Central Region Update

Derrick Hoodjer, Agronomy Programs Director

Spring agronomy work in our central trade area is just about ready to kick off. Overall it’s been a cool and wet March, which has kept a lot of field work from getting done. The good fall we had was certainly a blessing. We were able to get a good chunk of NH3 and Dry Fertilizer taken care of right after harvest. As of now, we have 2-3 weeks of hard running left to do, but we are still sitting in good shape going into Spring.

Overall, the weather this winter was mild but wet. Many were surprised with the soaking rains during the winter months. Our soil profile was getting charged up all the way through winter and tile lines have been flowing again. This was some good news coming out of the drought conditions we had in the fall. As we are approaching April, we hope to get warmer weather and sunshine to kick off the growing season right.

Going into Spring, we have focused on adding value to your farm. Once you have a good base of NPK and lime, you can add products to get into higher yield scenarios. Products like sulfur, stabilizer, and fungicides combined with services like variable rate technology can have a large impact on farms in our area. We talk about sulfur a lot, and it is probably our most popular value-added product. We almost always see yield benefits in corn with sulfur, provided we have no underlying issues with other fertility. Using variable rate seeding and application is also becoming more popular, as we can see the benefits over multiple growing seasons. It’s not always the easiest to measure how much yield benefit we get, but I’m confident in saying if we push the better fields and better parts of the fields, we will get more yield. We don’t have many fields with very good soil profiles spread evenly across the entire field. If we can focus on the spots that are high-yielding and save inputs from being wasted on the lower-yielding spots, we will be better in the long run.

Another focus for us in the central region has been discussing seed plans with customers. The planters are getting ready, and we are getting close to being out in the fields. We’re working to make sure all the seed is ready to go and field plans are laid out. April weather often changes our plans, but having a predetermined general guide of what to plant where and when makes planting go much easier.

Also, we can’t stress this enough: Don’t plant the wrong hybrid in a field just because that’s what is in the planter. Waiting a few hours to get the right seed on the right acre is worth way more than lost time planting.

As always, all of us at SFG are here to help. If you have any questions or issues going into spring, reach out to us. We may not be able to fix every problem, but we will find the right people that can. Thank you for your business so far this year, and we hope everyone has a safe and successful planting season.