Mr.
Turner was one of my first supervisor when I got my start with Pioneer back in
late 2005, and he was always keen on making sure the tasks that a person
performs is well worth their time. It
was a good reminder for a young aspiring student at the time.
Needless
to say, there has been numerous amounts of time, effort and concentration placed
into farm business planning over the past several years, but has it always returned
value to the business? I would argue yes
(maybe it has only prevented additional equity loss), but also that it has made
many farm business owners understand more thoroughly the complexity of the financial
aspects of raising commodities as well as brainstorm on additional sources of
potential revenue.
Weather and
Corn Development
First,
I need to revisit my statement about a 150 corn GDD prediction for last
week. Somehow, I forgot the 86F
temperature maximum for the GDD calculation.
I always remember the 50F temperature minimum, but somehow forgot the
maximum – probably because we rarely have to implement it in the Far Northern
Plains! Anyway, it should have been a
prediction of 140 GDD’s (we actually received 130 GDD’s last week for Grand
Forks).
We’ll
have moderate temperatures to start the week (low-mid 70’sF) and gradually get
warmer to the mid-80’sF range with chances of showers almost daily throughout
the week. If the forecast holds, we will
have corn heat unit predictions for the week around 135 GDD’s or about another
1.5 V-stages of corn development.
Estimating
a corn planting date of May 15th, I’ll provide the following NDAWN
corn GDD map. Most of the region sits
between 500 to 600 GDD’s for the season to date. It typically takes an 80-85 RM hybrid about
1000 to 1100 GDD’s to reach the pollination growth stage, and if the season’s
weather trend for heat continues, we should easily see tassels begin to appear
by the 20th to 25th of July. The grain fill stages typically take 60 days
after pollination, so that would place the corn crop near to at black layer
around September 25th with average temps in July-Aug-Sept.
At
584 GDD’s for the Grand Forks, ND location to date from May 15th, we should be
seeing V6 corn (some variability will exist due to plant dates, RM of the corn
hybrid, and hybrid early growth/vigor.
I’m actually seeing most corn a little further along currently). I figure about 125 GDD’s for corn to emerge
and then use this resource from the Univ. of Perdue which states the need for
about 80-85 GDD per leaf stage from emergence through 10-Leaf (or V10) crop
stage.
The rainfall map for the month of
June for continues to highlight a lot of variability. Even though we had some nice rains last week,
the wet areas seemed to get the majority of the rain and the dry areas only
received a couple tenths of precipitation.
There remains several places in western and central N.Dakota without a
full 1.0 inch total of precipitation for the month of June.
During this time frame the
forecast is to have greater chances of being above average for temperatures,
while the precipitation forecast is for above average chances of being wetter
than average.
The NOAA group
also provides three month outlooks. If
we would like to get a bit of insight for the grain fill period of corn and
soybeans, the weather outlook for the July-Aug-Sept time frame, can be seen
here: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/.../long_range/seasonal.php?lead=1
This timeframe forecast
reveals equal chances for both above and below average precipitation, but for
temperatures, there is a greater chance that we should experience warmer than
average conditions.
Nationally,
the drought scene is starting to expand a bit week to week through the month of
June. Currently, it’s starting to get “abnormally
dry” in few more key locations, but nothing of large significance that will
greatly impact the US corn and soybean crop just yet. To view the US Drought Monitor map, visit this
website:
https://www.drought.gov/drought/data-maps-tools/current-conditions
Nationwide,
the crop condition for corn and soybeans has held steady while the spring wheat
has declined a bit. This week, the corn
crop is rated at 72% good to excellent (71% last week), while the soybeans rate
at 70% good to excellent (72% last week).
Spring wheat has fallen to represent an average crop with a 75% crop
condition report in the good or excellent category (81% last week).
The USDA
June acreage report will be released next Tuesday (June 30) at noon EDT.
USDA’s Crop Progress updates are at this
website: https://usda.library.cornell.edu/concern/publications/8336h188j
Corteva®’s TruChoice and Corteva® Cash
Many large farm operations have placed dollars into their
Corteva® TruChoice crop protection account.
If you have Pioneer seed planted on the farm, you have also earned some
Corteva® Cash (2% of your gross Pioneer invoice) to spend on Corteva® branded
crop protection pesticides. This Corteva
Cash has been automatically deposited into your TruChoice account and is
accessible by almost every retail location to purchase some pesticide. Corteva Cash must be used by July 15th. Please contact myself or your Pioneer sales
agent if you have questions.
For this time of the season, some options still remain to
use those funds:
·
Aproach™ and AproachPrima™
– strobularin fungicide for white mold in soybeans, cercospera leaf spot in
sugarbeets, and plant health in corn, soybeans and sunflower. AproachPrima™ is labeled in spring wheat
·
*Durango™ - 5.4 lb/gal DMA glyphosate
formulation
·
*Abundit Edge™ - 5.5 lb/gal K-salt
glyphosate formulation (ideal for tank mixing with Enlist One™)
·
EnlistOne™ and EnlistDuo™ – 2,4-D
choline for post applications in E3 soybeans.
EnlistDuo™ is pre-mixed with glyphosate, EnlistOne™ is straight 2,4-D
choline for tank-mix with glufosinate (Liberty™) or your choice for rate and
product of glyphosate
·
ResolveQ™ – rimsulfuron (Basis™) +
thifensulfuron-methyl (Harmony SG™) for volunteer canola control and added
broadleaf weed control in corn through V6 growth stage or 20” tall (very
rotation friendly)
·
RealmQ™ - mesotrione + rimsulfuron for
broadleaf weed control in corn through V6 growth stage. 18 mo to dry beans and sugarbeets
·
WideMatch™ - Starane™ + Stinger™ for
broadleaf weed control in corn through the V5 growth stage
·
EverpreX™ - (metolachlor) applied as a
tank-mix partner with the glyphosate and/or dicamba/2,4-D choline for residual
activity on pigweeds (including waterhemp), lambsquarter, other small
seeded broadleaf weeds as well as grass weeds – labeled for corn, soybeans, and
sugarbeets.
*Glyphosate products (Durango and
Abundit Edge) are not available to purchase using Corteva Cash, but are
available to purchase with funds the grower has deposited into their TruChoice
account.
COVID-19 Update
It’s not surprise that being 6’6” tall that a
fellow would be interested in the game of basketball, so I began to seriously
ponder the sporting world last week and the ramifications it will have to
endure from CoronaVirus.
As the 2020 NBA season came to mind, I
researched June 23rd as the latest date on the calendar for an NBA
Finals game in the history of the league (2005 – Spurs over Pistons in 7
games). However, the NBA is planning to
restart its 2019-2020 season at the end of July with eight regular season games
followed by their traditional 16-team playoff format. A typical NBA post-season occurs over a
two-month time frame and thus we are scheduled to see basketball finals most
likely into early October.
However, I’m not sure they have a profitable
business plan for a return to action.
With COVID-19 testing to occur very frequently and players who test
positive unavailable to play, it has the makings for plenty of bias to
potentially impact a game and/or play-off series outcome. Also, this year’s NBA playoffs will be
competing with traditional autumn sports activities like football and MLB playoffs,
not to mention a Presidential general election for viewership. And lastly, it appears that players will be
provided ample opportunity to openly express and verbalize their individual
political stances on COVID-19 and the current political state of affairs across
the US and world. I don’t think it’s too
far out of the realm to speculate that these “expressions” will lean towards
supporting the liberal side of our political spectrum.
Everyone respects the position of free
speech, and no single person nor organization should limit the freedoms of any
other person or group of people.
However, the NBA and other sporting leagues drove a huge fan base of
success in the 1980’s and 90’s by not only having a great unbiased product
performing between the lines, but also by implementing patriotic military
tributes and local police recognition events during pre-game and half-time
festivities that drew a lot of fan support.
I’m not sure droves of US citizens will flock
to stadium gates to financially support the return of games under the current
circumstances… marginal quality of product, no patriotic festivities,
questionable biases, and liberal commentary from players, coaches and
media. The topic is interesting to
ponder and converse about, but I won’t be watching the games… at best paying
attention from afar.
If things don’t change in the NBA over the
next couple seasons, we’ll see a business group re-start the ABA in a couple
years to showcase an alternative style of basketball… they may not have the
best basketball athletes, but they will strive for players who take pride in
their performance night-in and night-out, players who play together as a team
and unselfishly, players, fans, and coaches who stand proudly for the national
anthem, and owners who commit to fair play without biases. Lastly, those owners will give the fans a
great experience at each game during non-play moments: honor the past
basketball legends, give tributes to the history of the game, and return the
patriotic festivities for military and police recognition. These will all be great reasons for folks to
support their local professional team(s) – if they so choose.
FBN made news last
week by announcing that they will make their crop protection pesticide pricing
more transparent by publishing it on-line for public view. Other changes with FBN during this
challenging ag year are to remove any credit card transaction fees, provide
free shipping, and promote a “Cyber Summer Sale” of up to 27% off on many
products.
Feedback and
comments that I have garnered from many users of FBN have been broad ranging
with various levels of customer satisfaction.
Speculation that FBN would be purchased by a large ag-business to quell
the disruption in the marketplace has not developed up to this point and I don’t
think it will happen at any point in the future. The FBN company is now 5-6 years old and has
had numerous (9) rounds of investor funding – it’s really rare to have more
than 3-4 rounds of funding for any business.
You always hope for
the best of any new business venture, but my guess is that inevitably they will
have to sink or swim as a viable business.
Is this latest strategy to gain some favor and publicity a ploy to
determine their fate? Will the effort
eventually be celebrated with a cocktail party or a nail in the coffin? Unfortunately, my bets are on the coffin – it’s
just hard to say when.
Dicamba vs 2,4-D – soybean injury
It’s that time of year where growth regulator drift in the soybean crop becomes a concern and/or potential liability. Do you know the injury symptom differences between 2,4-D and dicamba? Even though both herbicides are in the Group 4 (Growth Regulator) MOA class, the Enlist-3™ soybeans can be injured from dicamba and vice-versa. Luckily enough, the injury symptoms are unique enough for each individual herbicide that the confusion should be minimal. Purdue University Extension has a good brochure outlining the differences: https://ag.purdue.edu/btny/weedscience/Documents/WS-56.pdf
What’s happening in my Corn Field??
Most of our
early to mid-May planted corn is at V6-V8 with our later planted (after May 20th)
corn at V5. Here are some key happenings at this growth stage in
the corn crop:
§ Plants are growing rapidly as we are
averaging about 17-20 GDD
accumulation per day
§ Corn develops a new collar about every 83
GDUs, so we are gaining a growth stage about every 4-5 days
§ The nodal root system is developing to take
over as the dominant root system at around V6 (it’s not too bad to have a
little drought pressure to get the corn roots to develop deeper)
§ The plant’s growing point is beginning to
move above-ground (V5). Currently, the
corn is standing erect from the strength of rolled up leaf sheaths
§ Although the primary ear shoot is not visible
yet, it is initiated around V5-V6 and usually located at nodes 12, 13, or 14
§ Row number is determined shortly after the
ear is initiated, approximately V7 (V5-V8 range) –
this is largely genetic, but serious environmental factors such as drought,
nutrient deficiency, weather stresses (cold nights, hail, etc.) or improper
herbicide application can have an effect
§ Consumptive water use is
approximately 0.07 to 0.10”/day at V7 or 0.5” to 0.7” per week
§ A 200 bu/ac corn crop has only utilized about
25-30lbs of N by V7.
NDSU Crop and Pest Report – Soybean Herbicide Options
If RR2Xtend®
soybean fields are still un-sprayed in Minnesota (after the June 20th
state regulation for dicamba), then this supplemental edition of the NDSU Crop
and Pest Report is a great resource.
This insight is also valuable to Xtend® soybean growers in N.Dakota who
may have not been able to secure dicamba formulations approved for over the top
applications by June 3rd, 2020.
This
supplemental edition covers alternative herbicide use for tough to control
broadleaf weeds if dicamba is unavailable to a grower.
·
Waterhemp: PPO herbicides (Group 14) – Flexstar (fomesafen),
Cobra or Ultra Blazer – target small weed size (1-2”)
·
Kochia: PPO herbicides (Group 14) – Flexstar (fomesafen),
Cobra or Ultra Blazer – target small weed size (1-2”)
·
Common Lambsquarter: Harmony (thifensulfuron)
·
Common Ragweed – FirstRate (cloransulam – Group 2) and
Flexstar
·
Horseweed/Maristail – FirstRate
Many of
these weed species can be multi-resistant to glyphosate, ALS and/or PPO
herbicides, so be diligent in choosing tank-mix partners with glyphosate under
the circumstances. I would consider the
use of a layby herbicide (i.e. metolachlor) in conjunction with a post-emerge
herbicide mix to aid in further weed control/suppression.
Product Spotlight – Lumiderm™ canola insecticide
seed treatment
Are you
getting tired of the yearly spraying of canola for flea beetles? The flea beetles may have had a slow start
this spring, but they have been very active lately with their typical yearly frenzy
of aggressively attacking canola seedlings.
In the past, flea beetle activity was inconsistent (and/or canola seed
treatment insecticide performance was much more reliable) and often times we
didn’t have to apply early season insecticide to control the pest.
Corteva
Agri-Sciences® has made available Lumiderm™ canola insecticide seed treatment
on Pioneer® branded canola. Lumiderm™,
which has been applied as an additional insecticide on top of the traditional
neo-nicotinoid class of insecticide seed treatments.
The
neo-nics are standard on most all bags of commercially available canola seed in
the industry, but that protection alone isn’t seeing much value these days. The Lumiderm™ has activity against both
stripped and crucifer flea-beetles while the neo-nics only have activity
against the crucifer. Today, both
species of flea beetle are fairly prevalent in our local canola growing environments.
Please
contact your local Pioneer® sales agent to view some early season performance
of Pioneer® canola and Lumiderm™ insecticide.
The picture here shows a Pioneer® Lumiderm™ canola seedling on the left
with an InVigor® seedling with only a standard neo-nic insecticide seed
treatment on the right – same field, same planting date. Yes, there could be genetic differences
between the two different hybrids for early growth and vigor, but I would state
that most of the difference seen here between the two plants is from
flea beetle activity.
Weed Resistance
Last summer, I had a
three-part series on weed resistance that I’ll start again due to a building
readership. Plus, adult learning emphasizes
the point we need iteration of the learning material to fully grasp and
understand the insight!
The picture (to the right)
comes from the Canola Digest and reveals kochia survivors in a canola crop. Kochia in central and western N.Dakota and
waterhemp in the Red River Valley and east are probably our two biggest weed
threats currently in the region. After
the 2020 spray season, RR2Xtend® (dicamba) soybean technology will have
completed its fourth year, and Enlist-3® (2,4-D choline) soybeans their second,
and we already have some concerns in the country around kochia showing
resistance to dicamba and waterhemp displaying resistance to 2,4-D. Therefore, the question becomes: how do some
of today’s weeds overcome new strategies so quickly?
Let’s dive into it… just
how exactly do weeds overcome a herbicide application? First, we need to understand that a
population of some of the toughest to control weed species today are probably
just as genetically diverse as say a subset of the human population in a very
populous area (imagine New York City). Even
though we are all homo sapiens, we have vast differences within our genetics –
skin color, hair color, intelligence, ability to see or hear, body fat content,
etc. Well, believe it or not, the
population of the waterhemp species across a weedy field in the Red River
Valley will be just as diverse genetically.
Now, let’s take that
human population of New York City, and hypothesize that once every generation,
a mechanism is used to kill every person over 3.5 ft tall! Yes, we will miss some young children and
genetically challenged adults, but a very high percentage of the people within
that population will perish – probably 95% plus (a typical kill rate desired
from a herbicide application). How many
generations will it take to select for only survivors with genetic mutations against
height (dwarfism)?
The more diverse and
numerous the population, the greater probability of finding survivors (think
NYC vs. Warren, MN). If we increase the
dose (i.e. lower the killing height in our example), or we increase the frequency
of the same identical lethal strategy (once per generation against height),
then we may get a short term higher kill rate, but we’ll end up selecting
harder for the resistance mechanism long term (in this case the genetic
mutation for dwarfism).
With this in mind,
we should find less herbicide resistance potential in fields with low weed seed
densities (low initial population numbers), and conversely fields with high
weed seed numbers (and high genetic diversity) will develop weed resistance
more quickly. It pays to keep weed
populations low across the farm, and the more diverse tactics we employ against
the weed pests today will help prolong the use of our herbicide resource into
the future.
Next week we’ll
highlight a different herbicide resistance mechanisms (other than genetic
mutation as outlined in this example).
If you suspect a patch of weeds are resistant on your
farm:
- Close inspection of weed escapes 10-14 days after a herbicide
application will reveal survivors mixed among controlled (dead) individual
weed plants. In some cases, there
may be weed plants with various stages of injury within the survivor
population
- Implement a second (or third) application with a different herbicide
mode of action product for desired control
- If the resistant weed patches remain, and are manageable in size, use
mechanical means (tillage, mowing, hand pulling) to remove weeds before
they set seed
- If the resistant weed patch(s) does set seed, consider collecting some
of the weed seed to test and confirm resistance if there is some
uncertainty around the quality of spray application
- Adjust future herbicide and cropping practices so that weeds can be
sprayed with multiple modes of action that are effective on that patch and
other at-risk weed species
- Consider implementing some non-herbicide IWM strategies to prolong the
effectiveness of the herbicide resource.
Random
Agricultural Facts – ND Ag Production
Idaho is known for its potatoes, Iowa is known for corn,
Wisconsin for dairy production, and North Dakota?
Well, N. Dakota leads the nation in agricultural production
of several categories: spring wheat, durum wheat, dry edible peas, dry edible
beans, flaxseed, canola and honey!
As soybeans continue to move west in the state, it wouldn’t
surprise me if we come close to being a soybean production leader one day as
well.
Other interesting facts about North Dakota from the same
website:
·
Lewis and Clark spent more time in what is now
N.Dakota on their expedition than any other state (mainly due to their first
winter camped on the Missouri River north of Bismarck)
·
Lake Sakakawea (second major dam on the Missouri
River) has more shoreline than California has with the Pacific coast
·
90% of North Dakota’s land area is in farms and
ranches
·
The world’s largest French Fry feed is held
every year in Grand Forks during Potato Bowl week (University of ND football
tradition) to highlight the agricultural potato production in the area.
