Machinery drives input efficiency
Canadian farmer Kristjan Hebert needs a few extra hitch pins this planting season. His field rig is now more of a caravan than a single implement.
“In most of my drills, the front tank is liquid nitrogen, the air seeder is 80' wide on 12" spacing with a liquid phosphate tank on top, followed by a dry tank with potash, sulfur and phosphate,” Hebert says. “We apply each nutrient separately and all on a prescriptive basis.”
FOCUS ON ROI
Given the current challenges of availability and price, optimizing inputs is one way Hebert is pursuing profitability.
“Last year it was a bit drier in Canada, and our soil tests are coming back really weird,” Hebert says. “With that knowledge, we are tying our soil samples to our yield and elevation maps to build our prescriptions.”
Hebert says this precision system sounds complicated, but modern equipment makes it a nearly plug-and-play process.
“Producer ingenuity is really starting to show,” says Brian Arnall, an Extension precision nutrient management specialist at Oklahoma State University. “For instance, one of the things we see heavily in the Plains states is the utilization of air seeders as variable-rate fertilizer applicators.”
Research has shown, Arnall says, that depending on crop and soil type, the needed nutrient rate can be reduced by 33% or more simply by going from a broadcast application to a band. He says a more precise prescription method is the right choice in 2022.
“We know different areas of the field need different nutrients,” Arnall says. “Precision ag is nothing more than information, and good information leads to good management decisions.”
SET BUSHEL GOALS
In central Indiana, Erich Ellers of ForeFront Ag Solutions helps his customers set yield goals based on research and experience. For instance, he says, it typically takes 112 ears shelled to make a bushel of corn. He uses such information early in the season to make population or replant decisions.
“The past two years I’ve been flying some corn stand counts at V1 looking to see if we have the right populations,” Ellers says. “I can start to make decisions based on the number of plants out there and even begin putting yield goals to that crop in May.”
This is the year to be selective and apply inputs on an as-needed basis, agronomists and farmers agree.
“When we do a flat rate, we are overapplying in some areas and underapplying in others,” Arnall says. “On corn, it might make sense to pull back on your upfront inputs, if you haven’t applied already, and let the crop and the marketplace dictate it, so it’s an in-season decision.”
Read more from the “Win the Furrow” series.
