Harvest Evaluation Within the Max Yield System
- stcargill
- Mar 17
- 4 min read
Welcome back to today’s episode of the Easy A Podcast, where innovative farming meets practical solutions. I'm your host, Matt Long, and we’re going to talk about the Max Yield System again today. More specifically, we’re going to talk about harvest evaluation and the things that come out of those evaluations that impact next year’s crop and next year’s Max Yield System. Jackson’s joining us and he’s got some questions from growers. We’re going to try to answer those. If you have any other questions, feel free anytime to reach out through social media or give me a call or email, and we’ll be glad to help.
Jackson: To start it off, we’ve talked about fertility planning and in-season management and touched on why harvest evaluation is important. Can you review that again?
Matt Long: All the pieces of the Max Yield System build on each other. Harvest evaluation is a critical point because if you don’t do it, you don’t know what to improve for next year. This isn’t a one-year system. There’s so much we can’t control in production, so what we’re really doing is making small improvements over time that lead to bigger returns.
Jackson: When we talk about harvest evaluation, what goes into that beyond just the final yield number?
Matt Long: If we only look at yield, like 90 bushels on one field and 120 on another, all we know is there’s a 30-bushel difference. But there’s a lot more to learn by evaluating the field during harvest. If we see a healthy, intact plant, that tells us the system worked well. If we see stress, stalk rot, lodging, or ears on the ground, we need to figure out what caused it and what we could have done differently.
Another thing that often gets overlooked is noting what weeds are present. Even if they’re dead at harvest, knowing whether you had Palmer amaranth or kochia helps inform your crop protection plan for the next time that field is in that crop. Harvest evaluation is about the entire system, not just yield or hybrid.
Jackson: We’ve talked about evaluating field by field instead of using a whole-farm average. Why is that important?
Matt Long: Every field has different challenges and opportunities. If we manage everything based on averages, we’re not maximizing return on each field. The same goes for harvest evaluation. If we take notes from one field and apply them across the entire farm, we may be over-applying or mismanaging other fields that don’t have the same issues.
Jackson: We use bushels per thousand to measure performance. Is there anything else that plays into that?
Matt Long: Knowing your actual final stand count is key. In the spring, we can evaluate full plants, three-quarter plants, half plants, and runts. Then at harvest, we can compare that to what actually made it. If we planted 15,000 seeds but only have 13,500 full ears, we need to ask what happened to the other 10%. If we can fix that, we can gain a lot of yield next year.
Jackson: What insights are growers missing if they’re only looking at yield maps and final numbers?
Matt Long: Field-by-field insights are huge. Some fields always perform and others don’t, but yield alone doesn’t tell you why. Getting out in the field, observing crop health, and taking notes on issues like weeds or plant stress is what allows you to make improvements. You can’t improve if you’re doing the same thing every year without understanding what actually happened.
Jackson: During harvest evaluation, what are you looking at for next year’s hybrid placement?
Matt Long: A big part of that is crop health and variability tied to soil. High or low pH can create variability in plant health. I like to evaluate that across the entire field while in the combine. That helps determine whether we need a hybrid that handles variability well or if the field is consistent enough to handle a wider range of products.
Jackson: Do you have any examples where harvest evaluation led to increased yield the next year?
Matt Long: Yes, I had a grower with stalk and crown rot in a couple fields. We evaluated those fields and then looked at our test plots to see how different hybrids handled that pressure. Since that kind of pressure doesn’t happen every year, it gave us valuable insight into which hybrids would perform better in those conditions going forward.
Jackson: For growers not doing harvest evaluation, what are they missing out on?
Matt Long: They’re missing out on maximizing return on a field-by-field basis. There are a lot of things you can observe during harvest that cost nothing to implement but can lead to better performance the next year.
Jackson: To wrap up, how does harvest evaluation tie into next year’s crop plan?
Matt Long: We like to start crop plans early, often before harvest. Harvest evaluation gives us field-specific data that helps fine-tune every part of the Max Yield System. We may have a rough plan in place, but harvest data allows us to dial in hybrid placement, fertility, and crop protection so we have a finalized plan going into planting season.
Jackson: That wraps up my questions.
Matt Long: I appreciate you standing in for the growers and helping share this information.
Until next time, remember, ag is Easy when you tune into the EZ Ag Podcast.
That’s all for today, I’m Matt Long,
Grow Your Yield, Grow Your Legacy, Grow Strong with Axis Seed.
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