October has arrived and with it the shorter days of fall can definitely be seen and felt. It now stays dark until 7Am and begins to get dark shortly after 7 PM and warmer clothing now feels good at both ends of the day. The leaves on our many trees are turning their brilliant shades of yellow, red and gold as the landscapes in Northeast Iowa and areas north look like a Normal Rockwell painting. It can be one of the most scenic and pleasurable times of the year. If only we didn’t know what was coming next.
As expected the harvest of our two major crops began in earnest two weeks ago and have been rolling without major delays since then. Running the machinery in muddy conditions became common in 2018 and 2019 as harvests were delayed as much as planting progress was slowed. So getting stuck and the tasks of pulling trucks and combines were not an issue. Instead there were a few days where the Fire Marshalls in NW Iowa announced fire danger alerts for combines running in dry corn fields. Normally no one would pay attention to those officials, knowing winter is coming, When the insurance companies are basing coverage on such warnings, it makes financial sense to heed such announcements. In assessing where the soil and weather conditions are at in the state, 46.9% of the acres are still in a moderate to severe stage of drought. Getting cover crops germinated, applying certain fertilizers, supporting pasture growth, doing several forms of tillage and getting 80% of the 5 foot moisture profile filled are all dependent on getting fall rainfall. That does not appear to be in the near future.
The unexpected increase in grain prices has been welcomed by most crop producers. The bullish consensus numbers predicted it was bound to happen, but no one knew when or why it may happen. Part of the reason has to be that all USDA and NASS projects are based on models and don’t register actual real time cropping challenges that are always occurring. The extreme heat that negatively affected crops clear across the Midwest didn’t spare any crop. The dry conditions were also felt in the latter half of the summer over about ten Midwest state and negatively affect grain fill. When the USDA figures continue to give good to excellent ratings to completely yellow or dead brown fields in early to mid-August you realize those figures are not real. Those factors and the continued buying by the Chinese companies combined to lower stock numbers down considerable and the market responded.
Field and Harvest Progress
By now most crop producers in the Midwest have driven through, seen in person, or seen pictures of the corn that got blasted by the windstorms in central thru eastern Iowa plus the smaller Labor Day storm in the Buffalo Center event. Contrary to several Pollyannaish predictions the majority of the corn that was blown flat stayed that way. Plants in many fields turned brown over the next two weeks while others stayed alive a bit longer until the drought and lack of water and nutrient uptake killed them. The big question at the time was how the insurance companies were going to instruct their adjustors on what constituted a field that was considered totaled versus one that had to be combined. Those first fields ended up getting disked down or rolled rather quickly. Since those first two weeks more of the affected farmers seem to have been told to do the best job harvesting their tangled messes and get what bushels possible to cover a portion of their damaged production.
Now as I see it farmers like to be productive producers who always do the best job possible. Paul Harvey’s parable of ‘How God made Farmers to be Caretakers of Nature and the Land and helped to save and Nurture all Living Critters’ is greatly true. Paul told it better than most of us could have. So there are growers who are now, either being advised by their insurance companies or by the feeling expressed in the parable to try to save as much of that grain as possible rather than disk it under or let it go to waste. Now if the Chinese are looking at their tea leaves and their long term predictors believe they have more seasons of drought coming, and we recognize that our moisture profiles may not get recharged, saving the extra bushels may be crucial to meet demand needs in the U.S. $4 corn would be too cheap.
There has been great progress made by bean growers in the last week. A high % of the beans south of Hwy 3 have been harvested. The bean yields depended on which areas and farms received rains during the grain fill period and those that did not along with soil health and O.M levels. Yields south of Hwy 3 ranged from the mid-40s to low 50s with a few 60s. In addition there were the occasional mid-60 to 70 bpa. The better yields typically were generated on fields with a c/c/sb to a c/c/c/sb rotation and high nutrient levels present. Adding in-furrow nutrition and/or biologicals plus an effective and balanced foliar program added bushels. Foliars help combat dry soils, yet one needs water to boost seen size.
There are now areas where corn harvest is progressing ahead of schedule. Those very short on moisture or where early maturity hybrids were planted, or places where the beans were not ready for harvest saw corn acres being combined. Yields varied widely for a long list of cultural and cropping differences. Hail damaged fields in western IA, lack of rainfall that caused early plant death, fields that were planted too shallow or did not tolerate the heat, damage from multiple insect pests, and flattened fields were in the early harvest program. There is no ‘average yield’ this year, just a range from 80 bpa where rain was short to 220+ bpa where rain fell all season.
One large factor influencing yields this year has been soil health. Long term fertility and tillage/no- till programs that boost carbon and microbe population levels increase the ability to hold extra moisture, facilitate nutrient release, and increase drought stress promoting compounds for the plants to take up. Pesticides and fertilizers that act negatively to this need to be weaned from continued use.
Fungicide Use, CRW Traits
Several people have either asked about or mentioned that the conventional long lasting fungicide they had applied did not last as long as advertised. In the same vein there were cases where the CRW trait did not give the CRW protection that was expected. They were curious about what may be the cause of this, and if facts about the pathogen and its activity or insect biology may be the cause of the problem. Lack of moisture and weather during the growing season can interact with biological systems. Years ago when Jim Olson, ISU extension entomologist who produced the CRW insecticide ratings, had each set of roots (traited and non-traited) in piles behind the insectary on an afternoon I stopped to ask him questions visited. He commented that whether root set 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 or some combination of each set received a certain % of feeding, but that the set varied by which trait was contained. An old ISU class mate, Kevin Steffey, also published his study that each hybrid varied in its toxin level at V4 vs V9. It is also possible the cold May soils may have slowed the CRW hatch more than it did the plant growth. Thus egg hatch came after maximum toxin level occurred. Other people speculate that low moisture levels didn’t allow the plants to produce as much endotoxin as is normal. The debate is ongoing.
As to why the different fungicides didn’t last as long as hoped for or as seen in previous years, several possibilities enter in: #1 pilots tend to avoid making this application at tasseling time because of the beer can ear issue seen in Illinois a decade ago. Because the July thru mid-August period was quite dry, the leaf diseases incidence and threat were reduced. Right on schedule in mid-August the early morning fogs and heavy dews became more common. Once the dews occurred the leaf disease pressure increased and by then most or all of the residual period had elapsed. Southern rust then blew in, GLS multiplied in susceptible fields, and the combination can kill a corn field within ten days.
#2. The residual period of a number of the three way products simply did not last as long as in past years. Selection pressure is much greater when the pest completes more generations per season. This problem occurred in Brazil, Paraguay and N Argentina as multiple generations of the pathogen and multiple applications of fungicide per season did a great job of selecting for more resistant strains of the pathogen.
This last issue of loss of efficacy with repeated use of products in only three existing families is why we now see the major fungicide firms investing in endophyte, microbial or mineral based products they can tank mix with to complement their current products. This makes perfect sense since mineral based products help meet the nutritional needs of the plants, thus do more than just protect yield. Such mixes, when developed, if they also provide systemic and curative activity, let a person time the applications better and also eliminate the need to apply products prophylactically in years when they may not be needed. Currently the companies in the lead in the nutritional part of this equation are Spraytec (Brazil) and Phytobiotics (Germany). Yield trials with both company’s products, where they were not destroyed in the windstorm, are showing they have performed very well.
Soil Sampling
As you proceed with your corn and bean harvest recognize that it is time to begin making plans for your 2021 crops. The place to start and begin making those decisions is to have a complete and updated set of soil sample analyses and results for each field. Be sure to inform your analytical lab which tests you want them to perform. My advice is to a portion analyzed for micronutrients and base saturation levels. Also select a few representative fields and have them analyzed via a Haney test as you begin to plan for the future. This can provide guidance as/if you choose to chase fertilizer efficiency using a foliar program and use materials with the greatest cellular uptake potential.
Stalk Degradation
In a season when so many ears may be left intact on the ground, getting the residue and kernels to decay quickly will be important. Make sure you consider this a critical step in disease management for all crops. There are a number of such products available to do this. We have seen great results with the BioDyne Meltdown product.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.