SFG Update - Spring 2024

In This Issue: Charles Smith, Agronomy Manager Mark White, Grain Manager Derrick Hoodjer , Programs Director Jason Jensen, Agronomy Sales Taylor Banks, Agronomy Sales Mike King, Feed Sales Greg Willer, Agronomy Sales

Grain Update Mark White Grain Division Manager

The grain markets have settled into a somewhat narrow trading range since the first of the year.

The export market has been disappointing for beans as China held back their buying as best they could until the Brazil crop came to market. Corn sales are better than a year ago, but we are missing the Chinese sales we normally start seeing about now. Domestic usage has been good on both. The monthly bean crush continues to be record setting as bean plants have been profitable. Ethanol margins have stayed in the black although some weeks it is barley black. South American weather continues to be a story at times. The first crop season is mainly done and now they are looking at the second crop corn which needs a drink right now. This crop will have an impact on our prices in the coming months. If it does suffer some damage, we will have the most available supply in the world and those needing corn will need to come here.

However, the wheat market keeps losing ground which may mean we see more wheat replace corn in some livestock diets. There is still a lot of unpriced grain in the country right now and that is also weighing on the markets. If you look back a year local corn was 2.00 a bushel higher and beans were 3.00 a bushel higher. When confronted with these numbers your natural intuition might be to ride it out and it will get better. You can bet on the

weather, helping to push the markets higher.

Experience says if this is your one and only plan it will probably fail. A better plan if you have old crop grain would be to work yourself out of this by selling on short rallies before the wall of grain hits the market and puts pressure on the basis levels. If you are paying interest on this money, it is even more reason to get it headed toward town. The second part of this plan is if you sell too early and the markets head higher, start selling new crop bushels. Some people remember the last time we went through a big price decline like this and suddenly they owned 2 crops at low prices. The old saying is it takes 3 years to recover from a bad year.

Unfortunately, it may take 4 or 5 years to recover today.

Central Region Update Derrick Hoodjer, Agronomy Programs Director As I write this article, I’m comparing March 2023 versus 2024 and it is vastly different. This time last year SFG had barely turned a wheel and still had a lot of work to be done. March 2024 weather has been so good that we are staying caught up and able to do just about any work we want. We’ve been running NH3 for about three weeks and are almost done with applications. I’ve also seen tillage and tiling equipment running through most of the “winter” we had.

Our weather makes it feel like the middle of April, but we still have time to get plans set and make sure our 2024 growing season starts out on the right foot.

Hot button items for SFG Agronomy staff this year are early planting of corn and soybeans, increased fertilizer management, and overall farm returns on investment.

The warm weather we’ve been having has sparked interest in early planting of corn and soybeans. Field conditions are dry, and we have had overall warmer than normal temperatures. This might lead some producers to think about planting even earlier than normal. We want to remind everyone that the soil temperature needs to be 50 degrees and rising for optimum corn planting conditions. Last year some tried early-planting, and it took too long for corn to get out of the ground, leading to replant situations.

Planting even earlier this year will definitely lead to

some unneeded risk. Soybeans on the other hand are a bit more forgiving. If field conditions are right and weather has a warm forecast, early-planted soybeans pose less of a risk than corn.

That said, with seed going into the ground soon on a good foundation of fertility, SFG is already thinking about what we’re going to do this summer to raise the bar for our customers. Items on our mind are inseason nitrogen and Sulfur application, foliar fertilizer on soybeans, and fungicide use.

We are continuing to see good benefits from split applying nitrogen and adding sulfur in-season when we can. We will have a new sulfur product called Taurus this year and plan to test multiple application scenarios. Taurus can be used before emergence, foliar or with side dress applications. It is a lower use -rate product, so it’s very easy to add under about any circumstance.

Past testing of sulfur applications in corn has shown the most consistent results in adding yield. Sulfur is always my first recommendation for corn once a foundation of N, P and K are set up. We’ve done some testing of sulfur on soybeans but haven’t found the sweet spot quite yet. With soybeans we tend to see more consistent results with fungicide applications. This is something that should be on everyone’s radar for this season. Even with poor August weather last year, we saw positive results from fungicide extending the growing season and reducing drought stress.

The Agronomy staff at SFG is going to continue to look at ways to raise the bar and provide the best service we can. Feel free to give us a call, or even flag us down when you see the SFG truck coming down the road. We strive to give the best recommendations to our customers and help them become as profitable as possible. We hope all our producers have a safe spring and get 2024 growing season off to a good start.

Southern Agronomy Update

Feed Update Mike King SFG Feed Sales

Taylor Banks Southern District Agronomy Sales We have had a great stretch of weather this winter for application work. I cannot remember a time that we had as much done as we do now. NH3 and dry fertilizer have been going on for about a month now and up until a few recent rain events we could pretty much run anywhere we wanted to. We’ve also had a chance to get caught up on some lime orders to finish up from last fall.

As we look ahead to spring work, I want to encourage everyone to make sure you are finalizing chemical plans. I know we have all been busy enjoying this nice weather and getting work done that we typically cannot do this time of year, but having all those plans together makes planting season go much more smoothly.

Seed orders are being sorted and we will soon be ready to start shipping some of that out to growers that are ready to take them as well.

Be sure to give us a call if you have any questions or concerns!

Spring is here and now is the time to book your Hubbard and Kent Spring and Summer minerals. We have fly control mineral with Clarifly or Garlic to keep the bugs at bay. We can also custom-order these minerals with CTC for those with a VFD. You should also consider a calving mineral with Bio-Mos, which will help with scours.

Hubbard has mineral discounts available, be sure to contact us for more information on those. Presently, they’re providing discounts on full semi loads of mineral. I know most of you don’t need that much at once (but if you do, we can get it!) so let me know your needs and I’ll do my best to arrange everyone’s orders together for the best price. I need this information by April 15, so don’t delay calling in!

Don’t forget to get your lick tubs squared away for this year as well. We carry both plastic and metal tubs in a variety of sizes. We cover a wide range of needs with these tubs as well. Hi mag, breed-up, all natural, fly control, scour prevention, etc. If you want 250# plastic tubs with IGR or Clarifly, let us know and we can order them. If you need more energy at calving or breeding time, Kent offers a great protein tub with 8% fat sourced from soy.

I’d also like to take a moment to thank you all for your business. I know there’s a lot of options out there, and we here at SFG are glad you’ve trusted us to be your animal nutrition supplier. Be sure to give us a call on any of your needs!

Northwest Agronomy Update Jason Jensen Northwest District Agronomy Sales It seems like the last several years have had unique weather patterns. This year has been no exception.

The open weather has allowed us to apply a fair amount of anhydrous ammonia, fertilizer, and lime in the Northwest area. We‘ve also had a good March so far, allowing some dry, lime, and anhydrous applications that we only dream of most years to happen.

Unfortunately, the lack of cold weather comes with downsides. We didn’t really see the freeze/thaw cycles we normally get. These work out compaction in the soil while also killing insects and pathogens. This is something to keep in mind as you work your soil this spring.

The lack of moisture has had many farmers concerned with our crops going into the 2024 growing season. It may be dry, but if we don’t plan to raise a bountiful crop, there is no way that we can reach maximum yield potential by shortening ourselves on any nutrients or weed protection. Dry weather will also make it more important than ever to keep our fields weed free as well, avoiding competition with our crops.

As I look back on several of these articles that I have written over the years, it amazes me how

many times we have talked about a weather extreme, only to be talking about the opposite weather extreme a short time later. So who knows - this may be another one of those times and we may see ample spring rainfalls to ensure another bumper crop in 2024.

Also looking back to the last few years that we have had erratic weather conditions, it has been interesting how many times I have heard, “this was a record crop on this farm.” I always go back to an old saying that my grandma quoted: “Plant in the dust and your bins will bust.” I remember how often that saying has held true.

Don’t short your 2024 crop. Talk to your local SFG agronomist about any inputs that you haven’t locked in, and confirm the agronomy plans that were made over the winter. Have a safe and efficient spring season!

Northeast Agronomy Update Greg Willer Northeast District Agronomy Sales

More than likely planting will be early this year, so it is important to get your chemicals programs in place now. SFG has all the chemicals you need to keep your fields clean this season. We also offer scouting programs with full service chemical applications. Before it gets busy this spring take the time to speak with your SFG agronomist to put your chemical plans in place.

With the good fall weather and relatively warm and dry spring, there has been a lot of field work done in the area. As of now we are ahead of schedule for dry fertilizer and spring anhydrous application. Before long we will be planting corn and applying pre chemicals to the fields.

Although we are ahead of schedule it will still be a very busy spring. With the warm weather I have noticed that there are a lot of weeds already popping up in the fields. It will be important to walk your fields before applying your pre-emergent chemicals this spring.

Often times during a cooler spring, grass is not present when doing a burn down, but I have noticed that grass around the edges is starting to green up. Eliminating the grass and broadleaves at burn down will alleviate some of the pressure on the second pass chemical. Chemicals are expensive but so is yield loss due to bad weed control.

Layering your residuals is also important when it comes to your chemical program. It is becoming harder and harder to kill emerged weeds. By layering our residuals, we can prevent weeds from sprouting and becoming a problem later down the road.

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SFG Operations Update Charles Smith Agronomy Operations Manager

Spring is officially here. I don’t think that we can really say that we had much of a winter, but I’m glad it’s over. Planters will be rolling before we know it.

There has been a lot of field work and new waterways done so far this spring. Please be sure and let us know if you have made some changes in your fields.

We are comfortably ahead of schedule on getting the remaining NH3 and dry fertilizer applied. The weather allowed us to pretty much work all but 6 weeks of this past winter. We’re already in the process of getting out the seed tenders and sprayers to apply chemicals!

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Our salesmen also worked on a key part of the business - agronomy plans. An agronomy plan tells us what soil testing, nitrogen, dry fertilizer, seed, and chemistry to plan for each field. Each salesman puts together a plan with their customers so everyone involved knows almost exactly what to do come spring.

These plans give us an idea of what the coming year’s work is going to cost. It’s also an opportunity to make sure the field maps are correct. The plan does end up changing some, but it’s still an important tool to get us in the ballpark of what we need to order and what you can expect to pay. After the season is over the salesman will follow up with the farmer to verify everything was sprayed properly and as intended. This is great information for you to have, and for us to make sure the job is done correctly.

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