Before You Review the Practical Farm Research Studies in This Book, Please Read the Reviews Written by the Directors from Each Site
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Before you review the Practical Farm Research studies in this book, please read the reviews written by the directors from each site. They provide an overview of the growing season to help you gain perspective and understanding for the data presented. Also, you will notice that for some of our research plots, we calculate revenue. Market price volatility makes it difficult to figure revenue and income per acre for the crops and inputs that we test and have it applicable to every farmer. The following prices reflect the yearly average of Friday’s closing price (October 2012 to September 2013) of our local markets near our Practical Farm Research locations. We then rounded the numbers for simplicity in calculating returns. You may need to refigure your own return per acre, for prices that you expect to receive, if they differ significantly from the commodity and input prices we used. Corn $5.40/Bu. (Waxy corn premium $0.60 per bushel) Soybeans $12.65/Bu. Drying Costs $0.04 per point of moisture/Bu. UAN $0.65/lb. Base Nitrogen Rates First year corn: 180 lbs./A. Continuous corn: 225 lbs./A. Other costs and inputs specific to a study will be listed on the page of the study. The Summary Comparison pages near the front of this book contain data from farmer plots, Beck’s PFR, replicated testing, University and third party testing. You may obtain copies and/ or view the individual farmer plots in the following ways: Visit our website www.BecksHybrids.com/Research/YieldData or contact Beck’s main office at 1-800-937-2325 or your sales representative for a printed copy or a CD containing farmer plots for specific regions that are of interest. CENTRAL INDIANA PFR REVIEW Wow! 2013 proved to be an action packed year here at Atlanta, IN. The crop growing season started in October with wheat planting. Due to weather conditions the wheat wasn’t planted until October 29th, 2012. After planting the wheat, we had above normal temperatures for a few days and then winter set in until April. 2013 was a tough year to get an early corn and soybean planting in the ground. April 4th was the first and only day we were able to plant in April due to receiving over nine inches of rain. We added 60 acres of testing ground late this winter so the team was very busy selecting and preparing plot ground this spring. May was a very productive month as every corn and first crop soybean plot was planted except two. With three inches of rain in May and six in June the crops had sufficient moisture to get off to a good start. What closing wheel combination is the most beneficial? This is a question we tried to answer in our new closing wheel study. This spring lent wonderful conditions to test this in no-till ground. We continued to have adequate moisture through July. However, the last part of July and August rainfall was minimal. This gave us another great opportunity to evaluate sub-irrigated corn for a third year. We experienced mild temperatures in July with only four days over 90°. August was also mild with only three days above 90°. This was gladly welcomed after the heat we experienced in 2012. We believe the high corn yield levels can be attributed to the mild weather along with the adequate moisture early in the growing season. A substantial rain in August would have been a great asset to finish filling the pods on soybeans. Harvest was delayed due to the later planting window and mild weather that allowed the crop to grow later into fall. September 12th was the first opportunity we had to shell corn, but this was short lived due to the high moisture levels of the corn plots. After starting to shell corn, soybeans became ready and we were able to take advantage of the nice soybean cutting weather. As the weather became less cooperative to cut beans, we were able to switch back to harvesting corn. The last corn plot was harvested on October 25th. Enjoy reading this year’s research results from Beck’s PFR, Farmer Plots and University Data, and as always feel free to contact us with questions and suggestions for future research. KENTUCKY PFR REVIEW What a year it’s been at the new Kentucky Practical Farm Research Facility! Preparation for the 2013 crop year began in September of 2012 with a major tiling and ditch cleaning project. Once completed, we took advantage of a dry fall and ran an in-line ripper between the tile lines to remove as much compaction as possible. Due to the tiling project, we did not plant any wheat or cover crops at this location for the 2013 crop year. Construction on the new Henderson, KY facility began with earth moving on March 13th. However, wet weather in mid to late March slowed both our construction efforts and field work to level tile lines. Rainfall continued through mid-April resulting in over five inches of rain. Fortunately we were able to plant our first corn planting date entry on April 6th. The majority of our corn studies were planted in two windows: April 30th to May 2nd and May 14th to May 18th. Our last corn planting date study was planted on June 12th. Soybean planting began with our first soybean planting date entry on April 29th. Again, intermittent rain events delayed planting. Nearly all of our soybean studies were planted between May 27th and May 29th. Over six inches of rain fell in the month of June, which created some challenges in sidedressing corn and spraying post emergence treatments, but overall we were able to get most of this done in a timely manner. July and August brought a change in our weather pattern. Although temperatures were cooler than normal for the most part, we did experience some intense heat in mid-July that correlated with roughly 13 days with no significant rainfall. Timely rains from July 20th to 23rd and July 30th and 31st helped to get our late planted corn through pollination with minimal stress and helped to contribute to some very high yields this fall. Our first Kentucky Field Show was held on August 6th and was attended by an all-time record crowd for the early August field show. We can’t thank our customers, dealers, and the local community enough for helping make this event and our first year in Henderson, KY a huge success. Harvest began on September 4th when we cut BECK 294NR™* soybeans that were planted on April 29th. Corn harvest began shortly after on September 6th. This year’s long, cool grain-fill period resulted in very high corn yields with nearly all of our studies averaging above 200 Bu./A. and many of them in the 230 - 240 Bu./A. range. Soybeans showed their highest yields at the earliest planting dates in late April and early May and slowly fell from there. This resulted in the majority of our soybean studies averaging yields from the low 60 to mid 70 Bu./A. range. As harvest concluded we began work for the 2014 crop with cover crops being sown in late September and early October and wheat being sown in mid-October. We look forward to seeing many of you and discussing more of the results from this year’s studies throughout the winter months at our Post-Harvest and Winter Meetings. CENTRAL ILLINOIS PFR REVIEW The 2013 growing season started on April 8th at the CILPFR Center. Dry and somewhat warm weather allowed for two days of planting during this second week of April. Planting conditions at this time were excellent, but cool and wet weather put planting to a halt quickly. Corn planting did not resume until May 8th, when soils warmed up and dried out. The majority of corn planted in McLean County was planted over a two week time period without much delay. In some areas, soils became very dry and made planting somewhat difficult to maintain proper seed depth for adequate moisture. It seemed like heavy rain potential was a threat every day and this made producers weary of increasing planting depths in dry soils. Corn stands in general were very good, with the exception of some corn fields that had erratic emergence due to shallow planting and delayed germination. Soybeans in general were planted during the last half of May. In some areas, rains delayed planting until June. Cool and wet weather did persist and caused a larger amount of soybean replanting in some areas. In general, soybeans had good stands and were off to a good start. June offered high amounts of rain in many areas and wreaked havoc with producers trying to sidedress corn and make herbicide applications. As we entered July, corn was approximately two weeks behind normal growth and in many cases sitting in saturated soils. This condition quickly ceased and rainfall was very limited in many areas throughout July and August. Our saving grace was the cooler temperatures that persisted throughout pollination and relieved a large amount of stress from the corn crop. After pollination, the Central IL PFR Center received only 0.4” of rain in August which led to somewhat less than normal yields on soil types that can typically show drought stress. Many corn fields did however average near 200 Bu./A. or more. Soybeans were a pleasant surprise with very common yields of 50 - 60 Bu./A. or more. 2013 was another example proving that soybeans do not like “wet feet”.