Ken Ferrie’s Big 10 Agronomic Lessons

1. Soybeans respond to environment; they don’t always respond to management.

No crop is more influenced by the natural environment (weather) than soybeans. That’s why you’ll see soybean yields vary by only 5 bu. per acre or so over a wide area, despite a range of field conditions (physical) and management practices (human). You can’t change the natural environment, but you can minimize its risk. 

2. Soybean population is more about weed control than yield.

Want to reduce soybean planting populations but still produce high yields. It all depends on the specific cards in your hands. Some of those cards are dealt by Mother Nature, and others you draw. If you're holding all the right cards with regard to soil, weather conditions, seed quality and weed pressure, those advantages will allow you to lower populations more readily. Here are seven considerations for determining soybean populations.

3. Early planting of soybeans, encouraging pre-solstice flowering and more nodes, is one way to push bean yields, but it comes with risk.

The goal of early soybean planting is to get plants to flower before the summer solstice on June 21. A warm April makes this much easier to accomplish, but a cold April and early May might not result in enough Growing Degree Days to reach the unifoliate stage before the critical photoperiod passes. These eight tips will help you gauge the risks and rewards. 

4. Corn responds to management. Better management in the field equals better yields.

By understanding when and how yield is determined, you can make more profitable decisions throughout the growing season. Here's a list of how your management decisions on everything from hybrid selection and rotation to planting and harvest timing can swing yields.

 5. Soils must be vertical, allowing roots to travel out and down and water to move up and down to achieve the highest yields.

Creating an ideal seed bed and soil conditions can help offset the uncertainty and unpredictability of climate and weather. To do that requires eliminating subsurface density layers resulting in the free flow of water, nutrients and roots through the soil. Eliminating changes in soil density takes tools — the freeze-thaw cycle won’t fix it even for no-till ground. Learn more about how to go vertical and manage the subsurface environment. 

6. Uniform corn stands are the foundation of higher yields.

More ears at harvest is the key to higher yield. That requires starting with a picket-fence stand with photocopied plants, achieved by adjusting your planter as conditions change from field to field and within fields. Follow these nine steps to a perfect stand. 

 7. The two biggest factors revealed by yield maps are: water management and hybrid selection.  

Managing a hybrid means protecting it from stress, which impacts yield no matter when it occurs during the growing season. That’s why Ferrie says, “Never let corn have a bad day.” Preventing bad days requires taking advantage of a hybrid’s strengths and farming around its weaknesses.

8. Learning hybrid characteristics is a game changer related to correct hybrid placement.

Farming today is more than shooting for big yields. Instead, you must look past average field yields and realize the lower-yielding areas are holding down the average. The key to higher production — and more efficient input use — is to identify the stress in each field and manage around it. It starts with choosing the right hybrid and population for each management zone.

9. Nitrogen is still king of corn.

A 200-bu.-per-acre corn crop consumes 330 lb. to 350 lb. of nitrogen per acre. Know your soil’s nitrogen-supplying power to fine-tune application rates. The tools, knowledge and information for razor-sharp nitrogen planning are readily available, but you need to understand when your corn plants need nitrogen because not all hybrids have the same requirements. 

10. Never let corn have a bad day.