The topic on every Indiana and southern Michigan farmer's mind is this year's wet and cool weather and how it will affect the yield potential of their crops and the bottom line. Farmers see the yellowing or light green corn stalks in their fields as a result of too much rain and too little nitrogen left in the soil. Agri-Management Solutions offered northwestern Indiana farmers at least one answer at a field day oast Tuesday near Wanatah.
Brad Rocke, owner of Agri-Management Solutions, used two methods of injecting nitrogen into a demonstration field of corn. A traditional coulter and a new Y Drop applicator incorporated nitrogen at similar rates on designated rows within 12 hours of each other. Y Drop applicators place nitrogen within 3 inches of the stalk as compared to the center of the row injection by coulter application.
Aerial photographs showed a marked difference in size of the corn as well as greenness. Rocke dug two root pits 4 feet deep next to cornstalks. The 50 plus participants could compare root depth and quantity. In each example, the Y Drop applied corn roots were deeper and more numerous than those of the coulter applied roots. Roots were also more numerous and deeper where a product called Wex from Conklin was used. Wex is a non-ionic surfactant that also stimulates root growth.
Indiana farmers appear to have the most crop damage due to the wet and cool weather this year according to Stephanie Smith, regional agronomist with 360 Yield Center. As Smith travels the northern tier of states and provinces, she educates farmers about soil and fertilizer chemistry.
Monitoring the NPK levels and micronutrients in the soil as conditions change is good practice and affects the bottom line positively, Smith reminded the group. Strategic timing of inputs like nitrogen is increasingly important to the bottom line as well as being environmentally sound. Excess nitrogen leaches out of the soil and ends up in the watershed.
Corn, for example, needs at least 50 percent of required nitrogen between the V8 and VT stages of growth. As heavy rains occurred this season, previously applied nitrogen has likely leached away, leaving the corn nitrogen deficient. Farmers who closely monitor nitrogen levels in their corn field soils, she stated, should be ready to correct this deficiency and will see a corresponding bump in the yield in the fall.
Rocke gave his attendees another option to think about by bringing back Ohio farmer and owner of Center Seeds, Jeff Rasawehr, for a presentation about cover crops and soil biology.
"I am very confident that the end of World War II, we (farmers) took the wrong path. We chose chemical/industrial farming and farming is always meant to be biology. Today, farming is nothing but chemistry and geology, and farming should be about biology. Diversity of plants will feed and sustain life," said Rasawehr.
The conversion of conventionally farmed acreage to the use of cover crops, minimal tillage and thoughtful use of chemicals may take as long as five or six years, Rasawehr said. However, most farmers see profitability within the first few years. There may be an initial hit in yield, but the inputs are far less costly.
Using cover crops to enrich and increase biological activity in the soil ends up costing far less than chemically fertilized soil. In Rasaweher's case, he has been able to downsize his acreage from 3,000 acres to 900 and still make a healthy profit. He added that this also frees up farmland for the young farmers who are trying to get started.
Rasawehr explained that, according to the Farm Journal, corn production costs are about $636 per acre and soybean costs are about $434 per acre. Rasawehr's costs this year are about $346 per acre for corn and $167 for soybeans. He extended an open invitation to anyone who would like to check out his operation.
Rasawehr also asserted that agricultural schools over-emphasize yield over profit. Instead, he believes it should be the reverse. He works with farmers all over the country who employ cover crops and are finding that over time, their fields are outyielding their neighbors who use conventional farming techniques.
He compares chemical-industrial farming and biological farming to the tortoise and the hare. Chemicals may give a farmer big yields at the beginning. However, over time, farmers who use cover crops and manage the biology of their fields will catch up and even overtake the conventionally farmed land.
Cover crops also capture and hold nitrogen and other nutrients that would normally leach away and potentially end up in the watershed, Rasawehr af-
firmed. He challenged anyone to compare the water from their field tiles with his water. A slide showed a muddy water filled glass from his neighbor's field tile and a glass filled with clear water which came from his field tile. He asserted that he would have no problem drinking the water from his field tile.
Rasawehr left his audience with a cautionary note. He said if the strong El Nino continues to develop as predicted, a hot, dry summer is in store. Fields with healthy, live soil will weather these conditions better than the chemical/industrial fields.