Darrell Smith

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Block out time for crop scouting so you don’t neglect it. Any management and time you lavish on your corn crop as it goes through the pollination period is time well spent, says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.
Here’s how to get the biggest ROI from your layers of data — and use the information to spot issues in time to improve this year’s crop.
Residue might hamper uptake, surface cover slows soil warming and most cover crops raise the carbon penalty. Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie shares timing and placement tips for phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen.
Your technology investment will maximize corn yield on every soil type.
Here are some tips to help you translate your data into higher yield and ROI.
You’ve removed dense and compacted soil layers, balanced fertility and pH through the profile and set up your soil for vertical farming. Here are the final boxes to check to move away from horizontal farming.
Once you balance fertility and pH in the soil profile, and adjust to making small, more frequent lime applications, you probably won’t need to mix fertilizer into the soil, says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist.
A chocolate layer cake is good. Layers of dense or compacted soil aren’t so good. Once you’ve probed or dug and found the layers put in place by horizontal farming tools, it’s time to remove them. Here’s how.
No crop is more influenced by the weather than soybeans. The good news is you can minimize risk by planting soybeans earlier than what you’re used to.
What is vertical farming and how can it set you up for future government incentives? Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist, explains it often requires mixing and matching tools for primary and secondary tillage.