Planter Technology
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Partners,
This spring the big project has been to update our planter. Although only five years old, our planter is due for a refreshing of the latest technology available for the most important pass of the year through the field. The seed is at its maximum crop potential the instant it is put in the ground. From that point the yield potential will be diminished by all the factors that come about to "hinder" the crop performance--wind, rain, heat, insects, weed pressure, and disease to name a few.
Our planter project includes making down and up pressure active on each individual row and the ability to plant two varieties in the same pass. The down pressure aspect is to place the seed into the perfect seed bed for maximum germination. The goal is to have every seed in the field germinate within a 24 hour window so all plants have full yield potential. Those that sprout late or do not sprout leave us with plants with poor potential or blank spots that will not contribute to the final yield. Being able to plant two different hybrids gives us the opportunity to place the seed in the right yield potential environment in the field. Some parts of the fields have less yield opportunities and will take a "workhorse" hybrid while the areas of the fields which have shown us over time their higher yield potential will get a racehorse seed that can adapt to better yield potentials.
All this opportunity is here because of all the data we have been collecting over the past 20 years. Landowners have seen all the yield maps we generate each year; we have been grid soil testing for over 15 years, and we have been comparing hybrid response to field areas in side-by-side testing for over 10 years. As some one who has been paying for all this data collection I am so excited to see the potential of farming by the foot to really unlock field potentials!
We are early adopters of this technology so part of the process is struggling to figure out what is the best way to use all the information we have collected. We will keep you posted as we proceed and share our successes and stumbles along the way.
Here on the farm we are finishing up projects as the weather allows. We completed an 80 acre pattern tiling project a couple of weeks ago, have been clearing trees and fence rows to make for easier field edges, readying equipment in the shop, moving contracted grain, and started spraying burn down as of last week.
Ag commodity prices are showing some signs of finding a short term bottom, all eyes are on the weather for this growing season, and the agriculture positions of the presidential nominees are getting attention in the ag sector.
Fall Prices:
Corn 3.55
Soybeans 9.01
Enjoy and appreciate spring and the renewing of the creation for another growing season!
Steve
