Award-Winning Podcast Talks Top Crops at Farm Expo
Published: Friday, December 23, 2022
Purdue University's Crop Chat podcast was featured at the Indiana Farm Equipment and Technology Expo last Thursday in Westfield.
The podcast, produced by Purdue soybean specialist Shaun Casteel and Purdue corn specialist Dan Quinn, was awarded first place for digital outreach one year ago by Purdue Extension.
While at the expo, they discussed the corn and soybean harvest and what to watch as farmers prepare for the spring.
Soybeans are the hardier of the two commodities, according to Casteel, because they can withstand and better adapt to conditions. It only improves soybeans' chances of surpassing corn that the germination period is a matter of weeks rather than days, such as corn's germination period.
"Corn's a little more pampered," Quinn conceded. However, the dry conditions in June helped manage diseases such as tar spot.
"A lot of corn just didn't get hit," he said.
He and Casteel agreed that it is better to have a dry June than a dry August. The rains later in the season helped boost yields, capping at 191 bushels per acre, which is the second best yield Indiana has seen.
Eric Pfeiffer of Hoosier Ag Today and host of Crop Chat noted the shift to soybean crops from corn crops in 2022. More farmers were planting beans than corn.
The biggest shift in acreage had to do with fertilizer and worries about access to nitrogen fertilizer, according to Quinn. He would like to see fertilizer prices shift back to 95 cents to $1 per pound.
On the soybeans side of things, late planting paid off more than early planting this year, Casteel said. This is because of the soil moisture being disrupted, jarring the germination period.
"Soils need rain to get (the plants) up. If crops are dryish, there's a little bit of moisture, which starts germination and causes death if not maintained," he said.
The key to a good soybean crop is timely planting. Late April to early May is usually ideal, Casteel said, but as he mentioned earlier, the crops planted later saw a better yield. This is because the timing lined up for the late crops to receive critical amounts of rain during the pollination period.
Casteel warns that March is often too early for planting due to spring rains which would wash away fertilizer and fungicides. Farmers who do plant in March are taking higher risks than he would advise.
Corn, however, relies more on good planting conditions and less on timely planting. This makes soil sampling a crucial tool to preparing the field. However, Purdue researchers have found that soil samples are not always uniform.
Several issues factor into this, including the area that is sampled, how wet or dry the sample is, how often samples are taken and whether samples sit in a vehicle or building for an extended period of time before they are processed.
"An 8-inch core might actually be a 6-inch core, and that's causing some issues in the results that come back. So just be mindful of that let's look at those in a very systematic way and ask, 'Do these soil samples make sense with the yields I had in the last year or was this actually taken from a super dry spot?'" Casteel said.
Quinn advises farmers to sample more often, such as every two years, to improve the accuracy of their results. This can help distinguish moisture patterns in the soil from recent years.
So, what moisture should the soil be for tests?
"The big issue a lot of times when it's too dry is getting that correct depth that we wanted and sometimes it's so hard pull soil samples that you just can't get the amount of soil samples as well, so it's just not as consistent for the entire area," Quinn said.
"The big thing on being too wet or muddy is—I don't think you'll have as much issue on what the numbers come back as—I think the issue with that is if it's so soppy wet and muddy that your depth control is just not there," Casteel said. "If you've got adequate moisture, you should be fine."
Quinn added that if farmers leave the samples in their vehicle or in a building for a week, it could drastically change the results because microbes will build up in the sample during that time. The best practice is to test the sample right away to avoid fluctuating results.
With the fall having been dry, farmers were able to get a lot of soil samples, which Casteel says sets them up well for the planting season. Now all they need is some rain and snow to help the soil "recharge" over the winter.
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