The Christmas season is upon us and it is typically a time for families and relatives to gather and celebrate another year passing us by. We get to chat with siblings that live far away and see how the nieces, nephews and grandkids are doing. Here’s wishing all of you a good Christmas season where we celebrate the birth of small baby back in the Mideast twenty centuries ago. After an abbreviated 2020 celebratory season where people we somewhat scared to congregate and we in Iowa were still dazed from the Derecho it is nice to see things getting somewhat back to normal. I put that clause there because of the windstorm that moved through the state last Wednesday. While 70 degree temps in mid-December were nice, it came with a high wind warning. The front with high winds stretched from Minnesota down to Texas with winds of 70 to 90 mph. With two fronts colliding it was a perfect scenario for twisters and wind damage. Though there was not as much coverage of the twister damage there were touchdowns and damage in or near Paton, Jefferson, Harcourt, Northwood and others. December is a bad time to have the roof of your house blown off.
Your Ordering Process
As the planning season marches on and 2022 will soon arrive things are as clear as mud with fertilizer prices sky high and many growers hoping that prices decline in the spring. It seems like a replay of 2008 and 2009 when prices were extra high in the fall but dropped by spring leaving the dealers getting stuck with the losses. The prices of certain herbicides also climbed substantially and valid questions exist as to supplies and delivery dates. Marketing the 2021 crop corn is also a mystery in that we are being told record yields were produced in many states, but there are no big outdoor piles of corn across the state and most basis are small to negative. What’s up?
There is somewhat a hierarchy and order that farmers follow in making their purchasing decisions for the next year. First on that list is their fertility program since being able to get some of the materials applied is temperature dependent. Not so much this year in that many growers are hoping for a price decline by next spring. The high phosphorous prices might be the impetus to developing the big P deposit up in Ontario, Canada known as PhosCan. Next in order is the purchasing of seed. The hot new varieties are always in short supply and everyone hopes to be able to plant some of them to see if they fit their soil types. Seed companies place a lot of emphasis on their marketing efforts with advertisements in print, radio and television.
Next on the list would be choosing the herbicide program for your different fields. If your 2021 weed control program was a success you will likely use it again. If your control was mediocre it is time to switch products, add a new component to your mixtures to broaden coverage or add a new postemerge product to your program. New for this season might be the difficulties in procuring an adequate supply of the product (s) you were hoping to use. It may be a good idea to play ‘What if the products you had planned to use do not get delivered on time?” There are few guarantees this year.
Most growers are wondering why fertilizer prices climbed so high and so rapidly. Normally Monsanto and John Deere are an unannounced contest to extract $100 per acre from the producers. Did the fertilizer producers play the same game this fall and step to the front of the line?
So which group of products or companies might make the most progress in expanding their customer base? My guess is those introducing biological which enhance fertilizer uptake or those fixing atmospheric nitrogen. The winner in that category would be Azotics with their Envita product. Next on that list would be those that are mineral based or of medical research background that will lower oxidative stress in the crops leading up to and thru the grain filling period. Redox Chemical has several in that category while Verdesian is selling ‘Graphite on Seed’. It was developed by a cancer researcher within the recently acquired CytoZyme Group. In the arena of foliar fertilizers the top nominee would be Albion or BalChem with their amino acid chelated minerals. Plants are always hungry for amino acids as they serve as an energy source. They become a perfect delivery system for the five minerals that affect plant health. With fifty years of experience in developing their animal nutrition, human nutrition, and human health products, they have developed extremely high grade liquid and powdered products that will pass thru the plant cuticle and move thru the entire plant within two to three hours. In an era where there is no cheap shipping, having a large production plant near Algona will be a blessing.
Tar Spot Pathology
The many articles about this corn disease reminds me of the Black Plaque, which mystified every person as it wiped out a high percentage of the population in Europe, bringing on the Dark Ages. In the end they found out it was caused by a bacteria carried by fleas which were carried by rats. A few of us recently did a mineral analysis using an X Ray Defraction Scan of the spots and leaves from affected plants. Bingo, we had our answer, plus a proposed course of action to enhance the plant’s ‘immune function’. More details on this in future columns and at the Iowa Power Show.
The Big Soil Health Event
Mitchell Hora’s Continuum Ag group held their big conference at the Riverside Conference Center on Dec 6 and 7th. There were about 370 people in attendance with 7 main speakers. Just when every large companies was bragging about their being sustainable, leaders of the group which were wanting to enhance their soil health, decided to call their effort ‘Regenerative Ag’. The name fits perfectly. Dave Brandt of Ohio, some 70 years old, was the first speaker. Over the course of forty years he developed rotations and cover crop mixes that let him rebuild his OM from 1% to 8%. He is far enough south that he can grow most of his N with legume plants. He carefully tracked soil and tissue test levels over each season to document his progress. His profitability even with $4 corn and $8.50 beans was very high.
Next up for speakers was Jerry Hatfield. His talk was about the many roles that carbon plays in the nitrogen generation cycle as well as N fixation. He walked everybody through the basics, then followed up how so many of the biological cycles are dependent on having enough carbon. His belief is that the best crops to plant regularly are those that exude the most photosynthates (sugars) into the soil.
Lance Gunderson, of Kearney, NE started out with Ward Lab doing the Haney Tests, started the Regen Ag Labs where he does many of the same tests where he calculates available N for the next year’s crop based on the N and minerals in this year’s cover crop and how many lbs of N will be released from the soil OM. Lack of 2020 rain meant that leaching below the root zone was almost a nonfactor in 2021. He is accepting samples from any part of the Midwest. The cost of purchased N is high enough that any prescribed cutback will more than pay for the cost of the analysis. If you are doing so I would recommend purchasing an ‘At Leaf Spad Meter’ or Minolta Spad meter to monitor N levels in the plant during the season and being able to respond with Y-dropped or foliar N if the Spad readings drop below 55.
What I saw was a crowd that ranged from mid 20 to 70 year olds with the 25 to 45 year olds most will to soak in the information and enact the recommendations given. Their goal is to grow more nutritious grain and food. They believe that more of the consumers will be requesting such products and will be willing to pay for them.
I am already looking forward to the 2022 event.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.