Agronomy Insights

High-yielding crops pull nutrients from the soil ― more than farmers may realize. A plethora of tools are available to ensure that your fertility plan includes levels of nutrients needed for top yields. See your Southern States expert for help to get the needed nutrients on your acres.

Micronutrients can make the difference between average yields and a bumper crop. As important players on a balanced team of vital nutrients, micronutrients help crops withstand stress and optimize yields.

Achieving optimal soybean yields requires a nutrition program that works from planting to harvest. Research shows that inoculated seed helps produce greater yields and higher returns. Southern States agronomy experts can help you find an inoculant specific to your fields.

The fall season is the first opportunity to establish yield potential for the crop that will be planted the following spring. Grid sampling is a tool to establish baseline fertility values for lime, phosphorous (P) and potassium (K).

Wheat growers who plan to store their crop should take essential steps before harvest to prepare grain storage bins properly to protect grain from pests and moisture. Your local Southern States Cooperative agronomy experts can help you select a grain bin insecticide and identify harvest measures to safeguard your stored crop from losses.

Establish a strong wheat crop with a fall nitrogen application

Thanks to higher yielding hybrids and cultivars, farmers are increasingly interested maximizing the crop’s genetic potential, including addressing micronutrient deficiencies. As with macro nutrients, increasing crop yields generally lead to greater micronutrient removal rates in grain and other harvested products. Other agronomic factors are valid reasons to explore if a micronutrient is limiting crop yield.

The tenets of 4R Nutrient Stewardship involve choosing the right source, applying the right rate, at the right time, in the right place for efficient crop use. Subscribing to these tenets carries with it a concern for the environment, the economic well-being of all both in agriculture and the public beyond. The best practices of managing N-P-K are based on these 4R principles and have proven to maximum the crops nutrient use while bringing home an ROI.

Research has shown that producers will experience a higher probability of achieving a return on investment when seed treatments are used in fields that are at elevated levels of risk for important seedling diseases.

The return on investment (ROI) for fungicides on soybeans tends to not be as high or as consistent as for fungicide application to corn. However, this should not dissuade the soybean grower from making the decision to apply fungicides to soybeans. By using the following application checklist, it is possible to quickly determine which fields are likely candidates for productive use of soybean foliar fungicides.

The yield response to fungicide applications in corn depend on several factors, one reason why we observe variability in yield responses across fields and regions. Weather conditions such as temperature and humidity drive pathogen development over time. Field history and farming practices can affect initial pathogen load and disease development. Hybrids rated susceptible or moderately susceptible to important foliar fungal diseases are more responsive to fungicide applications than resistant hybrids

Nutrient loss from soil and water runoff is a leading source of contaminants in lakes, streams, and rivers. As good stewards of the land, farmers can take steps to reduce runoff, keep precious soil in place and increase profitability.