Why are Zinc and Phosphorus important for soil health? In this short video, Precision Agronomy Advisor Phil Long breaks down how these two elements can work well together or be antagonists.
Check out our Latham Hi‑Tech Seed YouTube Channel where our agronomists unpack other agronomy topics.
The growth in the cover crop markets combined with production shortages have grass seed prices climbing significantly. As a result, it’s not as economical to plant a grass seed-alfalfa mix. If you’ve historically planted a grass seed-alfalfa mix, consider a solid-seeded alfalfa for spring 2022.
High fertilizer prices have many farmers looking at every nitrogen credit. Similar to soybeans, alfalfa fixes most of its own nitrogen. Latham Seeds’ signature seed treatment, AlfaShieldTM, contains key micronutrients like molybdenum and an LCO growth promoter called Optimize® Gold. Having these components readily available upon emergence increases the chance of early nodulation and nitrogen-fixing cycle.
The speed at which an alfalfa plant creates nutrients correlates to yield, as well a healthier long-term stand. Alfalfa can fix an average of 150 to 200 pounds of nitrogen per year and has a robust advantage in providing nitrogen credits years after the stand ends.
The chart above outlines potential credits. Traditionally, the subsequent crop planted on rotated alfalfa yields about 15 to 20% more! There is more good news, the value of alfalfa extends beyond the nitrogen credit. Alfalfa has many other assets to accompany your operation:
Making alfalfa part of a crop rotation has so many advantages. Talk with your Latham® rep today about making it part of your 2022 crop plan!
High yields from 2021 combined with increasingly high fertilizer for spring 2022 have caused many farmers to scale back their fertilizer applications. While they may save on short-term input costs, they could lose more in yield than they’re saving.
Spending lots of money on fertilizer doesn’t equal high yields, however, having a soil balance sustains a corn or soybean crop during a tough year. So how can you strike a balance? It’s important to start with pH, especially when growing legumes like soybeans, edible beans and alfalfa.
A soil pH around 6.5 is important because it determines if nutrients are in usable form for the crop. If you struggle with high pH, fertilizers like MAP and AMS that are more acidifying will help lower pH over time. The micronutrient part of your fertility is also very important. In most cases, you don’t need to add as many micronutrients to fix a low test; you just need to be aware of which nutrients may be too high and thus limit the availability of other nutrients.
Soil biology – fungi, bacteria, and other microbes – play a key role in cycling nutrients to available and unavailable forms. It’s more about having a balance and being in the right form than it is about applying lots of fertilizer. For example, Iron Deficiency Chlorosis (IDC) in soybeans results when iron is not in an available form for the plant to take it up; there is actually over 20,000lbs/acre of iron in the top 8 inches of our soils!
A 200-bushel corn crop removes approximately 150, 70, and 50 pounds of N, P, and K respectively per season. A 60 bushel per acre (bu/A) soybean crop removes approximately 240, 50, and 75 pounds of N, P, and K per season. Do we need to apply exactly those amounts? No, but we must understand what the soil can provide and how it maintains a balance that is available to our crops. Soil testing is so important for gaining this understanding. When problem spots arise, then we tissue test, take additional soil samples, and use other information to diagnose.
The key point is a lot more goes into maintaining a balance in your soils than just applying the same amount of fertilizer every year. The best place to start is with a soil test. Latham’s Data ForwardTM program helps takes some of the worry and complexity out of it while figuring out what your soils needs. Remember, your soils are not identical to your neighbors’. A soil test is key to finding the right balance for higher yields on your fields. I’d be happy to discuss with you any questions you have about your soil and how Latham’s Data ForwardTM could help you iron out your fertilizer needs. Call 1.877.GO.LATHAM (1.877.465.2842).
Have you ever thought about wildfire smoke and how it may affect your crops? Precision Agronomy Advisor Phil Long unpacks how wildfire smoke can play a role in yield potential.
In this week’s #AskTheAgronomist, Precision Agronomy Advisor Phil Long addresses common questions related to foliar feeding soybeans and what he learned from this past growing season.
I’m pleased to inform you that the changes we made to our soybean research program were a resounding success! The decision to hire other companies to plant and harvest our Latham Elite trials allowed our Product Team members to observe and take notes at a greater number of locations and across a wider geographic area. In previous years, our own crew could only plant and harvest 11 or 12 locations in Iowa and southern Minnesota. We would then hire another company to do the same at about five or six locations in northern Minnesota and North Dakota. This year we were able to plant and harvest 33 locations in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota!
Latham Seeds’ Product Team will evaluate the yield data and correlate notes taken to see which products are a good fit for Latham Country. During that same time, Latham’s Regional Sales Managers (RSMs) and Dealers will be surveyed to determine what products are needed based on input they receive from our customers. Then, and only then, will new products be added to our 2023 lineup.
Once we identify products from the Elite Trials that meet Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds’ standards and fulfill our customers’ needs, we release them for sale. We also place these new products in our Latham Showcase plots, as well as in the independent F.I.R.S.T. Trials program, to again showcase the performance of these new products and to provide opportunities for our customers to gain confidence in their performance.
It has been my great honor and pleasure working for the Latham family for more than 25 years – first, as an agronomist, then as Soybean Product Manager and, for a dozen or so years as overall Product Manager. When Bill and Don Latham hired me in 1996, I had high hopes this would eventually lead to this being my dream job. I was looking for an opportunity to work in Research and Product Development. It certainly was everything I had hoped it would be. I can honestly say that I’ve never regretted the decision – not even once!
Along the way, I’ve met farmers, dealers, sales personnel, fellow employees and colleagues from numerous areas. I am proud to call many of you my friends. I’d like to thank the Latham family for placing their trust in me. I especially want to thank John, Shannon and Chris for allowing me to “spread my wings,” so I could be more involved in all of the products we handle. As for the future, I know that I’m leaving the company in the best of hands.
This is the final article I will write for TECHtalk as I am retiring at the end of 2021. I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family, traveling and pursuing some hobbies that I’ve put on hold for a few years. I wish you all the best as you continue to work in this great business of agriculture. May God richly bless you always!
Soybean diseases such as soybean sudden death syndrome, white mold and soybean cyst nematode (SCN) negatively impacted yields in parts of Latham Country in 2021. In this week’s #AskTheAgronomist, Precision Agronomy Advisor Phil Long discusses how to identify and select soybean varieties that will address disease pressure in your fields.
With a majority of the year recorded as dry to extremely dry for much of the Upper Midwest, many farmers were surprised at the onset of disease towards the close of the 2021 growing season. Precision Agronomy Advisor Phil Long addresses how to account for and select corn products to address disease challenges in your fields into 2022 and beyond.
To save the most money on inputs, we must plan earlier and earlier every year. A current soil test is the best way to evaluate your fertility and ultimately your yield potential. Besides the normal evaluation of the main nutrients, a soil test pays for itself.
Let’s look at three ways to use your soil test to its full potential:
These comparisons and maps can be done in Latham’s Data ForwardTM app with a simple soil sample taken and yield map to start seeing value out of the information that you capture every year. If you’d like to learn how to start putting these things to work on your farm give me a call!
In this week’s Ask the Agronomist, Precision Agronomy Advisor Phil Long discusses fertility and pH management challenges that can present in continuous reduced-till scenarios. He also offers some tips on how to get a more accurate read from your soil sample and improve fertility decision-making for your fields.