Farming

Successful businesses analyze their successes and shortcomings so they know how to adjust moving forward. If you’re a farmer, you’re in the business of crop production, so what lessons have you learned that you’ll apply to next year? Kelly Garrett shares his 5 lessons from this year and explains how he’ll utilize those lessons for a successful 2022. Lesson #4 Stress Mitigation

Lee Lubbers of Lubbers Farms in Gregory, South Dakota was a no-till pioneer. In fact, he and his brother attempted to purchase no-till planting equipment back when it was so unpopular, the John Deere dealer refused to order it in for them! The farmers began no-tilling in the 1980s out of necessity — lack of labor, lack of money, lack of equipment. They also looked at it as a way to better utilize their farm land resource — leaving land fallow for a season to gain moisture was common at the time, and they needed a crop every year. Today Lubbers’ entire 17,000 acre operation is no-till. How do they do it, what are the benefits and pitfalls, and what do you need to know to succeed while avoiding tillage? Find out in this episode!

Kelly and his oldest son, Connor, talk about the new cover crop mix they are testing out to reduce compaction caused by the grain cart during harvest. Not your normal mix, the compaction fighting cover crop mix includes a few garden variety vegetables.

Dan is joined by Kyle Ostenson from Valley Irrigation to break down the new crop monitoring system that Dan just installed on his new pivot. Valley Insights uses aerial imagery and cameras mounted on the pivot towers to scout for crop health concerns related to water application or other issues in the field.

In most of the corn and soybean growing regions, we envision center pivots when we think of irrigation. But in an Ag world impacted increasingly by environmental forces compelling us to till less and drastically reduce resource consumption, we may utilize more drip irrigation. Dan Luepkes explains the Netafim drip irrigation system he uses to set yield records on his Illinois farm. You’ll see command central, the distribution infrastructure, and head in field to see the results.

Dan talks about how he is fending off a case of rootworm beetles that is coming earlier than usual this season.

Kevin talks with the experts at BASF about the right timing for application of Veltyma fungicide in order to maximize protection against the heavy disease pressure in his area. They also address best practices for application and some of the common diseases that Kevin sees in his area.

Kevin talks with the experts at BASF about protecting his soybeans from diseases during the second half of the season and the critical windows of protection that can mean the difference between a healthy crop and a struggling crop.

Soil data and tissue sampling data are used by farmers to make decisions and corrections during the growing season. But, some of the most important factors affecting crop performance are happening under the crop canopy. Kelly discusses the new drone technology from Aker that he is using on his farm this year to look at diseases, insect pressure, nutrient deficiencies, temperature, humidity, pressure, CO2 and O2 levels all under the canopy.