Spring 2018
the Western
A WESTERN SALES PUBLICATION
The Western is now available ONLINE www.westernsales.ca/about-us/publications
In This Issue:
Talk is Cheap: Understand Your Weather Instead of Talking About It At Western Sales, we love to manage what we measure. Integrating a weather monitoring system into your farming operation provides another tool to aid in your agronomic decisionmaking process. We are thrilled to announce a “SmartWeather” system that has been customized to include a John Deere Field Connect climate station and sub-surface soil moisture probe. The JD weather station provides near real-time data on rainfall, wind speed/direction, air temperature/humidity and leaf wetness. The collection of leaf wetness, humidity, temperature and wind can be very important when deciding if certain disease pressures are likely to be present, or if conditions are appropriate to make an application in that field. This covers the elements affecting your crop above ground, but what about the soil? The Field Connect soil moisture probe, which reaches at least one meter below the soil (and up to two meters in certain applications), collects soil moisture data right beside the plant roots on a series of sensors at different depths.
This system will not only show you how much moisture is currently in your soil, but you can see how deep that moisture is, and you can see if the plants are accessing it by watching the changes in soil moisture at each level. Did it just rain? How deep did that rain penetrate, and how fast is it getting there? This tool is useful in both irrigated and non-irrigated situations. If you use an irrigation system on your farm, it is vital to know at what stage the crop is using higher water volumes and when it is close to running out of available water. The data collected can give you the ability to plan irrigation times for when it is most profitable and efficient. If you are a dryland farmer, the 2017 growing season was a great example of the value offered by a quality soil moisture probe. We started the season with significant amount of subsoil moisture, but as the season progressed, the visible field conditions showed signs of drought and the economics of fungicide applications were in doubt.
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Yet, subsurface probes clearly indicated there was enough soil moisture to generate a healthy crop and we could see that plants were accessing it. Producers who failed to make timely fungicide applications likely lost some potential yield to disease pressures. Furthermore, these climate tools, when combined, can provide insights on the potential value and efficacy of in-season nutrient applications - does the current yield potential suggest your crop might make efficient use of a prompt nutrient application? With new analytical software that works with these climate sensors, our FieldSmart team has more tools at its disposal than ever before to give you valuable in-season insights on wise agronomic decisions that are likely to generate a return. To find out more about the benefits of SmartWeather, stop by your local Western Sales dealership to talk to a FieldSmart agronomist or call 1-888-356-0388.
Contact Us: Rosetown
Elrose
Davidson
Biggar
1-888-356-0388
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