Working closely with your advisers on basic fertility needs is a tried-and-true strategy that Dr. Ross Bender, Director of New Product Development for The Mosaic Company, stresses. He suggests starting a crop plan by focusing on the fundamentals: getting a handle on pH, ensuring macronutrients are under control and maximizing the value of micronutrients.
Phosphorus (P) fertilizer is often added to cropping systems to increase yield, but growers should not overlook the importance of micronutrients like Zinc (Zn). Understanding some of the nutrient interactions that affect nutrient availability can help with management decisions like fertilizer source.
Evaluate the yield response of MicroEssentials® SZ®
Evaluate the yield response of MicroEssentials® SZ® compared to a blend of DAP + AS + ZnSO₄ applied at different zinc rates.
There’s certainly a value to working proactively to avoid stresses before they’re apparent, especially when it comes to soil fertility. Perhaps, as you make plans for the 2014 season, it’s time to take into account your experience from past seasons to create a crop nutrition plan that can tackle fertility issues before they make their yield-robbing presence apparent.
Raising a productive crop depends greatly on the nutrients a plant is able to access during its life cycle. Many factors influence the availability of those nutrients, including soil pH. For instance, as soil pH increases, the availability of phosphorus (P), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) decreases. Although variety selection can help manage iron deficiency in soybeans, fertilizer application is still needed to address the P and Zn deficiencies prevalent in high-pH soils.
In farming, little things can add up to make a big difference. This is certainly the case when it comes to balanced crop nutrition.
Zinc (Zn) has been put to work on farms for decades. Fencing wire and nails are galvanized with zinc to prevent rust. Metal buckets are coated with Zn to last longer. However, Zn’s most important job is in the field, as one of the 16 essential elements in plant growth.
"As much as 60 percent of yield depends on soil fertility," says Curt Woolfolk, senior agronomist at The Mosaic Company. "Regardless of what we spend on crop inputs, if we haven't taken care of our base soil fertility, we're not going to maximize the yield potential of the crop."
You might say Ken Jahnke was raised on farming. The sales manager for Premier Cooperative in Fennimore, Wisconsin, has worked in agriculture for more than 38 years.
The ‘Golden Triangle’ in north-central Montana is called that for its bountiful wheat harvests. Chris Barge looks at the near-perfect moisture conditions this past fall and winter, sees the know-how of the growers in his area, and foresees an exceptional year for winter wheat in the Golden Triangle.
Despite record corn yields in some parts of the country, low commodity prices may increase soybean acres in 2015. Rotating crops from corn to soybeans is a common practice; however, with the record yields comes record nutrient removal.