Dale Cowan, Southern Co-operative Services senior agronomist
Reporting on 30 corn and 31 soybean sites, the Great Lakes Grain 2011 Crop Assesment Tour covered the trading area from Essex County to Simcoe County. On Sept 6, two smaller tours took place prior to the entire team meeting for the main two day event on September 7 and 8. The average corn yield in the co-operative trading area came in at 159 bushels per acre. May planted corn was estimated at 169 bushels based on plant populations of 30,807, June planted corn was estimated at 146 bushels per acre based on 28,605 plants per acre on average. As reported in the preliminary issue the two main factors affecting yields the most from observations were plant population and Nitrogen deficiencies.
At approximately 5.3 bushels per 1000 plants the June planted populations have given up 12 bushels of corn yield to May planted corn. Western Bean Cutworm damage was most pronounced in the Bothwell area, however Smartstax and Herculex traited corn limited the damage. The affected cobs however may have been prone to ear mold infection.
All fields showed Nitrogen deficiency to various degrees. We encourage you to check your own fields to obtain plant harvest populations, observe N deficiency, ear molds and to check on stalk quality to determine standability. At the time of the tour stalk quality was quite good. However as grain fill continues and the cob dominates the sugar demand, cooler nights and shortening hours of sunshine, stalks may have weaken significantly from early September. Determining which fields should be prioritized for harvest will help to conserve yield and maintain combine efficiencies.
The main deviation from estimated yield to actual will be due to the extent and the number of areas challenged by drainage.
The two sites of Oakwald are interesting to note from the Ayr location of FS PARTNERS. It is the site of the Max Yield Plots (field scale). The main difference is an aggressive fertilizer build program as soil fertility is very low and the application of a fungicide. Between those two treatments we estimated a 63.2 bushel / acre yield increase over the farmer’s standard practice this is a highly responsive site.
The soybeans are coming in at 44.8 bushel per acre average. With a more diligent effort to count only beans filling the pod cavity we may have underestimated soybean yields slightly. There were a significant number of pods on the upper most nodes that were yet to be filled or aborted. If they fill before harvest there will be many fields in the upper 40 and low to mid 50 bushel per acre range. The final ten bushels will be weather driven.
Most noticeable was the onset of leaf diseases. Septoria Brown spot was higher up on the canopy due to rain splash in August. In August of 2010 the trading areas had less than 10 mm of rain this August we are well in excess of 100 mm. Rain in August makes soybeans! It also brings on plant disease. Bacterial Blight was evident and Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) was easy to find in most fields in the southwest. Soybean Cyst Nematode was also noted. All of these disease point to too high of frequency of soybeans in the rotation.
Soybeans in seven inch rows continue to be the most variable in plant populations and the most difficult to estimate yield. Row spacing of 15 inch offered similar yield and the opportunity to lower plant populations by approximately 30,000 seeds per acre or 14 per cent reduction in seeding costs. Overall it appears the trend in 2011 was to reduce seeding rates.
Again the two sites of Oakwald are interesting to note from the Ayr location of FS PARTNERS. It is the site of their Max Yield Plots (field scale). The main difference is an aggressive fertilizer build program as soil fertility is very low and the application of a fungicide. Between those two treatments we estimated a 9 bushel / acre yield increase over the farmer’s standard practice.
We wish to thank the co-operators who allowed us onto their farms, without them this tour would not be possible. This affords us an opportunity to sharpen our skills as crop specialist in a field classroom. There is no better way to learn than being in the field. We do not do this tour alone, the generous support from DEKALB who were our single sponsor in 2011 and valued supply chain partner allowed us to do this in a first class way.
This tour along with many hours of training throughout the year from GROWMARK and supply chain partners allows us to become better agronomists so we in turn can help you reach your goals and objectives of being better farmers.
Visit http://http://www.agris.coop/ or http://www.greatlakesgrain.com/ or http://www.fspartners.ca/ for more information.
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