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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Proof Points – Episode 15
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Making Pork a Business and Dining Tradition
“Our family has been raising pigs practically since they got off the Mayflower,” says Andrew Perry, who farms with his father, Blaine, in Northwest Iowa. Andrew grew up also raising sheep, cattle and chickens. A Perry has been farming in Cherokee County for six generations. Blaine and his wife, Darlene, are the third generation to live on the home place near Aurelia.
The Perry Family The Perrys’ business relationship with pork goes way back, but they also enjoy the fruits of their labor. Pork is a mainstay on the Perry’s dinner table. While nutritious, lean, high-protein pork powers the humans in their operation, the Perrys also make sure to provide their pigs with the right diet.
“We feed 80 percent of the corn we raise, so we keep corn for nine months before we haul any of it to town,” explains Blaine, who runs the combine while Andrew hauls grain from the field to the bins. They practice a 50-50 crop rotation and raise seed beans on contract.
When selecting corn hybrids, test weight and quality of seed is their focus. That is why Blaine and Andrew rely on Latham® quality corn hybrids.
“We raise corn that feeds our hogs. Then we use the manure our hogs produce to fertilize our fields,” Blaine says. “When you think about it, our operation comes full circle. Hog manure is ‘organic,’ but many people just don’t realize that manure has such a high value.”
Until 2022, the Perrys were independent pork producers with one nursery that supplied them with the pigs needed for their wean-to-finish operation. Now they custom finish hogs.
Conveniently, a neighbor built a feed mill one mile away. The Perrys haul their corn to the mill, which helps with biosecurity. Blaine and Andrew are the only two who enter their buildings. They credit controlling truck traffic and people inside their facilities with keeping their hogs healthier.
Andrew lives in Alta with his wife, Liz, who is a teacher at Cherokee Community School. They have three daughters: Danika, Alexa and Becca.
When they’re not busy on the farm, the Perrys enjoy taking tractor rides together. All three of Blaine and Darlene’s children — Andrew, Adam and Brooke — enjoy riding together in Peterson’s Annual Trip on Old Tractors (PATOOT).
The Perrys know that pork can adapt to most any meal needs, even desserts, as proven by Liz’s Bacon Bourbon Apple Pie.
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Multiplex Gene Editing: How It’s Transforming the Future of Farming
At a time when the world’s population is increasing, cropland is decreasing and climates are changing, it’s more important than ever to equip farmers with new technology and tools to take the guesswork out of planting decisions. One such tool is multiplex gene editing, which quickly adjusts a plant’s DNA to improve its resiliency and to use fewer natural resources like land and water.Multiplex gene editing turns up the volume on regular gene editing by implementing multiple types of edits to plant genomes. For example, vegetables such as broccoli, brussels sprouts and kale all started from different parts of the same wild mustard plant — but didn’t fully develop into their own varieties until breeders chose to amplify certain traits. Today’s corn is no different, having been bred from a plant that looks nothing like corn looks to us now.
Farmers recognize benefits from multiplex gene editing more quickly because no government agencies are involved. Additional benefits include:
- More uniform seed size, which increases planting efficiency.
- Increased water utilization.
- Changing the leaf shape, which allows for better light interception and photosynthesis to improve yields.
With a high-performing lineup designed specifically for your field, Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds is well-positioned to increase yields — year after year.
Contact Latham’s product team or your RSM/DSM for more details on multiplex gene editing and other pioneering advancements that we’re working on for your future!
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Prepare Now for Increased Production in 2024
There’s more to fall than getting the combine ready. To ensure healthy, productive soils next year, think about doing these three things now:
- Review your field data
- Correct compaction
- Add a cover crop
Whether your fields produce bumper crops or have lower-than-average yields, take the time after harvest to assess soil fertility levels, replenish depleted nutrients, determine reasons for high- and low-yielding areas and evaluate overall soil health. Doing this can help give your crops a head start for next season.
Soil samples and yield maps can predict the future
Begin next season’s preparations by pulling post-harvest soil samples and assessing this season’s yield maps. Soil samples will identify any phosphorus or potassium deficiencies, while yield maps will show the amount of nutrients removed from the soil by this year’s crops. This information will help you determine crop nutrient amounts for next season, based on actual numbers rather than estimates.
If post-harvest conditions allow, farmers can make partial (or base) nitrogen applications in the fall. Then test soil nitrate levels in the spring to determine the additional amount needed to meet next season’s crop performance goals. This ensures that nitrogen will be available in the soil at planting, as well as throughout the remainder of the growing season. If weather delays spring applications, this nitrogen management strategy provides you with more time to assess fertility needs based on early-season crop and soil conditions.
Consider fall nitrogen applications with a stabilizer
If you can make a fall nitrogen application, consider the effects of soil texture, soil moisture levels and soil temperature to avoid leaching and denitrification issues. Fall nitrogen applications should not be made until your soil cools to 50 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, when soil bacteria begin to go dormant. Fall-applied nitrogen must be used with a stabilizer to prevent it from converting into a mobile nitrate form that can move off-target and run off into nearby waterways. If manure is part of your nitrogen strategy, consider also using a stabilizer.
Ease spring workloads with simple steps
If your fall soil samples identify phosphorus (P) or potassium (K) deficiencies, you can apply these nutrients any time after harvest. To ease spring workloads, broadcast applications may be made in the fall and incorporated into the soil. If a spring application works better, P and K can also be applied prior to planting.
Another important issue to assess in the fall is soil compaction. Before doing any fall tillage, check compaction depth to help you determine the proper tillage tool to use. Accurate tillage depth and the tillage speed will loosen soil and prepare it for next season.
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
#FromtheField – Central Iowa – September, 2023
It’s harvest time in Central Iowa! Aaron is southeast of Des Moines, scouting #FromtheField to determine where to start first.
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Late Summer Can Lead to Better Harvest Decisions
Steve Sick, Latham Product Manager Taking field notes on what you observe in late August and early September can provide valuable information as you move into harvest, as well as confirm or reprioritize agronomic goals for next year.
Notes I take this time of year generally answer these questions:
- What diseases are the most prevalent?
- Which areas of the field exhibit poor growth or yield potential?
- Should I conduct a pre-harvest yield estimate?
Late-Season Scouting Suggestions
Evaluate areas of poor crop growth and potential yield. There can be multiple reasons why a crop didn’t grow well in portions of a field or yield estimates are low in some spots.
To help determine if soil fertility and health is the cause, try these steps:
- Mark on a map or GPS reference the location, so you can take directed soil samples after harvest.
- Pull paired samples. Take one composite soil sample in the poor growth area and then take another composite sample in an area of good growth nearby in the same field. (Soil sample bags are available from many sources and easily available through your local university or co-op.)
- Use yield maps. These are another great data layer to compare and contrast what you observed during scouting in late August.
Think About Pest Management While Scouting
Observe the severity and distribution of diseases, insects, and weeds in a field to help make future adjustments to pest management plans.
For example, Goss’s Wilt and bacterial leaf streak are two bacterial diseases found this year in cornfields with no previous history. Tar spot is also a new disease that carries over in residue the following year. Hybrid selection for improved tolerance or resistance to these bacterial diseases maybe something to talk about with your seed dealer this fall.
Some hail and wind-damaged fields now have a late-season weed flush in portion that might warrant a more aggressive herbicide program next year.
Scouting Now Can Help Predict Yield Potential
The most compelling reason to scout fields in late summer is to estimate yield potential. There are differing techniques on estimating corn yield in terms of how to sample and the number of ears to pull. I suggest using information from satellite or drone images to direct sampling across the variability that exists in all fields.
Another word of caution is with the seed size factor used to calculate kernels/bushel with the extremely dry grain fill period we have experienced in parts of Latham Country. For dry areas, that number may need to be much larger than normal.
Scouting late in the growing season is almost always hot, itchy, sweaty, wet and uncomfortable! However, the insights gained with field observations — when paired with knowledge of the growing season — can help tweak management decisions going forward. This will ultimately lead to more productive growing seasons in the future.
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
To Spray or Not to Spray…Here Are the Answers
By now you should be scouting your fields weekly for signs of disease. Other factors to consider when deciding whether to spray a fungicide include:
- Anticipated environmental conditions. Environment plays a significant role in disease development. Hot, humid weather favors gray leaf spot. Wet, warm (64 to 81°F) conditions favor infection and spore production by the fungus that causes northern leaf blight. Dry weather halts the development of most fungal diseases.
- Planting date. Infection at earlier growth stages will have a greater impact on yield. We usually see gray leaf spot starting on the lower leaves around the end of July and beginning of August. This year corn has been planted at essentially three planting dates. It is possible that the later planted corn (mid-May) will be at a greater risk for yield loss from foliar disease.
- Corn-following-corn fields. Many foliar disease pathogens survive winters in crop residue. Infested residue on the soil surface significantly increases the risk and development of tar spot, gray leaf spot, northern leaf blight and eyespot.
- Fungicide activity. Most fungicides are effective against disease for 14 to 21 days. Corn takes approximately 60 days from silking to physiological maturity, depending on the hybrid. Therefore, spraying a fungicide too early could negate any beneficial effect against disease development that occurs during grain fill.
- Plant health. In the absence of disease, fungicides might only increase yields by five to six bushels per acre. This barely covers the cost of the fungicide plus application.
- Stalk rots. Foliar fungicides will have no direct effect on stalk rots. The fungi that cause stalk rots systemically infect the corn plant, and available fungicides are not systemic enough to be effective against stalk rot pathogens. However, foliar disease severity is highly correlated with stalk rot prevalence. Leaf spot diseases reduce the area of photosynthetic tissue and increase susceptibility to stalk rot. Therefore, fungicide applications may indirectly reduce stalk rots by managing foliar disease and reducing plant stress.
- Tar Spot. Currently, there are multiple fungicides from multiple companies that work to help control tar spot in corn. However, fungicide efficacy is often largely controlled by fungicide timing. In most instances, a fungicide application between the VT growth stage (tassel emergence) and R2 growth stage (blister) is most effective for controlling tar spot. Furthermore, a mixed-mode-of-action fungicide product is often more effective than a single-mode-of-action product. In severe tar spot situations, two fungicide applications may be required. However, this is often dictated by history of severe disease and conducive environmental conditions in a field.
All these points reiterate the importance of tracking disease and continually scouting your field.
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
Do Fungicide Applications Increase Yields? Scout Your Field Before You Decide.
There is considerable interest across the Corn Belt in applying fungicides to field corn. When corn prices were down below $2 a bushel in the past, it was easy to say “no” to fungicide. This growing season, the high price of corn and rising disease risk due to increased corn-after-corn acreage has many farmers considering fungicide applications to increase yields.
Before applying a fungicide to corn this season, it would be smart to know the resistance to foliar disease of the hybrid being grown. The most common foliar diseases are tar spot, common rust, gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight. Back in the mid-1990s, research demonstrated a single application of fungicide could be profitable; however, profitability was strongly influenced by gray leaf spot susceptibility. In other words, the chance of increased yield and making a profit was only likely for highly-susceptible hybrids. On intermediate and moderately-resistant hybrids, any yield benefit would not cover the costs of the fungicide application.
Many foliar diseases start on the bottom leaves of a corn plant and gradually move up the plant, depending on environmental conditions. Scouting the field can give us a very good indication of disease pressure in that field.
The best time to start scouting is now through tasseling. Look for disease development on the lower leaves of the corn plant up to, and including, the ear leaf. Remember: The ear leaf and leaves above that contribute 75 to 90 percent of the carbohydrates to grain fill. These are the leaves needed for protection. If disease is not present on the leaves below the ear leaf, a fungicide application may not be warranted. Continue scouting on a weekly basis.
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
#FromtheField – Week of July 3, 2023
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Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds
#FromtheField – Week of June 26, 2023
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