Farming

Plant biostimulants have gained significant attention in the world of agriculture and in recent years. But what exactly are they, and how can they benefit your crop? Damian Mason is in the Stoller booth at Farm Progress to find out what exactly a biostimulant is and more importantly, what their role is in getting you to the next yield level.

Pigweed — layman’s term for Water Hemp and Palmer Amaranth — is a big problem. The species which is native to the desert southwest has successfully migrated to crop fields throughout the U.S. Because of its roots in the desert and its biology, the plants are tough to kill and getting even tougher. XA’s Matt Swanson and Caleb Traugh join FMC’s Blaire Colvin to discuss strategies to manage an increasingly resistant class of weeds that’s very prolific and capable of causing huge yield drags.

Temple's Milo is in the late stages. But he isn't done yet. He talks about next steps to bring this crop home.

AgroLiquid’s Galynn Beer joins Temple Rhodes to explain the multiple soybean trials displayed at Temple’s field day. The big takeaway: It’s time to stop treating soybeans as simply the rotation between corn. Because….With enhanced fertility practices soybeans can make big yields and a lot of money!

About 90 miles from XtremeAg’s Temple Rhodes, you’ll find 29-year-old farmer and XA member Greg Dell. Greg didn’t want to go to college, but his dad wouldn’t allow him back on the farm until he’d worked somewhere else for three years. He explains the growth and learning experience being employed by a large-scale farming operation allowed him. Greg discusses with Damian his aspiration to be better but not necessarily bigger, the value of experimentation, and the farm's profitable expansion into bird seed production.

After your combine completes the harvest pass, the remaining residue begins breaking down. But if you let this breakdown happen on nature’s timetable, you’re wasting valuable nutrients. Last year’s crop residue holds fertility that you’ve already paid for — an effective management plan recycles your fertility investment. Temple, Chad, and Holganix’s Rob McCoy discuss the importance of residue management.

It's early September and Temple's corn is still green from top to bottom. He talks about the late season fertility plan with Tommy and Jason from Nachurs.

Kelly is trialing steel grain trailers from Demco this season. Here is one thing he never thought would be a big deal, but turns out it makes a tremendous difference when it comes to being more efficient this harvest season.

Matt and Layne Miles are approaching the end of harvest 2023. With moisture preventing the combines from running their final soybean fields and the cotton a couple weeks shy of completion, the Miles join Damian to discuss this season’s takeaways. Almost everything matured simultaneously which made for an exhausting three- week run and some fast lessons. Most notably for this year — Matt says his final pass didn’t produce an ROI.