Lessons from 2021 growing season drive 2022 decisions

KELLY GARRETT - ARION, IOWA

A fifth-generation farmer, Kelly Garrett farms corn, soybeans, and winter wheat in western Iowa.

We wrapped up harvest last week. It is the earliest we have finished, and I attribute a lot of it to the desiccation of soybeans we did this year. With significantly less mass on each plant, the combines were able to move faster through the beans and allowed us to start on our corn sooner than usual. Overall, our yields are among the best-ever. It has been a great year for our farm.

We are continuing to gather all the data from the yield trials we did for XtremeAg. In particular, we are excited to dive into the trial results for the stress mitigation products we used from Agricen, and Hefty Naturals, as well as FMC’s Xyway. We learned a lot this year when it comes to crop stress and it seems like every year is bringing more crop stress. Our focus for the 2022 growing season is going to be on stress reduction, as we feel it will increasingly become more of an issue each season.

Of course, stress reduction starts at planting time and getting that seed placement exactly where you want it to promote fast and uniform emergence is key. We installed The Closer closing wheels and 2x2 application this year from Integrated Ag Solutions. It passed the eye-test with flying colors, and the yield data looks pretty good so far.

The increased input costs mean we need to push anhydrous applications harder than usual this fall, and we are pushing out plant food at a record rate.

There is still some corn in the area, but harvest is coming to an end for most of the farmers in our area of western Iowa. It’s a good thing as we got a winter preview last week when we woke up to a half-inch of snow on the ground.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

MATT MILES - MCGEHEE, ARKANSAS

Matt Miles is a fourth-generation farmer in southeast Arkansas who grows corn, soybeans, rice, and cotton.

As I write this, I am sitting a long way from my farm in Arkansas on a deer stand in west central Kansas. November is normally our dead month in the south, and we have an end of season bow-hunting trip that we take every year to unwind and have some fun after a tough season of work. After 100+ hour work weeks spent harvesting crops, doing fall field work, and planting our wheat here in the Delta, we’ve earned a few days of vacation. All of our employees sacrifice so much family and personal time during the growing season it is a joy to be able to give them the time off.

I am pretty excited about the newest addition to our crop mix: Yellow peas from Puris Foods. They are a high protein pea that we can grow in the winter months and use it as a cover crop, and a cash crop. It is the best of both worlds. Our goal is to become even more of a sustainable farming operation by growing two crops on the same acre. We just planted them a few weeks ago, so we are crossing our fingers that they will show potential. Our XtremeAg group is always looking for new ways to get more out of our ground while helping the environment in the process. You never know what will prove to be a big benefit to your operation unless you give it a try. Happy Thanksgiving!

KEVIN MATTHEWS - EAST BEND, NORTH CAROLINA

Kevin and his wife, Cindy, own and operate Matthews Family Farms of North Carolina, Inc., Precision Nutrient Management, Inc., and Deep Creek Grain, Inc. in East Bend and Yadkinville.

We have finished harvest earlier than ever. All our corn and soybeans are finally in the bin and the 2021 growing season is a wrap. In working with our XtremeAg.farm family we have learned several different and new management options which have resulted in us being able to significantly increase our harvest efficiency this year.

It also has helps that the harvest season weather has been very supportive this year compared to the last several years where we had to deal with hurricanes and flooding. But it is really the desiccation of our soybean crop that that helped speed up things by nearly three weeks. That is just a huge advantage this time of year. We’ve all been talking a lot about desiccation this season, because it is something that you can really point to immediate ROI. We will be talking more about the process and benefits, and a lot of other things in our year-end XtremeAg member webinar next month.

Another benefit of the early harvest is that we can plant more cover crops before winter, and we are able to get into the fields and rip around the wooded areas and headlands. The tree roots in those areas pull tremendous amounts of water and nutrients out of the field and the compaction from grain carts and heavy equipment reduces our yields significantly.

While we are all done harvesting our fields, that doesn’t mean we are done harvesting as we will be back in the fields helping several neighbors finish up their season. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!