Indiana

Solving The Sulfur Shortage In High-Yield Soybean Systems

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:45:27 GMT

As more farmers push to plant soybeans early, one nutrient is emerging as a valuable difference-maker in the crop: sulfur. The macronutrient is helping deliver some of the largest yield responses Shaun Casteel says he has seen in recent field trials.

“Never would you think you’d see double-digit results, let alone 20-bushel numbers in soybean yield from one treatment,” says Casteel, Purdue University agronomist and Extension soybean specialist.

Yet that’s exactly what he has documented in some Indiana fields where supplemental sulfur was applied, especially in early planted soybean fields.

Why Sulfur Matters More Now

Sulfur is required by all crops, but Casteel says soybean needs are unique compared with grass crops like corn. In soybeans, sulfur is critical as a co-factor for nodulation, the biological process that allows soybean plants to use atmospheric nitrogen (N).

“If we don’t have good sulfur supply, we don’t have good nodulation and fixation,” Casteel explains. “If you’re sold short on nitrogen in soybeans, you’re sold short on yield in a major way.”

Historically, sulfur came “free” from the atmosphere and also from mineralization of organic matter in the soil. Cleaner air regulations have reduced atmospheric deposition, and Casteel says many farmers are starting to see sulfur shortages that weren’t obvious just as recently as a decade ago.

Historically, sulfur was readily available to soybeans via atmospheric deposition (acid rain) from industrial emissions, providing 10 to 30 lbs./acre annually. Due to the 1970 Clean Air Act reducing emissions by over 95%, this “free” source has disappeared, making sulfur supplementation essential to prevent deficiencies, especially on sandy soils, according to University Extension.

(Shaun Casteel)

The classic high-response situations for sulfur — coarse-textured, sandy soils with less than 2% organic matter — still stand out. But Casteel’s work is showing the story for sulfur doesn’t end there.

“I also have fields that are flat and black as a table, with 4% organic matter, where we’re getting sizable yield differences,” he says.

Early Planting Amplifies Sulfur Response

Casteel links some of the most dramatic sulfur responses to a broader trend across the country: earlier soybean planting.

In Indiana, planting patterns have shifted sharply in recent years. Soybeans that once went in the ground two weeks after corn are now being planted within a day or two of corn — and in many cases, are planted first.

Early planting improves yield potential by giving soybeans more time to develop nodes and reproductive branches. But it can also expose a weakness in the natural sulfur supply.

For those farmers chasing higher yielding soybeans, Shaun Casteel believes the use of supplemental sulfur deserves more consideration.

(Shaun Casteel)

Casteel points out that mineralization of sulfur from soil organic matter depends on microbial activity and warm temperatures. When soybeans are planted in late April or early May, Indiana soils – as week as soils in other states – are often too cool for the microbes to release much sulfur.

“In those cooler conditions, that mineralization really isn’t occurring,” he says.

Across multiple studies where planting date was combined with sulfur use, Casteel has seen consistently stronger responses in early-planted soybeans.

“We’ve got years that we’re averaging an 8- to 11-bushel response on prairie soil,” he says. In these trials, sulfur was (e.g., ammonium sulfate, pelletized gypsum, ammonium thiosulfate) applied pre at 20 pounds per acre during a 5-year period.

Beyond Fertility: A Surprising Disease Connection

Sulfur’s role may extend beyond delivering nutrition and helping fix nitrogen in soybeans. Casteel and his research team are seeing signs that sulfur helps reduce the severity of sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soybeans.

In a 2023 soybean trial, as Casteel began rating symptoms of SDS, he noticed a clear difference between sulfur-treated and untreated strips.

“We had good conditions for SDS development — cool, wet conditions during early vegetative growth. We had a marked, substantial reduction in SDS in those areas that had the sulfur treatment,” he recalls.

The unexpected result prompted a deeper look in 2024, when Casteel worked with Plant Pathologist Darcy Telenko on trials that combined planting dates, sulfur rates and SDS inoculation. Early data from those studies pointed in the same direction: soybeans receiving sulfur showed reduced disease expression.

“Beyond the fertility effect, beyond the fixation-boosting capacity that comes with this, there is evidence that we have some disease control or suppression,” Casteel says, cautioning that the results are still based on only a few years of data.

“If you really think about it, the first fungicides on the market 100 years ago were sulfur-based, so it’s not too surprising that we might be seeing something here,” he adds.

Big Upsides Where Sulfur Use Fills The Gap

Casteel is careful to note that the sulfur response in soybeans is often site-specific. Classic sandy soils and low-organic-matter fields are prime candidates for the nutrient. But his work suggests that even high-organic-matter fields can show strong gains when sulfur is limiting.

(Shaun Casteel)

That variability doesn’t dampen his enthusiasm. Instead, he sees sulfur as a high-upside tool for intensive soybean managers who already have the basics — variety selection, disease packages, and timely planting — under control.

“It’s fun to have treatments out there that are providing hope and promise,” Casteel says. “We’re seeing numbers with sulfur that really move the needle.”

With earlier planting becoming the norm and biological sulfur supply under pressure, Casteel expects interest in using Sulfur to keep growing. For those growers chasing 100-bushel soybeans, especially, he believes sulfur deserves more consideration as they develop fertility plans.

“If you have not explored sulfur on your soybean crops, I suggest applying strips of S fertilizer that is soluble (e.g., ammonium sulfate, pelletized gypsum, ammonium thiosulfate) between 15- to 25-pounds of S per acre to determine if you have fields or production practices that are responsive to boosting nodulation and N fixation,” he recommends. “Applications can be applied mid-March through planting with higher rates the earlier you apply the S fertilizer.”

More information on Casteel’s research results with sulfur in soybeans is available here .

Double Take On Biologicals: How A Yield Champ Found An Application That Redeemed A Product Category

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 20:15:01 GMT

Indiana farmer Kevin Kalb leans into learning opportunities.

For 20 years, he’s entered high yield corn contests, and he actively uses those contest acres to apply to the rest of his production. In 2025, Kalb won a non-irrigated class for NCGA with 425 bu./acre.

“We’ve been in this high-yield game for a long time,” he says. “One year, we made 30+ trips in our contest field—but we find out a lot of products don’t work—it’s just a sales gimmick.”
Before the 2025 growing season, he says he’s tried more than 30 biological products. And he had all but written off the entire product category.

“It started five years ago. We had people coming up to ask us to try all these new biologicals, and we’d test strips every year, and we’d never see a benefit,” he says.

Unbeknownst to him, that was going to change after he gave the category one last shot.

“Then, NewLeaf called me and they went through what it does, and that did intrigue me. So, we took out a strip down in one of our contest fields with some of the best ground that we’ve got, and lo and behold.”

Lessons Learned, Lessons Applied

Where four out of five years Kalb is used to tackling tar spot a new disease has emerged as a yield robber—southern rust.

In 2016, he had his first run in with southern rust. In the most severe cases across his farm, yield was docked 100 bu.

“That hit us extremely hard. At the time, our program was one aerial application of fungicide, and we thought we were good,” he says. “This year, those farmers in Iowa had their first experience with Southern Rust. And it’s ugly.”

With the influx of southern rust in 2025, the new tool in his toolbox for this past growing season was a sample of NewLeaf’s TS601 biofungicide and Terrasym 450, which he applied in-furrow at the time of planting.

“Around the 4th of July, we really didn’t see much rust yet. But already in the season what we saw from the 601 was great big stalks–probably a quarter the size bigger than what our other ones were,” Kalb says.

That was his first evidence in how his perception of biologicals may be turning around. However, what came next flipped him 180 degrees.

“Then, southern rust came in. Compared to our normal fungicide application protocol, the biofungicide and biostimulant showed a 6 bu. increase,” Kalb says. “But the kicker is, it would have saved us almost $70 an acre. That was eye-opening, the input cost was so much cheaper with that product—it preserved yield and cut inputs.”

Kalb is convinced. So much so he’s planning to put TS601 and Terrasym 450 across all his acres.

“Normally, we test everything 3 years before we move it over into all of our production acres,” he says. “These are the first products that we’ve ever used that we switched to 100% of our acres for next year.”

What Does He Credit The Transformation In His Experience?

“I think everybody should have 10, 20, 30 acres on their farm where they sit there and play with different rates and this and that,” Kalb says. “And you can’t do it just one year. You’ve got to have several years.”

That’s how he’s translated high yield lessons to the rest of his production.

Kalb credits his focus on soil health, specifically soil microbes, that took his yield plateau from 350 bu. to bumping above 425 bu.

“We started cutting back on synthetic fertilizers and building out a low-salt crop fertility program,” he says.

He says his below-ground balance of bacteria and fungi populations may have actually hindered the performance of some previous biologicals he’s tried. But for TS601 and Terrasym 450, which colonizes around the roots and grows as the plant grows, it was a match.

“Like anything else, I think biologicals have had the benefit of improving with time—they’ve come a long way. I see now how they can not only bring yields up, but cut inputs down. The biggest question is the same question there’s been—finding the ones that work,” Kalb says.

Harvest Milestone: New Holland's Twin Rotor Technology Celebrates 50 Years of Threshing and Separating Power

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 21:08:03 GMT

Any innovation with a half-century worth of staying power deserves some recognition.

That includes New Holland’s transformative Twin Rotor combine technology (pictured below), which was invented by a team of engineers in Belgium and patented by the manufacturer in 1975 and has left an indelible mark on the harvesting equipment sector: Over 70,000 combines with the once “game changing” innovation have been built and shipped to farms around the world since its debut 50 years ago.

(New Holland)

The story of the twin rotor starts, according to New Holland’s Ryan Schaffer, vice president for North America, just over a decade prior when New Holland acquired Belgian combine manufacturer Leon Clay Co. in 1964.

Clay’s engineers had already started on a twin rotor prototype before the acquisition went through, and New Holland’s engineering team jumped in and finished the job.

The rest, as they say, is history.

“This was at a time when grain quality was becoming more important to farmers, because farming had shifted from producing for local markets to producing grain more as a globally marketed commodity,” Schaefer explains. “The twin rotor design works because it utilizes physics to thresh the grain faster and more gently than other combines of its time.”

Schaefer likens the twin rotor separation process to something most kids from the ’90s will surely remember: the barf-inducing, head spinning Gravitron fair ride.

For those that don’t know, the Gravitron was a UFO-shaped, LED-bedazzled amusement ride that fairgoers pile inside of, where they would position themselves against a vertically moving, slanted wall. The ride would then start to spin in a circle at a very high speed until it generated enough inertia and centrifugal force to push the interior walls against the riders with enough force (along with static electricity) to basically plaster them against the wall like a bug smashed against a window with a fly swatter. Then, the floor would drop and riders would be treated to a several stomach-turning seconds of feeling like they are floating in air and defying gravity

And that’s exactly how the twin rotor works: The two hollowed out rotors spin at high speeds, creating enough inertia and force to toss the heavier material, in this case the harvested grain, into the grain tank and lighter material like chaff and pieces of stalk is blasted out the back of the combine.

New Holland’s CR 11 combine.

( Emmanuel Bourgois)

While that twin rotor setup was initially used in New Holland’s flagship combine of the time, the TR 70, it has lasted throughout the years and today is at the very heart of New Holland’s mammoth, sensor-and-automation-tech-packed CR 11 combine. Case IH also offers a twin-rotor setup in its AF-11 machine.

“When we built the CR 11, we clearly set out to produce a larger machine with a higher (grain tank) capacity, but it also had to help improve the operator’s bottom line,” Schaefer says. “A focus on lowering the total cost of harvesting — which calculates everything from maintenance costs to harvest losses — for our farmers powers every design update we make to our combines.”

Combine History on Display

Jacob and Brittany Loftus and their 1975 New Holland TR 70.

(Matthew J. Grassi)

As part of New Holland’s yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary, it connected a group of ag media and social media influencers with southern Indiana farmers Jacob and Brittany Loftus.

The Loftuses are the proud owners of a 1975 New Holland TR 70 combine with the original four row corn head. They use the now rust-pocked, unassuming yellow and red classic every year to harvest 10 acres of organic corn. The couple mostly grows a diverse selection of specialty crops, and some corn and soybeans, across 200 acres in the fertile Ohio River Valley just northwest of Louisville, Ky.

“We acquired this in early 2000 when my Dad decided to upgrade combines, and then we ran it for about 15 years as our main combine. Back then we probably did about 400 acres of beans every year, so it’s done a lot of beans in its lifetime,” says Jacob Loftus.

The couple also keep a backup “parts combine” on hand to pull original parts from when something breaks.

“It’s kind of semi-retired these days, and we actually had two of them at one time before we lost one. It burnt up,” Loftus says.

Inside the Loftus’ 1975 TR 70: no AC and no Bluetooth radio. All nostalgia and classic Iron.

(Matthew J. Grassi)

Loftus likens the old harvester to a 1970s muscle car: It just works, and there’s really not much that can break on it, he says. Think the old hand-crank car windows of yesteryear versus today’s automatic power windows.

“You can just set it and forget it, basically. I rarely have to do any adjustments on this machine year to year; it just picks good, clean corn,” he says. “Luckily the main components have never failed, just have to get some bearings, pulleys, chains and belts from the dealer here and there.”

Brittany Loftus gets a kick out of seeing the locals reactions when the unique relic of the past is out kicking up dust and chopping corn. It has to be quite the contrast to today’s modern, shiny steel and tempered glass ensconced futuristic harvesters.

“A lot of the little kids in the neighborhood, he’s like their idol because they’ll stop and watch and go, ‘oh, Jacob’s out in the field, Mom,’ and they are just like mesmerized by big equipment, so that’s really cool,” she says.

Check out this video from YouTube content creators and Wisconsin custom farmers, New Age Custom Harvesting , who were on hand to help celebrate the anniversary and check out the Loftuses’ classic combine:

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Southern Rust Set To Take Big Bite Out Of Midwest Corn Crop?

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 21:06:37 GMT

If one picture is worth a thousand words, then the video Iowa farmer Dan Striegel shot last week must be worth thousands more. In the video, Striegel is shown harvesting a field of emerald-green corn enveloped in a cloud of orangish-red southern rust.

“We were just getting that field opened up, and I looked over and saw that dust boiling up out of the chopper, so I shot the video,” Striegel says.

Southern Rust? Never heard of her.
What Cheer, Iowa. USA. #pftour25 #harvest25 pic.twitter.com/tiIsUc2CHl
— Dan Striegel (@djsinseia) August 21, 2025

To date, Striegel’s video has garnered more than 48,000 views on X, formerly Twitter.

“We’re in southeast Iowa, Keokuk County, and I think the southern rust is as bad here as it is anywhere,” Striegel adds. “Every field you walk in, if you’re wearing a white T-shirt, you’ll come out of there red.”

A Red Path Of Disease Mars The Midwest

Expect to see more red T-shirt-clad farmers walking out of cornfields across the upper Midwest, based on what the Crop Protection Network (CPN) southern rust map is showing.

The CPN continually updates its online, interactive map showing the counties by state where southern rust infections are confirmed. Now, in late August, the counties look like red steppingstones. They form a checkered path from southwest Michigan through northern Illinois and Indiana, into southern Wisconsin, across all of Iowa and nearly two-thirds of the way across Nebraska. Eastern South Dakota is also lit up with a string of red counties, as are parts of southern to central Minnesota.

The amount of southern rust present in the upper Midwest is worrisome to Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist. In severe cases, the disease can wipe out 45% of the yield potential in a field, according to the CPN.

“At most, one in 10 growers in northern Iowa and Minnesota have seen the kind of southern rust some of them are seeing this year,” says Ferrie, who was working last week with corn growers in both states.

“It was a problem in probably eight out of every 10 fields I was in, and they’d all been sprayed at least once,” he says. “Minnesota has a corn crop that’ll knock your socks off – yield potential of 250, 270. I encouraged every grower to spray their field a second time except for two fields. One had been knocked down by hail, and the other had a hybrid that was clean.”

I spoke with a good friend of mine from Iowa yesterday that is an agronomist and farmer. He said the southern rust in corn across Iowa and much of the Midwest will take 9 to 12 bushel/acre off corn yields on average from what his team and himself are seeing. pic.twitter.com/Ad1VJ9oQBg
— Captain Cornelius1 (@ISU145) August 26, 2025

Hybrids Have Little To No Resistance To Southern Rust

A combination of early-season moisture, heat and wind formed the perfect storm for southern rust this season, allowing the disease-causing fungal spores (Puccinia polysora) to move from southern climes up to the Midwest, according to Kurt Maertens, BASF technical service representative for eastern Iowa and western Illinois.

“We’ve seen it all – southern rust, tar spot, northern corn leaf blight, gray leaf spot. Our corn has been inundated with all these fungal diseases, and we started seeing them early,” says Maertens.

If there’s a silver lining to southern rust, it’s that it does not overwinter in corn residue like tar spot does. But like tar spot, southern rust takes advantage of hybrids that have no built-in resistance. For many growers, that was an Achilles heel this season.

“When you’re dealing with a 117-day hybrid like they grow in southern Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky, you don’t grow corn that doesn’t have good southern rust resistance, because they deal with it every year,” Ferrie notes. “When you move to Minnesota, and you’re planting 102- to 95-day corn, you’re probably not going to find hybrids with southern rust resistance.”

Striegel says that was true for his neighbor’s cornfield, which he custom chopped for silage. “That field had two hybrids in it, one was worse than the other, and the field had been sprayed with a fungicide,” he says.

He adds that he also sprayed his own cornfields with fungicide, but they are still inundated with southern rust.

“We’ve had southern rust before, and it’s not usually something we have to worry about, but this is really bad,” Striegel says. “I’m standing on my deck looking at the cornfield next to my house, and you know, all of the leaves from the ears down in that field are covered with it.”

Southern rust is real in eastern Nebraska. Fungicide 3 weeks ago, 2nd app today with some potassium acetate pic.twitter.com/WZubU6IBwz
— Trent Mastny (@TrentMastny) August 21, 2025

How Late Is A Fungicide Application Still Worthwhile?

Ferrie says the fields he scouted last week were at late R3 to early R4 and had already been sprayed with fungicide at least once, but the disease was rebuilding.

“Any field where farmers had sprayed two weeks previously, the southern rust and northern corn leaf blight, to a lesser degree, were coming back, especially the southern rust. It was resporating,” he says.

The intense disease pressure from southern rust, tar spot and others have kept fungicide use at high levels this season, despite poor commodity prices.

“Because of that [amount of disease pressure], we have seen increased demand for our fungicides this year,” says Maertens, who encouraged customers to get applications made at the beginning of tassel.

Maertens says he has fielded a lot of questions this summer from farmers, asking how late they could go with a fungicide application and still benefit.

“Our recommendation is to get in front of disease,” he says. “Generally, we stop applications before we get to dent (R5). That’s not to say a later application can’t have some benefit, but our best results have been before infection was able to take place.”

Southern rust is a yield enemy farmers routinely face in the Southeast, reports corn yield champion Randy Dowdy, Valdosta, Ga. He participated in the Pro Farmer Crop Tour last week and said on U.S. Farm Report he believes many Midwest farmers still have time to address disease.

“We need to implore the fungicides, the technologies out there and get after it and protect this crop, especially that crop that still has not reached dent,” he says.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Missy Bauer likes to see farmers complete their fungicide applications on the front side of dough (early R4). “Once we get to early dent, I think it’s a little more challenging to get the payback consistently, though we’ve applied at early dent (R5), and seen a nice response,” says Bauer, who is based in south-central Michigan.

Under the tough disease pressure farmers are facing this year, Bauer is telling growers to scout fields and evaluate what growth stage their crop is in before they walk away or pull the fungicide trigger one last time.

She adds that farmers need to check the label to make sure the product used is able to address southern rust effectively. She describes these as “Cadillac” products containing the newest chemistry.

“When it comes to some of these diseases, especially southern rust and tar spot, I do believe a little bit of a Hail Mary pass can be effective,” she says. “Will it be as effective as an application you could have made on a more timely basis? Well, no, you could have made more money doing it timely, but you’re still protecting bushels and gaining ROI at the end.”

Ferrie adds that farmers might want to do the late-season fungicide application to keep their corn crop standing until they can put their harvest plan in place.

“Be doing the push test to check stalk quality,” he advises.

Southern Rust/Silage Alert!!

Southern Rust has been aggressively advancing in many fields, especially those without a fungicide treatment. In some situations the plants are shutting down prematurely and plant material is senescing rapidly.

While we typically want to get down… pic.twitter.com/aK3hGgZE19
— Pioneer Troy (@deutmeyer_troy) August 26, 2025

Striegel says some of the farmers around him are heading to fields to harvest their silage corn sooner than later, because of standability concerns. “Some of this corn got planted early, and we had a lot of heat. The crop matured quickly, and the diseases are kind of shutting it down. It’s just dying out, and guys are going to go get it,” he explains.

That’s the strategy Ferrie encourages farmers to use in regular production corn, too.

“Harvest the fields most at risk first. But if a field of corn goes down, go combine the fields where the corn is still standing and come back to that one later,” he recommends.

The reasoning is you don’t want to risk more corn going down while you’re harvesting the field of corn that already has.

“While I was driving through Iowa last week, I kept thinking that if I built corn reels to pick up down corn I’d bulk up my inventory, because I know where they’re going to get used,” Ferrie says, only half joking. “Yes, harvesting corn at 25% moisture is expensive, but down corn will kick your butt.”

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Indiana and Nebraska Crop Tour Numbers Reveal Variable Crops Due to Weather, Disease

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 22:41:49 GMT

As Pro Farmer Crop Tour scouts set out on day two, the western leg continues to show more consistency in yield potential than the eastern leg this year. It appears more than adequate moisture is pulling up dryland yields in Nebraska, while wet spots caused unevenness in Indiana.

At the end of today, crop scouts pegged the Nebraska and Indiana corn crops more than 10 bu. over the three-year averages, and both are more than 3% higher than last year.

(ProFarmer)

While Indiana measured lower kernels and grain length, its higher ear count added up to push it beyond Nebraska’s projected yield.

The in-field survey work in both states also led to above-average soybean ratings. Nebraska pod counts in 2025 beat the previous record from 2010.

(ProFarmer)

Both lead scouts from the two tour legs say the biggest takeaway from today’s work is disease. Southern rust in corn has “blown up,” and disease pressure in soybeans has the lead scouts questioning how the soybean crop will finish.

Doug Miller, Iowa farmer and eastern leg scout, says day two brought higher-yielding samples as they moved west.

“This last field we were in is the greenest I’ve seen the corn since we’ve been on it. Indiana’s going to have a good crop. Conditions to me look ideal here right now,” Miller says.

From disease pressure to too much rain, some scouts found a solid Indiana crop, while other routes exposed extreme variability, proving Indiana just may be a mixed bag this year due to excessive rain.

Last stop in Indiana. Looked good from the road. Never seen so much smut. Nearly every third ear will be lost to it. #PFTour25 pic.twitter.com/ZFvR5xV827
— Lane (@iwatchcorn) August 19, 2025

“Indiana’s got some tip back. Starting to see some of this. Some of this is population driven in that it was planted too thick with a lot of cloudy days with all the moisture that had,” says Randy Dowdy, host of the “Breaking Barriers” podcast and eastern leg scout.

Dowdy found a mix of mature and immature crops. That’s why he says there’s still risk for growers to lose yield potential.

“There’s potential out there, but it’s unrealized if we don’t finish. And when we have issues like ear shanks causing a problem, we have issues like disease that’s going to take yield from us, and we have issues where excessive rain has started leaching out some of the potassium and nitrogen and taking away yield potential because the plants are firing, no doubt about it. There’s potential out there, but there is a lot of potential for that yield to be lost as much as it is to be captured at this point,” Dowdy says.

On the soybean side for day two of the eastern leg, Richard Guse, Minnesota farmer and eastern leg scout, observed a crop that mimicked last year.

“In Indiana, it’s a pretty good crop. So far, actually, in both Ohio and Indiana, we took the same route as last year, and I would say the corn and beans are pretty identical overall to a year ago,” Gruse says.

Two states down three to go. These are today’s Indiana corn samples. Plenty of disease to go around. 7 stops averaged 188.3. #pftour25 pic.twitter.com/pZW4WE20R2
— Bruce Lantzky (@Lantzkyfarms) August 19, 2025

While the crop in Indiana shows some strength, scouts are quick to mention the flaws they see that will ding bushels on final yield.

Howard County Indiana - North of Kokomo. Lots of tip back in the field 🥴
Yield estimate came to 158 by/a. #pftour25 pic.twitter.com/BmCLwtxo5z
— Katie Bluhm (@bluhm1) August 19, 2025

“USDA numbers say a tremendous crop. In my opinion, it may be above what’s normal based on Pro Farmer tours and yield history. There may be a crop out there, but it is definitely random. It is definitely variable, and there is a lot of potential that can still be taken away due to the disease,” Dowdy says.

We have crossed the state line into Illinois.
2 stops in Vermilion County, yield checks 192 & 260. USDA was at 218 last year.
Weather check: down to a sprinkle #pftour25 #pftour2025 pic.twitter.com/ae5FMnnSCx
— Oliver - Blue Line Futures (@OliverSloup) August 19, 2025

While variability may plague the eastern leg, the western leg’s crop shows strength.

In Nebraska, crop scouts are finding both corn and soybean yield potential is above last year — mainly due to ample moisture in dryland areas. After back-to-back years of drought in Nebraska, this year crop scouts had mud on their boots.

“We have some areas that have had 30" of rain over the last two and a half months. So, it’s been amazing,” says Jeff Mueller, BASF, agronomic service representative.

Early assessments by scouts showed some routes up 8% to 10% compared to the past two years. Weed and disease pressure in corn was spotty. But scouts did find some green snap and tip back.

“We had one field that had pollination issues. We had another field [where] I think it was probably the warm nights that affected the grain fill in the ear,” says Brent Judisch, Pro Farmer crop scout and farmer from Cedar Falls, Iowa. “Which likely shaved some yield, but at least the kernels are filling in. I think there’s more kernel weight on the ear than we would have had otherwise.”

@ailworth coming in with disease, storm damage, and deficiencies on consecutive stops through SE Nebraska on #PFTour25. Looks like the scouts are finding more ‘yield-limiters’ today in the west. pic.twitter.com/CY0QWu1I2h
— Emily Flory Carolan (@emily_floryag14) August 19, 2025

Judisch says the corn will need some cool nights to finish, but with ample moisture, its possible yields could exceed last year and USDA’s record 192 bushel estimate.

“In my 13 years, this is probably one of the better crops I’ve seen. Mainly because the dryland is not bringing the average down. It’s pushing the average yield up this year,” Judisch says.

Nine stops in east central Nebraska on #pftour25. Mostly irrigated.

Avg corn yield: 200 bu/acre
That's down 3% from this same route last year, up 10% from 2023. Low ear counts.

Avg soy pod counts: 1259
That's down 23% (!!) from last year & down 7% from 2023. Beans disappointed. pic.twitter.com/wZ64oG4lLI
— Karen Braun (@kannbwx) August 19, 2025

Scouts also found a soybean crop in Nebraska with pod counts similar to last year.

“The pods in Nebraska were filled well. There’s a lot of three-bean pods. There’s going to be a lot of good, big heavy beans,” says Leon Dorn, Pro Farmer crop scout and farmer from Firth, Neb.

If rain continues, he thinks the statewide yield could exceed USDA’s 57-bushel prediction.

“We have really good potential,” he says. “We had really good potential last year, and it didn’t pan out. I’m going to reserve a little bit of judgment because we don’t know what next month’s weather is going to be like.”

Broadband Coming To A Field Near You? Data BRIDGE Act Would Bring Connectivity To The Farm

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 14:13:43 GMT

On Tuesday, Republican Congresswoman Erin Houchin (IN-09) introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 4950 – the Data BRIDGE Act – to improve how the FCC’s broadband map accounts for agricultural lands.

Today, barns and other farming structures located across the rural countryside are included in the FCC’s broadband map, but the surrounding cropland, pastures, and acreage where farming happens are not.

The Data BRIDGE Act directs the FCC to integrate USDA’s existing cultivated land data layer into its broadband map, with no new cost or mandates, ensuring federal broadband funding “reaches the fields that power America’s food supply.”

Republican Congresswoman Erin Houchin (Ind.-09)

(Photo Credit Nate Payne)

“Our farmers depend on reliable broadband to stay competitive in a modern economy,” writes Houchin in a statement to Farm Journal. “The Data BRIDGE Act is a commonsense, low-cost solution that ensures federal broadband investments actually reach the fields, pastures and production areas where work happens. I have fought for years to expand rural broadband, and this bill is another important step toward closing the connectivity gap for our farm families and rural communities.”

Here is a link to the proposed bill at Congress.gov. The bill has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It would need to be voted on and passed by both the House and the Senate before making its way to President Donald Trump’s desk. The president could then veto the bill or sign it into law.

The bill currently has seven cosponsors, including four House Democrats and three Republicans.

Contact your local Congressional Representative and ask them to support H.R. 4950 if you would like the bill to become U.S. law.

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Machinery Pete: John Deere Tractor Shows Farmers Value Pre-Def, Older Machines at Used Equipment Auctions

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:36:52 GMT

This week’s Pete’s Pick of the Week is a used green and yellow machine from a tractor class Pete says is “just red hot” now.

On Wednesday, July 16, a Big Iron Auctions online sale auctioned off a pre-def, mid-horsepower 2008 John Deere 7730 tractor (16,161 hours) for $150,250. The machine (pictured above) came from Henderson, Iowa, and it garnered the fourth-highest auction price ever on that make/year/model despite being nearly 20 years old.

“The real Machinery Pete stat I would leave you with is this model 7730 is pre-def, so it’s 15-plus years old now,” Pete says. “The nine highest auction prices ever (on pre-def machines) have all come in the last four years. It just shows the sharpening and increasing farmer demand for good condition, used pre-def tractors.”

Pete adds tractors in the sub-200 to 150 mid-horsepower segment are “the hottest thing going in the used market,” and he thinks that’s at least partly due to the versatile machines being driven up in value by livestock producers riding strong balance sheets with cash to spend.

Upcoming auction action to watch

For Pete, the end of July is an interesting time on the used farm equipment auction circuit. Dealers will typically begin moving more machines off the lot and onto the auction circuit to free up retail space and sell equipment farmers in their local service area have not shown interest in buying.

There are two sales to watch this week that fit that bill.

On Wednesday, Merit Auctions is holding an online auction that combines inventory from H&R Agri-Power, a Case-IH and New Holland dealer with stores in Kentucky and four other states, and Trueland Equipment, a John Deere dealer with stores in Indiana and Ohio. The sale kickoff is set for 10 a.m. CT online. You can check out the lineup of equipment here.

Here is a video preview for the Merit Auctions online sale Pete pulled together and shared on Facebook:

Also on Wednesday, McDougal Auctioneers is holding a no-reserve, preharvest sale in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan that kicks off at 11 a.m. CT. The docket for that sale features 39 used combines and a fleet of draper heads and other fall harvest goodies. Check out the full auction lineup for that sale here.

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Yellow Soybeans? Why Weather and Carbon Penalties Are Stressing Midwest Farmers

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 13:33:11 GMT

A Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) in Michigan says a confluence of weather conditions resulted in a roller coaster ride for soybeans over the first two months of the growing season.

The good news is the plants still have time to catch up and recover on the back-end (if timely rains are consistent), but the early season issue is still causing a lot of growers to hang their heads in utter disgust when they head out in the morning and see large areas of small, yellow soybean plants in fields.

How did this happen?
In southern Michigan, northern Indiana, and northwest Ohio, most soybean farmers opted to plant early. That means the beans were in by end of April. The region then had the coolest average night temperatures in May of the past 14 years, followed by the warmest average night temperatures in June of the past 14 years.

A roller coaster ride indeed.

Missy Bauer with B&M Crop Consulting says that two-month yo-yo spell left the region’s soybean farmers battling the “largest carbon penalty the area has seen in 14 years.”

What is the carbon penalty in farming?

(Darrell Smith)

The carbon penalty Bauer refers to is the process where microbes in the soil come alive as soil temps gradually warm and start breaking down last year’s crop residue. The nutrients are then naturally converted to plant-available nutrients through mineralization.

Bauer says the warm-up occurred so quickly it created a sort of massive explosion of microbial activity in the soil. While that sounds like a good thing, she says it actually resulted in some essential early-season nutrients getting “locked up” in the soil, thus unavailable for plant uptake.

“How many calls did we take this year from farmers saying, ‘My beans aren’t growing right, why?’” says Bauer who also serves as a Farm Journal field agronomist. “We’re seeing the biggest carbon penalty we’ve had in 14 years, and this is a hard carbon penalty. It locked up the beans, and that added stress.”

How can I overcome the carbon penalty?
If you have liquid fertilizer technology on your bean planter, Bauer thinks it might pay off this year by offsetting the carbon penalty and helping beans battle that early season stress.

July is currently trending above average for growing degree days (GDD) in the Lake Erie region, which will help shift vegetative growth a gear or two higher and set beans on a course for canopy close and pod fill.

“Basically, we’re back on track (with beans),” Bauer says. “Maybe we’re just a little bit behind last year, but we had better heat units in May last year, too. Now, we’ve made-up for that GDD deficit heat unit-wise, we’re not quite all the way there, we’re still a little behind, but we’re knocking on average.”

Spray drone treatment for nutrient deficiency in soybeans an option, too
Recently, Kameron Barrow, field operations manager, teamed up with B&M owner and CCA Bill Bauer to address some nutrient deficient yellow spots in the operation’s test plots near Coldwater, Mich.

After tissue sampling the affected plants and finding out the culprit was most likely a manganese deficiency, Bauer and Barrow called up a local spray drone service provider and hired it to spot spray a 5% manganese liquid fertilizer over the canopy of the yellow soybean plants. The drone applied a rate of half a pound per acre of manganese.

“We came in and sprayed on July 10 and on July 15 we scouted and immediately those yellow spots are gone, and that’s only after five days,” says Barrow, adding they also left a nearby section of yellow plants untreated as a check. “This just shows we have access to spray drones now, and we can use the technology to use things we’ve never used to better manage the crop.”

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Red, White and Tractors: Machinery Pete’s Fourth of July Farm Equipment Highlights

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 16:59:16 GMT

Get ready to wave that flag, wave it wide and high!

It’s the official midway point of the summer growing season. The week of the Fourth of July is finally here, and Machinery Pete is feeling the USA Pride. He’s high-steppin’ like Uncle Sam with four “Picks of the Week” to share after a busy end of June on the used farm equipment auction market.

The first “Pick of the Week” comes to us from the Donald Bergquist farm retirement auction in Edmor, N.D. Pete recently talked about the high auction prices that well-maintained, pre-DEF equipment will often garner at retirement auctions, and this particular transaction set a new high for 2025.

(Machinery Pete Facebook)

Donald Bergquists’ 2011 John Deere 9770 STS combine (above) in “beautiful condition” with only 446 hours sold for $187,500. That’s the third-highest auction price of all time on a 2011 9770 STS, and the top result for that make/model over the last six months.

“You expect that to sell high, and of course that’s pre-DEF,” Pete says. “I’ve been writing and talking a lot for the last year or so about how late-model combines have been adjusting downwards pretty aggressively for a couple years now, yet despite that fact these older pre-DEF combines in good condition, wow, they are really hot.”

Pete says the “sparks were flying on that one” because the combine sparked a fiery debate among his Facebook followers. Some used equipment aficionados claim it is a bargain because many farmers today prefer the 10-to-15-year-old used combines in good condition versus newer, harder-to-DIY models. Others claim old machines that haven’t been used much of late are “problematic to put back in use.”

Pete’s second “Pick of the Week” set a new all-time record, and it came off a consignment auction in Dalton, Minn.

(Machinery Pete Facebook)

There, a one-owner 1982 Case IH 2290 tractor with 2,576 hours from the Glesne Farms retirement auction line out of Underwood, Minn., sold for $27,500. The previous record high for a Case IH 2290 was $26,250 set in 2023.

(Machinery Pete Facebook)

Pete’s third “Pick of the Week” also generated a lot of discussion on social media. On Saturday, in Huntertown, Ind., a 2003 John Deere 7810 mechanical FWD tractor with 12,110 hours on it sold for $137,000. That’s the seventh-highest auction price of all time on a 7810 mechanical FWD, Pete says.

(Machinery Pete Facebook)

And last but not least, Pete’s fourth Pick of the Week is a bit of a curve ball. At a Lake Benton, Minn., auction a unique, three-legged John Deere “Farm Implements” sign sold for $8,500.

Want more Machinery Pete? Check out the video segment above from “AgDay.” Pete highlights a pair of pre-DEF, used loader tractors he finds interesting.

Your Next Read: Essential Advice for Safely Buying Used Farm Machinery

Don’t Get Scammed: Essential Advice for Safely Buying Used Farm Machinery

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 18:22:40 GMT

If you end up on the receiving end of a questionable looking email from a Nigerian prince, who just so happens to have this can’t-miss, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you — all you have to do is go buy this used baler, sell it for thousands of dollars more than you paid for it, and then send a few thousand dollars to your new friend in Africa and you get to pocket the rest — you’re probably going to laugh, delete that email and move on with your day.

It would be nice if all used equipment scams were that easy to spot in the wild, but scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in how they put their grifts in motion.

One recent, well-publicized case appears really concerning on its face, because the fox was loose in the hen house.

Dustin Echelbarger, 43, was arrested in June on 17 felony counts of fraud and forgery in Indiana. Echelbarger, who is presumed innocent until proven otherwise, is accused of using his position as a sales rep at the local John Deere dealership, Truland Equipment, to rope a handful of farmer customers across two states into a used farm machinery buying and selling scheme. You can brush up on the sordid details here. The case is set for jury trial this fall.

Zach Bosely, founder and CEO of TractorTuesday.com, and Aaron Fintel, used equipment specialist with 21st Century Equipment, spoke with us about issues they have encountered in the used market and how buyers can protect themselves.

Here are a few common issues farmers should be aware of:

Lien Complications: Many transactions involve blanket liens, and sometimes multiple liens, which can complicate or invalidate a deal if the equipment is not cleared for transfer. Some sellers might even be unaware of existing liens on machinery.
Bankruptcy Issues: When sellers file for bankruptcy it can lead to hiccups with the sale and ownership transfer. For example, if farm equipment was sold before a seller’s bankruptcy declaration but still carries a lien, the buyer could find themselves entangled in a legal dispute with creditors.
Long Processing Times: When a lien needs to be cleared, it often involves lengthy delays in the transaction. Buyers might even find themselves unable to secure financing.

Here are some insider tips to help you stay safe in the used equipment marketplace:

UCC Diligence: Buyers should conduct UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) searches to identify existing liens, just as many of the big online auction houses will do before listing a machine for auction. To search for Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings related to farm equipment, locate the state’s UCC database and search for filings using the previous owner’s name. In Ohio, for example, you can perform online UCC searches on a database maintained by the Secretary of State office.
Research the Seller: Before making a purchase, ensure you are dealing with reputable sellers or auction houses. Do your homework by conducting online research (social media, local court records, Google searches) before you sign anything binding.
Verify Equipment History: Use the equipment’s serial number to perform online searches, looking for issues or conflicts. This includes checking for outstanding liens or claims.
Engage Local Dealers: Consult local dealerships and sales representatives that you trust. Bring the serial number with you so the dealer can verify the history of the machine and pull any service records.
Obtain a Lien Waiver: If there is a lien, the previous owner should seek a lien waiver from the lender, confirming they are authorized to sell the equipment and plan to satisfy the lien once the transaction goes through. Proper, open communication between buyer, seller and lender is key here.
Still Red Flags? Walk Away: If there are confusing terms or conditions that just don’t feel right, trust your intuition and take some time to review everything. Walk away from the transaction if your concerns aren’t satisfied.
Legal Advice for Large Purchases: You can save yourself from headaches if you have a trusted local attorney look over any large equipment purchase deal before signing on the dotted line.

“It is really important you do your due diligence as a buyer, and it could be as simple as getting the serial number and using a search engine. Start there and see if there’s any smoke,” Bosely advises. “And even if there’s not, continue down the path — talk to your local dealer and ask them to help you out, help make sure you’re not buying a lemon, because you’re going to use them for service anyways.”

“My final point to hammer home on all of this would be, there are ways to check things out when you’re buying equipment, so utilize them. Take your time and do your do your due diligence,” Fintel adds. “And keep this in mind: there is no such thing as having too many things in writing, whether it’s an email, a text message or whatever. Those are all documents that can be shown in court.”

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Why U.S. Agriculture Needs More AI Investment to Stay Ahead in Global Crop Innovation Race

Tue, 20 May 2025 18:15:48 GMT

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a key tool in accelerating the discovery, development and manufacturing of new crop protection molecules to fight yield-robbing weeds, pests, and diseases in U.S. farm fields.

The technology helps researchers shorten the discovery window and find new and novel active-ingredient molecules that are much more difficult and expensive to uncover using traditional research methods.

That was among the talking points that emerged from Tuesday’s congressional hearing on AI in farming, held in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee in Washington, D.C.

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At the hearing, key agricultural stakeholders advocated for increasing government investment in AI technology and infrastructure. The group warned Congress that America’s status as a world leader in AI has been usurped by Japan and China, while other rival countries are also gunning for top positions.

Testifying on behalf of U.S. agriculture was Corteva Vice President of Agricultural Solutions Brian Lutz, University of Florida associate professor Chris Swale and University of Illinois assistant professor Boris Camiletti.

“AI is without a doubt one of the most profound technologies ever to be invented,” Lutz said. “We believe there is tremendous opportunity for our government to support and incentivize advanced innovation — including by leveraging the benefits of AI — to benefit American farmers. If we want to win, we need to move smarter and faster than our competition. Corteva believes with the support of our government, we will do exactly that.”

Lutz said researchers at Corteva recently used AI to model how 10,000 different molecules might be used in crop protection, all within a matter of weeks. The Corteva model was able to identify dozens of new potential crop protection molecules that its overworked chemists could not have found otherwise. He said the company is currently testing a handful of these molecules and AI will also play a role in moving the testing phase along more quickly than traditional lab-based methods.

Lutz also told Congress how Corteva scientists have deployed AI technology in its fermentation processes, which the company uses to create what he called “molecules of interest” for evaluation. Over the past few years, Corteva has used AI modeling to engineer various bacterial strains that drive fermentation reactions and optimize reaction conditions, allowing the company to run a manufacturing operation that is as efficient as possible. This application of AI helps Corteva maintain a strong U.S. manufacturing base in the Midwest, Lutz said.

“This is the new face of ag innovation,” he added. “We can accelerate discovery of new classes of crop protection products, like biologicals — nature-based solutions that help farmers grow more food by working alongside traditional crop protection products. With AI, we can begin to predict the incredible diversity of biomolecules and metabolites that are produced by microbes and other organisms, with the goal of unlocking the secrets within plant biology to develop the next generation of safe, highly targeted, nature-inspired products.”

Swale testified to AI’s role in helping researchers on his team find and develop biological-based treatments to combat Asian citrus psyllid, an invasive pest that has left the Florida citrus industry — valued at almost $10 billion just five years ago — teetering on the brink of collapse. Effective synthetic chemicals to manage the Asian citrus psyllid exist, but the regulatory hurdles to get those products onto the market are too high, he said

“We have turned to using AI to help discover chemicals of the natural world because the registration requirements are significantly lower when compared to synthetic insecticides,” Swale said.

Camiletti leads a team of researchers combining plant pathology, remote sensing and AI to help U.S. soybean farmers overcome red crown rot, a soil-borne disease first detected in Illinois soybean fields in 2018.

Illinois has been hit the hardest by the yield-robbing disease, Camiletti said, and the pathogen is spreading rapidly to Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri. The disease is difficult to detect visually, he added, and once symptoms appear it’s often too late for successful remediation.

“My team uses satellite imagery and machine learning to identify red crown rot hot spots, and we train the models with high resolution multi-spectral data to near-infrared bands and use ground observations to teach the algorithm what diseased plants look like,” Camiletti said. “This technology has real on-farm impact. We are building tools that generate prescription maps so instead of applying fungicides across entire fields farmers can target only the affected areas.”

After key witness testimony concluded, the committee opened the floor to questions from members of Congress. Watch the full hearing via the video embedded below:

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Chief Tractor Kid? John Deere Saddles Up With Young Farmer Jackson Laux

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 15:47:45 GMT

He sold your grandfather a tractor back in ’73, likes the look of a clean lawn, and every morning he checks the chicken coop for fresh eggs. And now he’s John Deere’s first-ever Chief Tractor Kid.

Yep, you heard that right: John Deere is partnering with Jackson Laux, a 9-year-old farmer from Indiana and viral social media sensation known for his love of tractors and farming. Jackson will create content for Deere’s social media channels throughout the next year to bring awareness to the people in agriculture.

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“Creating content alongside Jackson will help us introduce agriculture to a new generation in fun, unique formats that capture the true day-to-day life of a farmer,” said Jennifer Hartmann, global director of strategic public relations and enterprise social media.

Jackson went viral on TikTok in November 2023 when his cousin posted a video of him in response to the comment “farm kids are just built different”. Coined as the youngest tractor expert by his followers, Jackson has worked on his family’s farm in “good old South Whitley, Windy-ana” since the day he could walk. The good natured Indiana farm kid comes from a family of fifth-generation farmers.

@justbeckythings Reply to @peachstatehomesteader he sure is….8 years old & already owns his first of many to come @johndeere ♬ original sound - Becca

“Farming is really cool, and I want to show other kids my age why they should get into farming too. And show farmers of all ages why they should take the time to teach us younger ones,” Jackson said.

Watch the story unfold on TikTok and Instagram by following @JohnDeere.

And in the words of Jackson: “That’s all she wrote.”

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Inside AgRevolution: AGCO’s Bold Mobile Service Play Pledges ‘Farmers First’

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 19:47:34 GMT

Intent on building out a new dealer service strategy for its family of equipment brands, AGCO quietly approached equipment industry pro Stacy Anthony to see if he’d be willing to take on the reimagined dealer network’s CEO role.

The affable-yet-intense farm kid from Kansas was undoubtedly interested, but he wasn’t going to be an easy sell. Anthony recalls three non-negotiables he shared with AGCO executives before agreeing to put pen to paper and go all-in:

The project had to be “something different” than the traditional equipment dealer business model.
He wanted to take the repair and maintenance aspects of the dealer business “straight to the farm, and even to a farmer’s field.”
The new business model needed to embrace an “all makes mindset.”

AGCO president and CEO Eric Hansotia huddled his team of executives and eventually they agreed Anthony was the man for the job.

(Related - Planting A Flag: AGCO All-In On Mixed-Fleet Aftermarket Ag Tech)

A New Era of On-Farm Service
AgRevolution was officially launched in 2021, a time when the world was slowly but surely crawling out from underneath the soul-crushing weight of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast forward three years and AgRevolution today features 13 dealer locations dispatching service technicians in shiny, well-appointed half ton pickups around the Ohio Valley region to diagnose and wrench on machines.

Anthony says roughly 90% of the jobs his service technicians undertake are finished either on-farm or right there in the farmer’s field. That age-old logistical nightmare of how to get this giant but currently inoperable machine several miles up the road to the nearest dealer shop, has been taken off the broad shoulders of the farmers who call on AgRevolution for repairs and service.

AgRevolution field service tech Steve Bowers uploads a firmware update to a customer’s Fendt 940 tractor on a farm just outside of Urbana, Ohio, in October.

(Matthew J. Grassi)

The concept got off to a shaky start though, not unlike most rookie campaigns. AGCO’s finance team projected the business would lose $1 million. Anthony and his team did what most farmers do in times of peril: they tightened their belts and focused on what they could do to effect positive change. It all eventually worked out and the AgRev team ended up flipping that dismal profit projection on its head, creating a surprise profit that most in the company didn’t think possible at the time.

Today, AgRevolution has invested $7-million-plus into a fleet of over 50 mobile service trucks, and the initiative just expanded into Ohio with five locations around the Buckeye State. Overall AgRevolution revenues are up 400% since year one, Anthony says, and revenues are up 49% from last year.

While it was his ideation that birthed this innovative service model, the humble Kansas native is quick to deflect credit to the guys in the AgRev hats out in the field everyday.

AgRev field service techs (above left) complete 90% of their tasks on-farm with a fleet of well-appointed mobile service trucks.

(AGCO/AgRevolution)

“Our service technicians and the relationships they have with farmers, that’s what has really helped us grow and expand,” Anthony says as we walk around AgRevolution’s newest location in Urbana, Ohio.

Even before its Nov. 1 grand opening, service technicians and sales pros out of the Urbana, Ohio, office were servicing local farmers’ machines for a couple months as they worked on getting the main office ready.

Going on a Service Call
Steve Bowers, a field service technician and Ohio farm kid, let Farm Journal tag along on a quick service call to get a feel for how it all worked. He says farmers in his community love the responsiveness and ease of doing business with AgRevolution, not to mention the fact that AgRev techs are brand agnostic: They’ll come out and fix your Fendt combine, or your Massey Ferguson tractor, and if you’ve got a broken down John Deere sprayer you can’t get to the local dealer, they’ll fix that, too.

The service call we witnessed was routine: Bowers needed to update the operating system on the farmer’s Fendt 940 tractor because the machine was having trouble maintaining connectivity. The adjustment handle on the cab air seat had also been broken off and needed replaced.

AgRevolution field service tech Steve Bowers let Farm Journal tag along as he diagnosed and repaired a couple minor issues on this Fendt 940 tractor.

(Matthew J. Grassi )

Bowers said he would order the new seat handle at the end of day, and it would show up either later that night or first thing the next morning at his house. With the part in hand, he can go straight to the customer’s farm to fix the seat before heading off on his service calls for the day. AgRevolution can also send larger parts straight to the farm so they’re waiting for Bowers when he arrives.

Hear It Straight From a Service Tech
We asked Bowers if there are repair jobs he prefers over others, as one would guess doing software updates might not rank very highly. Bowers said his favorite machines to work on are combines. Since there are so many moving parts and systems, it’s more of a brain stimulating challenge than some other jobs.

As we climbed out of the tractor cab after Bowers completed his work, Anthony didn’t mince words when asked what he thinks puts the “Rev” (think vroom vroom) behind the AgRevolution brand.

“It’s guys like Steve here, the guy wants to service a customer no matter what it takes, because he lives in this community and doesn’t want to leave a neighbor hanging,” Anthony says. “Before his service truck even arrived, I got a picture from one of the guys and it’s Steve out in a field standing on the roof of his wife’s minivan working on a combine.

“That’s the heart of what trust, commitment and resilience is, to do whatever you have to do at any cost to take care of the farmer,” he adds. “Guys like Steve help us build companies like this; you can’t do it without people like that and they’re highly, highly sought after.”

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Porkstars USA Brings Vietnamese Cuisine and U.S. Farmers Together

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 20:32:59 GMT

It’s one thing to read about it, but it’s another thing to travel across the ocean and experience it for yourself. That’s why Jackie Ponder, an Indiana farmer who raises pigs, corn and soybeans, decided to join the Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Marketing Council’s trade mission to Vietnam in September which focused on the benefits of U.S. pork and high oleic soybean cooking oil.

“I think it’s important for producers to be involved in these trade missions,” Ponder says. “There’s no doubt we hear a lot of great presentations from the National Pork Producers Council and National Pork Board about international markets. But it’s another thing to go over and see what the competition is like. How is our pork being presented? How important is pork to this country?”

Understanding how important pork is to Vietnam and to their diets opened her eyes to the value her investments have on export opportunities. Ponder, a member of the NPPC Strategic Investment Program (SIP) and Long-Range Strategic Planning Committee, is interested in helping legislators and producers understand key pork issues.

“We all know the dollars and cents benefit of exports – it’s a big chunk of the money we get per pig,” Ponder says. “I know the National Pork Board has been doing a really good job and working very hard on increasing domestic consumer demand. But there’s only so many people in the U.S. and even if we increase consumption, we’re not going to match what we could get with increased exports. I see investment not just in the National Pork Board, but also in the National Pork Producers Council critically important for me as a producer because it matters how much I can sell my pigs for.”

Al Wulfekuhle shows U.S. products on display in Vietnam’s Porkstars showcase.

(National Pork Board)

While in Vietnam on a USDA trade mission, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) brought together representatives from the National Pork Board as well as the Indiana Soybean Alliance and Corn Marketing Council delegation to continue building relationships in the Vietnamese market.

Over the past several years, Vietnam’s domestic pork industry has been hampered by outbreaks of African swine fever, which have created new opportunities for imported pork demand.

“This is a great case where it’s important to be present, to be brand ambassadors for U.S. pork and our other commodities,” says Courtney Knupp, National Pork Board vice president of international market development. “It was one of the largest trade missions for the USDA. We’re talking all commodities, which shows a full court press of U.S. agriculture, the interest in the region and in Vietnam, especially a country where we have such historical ties, which has led to relationship building for decades.”

Why Vietnam?
Vietnam is a growing country with a growing middle class, explains Al Wulfekuhle, an Iowa pig farmer and president of the National Pork Board. Both the change in culture and modernization of the country are important factors to consider now, he adds.

“We’re in this for the long game, but there are some major hurdles to increasing short-term demand because of the culture shift,” he says.

They met with Vietnam’s chief veterinarian officer who shared that in the peak of African swine fever, they lost 6 million pigs in 2019 and the number to date in 2024 is 64,000 pigs.

“Between biosecurity and the vaccine working very well, their production is coming roaring back,” Wulfekuhle says. “Their reliability in exports isn’t as much as it was even a year or two ago. But I believe the U.S. needs to be in Vietnam, building trust and developing long-term relationships. I think there’s a huge opportunity for long-term demand.”

Knupp says there are many opportunities for value-added and premium product placement in Vietnam. For example, the U.S. is successfully exporting pork spareribs. They are also seeing some really unique partnerships in food service with Korean barbecue using U.S. pork hearts.

“It’s a great way to continue to maximize our carcass. We want to make sure we’re selling every part of the pig at the highest value every day,” Knupp says.

As an Indiana soybean grower, Chris Eck says Vietnam is an important country to be in now. He says most of the soybeans produced in Indiana are run through livestock so when exports increase, the demand for Indiana soybeans and corn increases. That’s why their state has stepped up to the plate to help promote pork in Vietnam through their Porkstars USA showcase, now in its third year.

Porkstars USA brings together three well-known chefs in Vietnam with three young social media influencers who each have close to a million or more followers.

(Amie Simpson)

Porkstars USA brought together three well-known chefs in Vietnam with three young social media influencers who each have close to a million or more followers. The teams included the Northern Team with influencer Vu Gia Bao and chef Le Xuan Tam . The Central Team included influencer Phan Ngan Ha and chef Dinh Son Truc . The Southern Team was made up of influencer Ong Chu Nguoi Bong and chef Cam Thien Lon .

“The younger generation in Vietnam is very focused on healthy eating and these influencers represented that segment,” Ponder says. “The cooking pairs were given U.S. pork spareribs and asked to come up with an appetizer and a main dish in a live cooking competition.”

Ponder, Eck, Knupp and Wulfekuhle served as four of the judges in the showcase.

“They just outdid themselves, showing how versatile pork is,” Ponder adds. “They did things I had not seen done before in the U.S. It was delicious, but the presentation was just over the top. Plus, they talked to the camera the whole time. And, of course, we can’t forget the dancing pig mascot. It was a ton of fun.”

The influencers will then take the video shot during the showcase and use it on a regular basis in the future to promote cooking with U.S. pork and high oleic soybean oil.

Chris Eck farms near Boggstown, Ind.

(Amie Simpson)

Eck, an Indiana Soybean Alliance board member, grows high oleic soybeans on his operation in Boggstown, Ind.

“In Indiana, we produce a significant amount of the high oleic soybean oil,” Eck says. “Everything in Porkstars is cooked in that and people can see the value of not only U.S. pork, but also the cooking oils that we provide.”

Indiana farmers are the leaders in growing high oleic soybeans, planting nearly 850,000 acres in 2023. Farmers receive a premium for growing high oleic soybeans. Increased demand for high oleic soybean oil benefits those growers and consumers.

Why the U.S.?
USMEF is doing great work to promote U.S. red meat in key export countries. But the reality is they can’t do their job as well without farmer input and support. The farmer’s voice matters most and this younger generation in Vietnam sees U.S. pork as the “end-all, be-all,” Ponder adds.

“They know U.S. pork is nutritious, it’s reliable, and they are cooking with it. Each one of those social media influencers share and make recipes online, and they teach others about the importance of being healthy and cooking with reliable meat,” she says.

What is reliable meat? Ponder says it’s when you can rely on taste and quality.

One of the items prepared in Porkstars USA.

(National Pork Board)

“That’s not always something you can rely on from our partners in other countries. We have a reputation for being high quality good protein, whole nutrition that you don’t get on a consistent basis from our competition,” she says.

The biggest hurdle for U.S. pork in Vietnam remains tariffs. Not having a free trade agreement with Vietnam poses severe challenges.

“I know NPPC does a great job getting into the markets and talking with in-country representatives, but we really need the support of the government behind us,” Ponder says. “While we can work to bring down non-trade barriers, it’s hard without the support of our representatives to bring down the tariffs. We’re always going to have to be better, and we are. And while I know U.S. pork is better than the competition, sometimes money matters.”

That’s why the investments into building these export markets helps, Wulfekuhle says.

At Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Marketing Council, market development is a big part of their strategic plan, Eck says. They work with partners to accelerate demand for Indiana soybeans and corn in all forms through those exports.

“Our yields have gotten high enough that exports are vital. When you have competition like Brazil, who has seemingly unlimited acreage, making these relationships overseas is absolutely crucial,” Eck says. “The senior director of market development for ISA and ICMC says, ‘It’s that face-to-face meeting that makes the difference. You may lose on price here, you may win on price there, but it’s building relationships face-to-face that enables you to win the ties when the price is the same between the U.S. and another competitor.’ That face-to-face means we win the ties; we sell the beans.”

Why You?
And at the end of the day, farmers want to know where their investment dollars go. That’s why Eck makes it a point to help bridge the gap between U.S. farmers and international market opportunities.

“It’s exactly like any other job you hire for or invest in. If you hire the co-op or another company to spray your crop, you don’t just assume that it was done right, walk away and never go look at it,” Eck says. “You go look at the product. You see what kind of job they did, and make sure that, yes, this is what we’ve invested in, and we are getting our money’s worth.”

Showing up matters, Eck says. When you don’t show up live, you can’t really understand how it’s going.

“You can get feedback from collaborators and consultants, but you don’t see exactly what is happening,” Eck says. “When you show up, or send board members or employees to look, you can find out exactly what’s happening and be part of figuring out what improvements need made.”

For Wulfekuhle, it’s about shaking hands, smiling and truly connecting with other people who want some of the same things you do – to be able to safely and affordably feed their families.

By the end of the mission, he hopes people realize that U.S. farmers are good people and good business partners.

Ponder says there’s nothing like producers coming back and telling other producers face to face about their experiences.

“People want to see people – boots on the ground – and know their money is being well spent. Farmers are well known for being very conservative when it comes to fiscal decisions. They don’t want to spend money on things that are frivolous,” Ponder says. “I can attest to the fact that our money, given all that I’ve seen, is well spent.”

Watch the Porkstars livestream here.

Your Next Read: How a Group of Veterinarians Helped Save a Rural Iowa Community

How Pro Farmer's 2024 Yield Estimates Compare to USDA Expectations

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 19:39:45 GMT

For four days this past week, more than 100 crop scouts sampled 2,000 to 3,000 fields in seven Midwest states as part of the one-of-a-kind Pro Farmer Crop Tour . Building on the boots-on-the-ground data and observations, Pro Farmer considers crop maturity and historical differences in Crop Tour data versus USDA’s final yields to release its national production estimates.

“One of the major questions heading into Crop Tour was whether the corn and soybean crops could live up to the lofty expectations,” says Brian Grete, editor for Pro Farmer. “Of the two crops, I was more impressed with soybeans than corn, and the corn crop is stellar.”

Here are the 2024 Pro Farmer National Production Estimates.

Corn Yield Estimates

“The first two days of the tour all we did was move bushels from South Dakota and Nebraska to Ohio and Indiana compared with USDA estimates,” says Chip Flory, host of “AgriTalk.” “We had laid the groundwork for a really good crop in Iowa, but in northwest Iowa, we ran into problems, which we anticipated after too much rain during the planting season. In our final day running the routes, we’ve got a nice crop in Iowa, but Minnesota is another story.”

On the eastern side of the Corn Belt, Grete and fellow scouts found a strong corn crop.

“USDA put a record yield on corn for five of the seven states,” he says. “Ohio isn’t one of those — but if we weren’t talking about last year’s record crop in Ohio, this year would be up there. This year is comparing to last year’s gold standard.”

Indiana: Trouble spots are few and far between. The corn crop posted higher numbers across the board for ear count, grain length and the number of kernels around the cob compared to the 2023 crop.

Illinois: While scouts saw variability in Illinois, the high-yielding fields far exceeded those that fell short, and the state is holding a big crop . Plant health looks good, and even the lower leaves are still green.

Iowa: Yield potential looks promising , especially in the southeast corner, the garden spot, of the state. The corn in east-central Iowa looks good, but the variability is more noticeable in the northeast.

Minnesota: The corn crop in Minnesota doesn’t look too good from the road, and it seems to have ran out of gas . Record rainfall during planting hurt the crop out of the gate, causing drowned out spots and yellow corn, followed by a dry summer.

Nebraska: Despite hail damage and fewer ears, the Nebraska corn crop looks promising with better numbers for grain length and kernels around the cob compared with 2023. Some dryland corn looks as good as irrigated acres thanks to cooperative weather.

Ohio: Despite drought conditions this year (59% of Ohio is currently seeing some level of dryness), the corn crop is proving to be resilient .

South Dakota: Historic flooding that occurred right after Father’s Day in the southeast part of the state left its mark. Scouts found fields with fewer ears , but grain length was up compared with 2023. It’s obvious the corn crop had two very different planting dates, so there’s two very different crops growing in the state.

Soybean Yield Estimates

“Soybeans could be spectacular as long as there isn’t a weather event that derails the crop ahead of harvest,” Grete says. “Typically, there’s some concern with either the corn crop, soybean crop or both coming out of Crop Tour. There aren’t concerns this year.”

Indiana: If soybeans can get a rain or two, yields should finish strong .

Illinois: Uniformity, heavily podded plants and good soil moisture — Illinois has all the ingredients for a big yield , which is a pleasant surprise. “For beans that don’t look that impressive, they certainly have a lot of pods on them,” says crop scout Mark Bernard.

Iowa: Soybean fields are consisten t and show minimal pest and weed pressure across the state, boasting big pod increases versus last year.

Minnesota: Soybeans seem to have handled the excess water better than the corn crop, but yield will be lucky to top 50 bu. per acre .

Nebraska: More pods and pods with three and four beans are good signs.

Ohio: The pod factory is still working. Plants are heavily podded and recent rains pumped moisture into the pods. The drought seems to have had little impact on yield potential.

South Dakota: Soybeans are inconsistent and could go either way this year. The crop is still filling out and has a ton of work to do to realize its potential, Flory says. If it doesn’t get it done, then it’s probably not going to be last year’s bean crop.

Tyne Morgan, host of “ U.S. Farm Report ,” sits down with Chip Flory and Brian Grete to recap the highlights and lowlights from the 32nd Pro Farmer Crop Tour.

Your Next Read — Take Our Poll: How Are Your Yields Shaping Up This Year?

Pro Farmer Crop Tour, Day 2: High-Yielding Indiana and Nebraska Crops Aim for State Records, Could Fall Short

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 01:11:04 GMT

As Day 2 of the 32nd Pro Farmer Crop Tour wrapped up on Tuesday, Indiana and Nebraska average corn and soybean yield estimates were coming in at higher levels than scouts saw in either state a year ago.

The results from day 2 were released Tuesday night . Scouts tapped the Indiana average corn yield estimate at 187.54 bu. per acre for the state, while Nebraska’s corn yield estimate was 173.25 bu. per acre.

Indiana’s Results

Pro Farmer Crop Tour estimates for Indiana corn crop.

(Lori Hays)

In Indiana, Pro Farmer Crop Tour scouts found a corn crop that posted higher numbers across the board for ear count, grain length and the number of kernels around the cob, compared to the 2023 crop.

Indiana corn yield estimate: 187.54 bu. per acre, up 3.68% from 2023
Ear count: 102.77, up 1.51% from last year
Grain length: 6.84%, up 1.18% from 2023

Pro Farmer Crop Tour soybean yield estimate results.

(Lori Hays)

Indiana’s pod counts were 1,409.02 in a 3’x3' square, which is up 7.56% from 2023.

Nebraska’s Results

Pro Farmer Crop Tour yield estimates for the 2024 Nebraska corn crop.

(Lori Hays)

In Nebraska, Pro Farmer Crop Tour scouts found corn fields had fewer ears, but the grain length and number of kernels around the cob were higher compared with the 2023 crop.

Nebraska corn yield estimate: 173.25 bu. per acre, up 3.61% from 2023
Ear count: 90.91, down 0.19% from last year
Grain length: 7.03, up 3.38% from 2023

Pro Farmer Crop Tour soybean yield estimates for the 2024 Nebraska soybean crop.

(Lori Hays)

Nebraska’s pod counts were 1,172.48 in a 3’x3' square, which is up 1.07% from 2023.

Nebraska Sees Corn And Soybean Yields Rebound From 2023

Just a year ago at this time, temperatures in parts of Nebraska were a withering 105 degrees F as Pro Farmer Crop Tour scouts on the western leg of the event stopped for the night to regroup, compare data and chart their yield estimates.

This season, Mother Nature did a 180, delivering sunny weather and a mild temperature that barely topped 75 degrees on Tuesday in Nebraska City, Neb., as scouts pulled off for their evening report.

The 2024 weather and overall crop conditions were a much-welcomed change from last year, said Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk and leader of Pro Farmer Crop Tour’s western leg. Flory said his initial dryland corn yield estimates from the first five stops of the day were unexpected, coming in at a low of 107 bu. per acre and a high of 141 bu. per acre. As his team headed east, however, dryland yield estimates improved significantly.

“The corn really came around as we went along. I had dryland corn estimates go (in order) 149.9, 162, 231 and 197,” Flory said.

Heading across northeast Nebraska, Brent Judisch, an Iowa farmer and scout on the western leg of the tour, said he saw good dryland corn yields on Tuesday, ranging from 180 bu. per acre to 200 bu. per acre.

“As we went south, it was a bit drier but we still had some good dryland yields for both corn and soybeans,” Judish said. “For the most part, the crops I looked at there were consistent.”

Stop 7. Butter Co, NE. Ok, I’ve been seeing ear worms on almost every stop of the tour but they seem to be getting worse. The yield check on this field was 230.9 but I also calculated an average of 70 ear worms in a 30’ row. #pftour24 pic.twitter.com/6GVnVZh3E7
— Ted Seifried (@TheTedSpread) August 20, 2024

Nebraska Record Yield Potential Tripped Up By Hail, Pests?

Whether the Nebraska corn and soybean crops will reach USDA’s record yield projections of 194 bushels for corn and 59 bushels for soybeans, based on August 1 conditions, Flory said it’s probably not likely, given what scouts saw in fields on Tuesday.

One of Flory’s main concerns for corn is the amount of Western bean cutworm pressure he observed in fields.

“Of the five fields we looked at this morning first thing, four of them had it,” he said. “If you’re in Nebraska and have not been out to check for Western bean cutworm, you should probably go out and scout for it. You don’t want to be surprised by that pest this fall.”

Judisch’s one concern regarding both corn and soybean yield potential was an area in southern Nebraska with extensive hail damage.

“There’s probably a 9- or 10-mile long area where we saw hail damage and there was nothing to sample,” he said.

Kevin Keller, Pioneer field agronomist, added that south-central Nebraska corn has endured several rounds of hail damage this season. “When you look at some of the key corn-producing counties that were hit hard by hail, like Phelps County, that’s going to have a significant impact on the state’s final yield results.”

Tour scout Leon Dorn, who farms near Adams, Neb., said the soybean crop in his area looks good to excellent.

“We are definitely up from where we were last year with soybeans,” Dorn said. “We’re finding more pods, and the pods look like they have a lot of three and four beans in them. The crop is coming along really well. I think the 59 bushels USDA projected is possible, but we’ll have a better sense of that in the next month.”

Indiana Corn And Soybeans Yields Are Coming On Strong

Brian Grete did crop estimates in crop district 5 in central Indiana and crop district 4 in west-central Indiana on Tuesday. He said he found really strong corn and soybean yield potential along his route.

“Our average for the dryland corn yield along my route was 201.3 bu. per acre,” said Grete, editor of Pro Farmer and leader of the eastern leg of the Tour.

Soybean plants were heavily podded with beans, Grete added.

“They didn’t have as much topsoil moisture as what we saw in Ohio yesterday and in eastern Indiana, but it wasn’t dire by any means,” he said. “If the soybeans get a rain or maybe two – and they don’t have to be all that great of rains – they could finish really well.”

USDA currently has Indiana’s state-wide corn yield projected at 207 bu. per acre, which is up 2 percent over last year. USDA has the state’s soybean yield pegged for 62 bu. per acre, which is a 1.6 percent increase from 2023.

Grete said if the rest of this growing season continues as well as it has up to this point, those new records could potentially be realized though it would likely be a stretch.

Tour Scouts Are Upbeat About Indiana Crop Potential

Richard Guse, a Minnesota farmer who is a scout on the eastern leg of Crop Tour this year, agrees with Grete.

“When we got into Indiana, our soybean pod counts went way up Monday afternoon. Then, this morning we were getting really good pod counts,” Guse said. “If the trend continues, and the other routes see what we’re seeing, Indiana has the potential for a record soybean crop, the way it would appear to me.”

Lane Aker in the field on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour in Indiana, explaining how crop predictions are made. #pftour24 pic.twitter.com/ow18t0N5aX
— Farm Journal (@FarmJournal) August 20, 2024

It was a similar story in the corn fields that were on Guse’s route.

“The corn that we measured this morning has been really good,” Guse said. I would say the consistency on the routes I’ve been on in Indiana is what stood out. On the corn, it’s been pretty consistent.”

Tour scouts measure not just ear counts, but also grain length and they count kernels around the cob. Guse said ear counts and grain length were both up in the fields he was in.

“The three ears in this last field were between 8” and 9” in length, and it had really good ear count,” he said. “The one thing that’s going to hurt it a little bit is they were only 16 kernels in diameter.”

This estimate of 231 in Cass county, IN has James dropping ears 😂 #PFTour24 pic.twitter.com/tOC2uqy8MN
— Kristi Goedken (@KristiGoedken12) August 20, 2024

While this route did produce a couple anomalies with giant ragweed in a corn field, those trouble spots were few and far between.

Scouts saw the potential for a large crop, and if you ask local agronomists, the stage is set for this crop to top last year’s yields.

“I’d say we’re better off this year compared to last year because we had that extended period of dry weather last year where things were almost going to start dying in the field,” said Phil Brunner, a senior field agronomist for BASF.

Bruner lives just outside of Noblesville, Ind. He said the weather has simply been more favorable this year compared to what Mother Nature delivered in 2023.

“We kind of always wait for that one part where something bad happens, and we’re not to the finish line yet, but fingers crossed, things have looked really, really good,” he said.

Other than some high winds impacting small pockets of corn fields, and a few cases of white mold starting to creep in, Brunner said 2024 looks like a banner year for Indiana.

“Everything’s set up pretty dadgum good right now,” Brunner said. “I think it’s a bumper crop.”

See the Day 1 Results from the 2024 Pro Farmer Crop Tour:
Pro Farmer Crop Tour, Day 1: Higher Pod Counts in South Dakota, Lower Yield Estimates In Ohio Versus 2023

For more than 30 years, Pro Farmer Crop Tour scouts have been providing the agriculture industry with insights into potential corn and soybean production, gathering scout reports from 2,000-plus fields across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota.

This year’s event takes place August 19-22. Register now to attend in-person or watch results live each night at 8 p.m. Central Standard Time.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
For exclusive access to professional grade news, analysis and advice, subscribe to Pro Farmer here .

Ceres Solutions and Co-Alliance Merge to Form Keystone Cooperative

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 13:37:31 GMT

Ceres Solutions and Co-Alliance , two of Indiana’s largest agricultural cooperatives, have completed a shareholder vote with 99% in favor of merging.

The companies will now be known as Keystone Cooperative, effective March 1, 2024, and headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind.

At the news of the merger, The Scoop had an in-person interview with the new cooperative’s leadership.

Keystone will be led by:

CEO Kevin Still, currently CEO of Co-Alliance
Executive vice president Jeff Troike, currently CEO of Ceres Solutions
Executive vice president Scott Logue, currently executive vice president of Co-Alliance
20 total district directors

With a combined 1,700 employees, 20,000 farmer-owners, $3.1 billion sales revenue and 195 locations across Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, the leaders knew working together would allow them to better serve their owners.

“When you can see those types of synergies and look to the future, it’s our responsibility as a leadership team to take it to our board and say, ‘Here are the possibilities’,” Troike says. “Our members expect us to be able to deliver technology to help them be more productive, more efficient and more profitable. An organization of this size will allow us to continue to do what we’ve been doing in the future.”

Still adds, “We were geographically next to each other in a lot of places. And so in those areas, we’re going to be able to utilize assets together that before we couldn’t and I think that’s going to play a really important role.”

One of the first goals for the new company is to ensure their employee cultures are well aligned.

“The main thing we want to kick off as Keystone Cooperative is that our employees are focused on the customer and we don’t lose focus,” Troike says. “We want to make sure we communicate to our employees because they’re our most valuable asset – they take care of the customer.”

And as they move forward, Keystone’s strategy is to be a long-term solution for their customers.

“We want to continue to be a leader in the market and the employer of choice,” Still says. “We want to partner with our customers and keep that local feeling but still leverage size and scale.”

Related Articles:

Ceres Solutions and Co-Alliance to Vote on Merger

Two of Indiana’s Largest Cooperatives Pursue Due Diligence, Possible Merger

Co-Alliance Says Its Big Year Pays Back to Farmers, Its Business

Business Innovation Award: Digitize then Automate

Here’s How Pro Farmer's 2023 Yield Estimates Stack Up to USDA Expectations

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 22:17:31 GMT

It’s Friday in Pro Farmer Crop Tour week, which means the highly anticipated production estimates for the 2023 U.S. corn and soybean crops are now available.

These estimates are based on Crop Tour data and observations collected this past week by more than 100 crop scouts who sampled 3,000+ fields spanning Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.

Corn yield estimates

“We built record corn yields ahead of these extreme heat-indexed days. That’s the key point as we looked across the Corn Belt as a whole this week—we got ahead on yield early-on in order to hit average after the losses to heat,” Brian Grete of Pro Farmer says.

Indiana: Corn plants in Indiana look good , but kernel counts around will take a bite out of yield. With incidences of tar spot popping up all over the state, the yield could quickly change. Without tar spot, Indiana could hit yield average.

Illinois: Wildfire smoke and overnight temperatures won’t stop Illinois corn from hitting average yield. Tar spot, however, could blow up in pockets in coming weeks, which would pack a punch in the kernels’ starch and test weights.

Iowa: Five days with 103° heat index equated to five weeks of stress on corn crops in Iowa. The crops clearly ran out of energy and will see a just-below-average yield.

Minnesota: Burn is eating up the state’s corn crop up to one leaf below the ear . Kernel depth will push the crop below average yields.

Nebraska: The Nebraska corn fields had plenty of ear s, but they are already hanging. Irrigated acres will hit average, but non-irrigated will take a hit.

Ohio: A surge of moisture saved the crop this week. Despite being behind on growing degree days, the crop is more consistent than 2022 and looks to yield above average.

South Dakota: Rain in many regions of South Dakota resulted in a 180° from 2022’s crop. There’s no tip back in the Southeast corn for the state, yet. Final weeks of the season could shrink grain depth, but with little effect.

Soybean yield estimates

“We saw extremely stressful conditions this week. Thanks to the management put on the crop, hybrid and varieties available, the ability of both the corn and soybean crops to build a yield in these conditions has been unbelievable,” Chip Flory, AgriTalk host says. “The question now is whether or not they can hold on to it.”

Indiana: Moisture deficiencies are playing out heavily in Indiana ’s soybeans. However, the plant is proving resilient with high pod and seed counts. The state will yield higher than last year.

Illinois: Months-long drought followed by a derecho caused whiplash in Illinois soybeans. But the storm caused more good than bad, resulting in short nodes and short beans, with high pod counts. The state will see slightly above-average harvest numbers.

Iowa: Dry conditions produced yellow-green marbled fields . Despite dry conditions, pod counts in Iowa will trump Illinois. But seed size and count will cause a yield penalty.

Minnesota: Heat stress and drought are throwing punches at soybean yield in Minnesota. The state is patchy, with two-bean pods spotted in the state’s Southwestern corridor while other areas will have an average-yielding crop.

Nebraska: The bean crop appeared to be dying out instead of drying out. With no chance of rain in the forecast, the crops won’t have a chance to fill.

Ohio: Rains this week in Ohio greened-up crops at a pivotal growth stage. The state’s soybean crop won’t be better than 2021, but it will be better than 2022.

South Dakota: Pod counts are above normal for what scouts would usually see in the state, thanks to late-season moisture. Yield will likely come out average, or slightly above.

Pro Farmer Crop Tour, Day 2: Drought in Nebraska, Tar Spot in Indiana

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 22:22:13 GMT

Extreme heat rolled down Midwestern highways on Tuesday, along Pro Farmer’s Crop Tour scouts as they made their Day 2 journey.

This heat has been lingering in Nebraska for quite some time, based on the scouts’ findings. Here’s what they saw on Tuesday.

Western leg: Grand Island, Neb. to Nebraska City, Neb.

As scouts made their way to the eastern portion of Nebraska, the state’s extreme-to-exceptional drought conditions (15%) were obvious in corn. The region’s crops are likely to yield higher than 2022, thanks — in most part — to record amounts of irrigation, according to Maverick Widdowson, a Shelkon Neb. farmer.

“It’s been nonstop since we planted. A lot of pre-watering early on, and we’ve had to keep pumping as much as we can, even into September,” Widdowson says.

Calvin Rupe, Pioneer field agronomist, says the lack of moisture will be measured in corn’s test weight in non-irrigated corn. He anticipates an average-yielding year for irrigated corn stands, however.

Beans at my last stop in Otoe Co NE (not pictured) were beautiful - 1250 pod count. Beans in picture from Gage Co had a 1411 pod count and won’t yield as well as last stop. Beans in Gage had some twisted pods and very little fill. #PFTour23 pic.twitter.com/4EqOINjRK4
— Chip Flory (@ChipFlory) August 22, 2023

Prior to the heat wave that cast a wide net over the Midwest two weeks ago, some eastern Nebraskans thought the non-irrigated soybean crop would come in above APH. Now, some, including Pro Farmer Crop Tour scout Brent Judisch, aren’t convinced.

“In the fields I’m seeing, they’re going to lose that top cluster. They’ll lose 10% to 12% minimum because they won’t have a chance to fill due to lack of rain in the forecast,” Judisch says.

Eastern leg: Noblesville, Ind. to Bloomington, Ill.

Scouts in the east saw more of a mixed bag for corn on Tuesday compared with the first day of Crop Tour. Scout Mark Bernard says he was more impressed by Monday’s fields in Ohio.

“The first sample out of the chute today looked really good, but it was only 14 kernels around. Those numbers will take a bite out of your yield,” Bernard says.

Bernard says his corn counts on Tuesday were in the 190-bu. range, which he doesn’t think is disappointing, but it’s below what he had expected.

Bushels counts could quickly change in coming weeks with the threat of tar spot on the horizon, according to Brian Shrader, Pioneer agronomist who covers northeast Indiana.

“We’ve seen tar spot move further south and east earlier this year than we ever have in my geography,” Shrader says. “I’m seeing it at significantly higher levels than what I’ve seen in past years.”

Stop 5 Jasper County, Indiana. Corn will probably be used for silage (Fair Oaks) Drought stressed. 129 bu appraised.

Same stop. Bean pod count is 528. Lots of 2 bean pods (see photo). pic.twitter.com/sX5IziAkli
— Bruce Lantzky (@Lantzkyfarms) August 22, 2023

With a mid-to-late May planting date, followed by a dry spell in June, moisture deficiencies are playing out heavily in Indiana’s soybeans.

“We’re seeing very deeply rooted plants in general on Crop Tour, including in Ohio. That means the plants are breaking off at the stem instead of coming out by the roots — something unusual,” Bernard says.

Due to the plant’s root change, Bernard says the soybean crop will be more resilient, especially in this week’s heat.

For exclusive access to professional grade news, analysis and advice, subscribe to Pro Farmer here .

Derecho Packs Punch of 100 MPH Winds, Flattens Cornfields and Crushes Grain Bins Across the Midwest

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 21:00:54 GMT

Hurricane-force winds swept through northern Missouri and Iowa and all the way east to Illinois and Indiana on Thursday. The derecho brought wind gusts up to 100 mph in places, flattening cornfields. The storm system also brought crucial rains. While it might not be enough to cure the drought, the rains could help rescue some of the drought-ravaged crops.

According to Accuweather, a derecho is a storm that brings a punch of at least 58 mph winds over the span of at least 400 miles. The storm on Thursday barreled across the Midwest, with some of hardest-hit states being Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. The storm then turned and went south, hitting Tennessee.

Yesterday, @NOAA's #GOESEast 🛰️ tracked a destructive #derecho as it raced across the Midwest, causing widespread damage across several states. This visible imagery shows the bubbling clouds, and the satellite's Geostationary Lightning Mapper allowed us to see the frequent… pic.twitter.com/SvYbnuf5em
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) June 30, 2023

Ken Ferrie , owner of Crop-Tech Consulting, was in the middle of the storm. He spoke to AgWeb’s Rhonda Brooks about potential damage, estimating the derecho crossed at least two-thirds of Illinois.

“It’s pretty widespread,” says Ferrie who lives in Heyworth, Ill., just south of Bloomington. “It hit between 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. yesterday.”

The storm also brought more than an inch of much-needed rain, which may have saved many of the Illinois corn and soybean crops. Ferrie says there is quite a bit of cleanup that will need to take place with down trees and other damage, and he’s still trying to assess the impact on the crops.

“I have not seen any corn snapped like the derecho in Iowa where crops were just snapped and flat, but there’s a lot of corn laying over,” says Ferrie.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says the storm was widespread, impacting an area from the Central Great Plains and northern Missouri, all the way to the Tennessee River Valley.

“The derecho on June 29th was oddly reminiscent of the massive derecho that struck the Midwest on August 10, 2020,” he says. “Now the aerial extent was not quite as large as the August 2020 events and the winds were not quite as high. But nevertheless, we did see widespread 60 to 100 mph winds emerging early in the day on the 29th.”

Brad Rippey discusses the scope and possible scale of damage caused by the derecho this week.

Rippey says the timing of the storm could also be a key factor in determining how much damage it caused to crops.

“We’re not expecting to see the large scale impact that we saw compared to August 2020, partly because it’s earlier in the growing season crops are not as high and susceptible to damage,” says Rippey. “And also just the fact that winds weren’t quite as high and the areal extent wasn’t as great. Still, though, another blow for producers already reeling from drought now contending with the effects of a significant windstorm that blew through the area on June 29th.”

Earlier Planted Corn Hit the Hardest

Ferrie drove across parts of Illinois and into Iowa on Friday, and says he thinks the earlier planted corn is what will be impacted the most from the powerful storm this week.

“April-planted corn is pushing tassels and trying to pollinate, so unfortunately, it’ll get hit the hardest because it’s hard for tasseled corn to stand back up; it’ll just curve at the top,” says Ferrie. “And that down corn creates pollination problems. So, from a yield problem that’ll be the tough spot, and that’ll be the tougher stuff to harvest because it just won’t stand back up.”

First time in my life I’ve pulled up to my parents place and not seen the grain leg standing. The storm hit hard today, but it’s wild in that the corn didn’t get mangled any worse than it did. No one got hurt which is the main thing. pic.twitter.com/Kg0hVyKi5V
— Matthew Bennett (@chief321) June 29, 2023

He says the May-planted corn will still have time to stand back up and recover, but he also points out the later planted corn is seeing more impacts from the drought in Illinois. The corn that farmers planted later didn’t establish good roots as it has seen little to no rain since planting. That made the corn more vulnerable to wind damage.

“We have a lot of acres that are getting what I call restless corn syndrome and struggling to get crown roots made. And that stuff isn’t pollinating. It’s the later planted crop that’s probably some of the worst,” says Ferrie.

Storm damage in Illinois from today. Any damage to your farm? pic.twitter.com/RWOHDjPQ2U
— IL Corn (@ilcorn) June 29, 2023

While the wind may impact yields and create harvest issues for some of the crops, the water came at a crucial time, especially in Illinois.

“That inch of water, many farmers would probably take the wind in the corn to get the water, because it looked like we weren’t going to get any of it, and suddenly our forecast has rain for the next five out of six days,” says Ferrie. “So, it kind of broke that bubble that was holding us in the drought.”

Soybeans weren’t spared from damage either, but Ferrie says the drink of water will also be a boost for those fields. He reports there are even soybean fields laid over from the derecho winds on Thursday.

Indiana also reported high winds, with gusts reaching 70 mph at Indianapolis International Airport. Indiana farm fields were dealt with derecho damage this week, too. Photos show corn blown over by the wind, with the later planted corn holding up better than what was planted earlier in the season this year.

Photo Courtesy: Joelle Orem, Russiaville, Indiana

Crop Comments: How do crops look in your area? Post a comment or photo in Crop Comments.

More Layoffs at Deere

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 02:15:00 GMT

Agricultural machinery firm Deere and Co. said Friday that it was laying off nearly 500 employees in Waterloo, Iowa, just one week after it let more than 600 workers go at four U.S. locations.

The company said the decision was in response to softening demand for its products. With commodity prices falling in anticipating of big corn and soybean harvests, farmers are not expected to invest as heavily in new equipment in the coming months as in recent years.

What do you think about the latest layoff news from Deere? Join the conversation and see what other farmers are saying on the AgWeb discussion boards here.

Deere Lays Off 600 Workers

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 02:15:00 GMT

Faced with low grain prices and a worsening sales decline for its agricultural products, Deere & Co. today announced it was laying off more than 600 workers at four U.S. locations .

The decision will affect employees at John Deere Harvester Works in Moline; John Deere Seeding and Cylinder in Moline; John Deere Des Moines Works in Ankeny, Iowa; and John Deere Coffeyville in Coffeyville, Kan.

Overall, the layoffs represent a sliver of Deere’s workforce; the company employs more than 67,000 people. But it does indicate how low commodity prices can affect firms that serve the farming industry, and Deere is already feeling the pressure. Earlier this week , it reduced its profit expectations for the year and noted a growing sales decline in its agricultural machinery.

That will surely be a challenge for Deere. According to Bloomberg, agricultural machinery sales represented more than three-fourths of its 2013 revenue of $38 billion.

Meet Terry Springer, The Indiana Jones of Farming

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 20:11:47 GMT

The boy always walked head-down across his farm, scanning the ground for another arrowhead, fossil or fine piece of quartz. Over 50 years later, the man still follows the same paths across 1,200 acres of farmland and pasture, neck bent and eyes in the dirt, hoping to find one more piece of the past.

Against a picturesque prairie backdrop, Terry Springer grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa five miles southwest from the banks of the Missouri River. Springer farms in south-central South Dakota, surrounded by a mix of rolling hills and bluffs, a short jump from the Nebraska border. Whether crops, rocks, fossils or Native American artifacts, Springer is a man possessed by his dirt.

Pointing across a pasture and a host of prairie rattlesnakes hidden within, Springer couldn’t be more content to live in the back of beyond: “I have friends that tell me there’s nothing out here and they are exactly right. If you want Walmart or restaurants, then you’re in the wrong place. I’m in Dances With Wolves territory and this western prairie is part of who I am.”

Springer, 65, can’t remember a time when his gaze wasn’t fixed to his feet. “It started when I was a small kid picking up generic specimens of quartz and feldspar. I can’t really explain why and I’m not completely sure myself. I was surrounded by the outdoors and farming life; maybe it triggered something inside me. One thing for sure, I gained a permanent crick in the neck from looking down all the time.”

Walking a gravel road to a country school each day during childhood, Springer scoured the shoulder for fossils. Even his farm chores became a means to hunt rocks. “I’d always volunteer to chop thistles on some of our hilly ground, and then I’d hunt all day while I worked,” he remembers. “If I was cultivating, I’d still have my eye out for rocks.”

Terry, 65, left and younger brother, Wayne, 60, farm in south-central South Dakota. “Even into the early 1900s, when my grandma was little, a group of Sioux lived only a mile from the farm in teepees. Looking back, it’s really not that long ago,” Wayne says.

© Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union

A lifetime later, Springer has amassed a trove of ice age bones, teeth, petrified wood, stone tools and a host of unidentified geological specimens. The collection lines 2’-by-8’ and 2’-by-12’ shelves in several old, wooden granaries, with additional pieces scattered in the farm yard or held on a large cement pad once used to raise hogs. Springer has garnered a wealth of rock-hound knowledge about his finds, but takes the most promising specimens to the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in Hill City for identification. “It’s hard to judge, but I’d say mammoth hip bones and saber-toothed tiger fangs are definitely unique finds. I don’t have museum-quality items, but they’re special to me,” Springer explains.

Straightening the Snake

Each year, erosion draws a treasure map for Springer, even though his farmland is no till. In the 1950s, Gregory County rebuilt a small road that wound around the rolling hills of the Springer land. Despite protests from Springer’s grandfather, the county bulldozed a cut directly through the hills and pasture, essentially straightening the snake and inadvertently exposing a major fossil source. “As a farmer, I hate erosion, but for hunting rocks, erosion is key,” Springer says.

When Springer isn’t on a tractor or tending livestock, he heads for the cut, particularly after rainfall. The cut is composed of crumbly deposits, and on the right day, Springer finds bones jutting from the exposed hillside or laying below in a washout. He carries no backpack, hammer or shovel—just a sharp eye to pinpoint anomalies. “I’ve developed a knack to look for anything out of the ordinary in the cut, something hidden and distinct at the same time. Then again, I’ve found some of the finest specimens directly on our farmland when they were almost impossible to see.”

Springer farms alongside his younger brother, Wayne , who says Springer was obsessed with rocks from an early age: “Ever since we were small kids, Terry wanted to find rocks. I can still remember walking down the road: While I picked up rocks to throw, he was always hunched over, picking up rocks to keep.”

“When you get to look and learn at the same time, you can’t help but appreciate what is hiding around farmland,” Terry says.

© Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union

“Terry would look for arrowheads too, because the Sioux were prevalent in this area. Even into the early 1900s, when my grandma was little, a group of Sioux lived only a mile from the farm in teepees. Looking back, it’s really not that long ago,” Wayne adds.

Springer’s Native American artifacts are far less extensive than his fossils and bones, mainly limited to points and scrapers. Another category of Springer’s collection, although limited to a few samples, may be his favorite: On top of several weathered buttes, he finds fulgurites—cylinders made of sandstone. “Who knows how long ago, lightning struck the ground. The bolt’s path melted and fused the sand, and after everything else eroded, I found what is left behind. Fulgurites are really a cast of a lightning path,” he explains.

Holy Grail

Although he’ll never be able to pick it up, Springer has already found his Holy Grail item. Beginning in the late 1980s, during an interlude off the farm, Springer attempted to start a mining operation in South Dakota’s Black Hills at an abandoned gold mine in an area controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). He tried to access a vein going down thousands of feet containing millions of tons of high-quality amphibolite . The black metamorphic rock, often used for monuments and gravestones, is typically imported from Africa or Asia.

Springer took bore samples and carried specimens to several monument companies: “They were highly impressed, but there was a major hitch. I could only produce 5’-6’ blocks, but they had to have a common size of 17’ blocks.”

After four years of navigating innumerable government regulations and churning through a series of credit cards, Springer decided the black rock was his black whale: “I walked away and gave up that dream. I was really a farmer with some credit cards anyway. The fact of government land coupled with the block size put the project out of my financial range. I was out of my league in many respects, but I gave it my best shot and greatly enjoyed the opportunity to experience living in the Black Hills.”

“I’ve done this since I was a kid and I’ll never stop until I make my last find,” says Terry, pictured alongside faithful companion Bristol.

© DenaMarie Springer

The Last Find

Springer is a humble man, always excited to uncover another artifact and share his findings. He sometimes shows the cut to geologists, school groups and rock clubs. History, education, childhood, and farming, Springer says fossil hunting runs through the layers of his life: “When you get to look and learn at the same time, you can’t help but appreciate what is hiding around farmland. Farmers have to pay bills and don’t always have time to look in the dirt, but I bet a lot of them would be surprised if they really knew what they were standing over.”

“I’ve done this since I was a kid and I’ll never stop until I make my last find,” Springer adds. “These rocks and fossils are simple parts of my life, and one thing for certain, they’ll always be a part of this farm.”

For more on what’s forgotten beneath the dirt, see The Secret Life of Farmland Marbles

Bird Flu Quarantine to be Lifted on Most Affected Iowa Farms

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 05:34:30 GMT

Iowa agriculture officials say a majority of the quarantine zones set up around poultry farms infected with bird flu are being lifted.

When bird flu was confirmed on a farm, a six-mile zone was established to control traffic. State officials said Tuesday 77 zones were set up but they are in the process of lifting 69 now.

Once completed, officials say there will only be control zones remaining on six farms in Adair, Sioux and Wright counties.

Iowa lost 34 million birds to the bird flu outbreak.

Officials say one of the first infected turkey farms — Brad Moline’s family farm in Manson — has restocked with new birds and Moline will host state and federal officials at a news conference on Monday to discuss the recovery process.

Land Sale of the Week: $15,500/a in Northwest Iowa

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 01:14:29 GMT

Mike Walsten

The outbreak of bird flu in northwest Iowa had market observers nervous about an upcoming farmland auction of high-quality cropland May 16. But the results of the auction reflects continuing confidence in the long-term outlook for farming and land prices.

The 160 acres offered was located north of Granville in Sioux County. It featured 158.5 tillable acres and carried a CSR2 (Corn Suitability Rating updated) of 98.7. The maximum CSR2 possible is 100. The farm was owned by out-of-state owners who had held the ground for decades. It had been leased for more than 20 years.

The farm was offered in two 80-acre tracts with the high bidder having the option to take either or both tracts. The winning bid was $15,500 an acre, offered by a local farmer/investor who chose to take both tracts.

Rich Vander Werff, Vander Werff and Associates, Inc., Sanborn, Iowa, 712-729-3264 handled the auction.

If interested in seeing a copy of LandOwner, just drop me an email at landowner@profarmer.com or call 800-772-0023.

Land Sale of the Week: $14,350/Acre Northwest Iowa

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 01:13:58 GMT

Mike Walsten

Active bidding from a small group of aggressive farmers resulted in a 40-acre farm selling for $14,350 April 24. The farm is located east of Sanborn in O’Brien County in northwest Iowa. The farm sold with immediate possission and no leases.

The offering included 37 acres of quality tillable cropland. The Corn Suitabiltiy Rating 2 (CSR2 with 100 being maximum) on the property is 97.6. The CSR is 78.1 versus a county CSR average of 71.8.

Rich Vander Werff of Vander Werff and Associates, Inc., Sanborn, 712-729-3264 handled the auction.

Says Vander Werff: “We had five or six active bidders. We started the bidding at $8,500 and were at $12,000 an acre within three minutes. A local farmer was the buyer.”

If interested in seeing a copy of LandOwner, just drop me an email at landowner@profarmer.com or call 800-772-0023.

Land Sale of the Week: $9,000/a in Central Iowa

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 01:11:31 GMT

Mike Walsten

A block of 147.5 acres passed under the gavel Jan. 15 at $9,000 an acre. The farm was located northwest of Malcom, Iowa, in Poweshiek about half way between Des Moines and Iowa City. It featured 138 tillable acres and carried a CSR2 of 76.1. It had a CSR of 71.2 compared to the county average of 65.0. The farm was an easy-to-farm long rectangle.

The farm was sold with a lease in place which did not expire until Mar. 1, 2016. The lease payment is $48,160 with half due on Mar. 1 and the second half due Nov. 1. The buyer also receives the Mar. 1, 2015 lease payment. The lease payment averages out to be $350 per tillable acre.

Handling the sale was Vince Johnson of Iowa Land Sales & Farm Management, Montezuma, Iowa, 641-891-5326

For more information about LandOwner, please click here or call 800-772-0023.