Search Results

What is Pivot Bio? The company and its namesake product aim to revolutionize modern agricultural practices. As graduate students, the co-founders, Alvin Tamsir and Karsten Temme , explored ways to improve plant access to nutrients, focusing on how plants could “feed themselves” through their own microbiomes. As the two delved into the topic, they found that synthetic fertilizers had altered rhizobacteria and microbes that could produce beneficial forms of nitrogen. Synthetic nitrogen in the soil made the microbes’ genes responsible for nitrogen production dormant. Using their combined knowledge, the two men decided to put the microbes back to work. What Is Pivot Bio? Developing a Sustainable Alternative Molecular biology and bioengineering are the foundations for the Pivot Bio product , and this is the strength behind its success over prior synthetic biology products. The idea of using naturally occurring microorganisms and bacteria in farming is not revolutionary by itself. It is a part of traditional farming methods used around the world. Previous synthetic biology products for modern farming were based on traditional methods but failed to gain traction. A lack of advancements in chemistry, computing, and genetics, along with the lack of development of technology to manipulate genes, limited synthetic biology.  For example, products used available microbes and added carbon to encourage their growth or coated seeds with bio-stimulants. These early attempts to modify nature and incorporate it into modern farming practices lacked the viability of Pivot Bio as a legitimate alternative. Core Technology Biologicals that benefit modern farmers add value by targeting nitrogen fixation, pest control, disease resistance, and environmental resilience. Pivot Bio focuses on nitrogen fixation using diazotrophs. Diazotrophs are bacteria that can naturally convert atmospheric nitrogen to plant-available forms of nitrogen, a process called biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). Using a gene-editing method, researchers at Pivot Bio altered the genes of the microbes that are responsible for two important processes: nitrogen sensing and nitrogen retention. The changes removed the bacteria’s ability to sense nitrogen in the surrounding soil and encouraged it to quickly release the nitrogen it produced. Testing results showed the microbes provided between 7.5% to 14.5% of plant nitrogen needs, reducing the amount of synthetic fertilizer needed. Benefits For Modern Agriculture Over the years, the scale and nature of farming in the US have changed. Specialized crops, the use of technology to maximize efficiency for high production rates, and global markets have altered the industry. To turn a profit and feed an increasing population, modern farmers need to grow more with less. Want to See Pivot Bio in Action? Pivot Bio improves nitrogen efficiency and lowers labor costs. With more nitrogen available at crop roots, plants are healthier, and there is less wasted fertilizer. This improves yield and lowers input costs. Farmers apply Pivot Bio once at planting and can eliminate up to 40# of synthetic nitrogen from their overall crop nitrogen plan. Overall, soil health improves. Together, the benefits provide stability in an industry where every day is likely to entail the unpredictable, from weather to pests and equipment malfunctions. Getting Started With Red Barn Enterprises At Red Barn Enterprises , we can help you achieve higher productivity and sustainability on your farm. Our team collaborates closely with farmers to evaluate their needs and develop a plan that improves efficiency and sustainability. Tap into decades of knowledge and experience to find out how adding Pivot Bio can work for you. So, what is Pivot Bio? We believe it is the future of modern farming.

Modern farmers know from experience that nature is full of surprises that can impact crop yield, soil health , and their bottom line. Working with nature is always preferred to fighting it. Pivot Bio does just that. So today, we will discuss the question, “Does Pivot Bio work?” To understand the Pivot Bio advantage, we need to start by understanding how traditional synthetic fertilizers work. Does Pivot Bio Work? Understanding Synthetic Fertilizers Crops need nitrogen (N2) in the form of ammonium (NH4+) for direct uptake. As a cation, NH4+ is stable in the soil solution, unlike nitrate NO3- and Urea CH4N20, which can be lost through leaching and volatilization. The Haber-Bosch process introduced the world to synthetic nitrogen sources with the industrial production of anhydrous ammonia (NH3).   Anhydrous ammonia is used as a fertilizer or is further processed into urea and UAN fertilizers. All three of these have boosted crop yields for generations. But how and when each fertilizer is applied and their efficiencies differ.  ANHYDROUS AMMONIA (82% N2 BY WEIGHT) Anhydrous ammonia is used as a liquid, but at atmospheric pressures, anhydrous ammonia is a gas. The application can be tricky as it needs pressures of 200 psi to keep it in liquid form and to make sure it doesn’t escape the soil while operators are working with it. NH3 is injected into the soil as a liquid and quickly covered before it can escape as a gas. Timing application with rainfall or irrigation schedules is a must as it reacts with water to form NH4+. Unreacted fertilizer alters the pH of the soil and can cause adverse effects on the soil microbiome as well as the crop, such as burnt root hairs. As a source of nitrogen, anhydrous is known to be somewhat inefficient; university and industry recommendations are to increase the nitrogen rate by 20% when using anhydrous as the primary source of nitrogen for your crops. UREA (46% N2 BY WEIGHT) Urea is a solid fertilizer made from ammonia and carbon dioxide. Granules are spread on top of the soil. Water or tillage is required for urea granules to be incorporated into the field. The reason urea needs to be incorporated is because it can volatilize under the right conditions. Volatilization is the process in which the bonds of the urea molecule are broken, and nitrogen gas is released into the atmosphere. The need for incorporation makes urea more difficult to use in areas like western Kansas that see low rainfall and use minimum or no-till farming practices. UAN (28 TO 32% N2 BY WEIGHT) UAN is a liquid solution of urea, ammonium nitrate, and water. The N2 composition is 50% urea, 25% ammonium, and 25% nitrate. Like urea, UAN is applied to the surface of the field and requires rain, tillage, or irrigation to be incorporated. Without water, up to 50% of the fertilizer solution could volatilize. UAN is also easily moved by water. Anytime soil volumetric water content is greater than 60%,  water is lost out of the bottom of the rooting profile, and nutrients are leached out of reach of crop roots. As different forms of nitrogen fertilizer react with water, some nitrogen is lost as nitrate, nitrite, or nitrogen gas to the atmosphere. Every loss costs you profit, reduces the efficiency of the fertilizer, and leads to less efficiency and yield potential for your crop. How Pivot Bio Works Pivot Bio takes a natural process, biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), and boosts it for use in modern farming. Microbes live in a mutualistic relationship with crop roots, consuming root exudate to fuel the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia. The plants consume the ammonia and use it for crop growth, and the cycle continues.   Before Pivot Bio, BNF using soil microbes was historically less efficient for fertilizing modern crops. When microbes sense a lot of nitrogen in the soil, they slow down or stop the production of ammonium. Even when ammonium production is active, it is slower than desired for modern applications.  Does Pivot Bio Work For Modern Farmers? See It From The Field To improve the ammonium output, the microbes’ own genes were edited. Scientists made changes to turn on or off the genes in the microbe’s DNA to make the process of nitrogen synthesis by the microbes more efficient. Two major components of this process were to remove the microbe’s sensitivity to soil nitrogen levels and to up-regulate the speed with which the microbes produce ammonia for the crop. The result is the most efficient form of nitrogen on the market today. Why Does Pivot Bio Work for Modern Farmers? By using Pivot Bio, farmers can reduce the amount of synthetic fertilizer needed for a healthy crop. Because the microbe colony grows along the root surface, the ammonia they produce is ideally situated for root interception. As the plant uses the nitrogen provided by the microbes, it grows larger. Larger plants exude additional sugars, feeding the colony. The colony produces more nitrogen, which is provided to the plant. This cycle improves crop health and yield, even during drought. Until someone learns to control the weather , drought is a fact of life. How modern farmers sustain crops during drought directly impacts nutrient availability in the field. The flow of water into the root system carries nutrients. Without water, synthetic fertilizers are significantly less efficient.  Pivot Bio’s ability to provide NH4+ at the root interface means that plants are able to take up the nutrient even if water is limited. In field observations during drought scenarios, Pivot Bio made the crop appear more drought-tolerant. Crop health, plant growth, and color were better than in fields using synthetic fertilizers alone.  Getting Started With Red Barn Enterprises So, does Pivot Bio work? Absolutely. At Red Barn Enterprises , we work with farmers to determine how best to incorporate Pivot Bio into the nitrogen plan for your crop while reducing synthetic fertilizer use to create a balanced approach that meets your crop’s nitrogen needs.

Planting season always feels like a race but what farmers often forget during the hustle and bustle is that this race doesn’t end once planters stop rolling… it enters its second leg: post-planting management. Check out this week’s EZ Ag video spotlight that highlights some key product recommendations from BW Fusion that can help corn farmers as they shift their mindset to post-planting management and the growing season ahead! Rather read this week’s update? Scroll past the video and overview the transcript below! Video Transcript Good morning, and welcome to this weeks EZ Ag episode. As the corn planting season wraps up, it’s time to shift our focus to the fifth of the top five factors to producing a top crop: post-planting management. We’ve recently received some much-needed rainfall, easing our stress levels and setting the stage for robust early season crop growth, so how do we help our crop “Stress Less” just like this rain has helped us? It’s all about nurturing the crop to mitigate abiotic stress and maximize yield potential. Effective post-planting management is key, and BW Fusion, the leaders in crop nutrition, are here to help with innovative solutions. BW Fusion offers three powerful products designed to promote healthy crop growth and reduce the impacts of abiotic stress: Relax RX AmiNo FullSun These can be integrated with your early post-herbicide applications or used during the crop’s reproductive growth stages. Relax RX is your ally in keeping the crop growing strong. It mitigates the effects of herbicide metabolism on your plants and supports growth during periods of drought or heat, helping the plants maintain their yield potential. AmiNo is a powerhouse blend of micronutrients and 18 essential amino acids. These components are vital for protein synthesis, the building blocks of every cell in the plant. AmiNo fortifies the crop against abiotic stresses, ensuring your plants have what they need to thrive. FullSun encourages additional root growth and enhances root exudates, which are crucial for feeding soil microbes. These microbes, in turn, nourish the crop, promoting a healthy and resilient growth environment. As we move into this next phase, remember that post-planting management is essential to harvesting a top crop. With BW Fusion’s Relax RX, AmiNo, and FullSun, you’re equipped to support your corn throughout the season and overcome any abiotic challenges that come your way. That’s all for today, I’m Matt Long, helping you farm differently, providing information you can’t get anywhere else. THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY AXIS SEED – RED BARN ENTERPRISES PRESIDENT AND RESIDENT CORN EXPERT, MATT LONG.

Planters have been rolling along here and there for the past few weeks now and with the recent rainfall and the ever present thoughts of drought in our heads, many farmers are eager to get back in the field and get the planter rolling before the moisture slips away with the heat and wind.  So how do you know if it’s a GO?  Make this seemingly difficult decision easier with this simple trick I use in almost all my decision making.  Use the 1 to 10 scale and rate the conditions against “Optimal.” If you rate the conditions at 8 or better, you are in a GO situation, if your rating of the conditions is a 7 or less, it is still a NO-GO. If you’re in a NO-GO situation and you just can’t stand it because your neighbors are running, here’s a few things to remember: The highest yields are ALWAYS achieved when you do the best job of planting  Field conditions vary from field to field based on past farming practices There’s no way to pick the “right” date to plant because the future weather conditions are uncontrollable  So take a deep breath, evaluate your conditions, and plant when the soil conditions are optimal! THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY AXIS SEED – RED BARN ENTERPRISES PRESIDENT AND RESIDENT CORN EXPERT, MATT LONG.

When it comes to successfully farming your way out of tight margins a thorough plan ahead of the growing season is essential to empowering quick decisions when the unexpected comes your way. Enter the Max Yield System.  In last week’s post , I detailed the boots on the ground strategy the Red Barn team utilizes to help you create your very own Max Yield System (M.Y. System). In this week’s blog I’ll give you the tools to craft your own.  But before we dive into planning specifics, I want to share an overarching truth of this planning approach: You have to plan early. While it’s never too late to start a good habit, the key to ensuring you’re ready for the unexpected means you have that habit in place before the unexpected hits. The most effective way to accomplish this is by starting the process for next year the minute your planter stops rolling.  Why? Typically once planting stops your mind reels with hindsight on potential alterations for the following year. When you aren’t pressed to get the last bag into the ground before the rain, you can think clearly on what you’d do if the weather wasn’t standing in your way. And that’s the time to start building your plan for the following year.  So, on that note, let’s dive into the four primary components of building your very own M.Y. System plan:  The Crop Plan The Seed Plan The Crop Protection Plan The Fertility Plan The Crop Plan The first part of building a plan for the future starts with identifying the crop you intend to plant the following year and getting to know that field’s history. You can learn a lot about a field’s history by pulling that field’s actual production history (APH) and a post-harvest soil sample or reviewing the general soil map data found online. Understanding the soil profile arms you with a baseline understanding of what is available for the crop you intend to plant, and it’s crucial data for building your input plan.  The Seed Plan Once you have your future plans for a field in place, you build the seed plan. Naturally, hybrid selection comes to mind immediately but the seed plan also includes other critical inputs such as: planting timing, population expectations, and goals.  Evaluate if early or late planting is your goal, and then determine your population to create a more detailed plan on ideal hybrids and the quantities you need for your farm. A goal analysis paired with your APH and historical information from your crop plan will create the foundation for how aggressive your input plans will be. It seems counterproductive to be thinking about all of these aspects when building a seed plan but I challenge you to view this differently as these crucial pieces can help you better select ideal hybrids suited for your agronomic management style and ROI goals. I get it, I took a simple seed decision and made it more complicated but no one ever said farming your way out of tight margins would be easy.  The Crop Protection Plan Now that you’ve established the crop you’d like to plant and you have a baseline understanding of that specific field’s needs, it’s time to start building the crop protection plan around this information. When I partner with farmers on this plan, I like to remind them not to stress over being completely finalized on what you’re planting. If you’re 60% sure corn is your next crop, you build your plan around corn with some considerations that can add flexibility if the crop changes to milo. If you’re 90%+ certain it’s corn, go ahead and build the corn plan.  Also, crop protection planning is a year-round plan. It’s easy to focus on the CP products used when the crop is actively growing but don’t forget maintaining a weed-free field when there is no crop in the ground is essential to mitigating the pressure when crops are growing.   Weeds thrive when the only competition for lights, water and nutrients are themselves. In order to create a successful crop protection plan in-season, you cannot neglect weed control when your fields are bare. Don’t build your weed seed bank because you want to save some time and a few bucks on a post-harvest application, you will certainly have to make up for that mistake the following season with both time and money! The Fertility Plan Fertility planning is a complicated equation, which is why in your first step of planning you pulled soil samples and gained that baseline historical knowledge of the field. Use these insights to strategically invest in inputs that will not only enhance your soil profile but also the crop you intend to plant. Check out a previous blog on fertility plan fundamentals for a deep dive into the building blocks of a solid fertility plan. In summary, to build your very own M.Y. System… First, establish a crop plan that outlines what crop will be planted next and some baseline historical data and soil information to inform your season’s investments.  Next you develop a seed plan built around your agronomic management styles and goals.  Then you move into input planning that keeps fields clean and enhances your soil profile while feeding the crop you plan to grow. Flying by the seat of your pants is no longer a viable option for profitability in ag, and honestly even when commodity prices were great you still left profit on the table with this approach. The four components of a M.Y. System plan seem like a lot when broken out but they truly stair step into a cohesive approach that helps you handle the curve balls of the growing season with ease.  There is a practical use to this kind of planning beyond anticipating uncertainty as well. If you need to sit down with your financial institution your M.Y. System can be an outline for how you’re going to operate this next year and be profitable. Just think, you’ll have an 80-90% baked plan by August that allows you to have a high quality conversation regarding your entire cash flow system for the upcoming growing season. Talk about a, “two birds, one stone” approach! If you’re interested in taking the steps to create your very own Max Yield System, give us a call! We’d be happy to sort through this planning process with you!

In today’s ag economy flying by the seat of your pants is a one-way ticket to lost productivity and profit. So when every dollar – and every minute – counts, what’s your best line of defense against the unpredictability of the upcoming season? A plan. The Max Yield System – brought to you exclusively by Red Barn Enterprises – is an innovative planning approach that empowers you to tackle the unique challenges in every field, leading to unprecedented yield and productivity. Our field-by-field approach provides a comprehensive plan for success empowering you to unlock the true potential of your crops season after season.  So why am I hammering you on planning…again? There isn’t much I would bet on when it comes to the outcome of a growing season except for this: there will undoubtedly be a curveball thrown your way at least once each season. From Mother Nature delivering you her worst, to unexpected equipment malfunctions and unforeseen product availability issues, our industry sure is good at keeping us farmers on our toes.  The key to mitigating the unexpected is through deliberate planning. And no, I don’t mean driving yourself crazy by planning for any and all outcomes. What I mean instead is planning for your desired outcome.  Whether you farm a few hundred acres or a few thousand, you have return on investment goals and the Max Yield System can be your GPS to success enabling you to find the competitive advantage in each and every field. Believe me, even your worst ground has an upside and we’re going to help you find it AND take advantage of it with the Max Yield System. How It Works Through the Max Yield System (M.Y. System), the team at Red Barn utilize a “boots on the ground strategy” to partner with you to help you understand your soils, and achieve your return on investment goals, while carefully considering management factors that impact overall success. We do this through five specific touch points:  Early Planning: Ahead of planting, we’ll evaluate factors that can limit success and develop a cropping plan to help you increase bushels, as well as, profitability. Early planning may be the single most important aspect of the M.Y. System. The earlier you plan, the sooner you are equipped to handle unpredictability meaning less scrambling and stress from day one. Hybrid Portfolio: Mitigating risk through selecting a hybrid portfolio with diversity in maturity and stress tolerances, which helps increase yield and reduce loss due to uncontrollable variables. In a recent blog post I offered a practical example for adopting this mentality at planting , but this principle should start long before your planter starts rolling. Check out this resource that dives deep into the concept of “Right Hybrid, Right Field,” and remember we can help you sort through this information regardless of who you bought seed from. High Yield Planting: Take the human variable out of maximum yield and develop a planting plan on the controllable variables of the planter pass – soil conditions, seed placement, seed quality, and the right hybrid.  Post Planting Management: Assess crop conditions and evaluate yield-limiting factors in partnership with your trusted advisors at Red Barn to make timely management decisions throughout the season, which help maintain yield potential regardless of how the weather plays out. Harvest Evaluation: Whether we’re delivering you a harvest meal in the field or riding in your buddy seat, harvest evaluation at Red Barn happens in the field when combines start rolling. This real-time observation of harvest results enhances knowledge to improve product placement and planning for the next season. The strategies above are taken field-by-field and provide you with a comprehensive plan for success empowering you to unlock the true potential of your crops, and transform the plan into your very own, M.Y. System. For another view of what this year-long partnership could look like on your operation, check out the infographic below: In a year-long partnership with Red Barn, here's a roadmap of what you can expect from of key touch points within the Max Yield System. I’ll close out today’s post by taking us back to this blog’s intro and making an appeal for early planning. It’s no secret agriculture is a tough business. We’ve known this for years, but the current economy keeps this even more top of mind for farmers as we enter another growing season.  So how do you farm your way out of tight margins? You plan for it. And the sooner the better. If you can make 100% of your decisions up front, you won’t be 100% right. But in my experience with the M.Y. System on my own operation you’ll be right 80% of the time. With an early plan in place you have the bulk of what you need to accomplish this growing season planned and when those curve balls happen, get back on course with a quick decision!In a time where every dollar counts, don’t forget the value of your time and mental health. Protect both with an early plan, and unlock the power of the Max Yield System on your own operation today.

With planting season approaching quickly, now is the time to start taking control of your 2024 planting plan. Recently I’ve discussed in depth the four key principles to high yield planting which include: finding the balance of near perfect soil conditions, ideal seed placement and depth at planting, superior seed quality to help overcome the obstacles of planting season, and ensuring the right hybrid is placed on the right acre.  These four key principles must remain the building blocks of a strong planting plan each season, however, each year provides you a new opportunity to hone in on the approach of each element. For this week’s blog, I’ll challenge you to rethink some of the most commonly held planting practices and ground them in our four key principles to help you take control of your upcoming planting plan. Early or Late Planting? As you prepare your planting plan, one of the first lines of questioning from farmers is often around the concept of early or late planting. “Will I get the best yield by planting early or late? And if I choose to go early, how early is early? But if I go late, how late is late?” Typically, most farmers in our area consider early planting in Western Kansas to fall between April 28-May 5 and late planting around May 15-25. But this year I challenge you to focus less on the date itself, and more upon the principles of targeting near perfect soil conditions and ideal seed placement. I’ve seen instances where early corn has far out yielded late corn. This is done by planting properly into near perfect soil conditions and not focusing on the date of planting. When you are planting early, remember that soil temperatures tend to fluctuate a lot more earlier in the planting season, this is where deeper planting really shines. Why plant deeper in when you plant early? Because the deeper you go the less the temperature fluctuates, meaning when you plant deeper the lowest soil temperature of the day will be higher, so the chilling effect happens less often.  Ignore the Long-Term Forecast None of us can foresee how every millisecond of weather throughout the season can contribute or take from our yield at harvest. I don’t have that crystal ball, and believe me if I did these blogs would look a whole lot different.  So instead of focusing on the big picture of weather throughout the season, narrow your focus to the period between planting and emergence with an emphasis on the window at planting. Why the planting window? Staying on top of the near-term forecast can help you understand how static your soil conditions will be once the seed is in the ground.  Now, I get it, we can’t always control the whims of what Mother Nature will bring, even with a keen eye on the upcoming week’s weather. That’s what seed quality is for! Planting a product with a high seed quality will help you overcome any variables outside of your control that pop up during planting. And that’s where the high-quality standards of Axis Seed come into play, when you plant Axis Corn Seed, you know that you are taking to the field seed that’s selected for your growing conditions, and tested for its ability to withstand whatever conditions mother nature throws at it by having the highest quality standards in the industry. Consider a Shift in Planting Strategy It’s easy to get caught up in the craziness of planting season. The days never seem long enough, the pop up spring rain messes with your day’s perfect plan, and before you know it the race is on and planting quickly becomes priority number one. This year, I challenge you to shift away from urgency to mixed maturity. Mitigating the effects of planting season we cannot control can be done by using the entirety of your product portfolio to your advantage. A lot of farmers like to plant by maturity, and I get it. It’s an easy way to keep things straight. But doing so can set that entire portfolio up for problems ahead with a single, untimely weather event. Having a mixed maturity that you’re planting at any time helps reduce this risk.  When you plant don’t plant all of any one maturity at the same time, first plant some of the 113RM, then some of your 110RM and finally some of the 105RM or 95RM. By the time you’ve made it through the entire portfolio, start over and do it again with the rest. This method mixes your maturities up across the farm and mitigates the impact of the uncontrollable weather. Is this the easiest approach to planting? No. But most times a little extra elbow grease goes a long way, and when you’re betting against Mother Nature, you need to be playing with all the cards you have. When utilizing this method just make sure you ground it in your “right hybrid, right acre” plan . Remember there are certain hybrids in your planting plan with a purpose specific to a certain field on your operation. It’s crucial that you follow that plan! Being in control of your 2024 planting plan first takes a commitment to the four key principles of high yield planting and a deliberate challenge on the assumptions and habits we often fall into this time of year. If you need support as you consider trying something new this planting season, look no further than Red Barn! We’re here to make planting great again! Even if it looks a little different than it has ever before.

Did you know, 100% of your max yield potential is established the minute your planter rolls through the field? Which means, if you don’t get planting right you’re limiting your yield potential and ultimately your profitability.  Proper planting is so critical to success, that four of our signature “top five factors to produce a top crop” are emphasized at planting. In this week’s blog, I am going to dive into the four controllable variables of the planter pass to help you take the human variable out of maximizing yield, which include: Soil Conditions   Seed Placement  Seed Quality   The Right Hybrid Near Perfect Soil Conditions We start with soil conditions because none of the other variables can be put into place without first considering this.  During this time of year our Red Barn experts are happy to partner with you on identifying your soil conditions sweet spot with a scouting event prior to planting. This type of visit will consist of the following: a soil moisture analysis and a soil temperature analysis which includes a real-time look at temperature as well as the future forecast. When rating soil moisture we utilize the following four ratings: poor, fair, adequate, excessive. Rating can be done by simply grabbing a handful of soil, squeezing the contents in your hand before opening your palm to assess the way the soil either binds together or does not. This easy guide from the USDA is an excellent tool for those of you who like to head out and get the job done yourself! Bottom line when it comes to soil moisture: if you rate your soil as adequate it’s time to plant! Well, as long as your soil temperature is favorable. If your soil temperature is a consistent 55 degrees and climbing with a favorable 7-day forecast, good news you’re in the ball part for plating! On the other hand, if your soil is sitting at 55 degrees and the next three days have less than favorable highs of 32 degrees pump the breaks. Planting in conditions like these means your seed is subject to imbibitional chilling shock which can have major impacts on your vigor score and cold germs.  Seed Placement The next factor to assess when aiming for Max Yield planting requires you to look at seed depth and placement. Ideally, we’re looking at every seed planted to emerge within 12 hours of each other. Why? Even, consistent emergence eliminates the “runt pigs” that can wreak havoc on yield. Something I am always surprised by each year is how often I answer the question, “What is the ideal planting depth?” The industry standard is a two-inch minimum planting depth for corn. I emphasize “minimum” here because in dryland situations 2.5” to 2 ¾” can even work! In irrigated and no-till environments, I see no reason not to plant at least two inches. Especially because these types of growing environments have even more consistent soil temperature and moisture. The deeper you go into the soil profile the more static and even your soil temperature is, which is ideal for hitting those near perfect soil conditions I wrote about previously. Which is why you hear, two-inch minimum because it’s ideal for the physiological development of your corn crop.  I know I dropped a science term, let me explain further: When your corn seed emerges, it grows the radical root system downward and sends up the shoot. When the shoot sees light, it sends a signal back down the line which signals to the plant, at this depth, shoot out the nodal root system aka the crown of the plant. And guess what? The crown ultimately takes up about two inches of space. So you see, that initial seed placement depth is critical because you want that strong establishment nodal root system. Which, by the way, are the first roots to begin uptaking those yield establishing nutrients.  Seed placement is critical to establishing a strong root system, and it backpacks off our first topic of near perfect soil conditions because the excessive soil moisture levels can hinder this development regardless of your depth! For example, when planting in excessive soil conditions you can create sidewall compaction and that results in what we call hatchet root. It’s very easy to identify this issue with an early season root dig. Upon digging a few plants you’ll notice a flattened root system – hence the name “hatchet root” – because those roots are running up and down that compacted soil wall vs. growing as a crown. Seed Quality You know how important seed quality is to me! I wrote an entire blog on it just the other month that you can browse to understand why I’m so passionate about this topic! For that reason, I’ll keep this section fairly short and sweet. Soil conditions and planting depth are compoundable issues when you don’t have high seed quality. Because of this compounding effect, you have to train yourself to refuse to accept a below optimal state for each controllable variable of the planter pass. But you’ll ask me, “What about the whims of Mother Nature?” or “I have to have my crop in this field by Thursday so I can get to X field by Friday, what do I do?” And believe me, as a farmer myself, I hear you and I get the struggle. And this is the very reason I stress the importance of seed quality at planting.  The fact of the matter is, you may not be able to get the absolute perfect soil conditions but if you go 99% on placement and 99% on seed quality those help you overcome the 80% you started with in soil conditions.  So if we’re being realistic and meeting you where you’re at, I will say this: Soil conditions are the one thing guys can often take a backseat to. But my caveat to this is: only do this if you will accept nothing less than the highest seed quality and optimal planting depth and placement. Right Hybrid, Right Field In my experience, 75% of all varieties don’t perform to their maximum potential because they are planted in the wrong fields. Even as recently as this past year, I made a very specific hybrid recommendation to a farmer to plant that variety at an increased population dentistry in a specific field based on that field’s historical information. Unfortunately they planted a different hybrid at those increased populations that didn’t have the same characteristics as my recommendation and the performance was not ideal. I share this experience to emphasize that if a certain hybrid is chosen for a particular field there are very specific reasons for this choice.  For example, shorter stature hybrids that have shorter ear placement shouldn’t be planted on a terraced field. Instead you’d want a variety with better ear flex to maximize yield. Another example, hybrids that don’t have adequate soil PH tolerance shouldn’t be placed on the worst field of the farm. These are just a few of the many examples that detail the importance of thinking of the phenotypic characteristics of each hybrid for optimal placement and performance.  This right hybrid, right field conversation can feel overwhelming, but oftentimes when you get into your seed shed it looks a lot like this: You will have a large pile of bags for three hybrids and then a much smaller pile, usually around 30-50 bags tops, of two different hybrids. More often than not, that smaller pile with a specific amount of a certain hybrid needs to be used in a specific field.  So when it comes time to making those right hybrid, right field placements consider how big of a pile you have of a certain hybrid, and always call your Red Barn rep for support! We’re not here to add complexity to your planting process and leave you hanging out to dry. We’re here for every step of the way including sorting seed bags to help you stay organized! THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY AXIS SEED – RED BARN ENTERPRISES PRESIDENT AND RESIDENT CORN EXPERT, MATT LONG.

I hate to break it to you but effective fertility plans are not one-size-fits all. A fertility plan that helps you produce a top crop is specific to your fields, the crops you grow, and a variety of additional factors that can fluctuate and change over time.  For years the main emphasis has been on N, P, and K which are considered the macronutrients, but are they really the most important? Each cropping system and every field has a little different answer to that question. And understanding what is really the most important nutrient, or nutrient application to focus on is important when developing your Max Yield System fertility plans. Sorting through this level of complexity and nuance is impossible to fit into a single EZ Ag blog post, so I’m kicking off a new series called, “A Hands-On Approach to Fertility.” Over the next three weeks I’ll cover: Why soil testing is key to understanding crop needs, even when test results are inconsistent The fundamentals of a fertility plan, including a unique view on starter fertilizer as a crop starter, not a significant fertilizer input And how cutting-edge biologicals like Pivot Bio’s Proven 40 can help you reevaluate and enhance your nitrogen plan So let’s dig into our first topic: soil testing. Embracing the Inconsistency of Soil Tests One of the biggest misconceptions about soil testing is that they should be consistent year over year, or from one sampling event to another. Understanding how soil samples are pulled, where they are pulled, how they are analyzed, and what the results mean is an important step in developing a fertility plan, getting consistent results year over year is not! Think about it – how difficult is it to repeat anything year after year in farming with the exception of an A-B line? Extremely difficult! And hey, let’s give credit where credit is due: the sub-inch accuracy of a GPS system can help improve the repeatability of the soil sampling process and create a consistent location to sample from. However, the error is typically found in the fact that sampling consistently at the same sampling depth, timing, temperature, or moisture is nearly impossible. And why would these aspects matter?  Each of these aspects matter because the attributes of soil are constantly changing. Soil is a living organism – or really soil is made up of billions of living organisms – and because of this and the differences in sampling location, depth, timing, temperature, and moisture, that we cannot control, our results will also constantly be changing. So embrace the inconsistency! And pull soil samples – it is the most cost effective input on your farm! Taking “Guesswork Out of Your Fertility Plan” First I told you to embrace the inconsistency that is the soil test, and now I’m going to tell you to use those results to inform your Max Yield System fertility plan. I know, it seems backwards but hang in there with me. When looking at soil testing results, you have to account for the millions of living microbes in the soil profile that are constantly changing the soil analysis by converting plant-available forms of nutrients to unavailable and vice versa. These processes naturally occur in your soil and are affected by the timing, temperature, and moisture content of the soil at sampling time. And why does this matter in relation to your fertility plan? These processes are also impacted by the inputs applied to your fields as well. For example: When you apply sulfur, you don’t only impact the sulfur quantity in your soil profile. This application can also cause other changes to soil pH, and cause micronutrients like zinc and iron to become more available, thus showing up in higher quantities in your soil sample. Understanding some of the effects of your fertilizer applications will help you develop the perfect plan.  Making the Most Out of Your Soil Testing Efforts If you already utilize soil testing as part of your annual practices. You can dial in the data you get from this practice by evaluating how you conduct soil tests on your own operation. I even recorded a quick video on this very topic that you can check out here if you’d like to learn more. At the end of the day, your ability to understand your soil profile is a necessity when creating a fertility plan. A friend of mine who’s in the business of pulling soil samples uses the slogan, “If you don’t test, it’s just a guess,” and I couldn’t agree more with this notion. So I challenge you, embrace the inconsistency, remove the guesswork, and dial in your fertility plan with one of the most cost effective inputs you can purchase for your operation: the soil test. This concludes Part I of our three-part series, “A Hands-On Approach to Soil Fertility.” Check back next week for the second installment!

When discussing nature and the world around us, we often use the term, “survival of the fittest.” While this term generally brings to mind a particularly gut-wrenching scene from a Discovery Channel nature documentary, I want to challenge you to set aside that visual and think about how this term can apply to your corn crop.  As the growing season progresses, not only will your corn crop grow and develop but so will weeds, creating a competitive environment where your crop and weeds will battle for the keys to survival: light, water, and nutrients. Ultimately, the longer the weeds compete with the corn, the greater the likelihood of yield loss. An increased weed seed bank due to wetter-than-normal conditions last June and July, kochia sightings in February, and the signs of a warm, wet spring on the horizon, the time to talk about weed control is now, long before you ever roll your planter across your field. Considering this Year’s Weed Seed Bank The 2023 growing season may seem like a distant memory but the impacts of the events of last season are still tangible as you prepare for your 2024 crop. If you recall, we had a really wet spell in June and July during the busy wheat harvest. Those 95 degree days, steady rainfall every 4-5 days, and empty fields unfortunately created the ideal environment for weeds to get out of hand. And they did not miss the opportunity to do so! What this means going into this year’s corn crop is we need to be at the top of our game. And even more so than in a normal year. There is a weed seed bank in almost every field you need to be aware of, but unfortunately, by having that moisture in a time when we couldn’t timely manage weeds, we added to that bank in a big way. So with our weed seed bank top-of-mind, let’s shift our thinking around identifying the times of year we are most susceptible to this bank coming to bite us. Crop Rotation, Canopy and Weed Management There are two times in a crop rotation when the potential for weeds to get away is at its highest: In wheat stubble, right after wheat harvest.  In summer fallow between the fall crop and when the wheat was planted.  Weeds can get away in a big way during these times because bare fields mean the weeds only have themselves to compete with for survival.  Because of this, the old adage your grandpa used to repeat every growing season, “The best herbicide on the market is a healthy growing crop,” is in fact true. But I’m going to add my own twist to that based on my 20-plus years of farming experience:  The best herbicide on the market is a healthy growing crop paired with a blanket application of herbicide that gets your crop to canopy with as minimal competition as possible.  I know, I know. It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as smoothly but stick with me! Did you know, when farmers started top-dressing wheat with fertilizer, they were doing it as a weed control mechanism? The thought was: make the crop healthier, faster so it can outcompete the weeds in the field. It was an after thought that the practice also helped increase yield! So when you’re thinking about managing weeds in your corn crop, I want you to really think about building a plan that accounts for the times when you are most vulnerable to rapid weed development and how you’re going to get that crop to canopy with as little weed pressure as possible.  Let’s dive into what that can look like on your operation!  Count on Three Passes, Plan for Four When managing weeds in corn, you really only have the option to use weed control methods until canopy. Not only do you hit the maximum height or growth stage for most herbicides but killing weeds below the cover of a corn canopy is nearly impossible due to limited penetration. And we’ll dive into this later, but an injured weed is always more expensive and tougher to control.    The First Pass So in order to effectively manage weeds while considering the limitations of weed management post-canopy I recommend making your first pass an early-pre herbicide pass. This practice can be done one of two ways: in the late fall, early winter (November or December) or early spring (February or March). The Second and Third Passes For your second pass, you will also have a couple approaches you can take depending on your plating timing. If you plant early, your pre-application may carry you through planting when you would apply both burn down and residual. In this situation there is a chance you will need to run a clean up pass to manage escapes post-planting. If you plant later, late-May or early June, you may need some extra punch to your plan. For example you’d do a true burn down at or before planting and then follow up post-plant with your residual. In this scenario you catch just about everything with your post-planting residual because the amount of time between application and canopy is shorter. You may have to do a little clean up in a heavy weed pressure year, but not always! The Fourth Pass Regardless of when you time your early-pre and how early you plant, you need to count on at least three applications to effectively manage weeds. Depending on the growing season and weed seed bed/pressure, there is a chance for a fourth application as well. It’s why I like to say: count on three passes, but plan for a fourth. Why? This year is a prime example as we’ve got a load of reasons that are leading us to believe our pressure will be greater than normal. Kochia found along a gravel road in Riley County, KS. Image source, USDA . For example, if your weed control got out of hand last year in wheat stubble, you should already be preparing yourself for the possibility of the fourth pass with the increased weed seed bank. You’ll also want to focus on being ahead of the game this year as well! The farmer’s almanac is predicting a wetter than normal spring which is only going to give this seed bank some critical fuel for growth. This one-two punch vastly increases your likelihood of escapes. Further our 2-4” soil temperatures have not fallen below freezing in well over a week and it’s not hard to find kochia that has already sprouted. If soil temps remain steady, and we don’t experience another cold snap, these weeds could survive and your battle of the weeds is officially underway… in February! As you can see, Mother Nature can – and will – throw a wrench into your week any chance she gets. Not much in farming is guaranteed except the unpredictability of nature. And this is precisely why a weed management plan is imperative to your crop’s success. I know, it sounds like a lot of work, and to be honest, it is! But I’ll tell you why this matters next. Building Your Weed Management Plan We know that multiple modes of action are critical in the fight against weeds. While this is a sound agronomic principle that sets you up for success in the long-haul, what that means when it comes time to plan is there are a TON of herbicide options you need to sort through. And of course, they all have varying characteristics, cut off dates, and label requirements.  Oh, and don’t forget there will be fields on your operation that have different weed profiles and as such need to be sprayed differently. Plus, you’ll want to keep in mind what weeds were the problem in the previous season and plan accordingly. All of this is downright overwhelming! Can you imagine the added stress of sorting through all of this information, in real-time, every single time you have to make an application? I’m stressed just thinking about it! Real quick, I want to check in on my readers who make their weed management decisions on the fly:  How’s your blood pressure doing? And how does that pressure rise or fall based on what’s happening in your fields?  Now, don’t go run to your doctor and say Matt Long told you the Max Yield System will cure your high blood pressure because it won’t. But I can guarantee this strategic approach and the planning that comes with it will relieve you of the burden of stressful real-time decisions. Here’s how: The Max Yield System is a simplified planning process where we make all the decisions for your crop ahead of time and schedule out the work based on these decisions. And the best part, this type of planning works 85% of the time.  How can I make such a bold claim? Because I use this plan on my own personal farming operation. And obviously, this plan isn’t impervious to the whims of the growing season. 15% of the time, there is an uncontrollable variable thrown into the mix that prevents you from getting the work done by the time you need it. But in this scenario, you reduce the last-minute scramble by only having to make a small adjustment to accommodate the existing plan versus rethinking an entire new strategy.  The biggest mistake I see guys making when they make decisions on the go, is they rush into a retailer with a weed management plan and then balk at the cost of that plan. Then in a stressed scenario, the farmer starts making a decision based on the dollar amount versus the reality of the problems in the field. As a character in the TV show Yellowstone once quoted, “Cool stuff ain’t cheap, and cheap stuff ain’t cool.” This can apply to your weed management plan as follows: “Good plans ain’t cheap, and cheap plans don’t kill.” You may have saved money on that payment, but did you consider the cost if the application doesn’t give you the control you need? You are spending at minimum $20 extra to run an additional pass over a field with dinged, but not dead weeds. On top of that cost, you’re likely also spending more on chemicals because now instead of three ounces you need five, or instead of half a pound you need three-quarters of a pound. Then while we’re at it, go ahead and tack on some additional adjuvant or surfactant later to the load for “better” control! Do you see how quickly this snowball can take off down the hill? And all because you didn’t kill those weeds the first time because you rushed an in-season decision that could have been made months in advance.. This is why I am such a strong proponent of the Max Yield System. It offers you the opportunity to wade through the waters of weed management ahead of time, and especially when you are not in an all-hands-on-deck situation. If this reduced stress approach is intriguing to you as you approach 2024, get in touch with our team ASAP.

Every company out there has a standard for seed quality, and if you do some digging you’ll find in their literature a phrase that states something like, “at [insert company name] we ensure the highest quality standard in the industry in every bag.” But did you know there are few explicit industry standards when it comes to the quality of the seed you purchase? And do you, or should you care? Axis Seed takes a different approach to seed quality, one that you should care about. In fact, at Axis Seed, our quality standards start long before the seed crop is planted in the field, and don’t end until you are a satisfied customer. Why? To put it simply, the quality of the seed you plant is the foundation to your success at harvest. To learn more about why this is important to your farms success, watch this short video before reading on: Ensuring consistent and reliable seed quality takes a commitment to high standards and an attention to detail at every step of the development process, which is why Axis Seed partners with seed production and germination testing experts, Remington Seeds and SoDak Labs. respectively. Remington takes pride in the quality they deliver and ensures every step of the seed production is done with quality in mind. SoDak then tests the seed to confirm we are delivering that quality in every bag. At Axis Seed, one of the things that sets us apart in the industry is the requirement of an 85% minimum on a saturated cold germination test from the toughest cold germ test in the industry, SoDak Labs . SoDak Labs’ saturated cold germination test is a high stress vigor test that occurs over a 10-day period. Their rigorous testing emulates imbibitional chilling shock and low oxygen microclimate, similar to planting at 50℉ soil temperature and receiving significant rain immediately after planting. So why am I harping on seed quality in today’s blog? To put it simply, the quality of the seed you plant is the foundation for the yield you harvest. And not only does increasing harvestable ears per acre make driving the combine fun in the fall… it sets the stage for profitability for seasons to come. Now let’s dig into a few practices and agronomic management techniques that will help you steward this quality seed from planting to harvest, and increase your yields along the way: The “Runt Pig” Test One of the first measurements of success when evaluating your current crop is stand establishment. At Axis Seed–Red Barn, we take things a step further than just noting which plants have emerged and which have not. The way we do this is through the “Runt Pig” test, also referred to as “Net Effective Plant Stand or NEFS.” If you’re new to this term or don’t recognize it from last year’s scouting reports, watch our quick video on the topic here .  The reason it is important to understand the quality of the stand and not just the numerical value of it is because “Runt Pigs” steal yield. We start early season evaluations with the “Runt Pig” test because it’s our first opportunity to determine what your yield potential is and it gives us a read on whether we should continue to invest in a crop if the conditions exist for maximum yield. When scouting, we determine a plant’s runt pig status by identifying plants that are one, two, or more growth stages (leaves) behind the plants immediately surrounding them. You may think a few smaller plants doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but the ultimate impact can take down yield in a big way. “Runt Pig” plants can impact yield in a big way, especially when compounded across an entire field. When you have a plant that’s one leaf (or growth stage) behind the plants surrounding them, that plant yields about 30–35% less than the other plants in its vicinity. These smaller plants are simply not as competitive as the surrounding plants. Their growth disadvantage starves them of sunlight, nutrition and water, which is why we see yields decline on plants that are just one leaf behind in growth. And, when a plant is two growth stages behind, this effect compounds and we see 50–65% less yield on that individual plant. Ultimately, that high seed quality standard from Axis Seed helps reduce the quantity of runt pigs in your fields. High quality seed with high early vigor scores helps get your field off to an early and even start, and an even stand of corn is an important factor in high yields. When you eliminate runt pigs, your harvestable ears per acre increases, you achieve the genetic potential of the hybrids in your portfolio, and you maximize yield! Investing in a Good Crop “Runt Pigs” are under a lot of stress, they germinate and emerge slower than the rest of the plants but continue to compete for sunlight, water and nutrients. And because of the stress the runt pig is under, by the time this crop gets to the end of the season, the runt will be one of the first to die. Throughout the season, anytime that runt is starved for something it needs, it starts secreting ethylene, the hormone that causes early ripening. And at the end of the season, it will cause the other plants around it to start maturing faster than usual. So not only did this plant lose yield on its own throughout the season, but it caused the other plants around it to also lose yield.  Why are you getting Plant Physiology 101 in an EZ Ag Post? Because the secretion of ethylene ties into one of the most common uses of in-season fungicide. When there’s no significant disease pressure in a field but you are using fungicide you are banking on getting a return from the “plant health benefits” of the fungicide. One of the biggest benefits though is the reduction of ethylene production by the plant, ultimately slowing the ripening process of the corn crop and extending the grain fill period of that plant which increases yield.  You can assess the number of runt pigs in your field very early, I like to do it before the corn gets Knee High – which is before the 4th of July according to the old timers! Assessing the number of Runt Pigs helps you understand the number of full harvestable ears you can expect to have in the fall and whether or not the crop is worth the $17-dollar-an-acre fungicide investment mid-season. Harvestable Ears per Acre All of this talk about seed quality and Runt Pigs really comes down to one thing: Harvestable Ears per Acre, which in turn equates to yield when the combine rolls through the field. And since we are on the early end of evaluating our stands with the Net Effective Plant Stand (NEPS) evaluations we do, why wouldn’t we go ahead and tell you how this same evaluation can be turned into an early season Yield Estimate! Yield estimates are tricky, just ask anyone who has ever done them, at times they may be spot on, other times just brace yourself as they can be 50% off, which in some cases can amount to an error of over 100 bushels per acre. Understanding where populations typically peak out in genetic potential helps us make better yield estimates early in the season. Now there’s one major caveat to this – the house always wins . And in this case, Mother Nature is the house. We can control most all variables in crop production – and I’ll even be as bullish to say with the right plan we can control most of the variability thrown at us by Mother Nature, but there are instances where we cannot – in those instances these numbers (also known as peak genetic potential) do not apply. Peak Genetic Potential Benchmarks for Western, KS Dryland: 7-12 Bu/1,000 Limited Irrigation: 8-11 Bu/1,000 Irrigated (>26kpop): 8-10 Bu/1,000 So, let’s quickly look at how we use Runt Pigs and Harvestable ears per acre to calculate early season yield estimates.  First, we take a stand count – the old school way, for this example we will say we have 16k plants per acre. Then we are going to do a NEPS count by determining the number of Runt Pigs and their effect on the final yield, here we’ll say we have 15 runts, bringing our NEPS to 94%. Now let’s put these numbers to the yield test, first take the stand (16K) multiplied by our NEPS (94%) multiplied by our peak genetic potential (7-12 Bu/1,000). Here we come up with a range of 105 Bu/A to 180 Bu/A. Let’s run through another example quickly so you get a better idea of what the effect is. Here we have the same 16k stand but we have a 78% NEPS rating, now if we do the math, we know our range is 87 Bu/A to 149 Bu/A and really the top end of this crop is likely gone unless all the stars align because we have 22% of our plants out there pumping this field full of ethylene! Granted those are broad ranges, but it gives us a baseline for decision making moving forward. If I have a 94% stand in July with a full profile and rain in the forecast, I am more likely to throw some extra groceries (fungicide and foliar fertilizer) at a crop than if I have a 78% stand or if I have that same 94% stand and no rain in sight with a heat wave on the way. Mother Nature tells us which end of the genetic potential spectrum we are more likely going to land, but our NEPS and Runt Pigs numbers tell us whether the crop is worth investing in. So, are you in control of your yield? There’s really only one way to start that process, and that’s by starting with a quality seed brand you can count on to deliver more yield in your field. That quality comes from Axis Seed, and it starts long before the seed is bagged and delivered to your farm, it starts with quality control in the production, processing, treatment, and testing, and ends when your trucks cross the scales.  At Red Barn Enterprises, we arm you with information because not only do we hope you’ll make your seed investment with us but that you’ll also give us the opportunity to partner with you throughout the season so we can walk your fields with you side-by-side and be a sounding board when it comes to making investments to push performance on your operation. To learn more about how we can help you, contact us today!

It’s cliché, I get it, every seed company out there has some way of saying they are selecting the right hybrid for the right field or acre on your farm, and in some way, it is true. But as different as each company is, so are the recommendations that get made, and likely the most important factors that the seed salesperson looks at to make those recommendations. So for today’s post, I’m going to start off by making a bold claim: I take hybrid selection and placement seriously. So seriously, that I rarely make a hybrid decision without considering information about the field and management goals for the operation.  Because of this, I want to give you a preview into what it looks like to work with Axis Seed – Red Barn on selecting the right hybrid for each field on your farm. A few “rules of the row” as we like to call them are: Use Product Portfolios to Reduce Risk Understand Management Evaluate Field Obstacles Evaluate “Bushels per 1,000” Performance and Yield Goals Let’s take a closer look at each one: Use Product Portfolios to Reduce Risk Product portfolios are simply a risk mitigation strategy. It is similar to the concept of a mutual fund in the financial investments industry, or like your mother may have told you, “Don’t put your eggs all in one basket.” When you want to continue to make advances in finance but don’t desire to have significant risk, you take a less risky approach of purchasing stock in a mutual fund rather than a single company’s stock. In this example, planting only one hybrid on all the acres of your farm would be like buying stock in one company, and planting a portfolio of three to five different hybrids would be similar to buying stock in a mutual fund. The differences in relative maturity, drought tolerance, ear flex, disease tolerance, and a number of other factors reduce the risk of any one of Mother Nature’s uncontrollable variables wreaking havoc on your farm.  It’s important to note, at Axis Seed – Red Barn the diversity of a product portfolio is determined by the size of the operation and the variability in soils and management practices NOT by our company’s sales goals. We firmly believe in making the right decisions for your unique operation and goals, and we stand steadfast in this conviction. Understand Management Understanding the unique management systems that are used and the goals for the field and the farm are both important variables in selecting the right hybrids to include in your product portfolio. Key pieces of information needed here are, soil pH, fertility plans, previous and future crop plans for the field, and, if applicable, irrigation management.  We’ll dive deeper into soil pH and fertility plans when we discuss field obstacles, so let’s start with previous and future crop plans: It is important that we understand your field’s past as well as your future plans for it. Not only could this impact a decision like relative maturity (RM), but it could also impact the trait package that is optimal for that field. For example, if your corn is being planted after milo but prior to wheat we are going to select a hybrid with a shorter RM (relative maturity) to accommodate the continuous crop rotation, while also pairing that RM with a defensive hybrid that offers tolerance to both drought and heat stress. Remember, we can’t control Mother Nature so we control variables like RM and trait package to accommodate for the “what if’s” of the growing season.  And now, a pivot – pun intended – to irrigation management: When we look at selecting hybrid portfolios in a dryland management system we are always looking for hybrids that have defensive characteristics along with flex in order to take advantage of the rain when we get it and defend against heat and drought.  When we move into limited irrigation and fully irrigated environments we also need to shift our approach to hybrid selection because irrigated environments ultimately decrease yield efficiency. Pushing population densities can help offset these decreases and increase your overall yield, but we need to understand how, when, and at what rate you plan to feed that  field water to better pick hybrids suited for the management and goals of the field. Evaluate Field Obstacles If farming in Western Kansas for the last few decades has taught me anything, it’s the ever-present impact pH and soil fertility have on yield outcomes. pH continually rears its head as a limiting factor for yield, especially in high pH environments, while soil fertility remains one of the most important soil characteristics for crop growth.  For farmers who want to dive deep into what these two field obstacles can mean for their operational success, I recommend coming to a meeting armed with soil sampling data and your fertility plan.  If you don’t have those, no sweat! Our team pairs decades of experience in combination with tools like the Google Earth Web Soil Survey to understand your field’s soil characteristics and develop your own customized fertility plan to help you achieve your goals. Evaluate “Bushels per 1,000” Performance & Yield Goals “Bushels per 1000” is a measurement of yield efficiency and helps us determine the proper planting population by evaluating the management system in which we are making a recommendation.  There are a couple of different ways to look at this: The first is to look at a field’s Actual Production History, also known as APH. Taking the APH and dividing it by the planted population gives you a good idea of how the previous hybrids and management have been performing. For example, a field that has an APH of 112 with a historical population of 16,000 would be performing at the level of 7 Bu/1,000.  A second way to look at Bu/1,000 is by using your yield goal. Starting with a yield goal of 120 Bu we would divide this by your estimated planting population, 15K in this example, and we would know that your Bu/1,000 goal is 8.  To take this a step further, in dryland production yields can vary greatly in Bu/1,000 because the uncontrollable variables created by Mother Nature can create both success and disaster on a year-to-year basis. As a long term goal though, if we are hitting the range of 7-13 Bu/1,000 we are doing a good job of selecting a product portfolio for the farm or field we are working on.   In irrigated and limited irrigated fields we typically see yield efficiency decline because higher plant densities do not allow for flex hybrids to take full advantage of their genetic potential. For limited irrigation, I would expect to see populations maxing out in the 7-11 Bu/1,000 plants. In situations where we are under full irrigation with populations greater than 28K, we typically see those populations max out around that 8-9 Bu/1,000 range. We won’t get into it yet, but in an upcoming blog post we’ll review “Bushels per 1,000” further and how this measurement of yield efficiency can help farmers assess additional in-season investment opportunities to push yield like fungicide applications.  To close out this week’s post, I’ll finish with this: Each field you farm has its own proprietary data package that helps our team better tailor hybrid recommendations to your fields. The combination of product portfolios, management tactics, common field obstacles,  and “Bushels per 1,000” are the data building blocks to pairing our high quality Axis Seed hybrids with the optimal field in your operation to maximize performance.  Helping you transform your farm’s future requires diligence to every detail and we assure you, there isn’t a seed company out there who takes this responsibility as seriously as we do.