Pick the fertilizer and pick the price pain. As nutrient prices climb to alarming levels, Jon Stevens’ decade-long series of input trials is paying dividends in 2022. The Minnesota grower adheres to a simple formula: The only data worth keeping is found on-farm.
“Don’t take anything off my farm, or anyone else’s, or any company claims as truth,” he stresses. “You can get some useful ideas, but ultimately what matters comes from your own rows and that means running trials to get the facts.”
Hot Lap
Located outside Rock Creek, in east central Minnesota, Stevens’ farm can catch a frost even in July or August, and his land is comprised of slightly rolling ground bounded by tree lines dating back to the mid-1800s. His main chunk of Pine County farmland runs a half-mile north and half-mile south, split by a sand ridge running through the middle of the property—roughly 10’ in elevation, as if nature tucked a roll of carpet beneath the middle of the fields.
Stevens works a total of 700 acres (strip till and no till) and grows corn and soybeans in 9” of sandy loam atop an infinite supply of yellow clay. His 9” of topsoil ranges from .5% to 3.5% in organic matter, with significantly low CEC in the tens and elevens.
“We had a really weird year in 2021, but strange scenarios are how farming goes. A little bit after planting, we had a couple inches of rain over several days. In any field with a dip or low spot, we got drown-out. After those heavy rains, the rest of year turned into a scary drought, but the biggest yield robber was germination death from drown-out in the spring.”
Stevens’ farmland was a hive of unconventional activity in 2021: strip tilling corn into alfalfa while testing multiple row configurations; adding more cattle grazing education; developing hay and pasture for a cattle retail section; and nitrogen reduction trials.
“Right now, we’re at about 50 cents per pound on P and K. We save $50 easy on P and K by going to strip till and banding fertilizer. Same on nitrogen, and we’re averaging $20-$30 less on nitrogen, and we’re looking at about $1 per Nitrogen credit.”
After several years of consistent fertility trials, Stevens has reached a point of management confidence. “In our soils, most of our ground has a P1 Bray above 10 that’s medium to low, so very rarely do you get much of a crop response by throwing out P and K. You just don’t get much crop response on our soils by pouring on fertilizer, except for N and sulfur.”
The math on standard broadcast fertilizer application alarms Stevens—just a few years in the past he was broadcasting phosphorus and potassium at 200 lb. per acre of a 9-23-30 mix, whether corn or soybeans. “Holy hell, the prices now are outrageous. If I was still broadcasting, I’d be paying $50 for each product per acre, and I’ll be on half that or even less this year.”
According to Stevens, 2021 fall fieldwork in his geography was standard, despite the rise in fertilizer costs. “Everybody is complaining of fertilizer prices, but I didn’t see guys moving from less fall-spread P and K to more in-season banded, next-to-plant application. No, I saw spreader after spreader, floater after floater, making hot lap after hot lap all fall long, at $1,000 per ton of P and K, on highly erodible ground. How many dollars wash away when the snowpack melts in spring?”
“I realize guys have to do what they feel is right for their farm, and nobody should take a word I say about fertility to the bank. But don’t forget, everyone has to discover what’s right for their farm, and that’s why you have to capture the answer in your own fertility trials.”
True to form, Stevens ran phosphorus and potassium check strips in 2021: no fertilizer added, half rate, full rate, and double rate. “As usual, I don’t see a consistent response and everything averages out to a statistical tie. That tells me I need to add P and K as maintenance only.”
Sleepless Nights
Many growers view fungicide and seed treatments as a low-price insurance policy for best yield. Not so with Stevens. The Minnesota farmer hasn’t used fungicide for four years. “In the past, I had sleepless nights when I changed from the norm on fungicide, insecticide, and seed treatments. I started doing the opposite from so many guys and I could feel the skeptical questions, even though I couldn’t always hear them.”
“I’ve never used insecticide as a preventive, but only applied as needed. On fungicide, we used to apply it every year, but then we started replicated trials in alternating strips across fields with hundreds of data points of check and never saw consistency, or a telltale response in yield or loss. If we need emergency rescue, we’ll use fungicide.”
Likewise, Stevens lost faith in broad acre seed treatment: “I had retailers tell me seed treatment was an absolute, but I noticed when we miscalculated on seed and needed a few bags to finish planting, the untreated seed showed the same yields. Today, I’ve got certain fields where I know the history and those fields get seed treatment, but overall, I don’t use uniform application of seed treatments.”
Clear Corn Difference
On population, Stevens plants soybeans relatively low at 100,000-120,000, and plants corn close to the norm at 30,000-36,000. “I’ve had dealers tell me my soybeans need to be ramped up to avoid germination issues, but I’ve never seen any difference at all.”
“For corn, in our area, I know population is very tied to yield. I read about guys in southern Minnesota or straight west of us saying how they had 120,000-140,000 bushel corn from a 15,000-20,000 population. We had a great weather year in 2016 and I had 20,000 population corn make 150,000 bushels, and my 36,000 population corn made 200 bushels—a clear difference according to population. Today I stick close to 30,000-36,000 population and I listen to the agronomist at Peterson Farms Seed. They are local breeders and that’s what a farmer needs.”
The Twist
A little failure goes a long way in learning, according to Stevens. When running multiple experiments each season, a failure is not uncommon: “One year I tried non-GMO soybeans planted green into a big, beautiful clover and grass crop, but it didn’t turn out well when a weather delay took away our ‘plan A’ for burndown and pre-emergent. We never did get caught up. Last year we tried yellow pea field and the wildlife literally ate the crop. Those kinds of lessons hurt, but they’re also very educational.”
What does Stevens have on tap for the upcoming crop season?
Essentially, half the farm is headed to diversification: “I’m going with an old-fashioned setup of rotations of small grains and hay, and then some of those fields will be a green manure crop for nitrogen.”
He will also launch several trials based on biological seed treatment and foliar application. “I have been listening to John Kempf, and he has lots of interesting data on foliar. There’s nothing truly new ever going on because our grandpas already learned these things. Instead, I just try to take things grandpa did and give them my own twist, and I always make sure I’m at least willing to try something new.”
To read more stories from Chris Bennett (cbennett@farmjournal.com), see:
Tractorcade: How an Epic Convoy and Legendary Farmer Army Shook Washington, D.C.
Bagging the Tomato King: The Insane Hunt for Agriculture’s Wildest Con Man
How a Texas Farmer Killed Agriculture’s Debt Dragon
While America Slept, China Stole the Farm
Bizarre Mystery of Mummified Coon Dog Solved After 40 Years
The Arrowhead whisperer: Stunning Indian Artifact Collection Found on Farmland
Where’s the Beef: Con Artist Turns Texas Cattle Industry Into $100M Playground
Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam
Skeleton In the Walls: Mysterious Arkansas Farmhouse Hides Civil War History
US Farming Loses the King of Combines
Ghost in the House: A Forgotten American Farming Tragedy
Rat Hunting with the Dogs of War, Farming’s Greatest Show on Legs
Misfit Tractors a Money Saver for Arkansas Farmer
Government Cameras Hidden on Private Property? Welcome to Open Fields
Farmland Detective Finds Youngest Civil War Soldier’s Grave?
Descent Into Hell: Farmer Escapes Corn Tomb Death
Evil Grain: The Wild Tale of History’s Biggest Crop Insurance Scam
Grizzly Hell: USDA Worker Survives Epic Bear Attack
Farmer Refuses to Roll, Rips Lid Off IRS Behavior
Killing Hogzilla: Hunting a Monster Wild Pig
Shattered Taboo: Death of a Farm and Resurrection of a Farmer
Frozen Dinosaur: Farmer Finds Huge Alligator Snapping Turtle Under Ice
Breaking Bad: Chasing the Wildest Con Artist in Farming History
In the Blood: Hunting Deer Antlers with a Legendary Shed Whisperer
Corn Maverick: Cracking the Mystery of 60-Inch Rows
Against All Odds: Farmer Survives Epic Ordeal
