Variable Rate Successes

We are approaching the end of March here and you can almost feel everyone’s nerves starting increase a little bit. These 60-degree sunny days are making if feel like spring planting is around the corner. At SFG we have been in full preparation mode for the last couple of weeks. Seed Tenders, toolbars and machines are all out and getting any maintenance done that needs done. We are getting close to planters getting hooked up and that means we are needing to get variable rate seeding prescriptions all finalized and ready to go. The last couple weeks have been a big focus of mine just to make sure we are prepared for a successful planting season.

At SFG we believe that variable rating is very important to manage the different yield areas in our field. I know that not everyone has the capability to variable rate seed but it’s still worth getting out of the planter and making changes on the better fields and the better parts of the field. We know we can’t change things everyday but there’s not reason to leave yield on the table just to get done a little faster. I’m confident in increasing populations to 34,000 – 35,000 on the good areas of the field in almost all operations. Once we near 36,000 and above we need to manage fertility different. More plants require more nutrients. Potassium is needed to increase size of stalks and overall standability. We don’t want to set our selves up for a disaster by only planting high population and not managing fertility levels. Generally higher population needs more nitrogen as we are going after higher yield. This is not always the case because organic matter plays a large role in the amount of available nitrogen, but a good rule of thumb.

The biggest thing I want you to take away is there are many ways to continue to increase yield and yes it takes more inputs and more management, but the ROI is proven and with fertility and seed I’m confident we can find those increased yields. Continue meeting with you SFG Agronomist to talk about all the ways to variable rate on your operation.