Bushel by bushel, round by round and field by field the harvest of 2022 continues into late October. By the time you read this column many of the growers in the central parts of the state will have finished with both their bean and corn crops. This will actually be ahead of schedule as the grain moistures are low, there have been few if any rain delays and no one had had to fight any mud. In north central and Northeastern Iowa where many of the plants stayed green and filled for more days, the grain was wetter and a lot more bushels came out of each field. This was their year to win the yield titles and bragging rights within the state. Much of SE and SW parts of the state were drier and both crops had to endure more days with their crops under moisture stress. Once or twice a week they saw the moisture fronts moving in from the west, and their looked so promising, but they always fizzled out or were steered north or south, almost like clockwork.
So far, the corn yields are generally better than expected, but with $5 diesel and sky-high fertilizer prices for 2023, margins could be thin again. That is if there are adequate supplies to be available. At this point, even the best crystal ball is very blurry. With Mosaic listed as the largest phosphate and potash supplier in the world as of a 2006 internal presentation they had ten mining locations and six processing locations in central Florida. (The history of P mining in Florida goes back to 1881when Captain Francis LeBaron of the army corps of Engineers stumbled onto the large phosphate deposits while surveying the land around the Peace River. This Hawthorn Formation was a layer of clay and limestone deposited millions of years ago when the coast of Florida was sixty miles further inland. Phosphate began to form on top of it when dissolved phosphate solidified and combined with sea life remains. Thus, it was known as the Fossil Bed Bone Valley.) The projected output by Mosaic for this coming season is projected to be 200,000 to 250,000 tons less than a year earlier. They currently supply over half of the country’s use.
Another hurdle that affects commodity markets and grain movement is the ability to ship grain via the normal barges down our largest rivers. Now that drought is affecting most crop producing states the river levels are so low that any barges that are moving are not able to carry a full load. And supposedly quite a few barges are stranded by low water and can only begin operating again once they get rain to the north. All the major rivers are being affected.
Field Observations
The soybean harvest was virtually complete in the state as of late last week. The days of warm weather lowered the grain moisture enough that guys were switching to corn in hopes of the beans picking up a few points of moisture. Except for the fields that were superbly managed and caught rain the bean yields were lower yielding than in 2021. I have heard of a few fields under an intensive foliar program where yields ended up in the low 80s up to 106 Bu/A. The thoughts on that is that when the soils get very dry the amount of minerals that have been solubilized by microbial activity and the amount of water being pulled into the plant are both reduced. So, the source of nutrition for the plants and expanding seeds needs to be delivered thru the leaves. That nutrition needs to be in the proper form. Here again having a large, active population of soil biology is responsible for generating the organic acids that dissolve the solid form of each mineral stored or fix in the soil.
The cornfields are yielding considerably more than we expected given how few inches of rain most areas of the state received. In fact, a few growers have told me that they had to conclude from making combine seat observations and looking at yield maps they lost more bushels to planting time problems including compaction than they did to lack of rain. I had the chance to ride in a new Lexion machine with a 16-row head in irrigated corn. It yielded 75 to 100 Bu/A better than dryland fields next to it. That made justifying the $2,000 per acre cost to installing the pivot, digging the well and running pipe to the rig more palatable, especially if summer droughts are a yearly event and your water supply remains adequate.
The main yield penalty this year was evident as tip kernels that were lost and shallower grain fill. It was common to see eight to 12 rings of kernels were missing from the end of the ears as those kernels dried out and shriveled up. Once the photosynthate production is reduced and the kernels shrivel up they will not reverse the process.
Combine operators were also noticing more fluffy leaves riding on the snouts and heads than was or is normal. What might have caused it. My guess is that with the lack of rain there has been no moisture to foster the growth of saprophytic fungi to start the leaf degradation process. The black spores from those fungi are what normally cause harvest equipment to take on a black film in wetter years.
After Harvest Challenges
Spring time saturated soils and a clicking planting time clock spooked most growers into working and planting fields before they were suitably dry. There have to be compaction layers that formed which will be best remedied with an in-line deep ripper. It would be very hard pulling such a piece of equipment.
Now as the thought about applying 82% N is in corn growers’ minds that question generated is ‘Can they get a good seal on any nitrogen application, as having adequate moisture is critical. One agronomist with a major Cooperative was being interview and voiced his opinion saying that if there was a strong ammonia smell in the field after application it would be best to wait until a measurable rain did fall and allowed the OM to soak up the material.
December Conferences
In the last column I mentioned two conference that you may want to put on your calendar. The first is on Dec 5 & 6 in Cedar Falls. Mitchell Hora and Liz Haney are in charge of that one. They will focus more on cover crops and strip till, which fit better on rolling ground as a means to reduce erosion. On Dec 7th and 8th our Central IA Agronomy & Supply and Agronomy Rx are holding “The Power of Biology” at the Briggs Woods Conference Center just south of the Webster City Golf Course on December 7th & 8th. Look for the signup on our website www.CentralIowaAg.com. Go to ‘News’ and then ‘Events’ and you will find the posting on the upcoming conference.
The focus on our conference is providing guidance and ideas to growers entering the 2023 growing season where there are so many question marks on things that are out of their control. Such as how might they best manage N supplies if those are limited for everyone? How much N might any and all of those biologicals actually fix? We will have the industry man who can answer those questions” Why are we seeing more plant diseases affecting our crop than we used to see and what might a better control program consist of? Might those control Tar Spot? Can tight, low oxygen soils be managed with new products? Is it possible to use physics and energy sources to improve crop productivity? What microbiologist may have made a discovery we have been searching for 15 years? She will be speaking. What ideas are involved with this ‘regenerative agriculture’ and does such thinking fit my operation? And since maintaining the health of ourselves and family members is always important, we have two somewhat alternative medical doctors giving presentations. If you don’t feel well your thinking ability and energy to run your operation is reduced, what might be the problem. Those topics are the ones we deemed valuable and are on the agenda.
The list of commonsense speakers is outstanding. You should value the information presented. The venue and meals should be great. We are expecting a large crowd and the early December temps are supposed to be colder than normal. Registering early will be a good thing to guaranteeing yourself a spot. CCA CEUs will be applied for.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.