in the United States have been consistently increasing around two bushels per year, so you should always be seeking out and selecting hybrids that will help you achieve the best yield potential for your region. This is an important factor to revisit with new genetic packages available each year.

 

3. To help your crop perform to its best potential, you should consider disease and insect pressures in your area when making hybrid selections, including the potential for stalk rot, Northern Corn Leaf Blight, or Goss’s Wilt. By selecting a hybrid with tolerances to the diseases and insects that are the most prevalent in your geographic area, you will help your crop reach its maximum yield.

 

4. A fourth factor when considering corn hybrid selection is the standability of the hybrid. A hybrid’s ability to withstand lodging at your desired plant population is critical to achieving high yields.

As a grower, you work hard caring for your crop throughout the growing season. Make sure you maximize your yield and profit potential by keeping these considerations in mind as you make your selections for the upcoming season.
Original Source: Leaders of In-Furrow Technology, West Central

Nutrient management is as important in fall as it is at planting.

Growers considering a fall anhydrous ammonia application can take measures to make the most out of their fertilizer investment, while supporting nitrogen management best practices, says Eric Scherder, Ph.D., field scientist, Dow AgroSciences.

“Nitrogen isn’t a one-time event,” Scherder says. “There has to be forethought about how to manage it today and tomorrow.”

Growers who are serious about reducing nitrate loss into groundwater can take steps when making fall applications. These steps include evaluating application methods, paying attention to temperature and using a nitrogen stabilizer to reduce nitrate loss due to leaching and denitrification.

Important Considerations Before Fall Application

There are best management practices growers can follow this fall to optimize fertilizer applications.

In the fall, let temperature drive timing. Fall nitrogen applications should be based on soil temperature, not calendar date, Scherder says. Wait to apply nitrogen until soil temperatures drop below 50 F.

“Nitrosomonas bacteria, which converts ammonium nitrogen to the nitrate form that’s susceptible to loss, are active until soils reach freezing temperatures; however, their activity is significantly reduced once soil temperatures drop below 50 degrees,” Scherder says. “This is important to consider when making fall applications to protect that investment.”

To learn more about nutrient management visit with our agronomy team today.

With continuing economic pressures on commodity prices and the ongoing need to increase yield, maximizing nutrient efficiency is becoming an even more critical component. This is also an ongoing challenge for growers as they are typically looking at their current crop while already planning for the next season.

The key to healthy plant nutrition and optimum crop production is a balance of all the essential nutrients, which is obtained by managing fertility and nutrient availability factors like proper placement, targeted timings and appropriate use rates to ensure nutrient availability throughout the season. In order to maximize crop production, growers need to provide all key macro and micronutrients for their plants at the appropriate time they are needed.

Growers can’t do it alone and it’s crucial they get the most out of their fertilizer, and take a look at the positive return on their crop nutrient investment. This is also important for retailers, as they want to maintain profitability within their business, but also to look out for their grower customers’ best interests too. Even in times of lower commodity prices, crop fertility is very important to maintain optimum conditions for the crops, to maximize their yield potential.

Two Key Factors:

Phosphorus
The first focus to achieve nutrient efficiency is to effectively leverage the nutrients already present in the soil and in the fertilizer that you apply — specifically phosphorus. Phosphorus is a critical macronutrient with a huge impact on increasing yields, and includes an important energy-producing molecule found in all living cells called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). But unlike other nutrients, phosphorus has extremely limited soil mobility, and consistently gets tied up in the soil becoming unavailable for plant uptake.

A Full-Season Job

With increased understanding and knowledge of nutrient uptake, growers can now move beyond the common practice of fertilizing acres to a strategy where they are fertilizing plants. This strategy helps match a plant’s life cycle with in-furrow application for better emergence and makes sure that plants have the necessary nutrients available as needed.

Solution: New Chelate Technology

This is where an effective chelating agent is critical for growers. Chelates are not new and there have been several common types available for decades. Throughout the years there have been significant advances in chelate technology in addition to an understanding of how each chelate works and its impact.

A new chelate technology now available for growers is Levesol DFC – the only chelate that is strong enough and stable enough to remain in the soil for the length of time that allows for increased solubility and uptake and can be impregnated onto dry fertilizer. Levesol DFC has an extremely unique chemical structure that sets it apart from all other chelate products on the market, and provides a three-mode action plan to ensure nutrient efficiency throughout the entire season:

1. Unlocks the nutrients it’s applied with
2. Unlocks the nutrients in the soil – Levesol DFC unlocks essential nutrients and increases the availability of phosphorus by up to 47%
3. Unlocks the nutrients like phosphorus in the plant all season long adding more grain and increasing grower’s yields.

Contact us today to learn more about nutrient efficiencies.

Original Source: Leaders of In-Furrow Technology, West Central

The CHS Board has delayed implementation of the company’s new individual equity redemption program, a decision made following its regular review of the CHS equity management program.

“This decision was made as we considered a number of factors, including our commitment to balance sheet management and the current economic cycle,” says CHS Board Chairman Dave Bielenberg. “CHS remains financially sound and profitable, but as we navigate this economic cycle, the board believes this delay was appropriate as we continue to take a long-term view in managing equity redemptions.”

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1. What Are Spray Adjuvants?

Adjuvants aren’t new — in fact, they’ve been around as long as herbicides. However, with the recent conversations about the new trait and herbicide technologies, adjuvants are getting a lot more discussion, as they rightfully should.

With the upcoming changes, it is now even more important to make sure you are using the proper adjuvants to ensure your herbicide application is as effective as possible and to help minimize the development of herbicide resistant weeds.

Let’s start with the basics:

A spray adjuvant is a broad term encompassing any product added to the spray tank to help increase herbicide performance. Adjuvant products can take a number of forms, including surfactants, water conditioners, defoamers, oils, drift control agents, or any combination of these.

Adjuvants are a critical part of a crop protection strategy because they help ensure herbicides work as effectively as possible, ultimately protecting the grower’s investment.

Today, herbicide effectiveness is more important than ever. Currently there are a number of weed biotypes that have become resistant to some of the existing herbicide technology.

As a result, the ag industry has developed new herbicide technologies to help control resistant weeds and minimize the spread of these biotypes. In addition new trait technologies have been developed to create varieties that are tolerant to the new herbicide technologies.

In fact, industry experts estimate up to 20 million acres (1 in 4 U.S. soybean fields) will include these herbicide tolerant traits during the 2017 season and up to 70 million acres will include these traits over the next five years.

Because of these anticipated adoption rates, it’s important to know what the different adjuvant characteristics are designed to accomplish, and the best available options.

2. Navigating Adjuvants

Below is a breakdown of the various types of adjuvant characteristics and how they help herbicide efficacy:

Surfactants

• The word surfactant comes from the phrase “surface active agents.”
• Since most adjuvants are applied as a foliar application, it’s important for the spray droplet to spread out evenly to wet the entire surface area. Surface area is critical, as it increases the physical reach of the herbicide on the plant.
• It’s important to strike the right balance with a surfactant. Using too much can cause runoff that decreases effectiveness of the herbicide as well as crop injury.

Water Conditioners or Buffering Agents

• Molecules in hard water can bind with active ingredients in herbicides, potentially lowering the effectiveness of the product.
• Agents that act as buffers can alter the water pH and create a stabilizing effect in the tank.

Defoamers

• Adjuvant products that contain defoamers can reduce the amount of foam that certain herbicides generate within a spray tank, making the application process smoother.

Oils

• Adding an oil component can help the herbicide penetrate through a weed’s waxy exterior.

Drift Control

• Drift control agents can help adjust the overall droplet spectrum to minimize off-target application.
• Droplet size has a direct impact on a spray’s drift potential. Smaller droplets are more likely to drift off target and potentially damage neighboring crops or vegetation.

3. Best Practices for Selecting an Adjuvant

With a variety of adjuvants to choose from, you may wonder what’s the best way to select the most appropriate adjuvant to help you maximize herbicide efficacy. Here are some considerations when selecting an adjuvant:

1. Read your herbicide label carefully, every time you use it and always follow the label instructions. Formulations can change even within the same product, and the changes may alter which types of adjuvants are recommended for use with specific products.
2. Use adjuvants that are specifically developed for agricultural uses. Products developed for industrial use will not work, and may even hurt the quality of the herbicide.
3. Use adjuvants with characteristics that will help your herbicide be the most effective, but avoid mixing products together without doing a compatibility test. Even if a specific operation could benefit from the combination of a surfactant and a defoamer does not mean two separate products are compatible together or with the herbicide product.
4. Conduct a test first, especially if you’re unsure about your product combination. Jar tests or other methods of mixing can save you from having to clean sludge out of your tank.
5. Check to make sure the adjuvant is approved for use with the new herbicide. Check the product’s website for a list of approved adjuvants and learn as much as you can before using the product.
6. Talk to the experts. With the new herbicide and trait technology rapidly approaching, retailers and other agronomic professionals should communicate with their distributors to determine when to use a specific product.

4. The Future of Adjuvants

Working in tandem with emerging technology designed to battle resistant weeds, CHS has a new line of Pro Adjuvants to help maximize the effectiveness of your herbicide and work along with the new herbicide technology, while helping growers maintain stewardship with better drift control and lower volatility.

For more information contact your CHS Agronomist today.