AAI Showcase Highlights
Feb 19, 2024
The SFG Agronomy Sales staff had the opportunity to attend the 2024 Agribusiness Association Showcase and Conference last week. Here we learned about current events in the ag industry and listened to multiple agronomy professionals on topics ranging from Ag Policy to use of drones and nitrogen management. I wanted to take some time to highlight the top few items I took from the conference and how they affect customers of SFG.
- Variable Rate Nitrogen Management: Advanced Agrilytics came and gave a good talk about variable rate nitrogen and stabilizer. Here they outlined the benefits of extra stabilizer in wet parts of the field. Makes sense as the wet areas of the field have more tendency to lose nitrogen. Today SFG does not variable rate stabilizer by itself because stabilizer goes in the tank with nitrogen. We do have the ability to variable rate nitrogen so when you get more nitrogen, you get more stabilizer.
- Iowa State gave a presentation about the nitrogen initiative and showed how increased management affects root biomass. Here they showed when we increased population and nitrogen it reduces that amount of root biomass. This led to a good discussion on nutrient stratification. If roots are smaller, we need to make sure to place nutrients where the roots are going to be. We can accomplish this the best with in-furrow and 2X2 application of fertilizer with planting equipment.
- Nebraska Research department was looking at sprayer contamination and herbicide injury. They took soil samples on varied fields of row crop and pasture and showed a surprising amount of herbicides you wouldn’t think would be there. The levels were low enough to not cause issue but it just shows that these chemicals stick around in the soil for a very long time or we bring them in with sprayers more than we know we do. This is why SFG is diligent about triple rinsing and tank cleaning when moving from different crops.