In 1993, Helena Agri-Enterprises, LLC, began operations in Osmond, Nebraska, and Tom Wingert began his career there as a machine operator. Today, Wingert is the branch manager, leading a team that helps growers throughout a 70-mile radius to optimize corn and soybean yield on both irrigated and dryland acres.
Although the organization has remained focused on grower success built upon the company motto, “People…Products …Knowledge…®”, Wingert has seen significant changes in the tools, technology and information Helena uses to help growers.
“When I started, we made decisions based on composite soil samples from each field,” Wingert said. “Today, we work with AGRIntelligence® Solutions, a platform of precision products that brings all of a farmer’s data together. We can show them what’s happening in each field from the time we take a soil sample all the way through to harvest. For some growers, we have field data going back as far as 15 years.
“Using the AI360® decision-making capability within AGRIntelligence and the data from each field, we can be much more accurate when placing the right hybrids on the right acre. It also shows us where we might cut back a little on fertilizer, for example, without impacting yield or where adding another product will help us increase yield.”
In-season analysis of within-plant nutrients gains grower favor.
AGRIntelligence includes eight tools that can be used separately or combined to help growers make more-informed decisions to maximize yield.
Among these tools is Extractor®, a tissue sampling technology from Helena Agri-Enterprises that is increasingly popular with customers.
“Analyzing a leaf sample from the plant gives us a report card on that crop, so we know if it’s short on nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium or specific micronutrients,” Wingert said. “Just because the nutrient is in the soil, doesn’t mean it is available and being taken up by the plant.”
Tissue samples are typically taken from corn twice during the season, as early as V4 or V5 and again up to tassel.
“Every hybrid behaves differently in every soil type. Some hybrids need potassium late in the season. Some need nitrogen late in the season,” Wingert said. “When the plant is short of an essential nutrient, it will not yield up to its genetic potential.
“With the tissue sample results, we know where we’re at and can adjust what we’re doing to maximize yield — adjustments like applying a foliar phosphate or nitrogen.”
Tissue samples expose trends that undercut yield.
Now armed with five, and sometimes six, years of tissue sample data, the Helena team is seeing some interesting and telltale trends. For example, based on less than optimum phosphate levels in some of the samples, it’s evident that growers have cut back on phosphate applications.
“We’ve helped farmers adjust for this by applying phosphate as a foliar treatment early in the season,” Wingert said. “Our trials and our growers’ on-farm results have proven the timely application of our Ele-Max® Hi-Phos foliar product is an effective way to make the plant happy and maximize yield when phosphate prices are high. This is just one example of what our programs help us do with data.”
Products and partnerships round out efforts to maximize yield on every acre.
Beyond the people and knowledge that support Helena Agri-Enterprises’ customers, products and partnerships round out the organization’s commitment to maximizing yield on every acre, for every customer.
“Our success is built on strong relationships with supplier partners who are aligned with our customers’ needs,” Wingert said. “For the past 33 years, Corteva Agriscience has been an outstanding partner, providing the products, expertise and support that help us deliver value and results for growers every season.”
Wingert expects a lot from partners. “I look at who is coming to us with new innovations, explaining how new chemistry and/or technologies are going to work, and making it simple for us to educate our customers to give them the best return on their investment in products,” he said. “That’s what we’re looking for from our partners.”
To learn more about Helena Agri-Enterprises, visit Corteva.us/TurnrowTalk.
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