FS PARTNERS takes the board room to the field in Pursuit of Maximum Yields

Dressed in bright orange shirts and engulfed in 12 foot high corn stalks, the FS PARTNERS agronomy team in partnership with Syngenta held its Green Plan Solutions road show at a variety of optimum demonstration field plots throughout central and south western Ontario to promote the Pursuit of Maximum Yield Program to its progressive producers.

The show began on Aug. 11 in Ayr and then continued for the next week at four other locations that covered FS PARTNERS trade territories in and surrounding Drayton, Mitchell, Harmony, Delhi, Stayner, Alliston and Elmvale representing corn, wheat and soybeans.

"With an excellent turn out at each field plot and next-to-perfect weather, the event was a huge success," says Dan Clarke, FS PARTNERS sales manager.

More than 160 producers attended in total and participated in an outdoor rotation of information stations. Each station was equipped with expert advisors that spent about 20 minutes on specific topics such as the importance of good information gathering, proper soil fertility or farming by prescription, plant nutrition, managing energy prices and genetics, traits and refuge management.

Each station was equipped with a series of colourful story boards that were used as a presentation tool much like a PowerPoint presentation on a computer. “It was like bringing a high-tech boardroom presentation to the outdoors,” says Don McLean, FS PARTNERS agronomist. Guests were comfortably seated on bales of hay and offered a cooler of refreshments at each station.

Based on Dr. Below of the University of Illinois’s research, the FS PARTNERS team summed up each presentation with an analysis of his findings that showed how much yield is reduced when removing one of the recommended high-tech components of corn production.

(L-R) Don McLean, FS PARTNERS agronomist and Dan Clarke, FS PARTNERS Agromony sales manager provide an overview of the Whole Farm Proposal.

“It is all about being better with the pencil,” says Crop Specialist Tony Balkwill at the information-management station. Producer Brett Schuyler of Schuyler Farms Ltd. commented that he is convinced that soil sampling can be beneficial based on the results he received. “Right along my pig barn, soil sample results showed high levels of fertility that can be easily explained. So obviously the numbers are accurate,” he explains. 

In conclusion, Dan Clarke stated that there is not just one silver bullet to help a producer gain maximum yield, but it is more to do with a full approach of utilizing all aspects of farming technology and market planning. Participants finished the morning with a hearty barbecue lunch and social time with friends and colleagues.

The Pursuit of Maximum Yield Demonstration Plot Program is a multi-year project that will provide long-term results for producers to help them make the best decisions for their operations.

Using outdoor story boards Devin Homick, zone originator specialist of Great Lakes Grain (left) and Morley Friesen, FS PARTNERS area manager (right) describe what FS PARTNERS can offer in grain and fuel options.