Farming

What you are doing in the fall — from the combine pass until the calendar flips to the new year — can have a big impact on nutrient availability for your crops come next summer. XA’s Matt Swanson explains how the impact of tillage, residue degradation products, or cover crops affect nutrient distribution and availability for next summer’s crop. A great discussion on a subject you’re probably not thinking enough about in this episode of Cutting The Curve with Damian Mason.

The weather is cooling down, the combines have been rolling with fall harvest…it’s time to think about wheat! If you grow wheat or even if you don't. From seed selection, to field prep, to fertility practices, to seeding rate, to what they put in the sprayer and when they do their spraying, the XA team explains their methods and take your questions.

There’s an old saying about good things taking time. Such is the promise of biological crop inputs— while they do provide an immediate result, their larger benefit accumulates over time.

Big crops create big residue that you need to get through while planting next spring, or even maybe to plant this Fall’s cover crop. How effectively you break down said residue can have an absolute impact on next year’s crops. Also, there is a bonus of stored fertility within your residue just waiting to be untapped — but if managed incorrectly, you could lose that free fertilizer.

In a high yield corn on corn field with a ton of trash, Mike and Vern talk about how they are breaking down the residue and benefits of residue.

He never intended to grow double crop corn in this field, so he didn't fertilize the field beforehand for corn. Now he wants to make the most of the nutrients present in the wheat stubble. Johnny Verell and Brian Adams talk about their method for breaking down the wheat residue.

Temple looks at the night and day difference between 2 fields with very different amounts of residue.

It's not easy to push yield on double-crop beans as they are planted later than full-season beans. Chad talks about one product he is trying to help push yield when planting into wheat.

Wheat harvest is done and Temple just finished planting his double crop into the wheat stubble. This year he is trying something completely different...Sorghum/Milo. Here is his plan for making it work.