October is here and once the soils dry out, harvesting of soybeans should plunge into full gear. Most farmers have been making preparations for this season for a month or two. Soon the time to make progress on getting the crop in the bin will be here. A major portion of the state has gone from being very dry to having excess surface moisture in the past two to three weeks. While central Iowa is going to be waiting for the beans to mature and the corn to field dry parts of eastern Iowa, Illinois and Indiana caught up to 5 – 7” of rain in recent weeks, creating the threat of muddy conditions during harvest again.
The weather news over the weekend was for a cold front to march along the northern edge of the states to our north, with a chance of snow along with the rain. Parts of Montana had accumulations as great as 48”. It’s like they just skipped fall.
Most growers will be watching the weather forecasts over the rest of this week to see how close the cold air will get to the Cornbelt. In those northern parts of the Cornbelt as in MN, Wisc and the Dakotas lots of acres were planted in late May thru mid June and those fields would get hurt by below freezing temps. The corn acres only planted two to four weeks later are advanced in development and will have more of their grain fill completed. The issue for those growers is likely to be if the husks are still tight on the ear when it freezes and prevent grain drydown.
That scenario then could the old conundrum we have not seen for a few decades of 40-40 category for yield-moisture-test weight. Grain would be in that class is too wet to dry affordably, too light and immature for any elevator to handle and maintain storability, or too low in yield to pay the bill. How such corn would be handled without cattle to feed and who foots the bill if there is no insurance category to file a claim on still has to be decided?
Bean Harvest
More fields continued to change color and drop their leaves in quick fashion last week. This was about on schedule for their maturity grouping. The very late planted beans are on a later schedule, which is beneficial for filling the grain out to the maximum.
What has been noticeable about this crop is as one moved from northern IA to points south the beans stayed shorter. While height of the bean plants does not always correlate to final yield, it will this year. Looking at many bean fields the last few months it was plain to see that the upper third of the plants did not contain many pods and there was a 95% lack of terminal clusters. This occurred in a year where the podded node counts were 25 to 33% short on podded nodes. When speculating the actual cause of these deficiencies it is easy to say that bean plants don’t like wet feet. Other factors such as lack of oxygen in the soil and around the roots, fungal caused root problems may also be involved, as could lack of enough sunlight and GDUs to foster good stem growth. Lots of people still want help identifying the problem.
My gut feel is that not many people will be bragging about record bean yields this season. Fewer will want to discuss weed control as even a number of the new herbicide traited programs still did not provide 90+ percent control of the late emerging weeds. Tack on the huge weed pressure in the PP fields where it stayed too wet to manage the weeds decently.
Visitors to the Midwest
I noticed an incoming phone call on Friday at 8 PM from a 917 area code. It was from a commodity analyst from Connecticut who was hosting a team of agronomists from S America who were getting their personal tour of the Cornbelt. They had already been thru ILL, IN, WI, NE, MN and SD to see the record breaking crops (Not). They commented that of the growers they had visited with already, only 100% expressed doubts about the accuracy of the USDA projections. They wanted to visit about what was expected in Iowa this year and in the near future. We met at Perkins on Saturday morning. I explained how too high of a percentage of the crop turned brown early, there was too much lost N, and how the majority of growers were either lax or unable to get tissue sampled pulled and analyzed to document the mineral status or deficiencies and then corrected in time. One big difference is that in much of their country they can get a 2-3” rain one evening and be able to drive a sprayer thru the field the next day to make a mineral or pest control application, while we may be out of the field for a week. Down there if they apply glyphosate to a crop they automatically follow up with a good mineral application seven to ten days later, no questions asked. Both their agronomists and farm managers are out scouting and operating in their fields until late on Saturdays since their pest and disease pressures are so great they could lose a crop over a weekend if they are not paying attention.
They are also seeking answers on how to restore soil health and build their OM levels. Spring applied microbials are commanding more attention. And because of their increased problems with resistant weeds, disease pathogens, and insects, they are seeking more integrated biological solutions.
They also mentioned elicitor, signaling, and hormonal compounds available for use on their crops. Both sets of farmers in the Americas are searching thru the different offerings to see what their level of consistent performance has been.
In the Midwest
Most ear sizes look good with all planting dates. The biggest factor affecting yield will be kernel depth. The largest factor with harvest could end up being poor stalk quality. Multiple stresses and deficiencies can open the stalk to multiple diseases that can cause poor stalks resulting in lodging and lost ears. Our hope is that the strong winds don’t become a problem during the next month.
DVMs
Due to an invitation from a sound thinking vet friend I had the opportunity to attend the Swine Peer Group meeting at the ISU Vet College. He has long recognized the connection between healthy soil/healthy crops/healthy animals/healthy people. Being he is in a part of IA where mycotoxins have been a large problem he is well versed in helping educate his clients and fighting that problem. During our evening meal session before the Wed meeting it was interesting to hear the different ideas being proposed on herd health nutritional management and potential steps that could be used if ASF moved into the U.S.
He had just returned from a think tank meeting held at Bard College in upper NY where 25 top food, health and microbiome specialists from around the world gathered to share their ideas.
Keeping Records
As you make your harvest treks thru the fields keep written notes about any weed patches or where any weaknesses are showing up in the crops. If lodging is an issue in corn, take notes. If a patch of bean plants has lodged, determine if gall midges may be present.
In another three months you will have gotten yield maps back and other significant data and hopefully you will be formulating plans to raise another profitable crop.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.