Water Management

Rethinking Nitrogen for Short-Stature Corn

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:44:51 GMT

Since its debut, the buzz around short-stature corn has often focused on standability—the promise of a crop that won’t fold like a lawn chair when a July windstorm sweeps across the field. But as these hybrids increasingly move from company test plots into real-world acres, farmers are discovering that standability is only one piece of the story.

In a recent deep dive into the technology, University of Minnesota Extension agronomist Jeff Coulter urged growers to look past the “miniature” aesthetic of short-stature hybrids, which are usually 7-feet tall or less (traditional hybrids are typically 9 to 12 feet).

Instead, he believes the way these new hybrids access and use nitrogen (N), other nutrients and moisture could be the key to their long-term fit on your farm.

A Different Architecture Below Ground

The most significant changes in short-stature hybrids happen where you can’t see them. Coulter says research from Purdue University found that these hybrids often feature dramatically larger and deeper root systems than traditional corn.

“[One] study found that the short-stature hybrids had 35% to 42% greater total root biomass and a deeper root system than the standard stature hybrids,” Coulter reports.

This expanded root zone acts like a web, allowing short-stature hybrids to capture more nutrients and water throughout the growing season.

Tactical Nitrogen Use

Farmers often ask Coulter if the smaller plants have lower nutrient requirements. He says the data suggests otherwise. While yields remain competitive with traditional hybrids, short-stature plants are more “tactical” with their nitrogen use.

Key research findings include:

Higher Nitrogen Harvest Index: Short-stature corn shows a 3.5% greater N harvest index, meaning more nitrogen ends up in the grain rather than in the stalks and leaves.
Late-Season Uptake: These hybrids show a 20% greater total above-ground N uptake from silking to maturity, as compared to most traditional hybrids.
Better Efficiency: Research indicates an 18.5% greater recovery efficiency of applied N fertilizer.

“If you have greater N uptake, that means potentially less residual nitrogen in the soil will be lost,” Coulter notes. This efficiency helps protect the environment by reducing nitrate leaching post-harvest.

Application Timing Is Important

Research across Illinois and Indiana suggests that short-stature hybrids respond exceptionally well to split nutrient applications.

“Compared to applying all of the N near planting, researchers found that splitting the application with half of the N at the V6 stage increased yield in 60% of the trials for the short-stature corn,” says Coulter.

Delaying that second application to V12 was less consistent, showing yield benefits in only about a quarter of the trials.

For upper Midwest corn growers, a base nutrient rate at planting followed by a substantial in-season application around V6 appears to be the strongest strategy.

Despite the smaller stature of these new hybrids, Coulter warns against cutting nutrient rates, especially N. Total nutrient demand is driven by plant population and yield, not just height. Because short-stature corn is usually planted at higher populations (40,000 to 50,000-plus plants per acre), the total N, phosphorus, and potassium needs may actually be slightly higher than in traditional systems.

Three Tips for Managing Short-Stature Corn

Maintain Your Rates: Do not reduce N applications based on plant size; short-stature hybrids’ larger root systems and higher populations require full fertility.
Prioritize V6: Use some base level of nutrients at or around planting. Aim for an in-season application around the V6 growth stage to maximize yield response.
Run Strip Trials: Use the crop’s shorter height to your advantage by running ground-based trials to compare different rates and timings on your own fields.

Coulter stresses that short-stature corn is still in the early stages of use and needs more research. That future work includes refining economic optimum nitrogen rates for short-stature hybrids at different populations and row spacings, understanding their response to starter fertilizers, and quantifying phosphorus and potassium use in the new architecture.

In the meantime, short-stature corn offers farmers a compelling combination: strong yield potential, improved standability, a more efficient root system, and the management flexibility to deliver nitrogen later and in ways that can benefit both profitability and environmental stewardship.

Coulter addressed the nutrient needs of short-stature corn, along with other agronomic insights, during the 18th Annual Nutrient Management Conference in Mankato, Minn. You can watch his presentation via YouTube here .

5 Water Trends to Watch in 2026

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:46:11 GMT

The “everything old is new again” proverb will be at play in 2026 when it comes to water trends irrigators need to know in the new year.

The Packer sat down with Melissa Lilze — who, as of Jan. 1, became senior vice president of Netafim North America, the top position for Netafim in North America, and the first woman to lead Netafim’s North America division — on the top water trends coming in 2026. Several are long-running themes from years past that will continue to dominate in the new year. Others, however, are new and potentially novel.

No. 1: Water scarcity

This one is nothing new, but Lilze notes smart water management or “digital irrigation” that involves remote sensors, automated irrigation systems and real-time monitoring of conditions such as weather, soil moisture and crop needs — once the purview of highly techy early adopters — is increasingly mainstream in the face of ongoing water scarcity.

“Today it’s more of a necessity,” she says.

This fits with both USDA records and data from The Packer’s 2025 Grower Sustainability Insights .

According to the Census of Agriculture’s most recent few Irrigation and Water Management Surveys, the number of farms and open-field acres under irrigation using drip, trickle or micro-flow sprinklers has grown since 2008, even as farm numbers and open-field acres under irrigation have fallen.

For example, in 2008 , 43,368 farms (14.4% of 2007’s total irrigated farms) reported using these water-saving irrigation systems on 3.76 million acres (6.84% of total irrigated acres in 2008). In 2023 , the numbers had jumped to 60,160 farms (21.14% of 2022’s total irrigated farms) and 6.43 million acres (12.11% of total irrigated acres in 2023).

The Packer’s Sustainability Insights survey responses showed similar grower attention to water conservation efforts. Water efficiency was ranked as the most important sustainability issue by produce growers, and precision irrigation ranked high on the list of sustainability investments growers are making on their operations.

No. 2: Regulations and reporting requirements

Just like water scarcity is nothing new, so too is the mounting regulatory pressure because the two are so closely intertwined.

“[Ongoing water scarcity] just changes what we will see in the next few years with regulation around water use and groundwater use,” Lilze says, pointing to regulation and reporting requirements as a major water theme in 2026.

“We have increasing regulatory pressure in different farming regions. Growers must adapt to allocation limits that they’re given, especially in the western U.S.,” she says. While California and its Sustainable Groundwater Management Act come to mind when it comes to water regulations squeezing produce growers, regulations and their attendant reporting requirements can vary wildly by state, county and even by watershed.

Lilze framed digital irrigation as helpful to irrigators regardless of the regulatory situation they find themselves in because it not only helps with water conservation efforts but documents them at the same time.

“Many times the reason you have regulation is because you don’t have the data to show that you are being conservative with the water and of your resources,” she says. “I absolutely think the more information you have available to prove that you are a steward of the land, which these farmers are, I think the better situation they’re in on the front end of things.”

No. 3: Drip irrigation expanding

Lilze reports the well-known water saving strategy of drip irrigation has been expanding into new crops, something she highlights as a trend to watch. Alfalfa is an example she’s seen with Netafim.

“With an alfalfa, we’ll do an SDI system, which is a subsurface drip irrigation system, meaning we’ll actually bury the drip 10 to 12 inches underground,” she reports. Not only has this resulted in extra cuttings and increased yields, but it has management implications as well.

“You can get into the field quicker after a cutting because we’re not having to flood irrigate,” she says.

No. 4: Return of federal funds

A welcomed “new” trend in 2026 according to Lilze is the return of federal funding for conservation and sustainability improvements, including for water.

“There’s a lot of federal funding, NRCS [National Resources Conservation Service] and EQIP [Environmental Quality Incentives Program] monies, that are available typically every year. In 2025, a lot of that money got put on hold,” she says. “We just received news that the 2026 funding will be available in January, and growers will be able to apply and access those funds for smarter, more efficient irrigation systems.”

On Dec. 15, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announced it was opening its first funding round of key conservation programs. This includes the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, Agricultural Management Assistance, the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and the new Regenerative Pilot Program .

According to NRCS, growers, farmers and ranchers have until Jan. 15, 2026, to apply for the first batching period. National and State Conservation Innovation Grants will open later in the year.

“We’re really starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel with this funding coming,” Lilze says. “There’s been a lot of farmers that have benefited from this money over the years, and having it frozen last year really prevented a lot of new irrigation systems going in because [growers] need the funding to help with that initial year return.”

No. 5: New or untapped funding sources

In addition to the return of federal funding that can go to conservation irrigation efforts, Lilze points to other, potentially more novel or unexpected sources of funding for water sustainability projects as something irrigators should look for in 2026.

On the one hand, the “partnership economy” around water — basically, applying the carbon credit concept to water — is growing. Lilze pointed to Netafim’s Corporate Partnership Program as an example, explaining that they pair companies with high water usage with area farmers and growers who still use less efficient irrigation like flooding. The company helps fund the grower’s conversion to a drip irrigation system.

“So basically, we’d put in a drip irrigation system, we’d put our automation system out, and we can track water usage over that crop and over time, we can show the amount of water that’s been saved by investing in that drip irrigation system,” she says.

Other precision irrigation or ag tech companies have similar programs, such as Phytech and N-Drip. Though Lilze says Netafim has been “leading the charge” on developing these kinds of partnerships.

“We’ve been successful over the last two years in matching up these companies that have this money set aside for these sustainability practices with the farmers in the region that are trying to be more efficient in their farming.”

Lilze also recommends irrigators look at other, potentially untapped local funding sources for irrigation efficiency improvements such as state, county or watershed organizations.

For example, she notes that Utah’s Department of Agriculture has a fund specifically “to help their growers become more efficient water users.” Utah growers could receive as much as $500,000 in funding for irrigation optimization efforts. Applications for the program open on Jan. 1, 2026 and run through the end of February.

“There’s plenty of state funding moving because they want people to move away from flood to drip and conserve,” Lilze says.

Details Unclear on Promised Water Deliveries From Mexico

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 20:52:32 GMT

Texas will supposedly get up to 202,000 acre-feet of water from Mexico in accordance with the 1944 Treaty beginning this week, the week of Dec. 15, according to the USDA.

However, it is unclear where this water will come from because Mexico doesn’t have that volume of water in its international holdings. Depending upon source, it is also unclear how useful this release will be to Texas agriculture.

“They don’t have a whole lot of the international storage and international reservoirs,” says Sonny Hinojosa, current water advocate and former general manager at the Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2 in San Juan, Texas. He does note Mexico has some water in its internal reservoirs, however.

During her daily morning address on Dec. 15, Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, told the press “we are not giving away water that we don’t have or that would affect the Mexican people.”

Backstory to the 202,000-acre-feet announcement

USDA’s Dec. 12^th announcement was the main outcome of a series of meetings between the U.S. and Mexico that was kicked off on the afternoon of Dec. 8, when President Donald Trump demanded Mexico release 200,000 acre-feet of water by Dec. 31 on threat of an additional 5% tariff in a Truth Social post.

“Mexico continues to violate our comprehensive Water Treaty, and this violation is seriously hurting our beautiful Texas crops and livestock,” he wrote.

President Donald Trump’s Dec. 8 Truth Social post.

(Screen capture)

This is a reference to Mexico’s failure to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of water to Texas via the Rio Grande by the end of the most recent five-year cycle, which ended on Oct. 24. According to the 1944 treaty, when Mexico fails to deliver the full amount within the five-year cycle, the remainder is carried over into the next cycle as debt. Water debt must be paid in addition to the current cycle’s volume.

USDA’s Dec. 12^th announcement included that there are ongoing negotiations between the countries to finalize a plan by the end of January 2026 for Mexico to repay its outstanding water debt of roughly 800,000 acre-feet.

Appreciation from Texas

The announcement was widely welcomed by Texas agricultural groups.

“I applaud President Trump for putting American farmers first and holding Mexico’s feet to the fire to get this treaty honored,” said Texas’ Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller in an announcement on Dec. 14.

“For years, producers in the Rio Grande Basin have been shorted the water they are legally owed, causing the loss of crops, jobs, industries, and livelihoods,” he added. “Let me be clear: Texas farmers expect Mexico to fully meet its obligations — not just today, but for years to come. Water is the lifeblood of agriculture.”

In a letter to the editor sent out midday Dec. 15, various Texas produce and row crop groups expressed gratitude to the Trump administration, including U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. But the co-signed groups and their leaders also urged quick implementation and consequences for inaction.

“While Mexico did deliver some water this year, thanks to pressure by the Trump administration, it was not enough to cover the debt,” wrote Dante Galeazzi, president and CEO of the Texas International Produce Association.

“This new understanding must be quickly implemented. The U.S. must not allow Mexico to delay fulfilling its obligations, or it risks Mexico overusing water resources that should be shared. A tactic taken by Mexico for years without penalty or accountability,” Galeazzi continued.

Dale Murden, president of Texas Citrus Mutual, similarly applauded the move, but urged the administration to push Mexico to “honor this new agreement or face consequences.”

“The short- and long-term impacts on Texas farmers are beyond the data on paper,” Murden wrote. “Livelihoods have been uprooted, and the region’s agricultural landscape may never be the same again. Meanwhile, Mexico continues to expand its agricultural production that directly competes with U.S. producers … with water that should have been delivered to the U.S.”

Where will that water come from?

The co-signed groups and Hinojosa, who helped provide data for the meetings held between the U.S. and Mexico, all noted details from USDA on this new water transfer are currently unknown. What is known is that Mexico doesn’t have 202,000 acre-feet of water in the international dams.

According to public records (based on Nov. 29 conditions, most recent) from the International Boundary and Water Commission, the U.S. side of the group that adjudicates the water treaties between the U.S. and Mexico, Mexico’s water ownership at the Amistad and Falcon dams amounts to just under 166,000 acre-feet.

The Rio Grande reservoirs and tributaries in Mexico. From pg. 4 of Assistant Rio Grande Watermaster Jose A. Davila’s 2023 presentation for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

(Image and presentation from the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission)

Sheinbaum told reporters Dec. 15 that Mexico “examined different river basins to determine how we could meet the United States’ request.”

Hinojosa reports hearing that the near-term repayment could include water from the Rio San Juan, which fits with Sheinbaum’s description. However, the Rio San Juan is not one of the original six Rio Grande tributaries covered by the 1944 treaty. It is also a problematic source, according to Hinojosa.

“We can’t capture or store that water,” he said. This means that such water would be of little use to farmers, but could be used for municipal purposes. “We’ve utilized it in the past, but [Mexico has] restrictions as far as what they can release.”

Those restrictions mean that the full 202,000 acre-feet could not come from that source alone, and certainly not by the end of December. Regardless, the agreement could be too little, too late for Texas growers who have already suffered tremendous losses, Hinojosa said.

“Once again, our spring crops are planted in late February, and I know our farmers; they’re not going to go on a limb and invest unless they know that we have the water,” he said. “So we might be looking at a fourth year of limited row crops. Now, if this continues and we get that 202,000 acre-feet, maybe it’ll help our vegetable farmers come next September or October, but we’ll be facing a fourth year of shortage.”

Mexico’s perspective

The U.S. and Mexico do not agree on the why behind the short water deliveries. While stakeholders on the U.S. side have pointed to growth of Mexico’s, especially Chihuahua’s, irrigated agriculture in recent years, Mexico has given a variety of reasons for not delivering sufficient water in a timely way.

During her Dec. 9 press meeting , Sheinbaum summarized the reasons why Mexico had not delivered more water in the past cycle as two-fold; Mexico’s own water needs and the limiting factor of the pipeline that carries water to the Rio Grande. However, she said the governors of the Mexican states, including Chihuahua, are united “to find the best agreement with the United States.”

On Dec. 15^th, she answered questions specifically about the details of the meetings, saying: “[the U.S.] requested that a certain amount of water be delivered by December, and we said that this was not possible, not only because it’s physically impossible, but also because it would have consequences if done in such a short time. So, an agreement was reached to deliver it over a longer period.”

She also cited drought and lack of rain in Mexico.

“So, an agreement was reached in this regard,” she said. “The agreement is typically for a five-year period, but now we will determine, based on the amount of rainfall during the rainy season, how to make up for the water that wasn’t delivered in the previous five years due to the drought.”

Sheinbaum also brought up the possibility that the 1944 Treaty, which she noted is very favorable to Mexico, might need to be renegotiated.

“Various experts say that Mexico may no longer be able to comply with this treaty, since the exceptional drought provision has been invoked in the last three cycles,” she said on Dec. 10. “It seems that the drought situation, or the lack of water to comply with the treaty, is no longer an exceptional one, but rather a reality.”

Government Threatens Seizure of 85-yr-old’s Entire Farm for Irrigating Wrong Field

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 14:02:45 GMT

The government is preparing to take the private land and legacy of an 85-year-old farmer for the crime of irrigation. Why? He watered his crops without regulatory approval.

“I didn’t use a drop past my legal rights, but because I put it on the wrong field, I’m a criminal and the state wants to take everything I have,” Bob Greiff says. “It’s all about control. And power.”

In response to Greiff’s water “violations,” the Washington State Department of Ecology levied a series of fines totaling $121,000 and slapped a lien on his property. The department issued press releases championing its actions, and portrayed Greiff as an environmental outlaw. Notably, Ecology officials are not penalizing Greiff for the amount of water pumped, but rather, the location applied. Put it where we say, or else.

“This is the worst abuse of power by Ecology over a farmer I’ve seen in my career,” says water consultant Tim Reierson. “Why the state chose to issue massive fines instead of permits is unexplainable. And the more facts you know, the worse it gets. Ecology made it impossible for Bob to be legal and still survive on that farm. It’s cruel. I can back everything I say.”

Greiff insists the state’s measures are a “nightmare dream you don’t wake up from.”

“Why do they care what crops or acres I put my legally obtained water on?” he asks. “How did things ever get this crazy for farmers?”

Make or Break
On a bare-bones 160-acre (120 arable) farm outside Deer Park, in northeast Washington’s Spokane County, Bob Greiff rotates alfalfa, oats, hay, and barley. His fields are evenly split by a road—two 80-acre tracts to the south and north of the ribbon. Greiff rubs pennies to make dollars: His last tractor purchase was in 1992—for $70,000. “We traded a number of even older tractors just to get the price down to what we could afford,” he recalls.

Deploying conservative farming practices on relatively tiny acreage, Greiff’s operation is akin to a step back in time. Describing Greiff as old-school is an understatement.

In 1939, Greiff’s father, Willie, purchased an initial portion of the creek-side property and planted seed potatoes. A decade later, in 1949, Willie secured a water right and began irrigating.

“I had a set amount of water I was allowed to use, but they said I was in big trouble if I used it on any row except what they allowed,” Greiff explains.

(Photo by Ray Aguirre)

“My dad bought that first 80 by the creek and then bought another 80 across the road,” Greiff explains. “In about 1953, he ran a pipe under the road and started pumping to both fields because the second one had more cultivated land and was level.”

Willie watered on both sides of the road until his death in 1991. Greiff continued watering in the same manner. Potatoes were replaced by alfalfa and grain. Regardless of crop, Greiff’s soil produces limited yield without moisture. Each year, as his crops rotate on a given piece of dirt, he requires flexibility to add more water in some areas and less in others. The logistical dance is make or break: For example, Greiff typically grows one crop of alfalfa dryland and three irrigated, and he grows 50-bushel dryland wheat and 100-plus-bushel irrigated wheat.

Legally, Greiff holds three water rights totaling 136 acre-feet per year annual volume for irrigation on 37 acres north of the dividing road. “I’ve always pumped from our water rights and survived on this dirt since I was a boy,” Greiff exclaims. “Now they tell me they’ll kick me off my own land. For what? Because I irrigated the wrong acres without permission and owe them $121,000.”

“Sound crazy? It is. One day I’m pumping water just like I have for 70 years, and the next day I’m the target of people who know nothing about farming. Nothing.”

In 2019, Greiff’s mailbox clinked with a snail-mail message from the Washington State Department of Ecology. Mr. Greiff, you’re irrigating on the south side the road, but we don’t find a record of a water right for you to do that.

(Significantly, Ecology made recent headlines in 2023 after fining King Ranch in Grant and Douglas counties almost $268,000 for alleged wetlands destruction. Ecology referred King Ranch to the state attorney general for a criminal investigation. USDA is backing King Ranch.)

“It all started with a letter,” Greiff says, his voice trailing off in disbelief. “I had a set amount of water I was allowed to use, but they said I was in big trouble if I used it on any row except what they allowed.”

Gone to Hell
In July 2019, Greiff knocked on the front door of water consultant Tim Reierson’s home in Yakima, roughly three hours distant. Seated at Reierson’s dining room table, Greiff told his tale.

At the helm of Streamline Water Consulting, and highly esteemed in the irrigation industry, Reierson navigates both agriculture rows and the paperwork maze of water rights. Prior to private practice, he worked for seven years (1989-1996) at Ecology in the Water Rights Division. Translated: Reierson understands nuance on both sides of the table.

Reierson researched Greiff’s water rights and farm history.

“If they want to destroy a farmer because he put his water on unapproved acres, then I’m not gonna run and hide,” Greiff says.

(Photo by Ray Aguirre)

“The research showed Bob’s water rights don’t cover south of the road. Ecology doesn’t seem to register the significance of irrigating in plain sight for decades, but I found an explanation for it. In 1968, Bob filed to irrigate both north and south, and it was approved in 1975 . But when Ecology certified the right in 1983, they left out the south part, possibly in error.”

“I don’t think Bob read the certificate fine print,” Reierson continues. “He thought it was fixed and farmed it 50 years. Ecology has this false narrative they’ve spread around that he’s a bad actor. Bob Greiff actually wants to follow the rules. That’s why he contacted me.”

“People need to understand how important this farm is, and Bob’s legacy. It’s subsistence farming and water-efficient to keep pumping costs down. Classic rotation practices; hand labor moving wheel lines; and the orchestrated timing and movement of limited water. He’s a treasure and so is that farm.”

Reierson’s remedy was straightforward: Follow the rulebook and get Greiff legally clear to irrigate the south acreage. Once approved, Greiff could take his 136-acre feet and “spread” it to the south acreage. Same amount of water—but poured thinner across more acres.

According to Washington State law, a grower is required to adhere to a single irrigation program for two years before “spreading” is allowed. Greiff willingly jumped through the onerous regulatory hoop.

“I asked Bob to follow the statutory requirements exactly to qualify for increasing acres, all while still using the same amount of water,” Reierson details. “There’s a calculation called the ACQ, the annual consumptive quantity, based on proving your annual beneficial use. It averages the highest two years in the past five. All we needed was two years of water use on the 37 acres in the north, file the applications, provide all the supporting documentation and technical work, and get the approvals. This is what I do for a living.”

“Bob did what I asked in 2020 and 2021, irrigating an alfalfa stand in the north. Alfalfa hay has deep roots. It takes lots of water and then gives multiple cuttings. He even had bad luck with a pump going down that hurt his average. He was willing to give up some water rights to get approved quickly.”

“One thing for certain, this was sure as hell never about water or the environment for them (Ecology),” Greiff says.

(Photo by Ray Aguirre)

In 2022, with regulatory boxes ticked, Reierson presented all the paperwork to the Spokane County Water Conservancy Board and gained approval in August that year. Conservancy shipped their decisions to Ecology for a maximum 75-day review period. Under Washington State law , if Ecology does nothing, Conservancy approvals automatically become final.

After two years of yield losses on his south-of-the-road acreage to satisfy the state’s regulations, Greiff was on the cusp of gaining permission to spread water.

And then everything went to hell.

“Ecology intervened on day 58 and that’s when it got surreal,” Reierson says. “At first, they said the water rights couldn’t be overlapped, which is nonsense, but they also said Greiff wouldn’t be able to farm that many acres with the amount of rights he had. The power records on his irrigation pumps proved he did. To tell Greiff how he can and can’t farm is insulting—and embarrassing for Ecology.”

Bring Me a Rock
Conservancy had accepted Reierson’s irrigation plan on Aug. 22, 2022, opening a path for Greiff to irrigate on both sides of the road and spread the water onto all irrigated acres.

However, on Nov. 9, Conservancy called for a meeting with Ecology, recalls Kevin Freeman, then chair of Conservancy. “There’s not funding for us to hire our own private consultants to review those applications. We’re a volunteer board, so we rely on Ecology’s technical expertise related to the applications. Regarding Mr. Greiff, we had questions about the technical aspects of how water spreading was to occur between groundwater and surface rights. Turns out, Ecology didn’t agree with Mr. Greiff’s consultant’s (Reierson) interpretation of how the water was to be spread and if that was appropriate.”

“I’ve always tried to do things right on this farm and I never dreamed my own state would treat me or anyone else like this,” Greiff says.

(Photo by Ray Aguirre)

“We never approved the application,” says Freeman, a geologist and a hydrogeologist working mainly in lower Yakima Valley with long legs in private consulting—35 years of experience. “This was a technical disagreement at the state level between Ecology and Mr. Greiff and his consultant. It was apparent that that difference was strong enough that Ecology would reject the application. We felt it was better for Mr. Greiff to work directly with Ecology.”

Six days later, on Nov. 15, public records show Conservancy voted to withdraw its decisions, stating for each: “The board intends to revise and resubmit for Ecology review the record of decision and report of examination for the subject application.”

Reierson explained his consent, “I initially agreed to that step, for the board to withdraw its formal approvals from August 2022, based on the promise a compromise could be found with Ecology. Plus, we had no leverage, meaning no money or time to fight Ecology in court if they denied the board’s approvals. But when Ecology intervened, what followed was an exhausting game of ‘bring me a rock.’ ”

“That’s where clients without wealth would go broke,” Rierson adds, “but I’d stopped charging Bob by this time so it didn’t work.”

In early February 2023, Reierson completed a third technical report. He thought he had finally broken through. He had not. What happened next was fatal to Greiff’s compliance efforts.

“The 2023 irrigation season was approaching. On February 13, the Conservancy Board held a meeting without telling me,” Reierson notes. “They asked for technical support about ACQ from Ecology. Herman Spangle, the liaison to the board, and his supervisor Jaime Short attended. At the end of that meeting the board voted to drop the applications completely. I only know details because I did a public records request for their emails.”

“After that, the applications went to Ecology as last resort for approval. They could have approved them in April. Instead, Ecology sat on the applications and waited Bob out, then fined him in June. Then, as if it couldn’t get worse, Ecology rejected his applications based on his noncompliance, and kept adding fines. What the hell?”

“I even sent them an email four months before that final rejection, begging them to issue the permits, not fines. It was short. I remember it saying ‘Please...Be human. Be humane.’ And here we are.”

“Comply or Die”
Technical excuses are a dime a dozen, Greiff says. “It’s always the same story with the agencies and departments,” Greiff says. “They got a million reasons why I’ve done something wrong, but they don’t want to talk about the plain truth that I’m just trying to spread my water rights over my crops and that I’ve never stolen any water.”

Ecology personnel place blame for the permitting rejection on Greiff and Reierson.

“They sent us something and we reviewed it and got back to the Conservancy Board and said, ‘Hey, you don’t actually have the information you need to make this recommendation,” explains Jaime Short, Section Manager for Ecology’s Water Resource Program in the Eastern Regional Office. “Like, just the ingredients aren’t there.’”

“So, they decided, and this was all in consultation with Mr. Greiff’s consultant (Reierson), to withdraw their recommendation. He was going to get them some additional information. And then that did not occur,” Short adds. “So, eventually we kind of kicked the applications back to him because we didn’t have what we needed to process them.”

In response to Greiff’s water “violations,” Ecology levied a series of fines totaling $121,000 and placed a lien on his property.

(Photo by Ray Aguirre)

Brook Beeler, Eastern Regional Director of Ecology, echoes Short: “I think the crux of the issue here is when Mr. Greiff looked at his quantity or how much he’d been using, he wanted to put it in a different place than was identified in his right. And he started to work through that process with his Conservancy Board application. And then again, following up with us.”

And that’s where we told him, ‘We do not have enough information from you to be able to make that change for you to expand your acreage or to put this water that you claim you have on additional acreage.’ … He may have had enough to do what he was attempting to do, but he didn’t share that information with us in a way where we could make that approval. Instead of working with us, he chose to ignore us and continue to irrigate illegally.”

Reierson contradicts the claims made by Short and Beeler.

“The only ingredient missing was Ecology as a good faith partner. It was a continual process trying to answer endless objections. Not saying all their comments were wrong but on fundamentals it was baseless. Ecology management parroted staff instead of putting them in line on the nonsense. We didn’t have time for games but it was never enough, so then it all just tasted bad. And I felt sick knowing the original approvals were completely valid and I’d fallen for a trap going along with them being withdrawn.”

In many conservation quarters, Greiff’s desire to spread his water allotment over greater acres—yet still maintain yield—would be applauded.

“Not with Ecology for Mr. Greiff,” Reierson says. “They said different, but in reality they resisted Bob’s efforts to comply. Jaime Short told me Bob didn’t have enough water rights to cover the spreading acres. Another staffer said Bob’s crop rotation explanation was ‘weak’. It’s all in their emails.”

“Bob knew how to navigate farming, but not how to navigate the hurdles they set up. Even I couldn’t navigate them. In the end it about broke me to tell Bob, ‘I can’t help you anymore, I’ve tried everything. They’re flat out against you, or me, or both.’”

Following Ecology’s rejection, Greiff turned on the water. He began irrigating the south acres. “They left an old man no choice,” Greiff says. “I’d been without water for several years because of all this craziness. So, I started irrigating south of the road—right where they said it was illegal, but that’s where I make my money and that’s where I survive. And the whole time, I never used a drop more of water than I was supposed to. Didn’t matter. They wanted to cut my pocketbook in half, at first. Now, they want my farm. Their policy is, ‘Comply or die.’”

Bad Farmer
In response to his renewed irrigation, Greiff received a succession of letters from Ecology. Each time, he wrote “Return to Sender” and dropped the unopened envelopes back in the post.

“Hell, I even got letters from the Attorney General’s office in Olympia and sent those back, too. I didn’t know what kind of threats were in them, and I didn’t care. I wasn’t stealing any water. I wasn’t looking for trouble. I just wanted to be left alone to run a farm like my father and grandfather did.”

Freeman acknowledges that no theft of water theft by Greiff was alleged. “I feel Mr. Greiff’s pain because a number of my clients in the lower Yakima Valley are dairy farmers. And the small guys are just getting roasted. And I get that Mr. Greiff is a small farmer. We never thought this was about him pulling more than his legal amount of water—just that he’s not spreading it right. This should never have developed the way it did.”

Ecology issued a cease-and-desist order in June 2023, followed by a $6,000 fine in June 2024; and a $15,000 fine in August 2024, along with a press release regarding Greiff’s irrigation, telling the public: “attempts to help Greiff comply with regulations were unsuccessful … Additional unpermitted irrigation continued.”

A year later, in September 2025, Ecology levied a $100,000 fine, along with a judgement lien obtained by the Attorney General’s Office in Spokane County Superior Court. Again, Ecology issued a press release : “For years, we’ve seen repeated violations and a disregard for bringing this property into compliance … We’ve made multiple attempts to provide technical assistance and achieve voluntary compliance, yet illegal use continues.”

However, neither of the two press releases noted that Greiff was not exceeding his water rights or stealing water. A neutral observer, lacking context, might assume Greiff was an environmental criminal. The releases also did not explain that Greiff hired professional help to comply with the law. Additionally, the releases made no mention of Ecology’s involvement with Conservancy to block approvals for Greiff.

“These public portrayals of Bob Greiff as a bad actor and bad farmer are false,” Reierson says. “I guided him through all the statutory requirements for receiving the approvals, and he did everything required. The only bad actor in this situation is the Department of Ecology. They influenced the Water Conservancy Board to help defeat Bob’s plan for compliance with the law.”

Here I Will Be
As Greiff faces the prospect of farm and legacy loss, a solution is maddeningly just out of reach. All Greiff needs to legally spread his water onto his farmland on the south side of the road is a paperwork change from Ecology. Otherwise, his water rights can only be poured onto the north side of the road.

“I wasn’t looking for trouble,” Greiff says. “I just wanted to be left alone to run a farm like my father and grandfather did.”

(Photo by Ray Aguirre)

Absurd, Greiff insists. “I can’t thank Tim Reierson enough, but no matter what he did to help me and go by the book, the Department of Ecology dragged their feet. One thing for certain, this was sure as hell never about water or the environment for them. Think about it: I’m still allowed to use the exact same amount of water.”

Freeman believes Conservancy made the right call. However, his confidence doesn’t extend beyond: “I don’t know what the mechanisms were regarding what happened after we were done with our review. Is Ecology making an example out of him? I felt like if everyone could sit down in a room together, this would have gotten done, but I don’t know what happened, or how it’s gotten to this extreme point. Ecology would say they’re not being heavy-handed, but it now certainly appears that way to many people.”

“I think there are things Ecology could have done differently and things Mr. Greiff and his consultant could have done differently,” Freeman adds. “But for a situation that is supposed to only be about how Mr. Greiff is applying water to his fields to end up with a lien and potential seizure—that’s extremely surprising, and I won’t lay the blame at Mr. Greiff’s feet.”

The present impasse should never have developed, Reierson concurs. “Without Ecology’s interference, Bob’s first approval back in 2022 would have become final and he would have been irrigating just fine in 2023, 2024, and 2025—with no fines.”

“As far as correcting this it’s an easy solution because all the work’s been done. Ecology has the administrative power unilaterally, right now, to rescind its orders and fines, vacate the lien, reinstate and approve the applications. Done. It’s a safe bet they won’t do it on their own, so we’ll need a state legislator to take up the cause. Bob would welcome an independent review. Then, I think Ecology, higher up the ladder, might see the light.”

When the 2026 crop season arrives, Greiff intends to irrigate—on both sides of the road.

“We’ve been here since 1939. Come spring next year, just as my father and grandfather did, I’m going to plant like normal. And when May comes, I’m going to turn the sprinklers on again to survive wherever my crops need the water. I’ve always tried to do things right on this farm and I never dreamed my own state would treat me or anyone else like this.”

“I didn’t use a drop past my legal rights, but because I put it on the wrong field, I’m a criminal and the state wants to take everything I have,” says Greiff.

(Photo by Ray Aguirre)

“I don’t believe the people in these departments know what irrigation, yield, crops, or rotation are,” Greiff insists. “It’s a big secret that no one is supposed to say: They don’t understand what farming is.”

Will Ecology shut down Greiff’s operation? “We can’t certainly speak for, you know, what lies ahead for him and how he continues to operate his farm or as a producer,” says Director Beeler. “I will say if he continues to illegally irrigate those acres, I think we have to, we have to look at what tools do we have left in our toolbox to again ensure compliance.”

“The state wants people to think I’m an outlaw,” Greiff concludes. “They don’t want people to know the true story. If they want to destroy a farmer because he put his water on unapproved acres, then I’m not gonna run and hide. Here I am. Here I will be.”

For further resources on the interaction between Washington State and Bob Greiff, see Tim Reierson’s timeline and document resource .

For more articles from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

Family Farm Wins Historic Case After Feds Violate Constitution and Ruin Business

County Shuts Down 15-Yr-Old’s Bait Stand on Family Farm, Threatens Daily Fines

Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

How the Deep State Tried, and Failed, to Crush an American Farmer

Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust

Ghost Cattle: $650M Ponzi Rocks Livestock Industry, Money Still Missing

Farmer Unearths Lost Treasure, Solves WW2 Mystery

Why EPA Says Farmers and Ranchers Won't Need a Lawyer to Understand the Newly Proposed WOTUS Rule

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 16:10:31 GMT

Agricultural groups have been asking for a new WOTUS rule that eliminates red tape and clears up confusion for farmers and ranchers. As EPA unveiled its latest proposed Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule this week , Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi says the agency’s goal was simple: clarity, consistency and fewer regulatory headaches for farmers and ranchers.

Fotouhi joined “U.S. Farm Report” for an exclusive interview to break down what this new rule means and why EPA believes it hits the mark.

A Rule He Says Brings Clarity and Certainty

Fotouhi says the agency’s top priority is eliminating uncertainty farmers have faced under previous interpretations of WOTUS.

“We really emphasize the need for farmers, ranchers and all stakeholders to have clarity in terms of how broad or narrow federal regulation of waters is in this country,” he says. “From Day 1, we start working on a proposed rule to bring that clarity and certainty to landowners across the country. On Monday, we are able to announce a proposal that is consistent with the law, that provides needed clarity on the extent of federal regulation, and that recognizes the primary jurisdiction of states and localities because they know their resources best.”

He adds that the proposal strikes what he calls a good balance.

“We think we really strike a good balance between protecting our nation’s waters and making sure farmers and ranchers can do the work that feeds Americans and produces the fuel this country relies on — without adding unnecessary regulatory burden to their day-to-day life,” he says.

EPA Says Farmers “Won’t Need a Lawyer” to Understand the New Rule

Fotouhi stresses one of EPA’s biggest priorities in rewriting WOTUS was ensuring farmers no longer need legal help just to determine whether they can work their own ground. He says the agency intentionally crafted the language to be plain, practical and rooted in the realities producers face every day.

“We take a fresh look at the Supreme Court’s direction and try to apply that in language that is easily understandable. Producers should not need a lawyer to understand how this rule applies to their property. We write it in a way that lets farmers look at their land and have a clear sense of whether federal permits are required.”

Fotouhi explains past WOTUS rules often included terminology that was vague, overly technical or open to interpretation, something EPA heard repeatedly during outreach with farm groups.

He says the agency makes a conscious effort to eliminate that ambiguity.

“We listen to farmers tell us repeatedly that the rule has to be understandable,” he says. “So instead of broad definitions that leave too much room for interpretation, we focus on concrete, workable language. We take geographic differences into account, we remove subjective criteria and we make exclusions, like the groundwater exemption, explicit so there’s no second-guessing.”

Fotouhi says that level of clarity is a direct response to years of frustration in rural America.

“We know farmers need certainty,” he says. “They need to know what they can and can’t do without waiting months for an answer. That’s why we put so much effort into making this rule clear, transparent and grounded in what the Supreme Court actually tells us to do.”

EPA Pushes Back on Claims the Proposal Overpromises

Some critics argue the agency risks overpromising. Fotouhi strongly rejects that idea.

“We take a fresh look at all the critical issues the Supreme Court lays out in the Sackett decision,” he says. “We think the previous administration does not faithfully implement that decision when they revise the rule, so we come back, reassess everything and come up with a definition that fully implements what the Court tells EPA and the Army Corps to do.”

He notes the agency made readability a priority.

“We try to apply the Court’s direction in language that is easily understandable, that takes geographic differences into account, and that doesn’t impose unnecessary burdens on farmers when they’re trying to decide if they need a permit,” he says.

Groundwater Exclusion: “We Want It Crystal Clear”

One standout change is the explicit exclusion of groundwater — language EPA says is included to eliminate confusion.

“Groundwater has never been part of the Waters of the United States, but we think it is absolutely necessary to make that exemption clear as day so there is no confusion about whether someone would need a permit for a discharge that may impact groundwater,” Fotouhi says.

He says repeated questions from stakeholders and newer case law convinced the agency to spell it out directly.

“Based on the case law that’s come out in the last few years and the general confusion we hear from stakeholders, we think it is incumbent on us to clarify this as clearly as we can,” he adds.

Final Rule Expected in Early 2026

EPA filed the proposal with the Federal Register , which means the rule’s comment period is officially underway.

“We publish the rule today, and it will be out for public comment for 45 days,” he says. “We know there is an absolute need for certainty and clarity and one nationwide standard, so we move quickly. We are hopeful that in the first few months of 2026, we can have a final rule out for the public.”

RFS: EPA Reviewing Comments, Aims for Certainty

Fotouhi also discusses EPA’s proposed Renewable Fuel Standard volumes, including record-setting biomass-based diesel levels.

“We understand how important it is to get this exactly right. From day one, Administrator Zeldin is laser-focused on ensuring the RFS strikes the right balance,” he says. “We know farmers and all stakeholders implicated by this program need certainty. We are working as quickly as we can to take final action.”

EPA’s Deregulatory Push: More Actions to Come

Fotouhi says the agency’s deregulatory actions announced earlier this year will have significant impact on agriculture.

“Reducing the cost of energy is one of our biggest focuses,” he says. “Many of the actions we identify are aimed at reducing energy prices for farmers, ranchers and manufacturers so we can reduce input costs and ultimately reduce the cost of the products they produce.”

This is evident through their efforts on WOTUS.

“The WOTUS proposal is a prime example; it’s designed to reduce unnecessary and illegal regulatory burden, and we are undertaking a score of additional actions across offices, working with USDA, the Department of Energy and the Interior Department, to identify ways to reduce input costs for agriculture,” Fotouhi says. “A thriving agricultural sector is a priority for the president, and lowering consumer prices is something we have to achieve.”

ARA Reacts to EPA WOTUS Announcement

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 19:30:00 GMT

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) released the following statement after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made an announcement this afternoon on their new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) proposal.

“The Agricultural Retailers Association applauds EPA’s proposal to bring clarity and certainty to the definition of Waters of the United States. By aligning federal jurisdiction with the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision, this rule provides a practical framework that respects state authority while reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens. Our members need clear, consistent rules to plan and invest in conservation and infrastructure, and this proposal is a step in the right direction for both environmental stewardship and agricultural productivity,” commented Daren Coppock, ARA’s President and CEO.

Details about the EPA’s proposal can be found in the links below:
EPA Public WOTUS Fact Sheet.

EPA Agricultural WOTUS Fact Sheet.

Additional WOTUS Information from the EPA.

California's Water Crisis: Farmers Warn Water Rules Could Cripple Central Valley Agriculture

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 10:52:47 GMT

On Hansen Ranch in the Central Valley, fifth-generation farmer Erik Hansen grows a little bit of everything — pistachios, almonds, pomegranates, alfalfa, corn for silage and cotton.

“We farm 15, 16 different crops,” Hansen says. “Cotton is our biggest acreage crop, and that’s in the form of Pima cotton.”

That diversification has long been the Hansen family’s survival strategy. But in spring 2023, no amount of crop rotation could shield them from disaster.

“Where we’re standing right now was underwater,” Hansen recalls. “A mile from here, over by that PG&E substation, was the edge of the lake.”

The flood wiped out 600 acres of pomegranates and 400 acres of pistachios. One thousand acres of permanent crops gone in one season.

“It was a massive hit,” Hansen says. “We had about 5,000 to 6,000 acres under water. Some of that water lasted for over a year.”

From Too Much Water to Not Enough

The irony is hard to ignore: In 2023, floodwaters destroyed thousands of acres. Now, Hansen says it’s the lack of access to water that could cripple farms across the Central Valley.

“The last projections I heard were anywhere from 1 million to 1.2 million acres totaled in the valley,” he says, referring to farmland that could be idled by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) .

Passed in 2014, SGMA requires local agencies to reduce groundwater overdraft and achieve sustainable use by 2040. On paper, Hansen says, that makes sense.

“To some extent it is good because you have to have a way to manage the overdraft,” he explains. “The problem is there are surface water facilities we developed back in the 50s and 60s that we’re just not using. A lot of that water is going out to the Pacific Ocean.”

For Hansen, the politics sting. He believes decades of state decisions — prioritizing fish and wildlife, reallocating water, and neglecting infrastructure — set up today’s crisis.

“I’m frustrated because the families that have been farming here for years, some decades, sometimes even more, are being footed with a bill for problems that somebody else created,” Hansen says. “If the state doesn’t look in the mirror, I think we’re going to find ourselves in the same position again.”

Young Farmers Face the Same Struggles

Forty miles south, 30-year-old Elizabeth Keenan is navigating the same regulatory headwinds. Her grandfather Charlie started Keenan Farms in 1972, acquiring one of California’s first pistachio orchards. Today, Elizabeth farms alongside her parents and brother.

“Rolling with the regulatory punches can be complicated,” she admits. “Despite pistachios being such a high-value product, despite having optimal land and weather conditions, we really have everything set up beautifully — except for legislation.”

Water, she says, is the most difficult hurdle.

“We’re up to a 50% allocation,” Keenan explains. “The base allocation is 2.2 acre-feet, so we get 1.1 acre-feet to use. Otherwise, we have to have open fallow fields. To pump more water, we have to buy it on the open market, and that’s expensive too.”

A Political Battle Over Flows

Signs line highways across the Central Valley warning that 80% of California’s river water flows out to the Pacific instead of farms. Assemblyman David Tangipa, a freshman lawmaker representing the 8^th District, says those numbers are real.

“It’s 100% happening,” Tangipa says. “Almost 83% of all water in the state is automatically pushed out for environmental purposes.”

California averages about 200 million acre-feet of water each year, Tangipa notes, but despite record rainfall, farms often get less than half of their allocations.

“We’ve prioritized so much environmental legislation that more than 80% of our water is pushed out immediately to the ocean, unnaturally,” he says. “Meanwhile, farmers get less water and more land goes out of production.”

Proponents of Current Water Flows

There are proponents of the current way the water flows, mainly for environmental reasons and to prevent saltwater contamination of freshwater sources.

California releases water into the ocean to prevent saltwater intrusion into freshwater supplies, protect endangered aquatic species and ecosystems, and maintain the delicate balance of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuary, a critical source of drinking and irrigation water.

A portion of released water is also used for stormwater management to prevent flooding, as it can be difficult and impractical to capture and store all of it.

And those in favor of environmental water releases say it’s essential to support broader ecosystem benefits like water filtration and carbon sequestration, which are important for overall environmental health.

The Ripple Effect

The Central Valley of California is a powerhouse in food production for the U.S. That area alone produces approximately half of all the fruits and vegetables grown in the U.S., as well as a large portion of the nation’s nuts and other foods. When you break down the numbers, the Central Valley accounts for about 60% of the nation’s fruits and nuts, and about 30% of the nation’s vegetables.

For Thomas Putzel, who works with farmers across the Central Valley, the impact of regulations isn’t just measured in acre-feet. It’s measured in livelihoods and the food supply.

“The environmentalists try to say farmers are wasting water,” he says. “But when we look at what farmers provide, we’re planting forests. One acre of almonds will capture 18 metric tons of carbon a year. That’s like taking 29 million cars off the road.”

Putzel says California voters already approved a water bond to build new storage a decade ago, but no new projects have been built.

“Not one shovel has gone in the ground in 10 years,” he says. “Actually, they took some of that money and tore dams down.”

Meanwhile, permanent crops wither when water isn’t available, leaving behind dead orchards that invite pests and rodents into neighboring fields.

“SGMA’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Putzel says. “But you’ve asked growers to run a marathon with their legs tied together. People don’t understand; food doesn’t come from a grocery store. It comes from a farmer. If California stopped shipping produce for one week, our stores would be empty.”

“Is Farming in California’s Best Interest?”

For Erik Hansen, the question is bigger than water allocations or acreage lost.

“Government is probably the biggest problem right now,” he says. “It just seems California hasn’t really decided whether farming is in their best interest. Politicians like to say they’re for small business and small farming, but virtually every piece of legislation makes it more difficult to survive.”

As the Central Valley wrestles with the challenges of floods, drought and regulations, one reality is clear: The fate of these farms is tied not just to weather and soil but to political decisions that could shape the future of food in America.

Survey Says: Smart Farming Has Big Impact On U.S. Farms, And There’s Room for More

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 15:27:29 GMT

Smart farming technologies, like smart irrigation and targeted spraying systems, are helping farms reduce water use, burn less fuel and optimize fertilizer and pesticide applications. Those gains have led to a 5% increase in overall crop production in the U.S. in just the last five years.

That’s all according to newly released data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturer’s (AEM) “The Benefits of Precision Ag In The U.S.” report. You can read the full white paper study here .

“The overarching message is precision ag enables farmers to maximize use of their inputs,” says Austin Gellings, senior director of agricultural services, AEM. “We’re maximizing every drop of what we’re putting on our crops and on our soil, and I think that’s a very powerful message.”

Gellings found two specific aspects of the study results most compelling:

(Lori Hays)

U.S. farms have achieved an overall 5% reduction in annual water usage by adopting smart farming technologies like smart irrigation systems and soil moisture sensors. Gellings says the savings equates to about 824,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of fresh water saved. It takes about 5 million standard 16 oz. bottled waters to fill just one Olympic-size swimming pool, he adds.

(Lori Hays)

Farmers who adopt targeted smart spraying application systems, like John Deere’s See & Spray and CNH Industrial’s SenseApply, can reduce America’s overall annual herbicide usage up to 55% if full adoption of the technology is achieved. The study defines full adoption as 90% of the total number of active farms in the U.S.

“We also found potential for an additional 6% increase in annual crop production with higher precision technology adoption rates,” he says. “It’s clear these technologies show almost unlimited potential in reducing inputs while increasing our output.

“[Technology is] a tool in the toolbox that helps our farmers step up to the challenges they face every single day, like they’ve always done. Our farmers always find a way to meet the challenge at hand. They are always going to innovate and find a way.”

The next big thing?

For Gellings, who grew up on the family farm in Wisconsin, daydreaming about the next big technology breakthrough for ag — something truly revolutionary along the lines of how smart spraying has impacted pesticide applications — gets him fired up. He says he can only imagine what his grandfather would say if he knew you could put a camera on a spray boom and only target the weeds as you drove 15 mph through the field.

“In 5 years, will there be a new technology like that, that revolutionizes the way we’re doing things and in a way that we never thought possible? That’s what’s exciting when I think about all the innovation that’s happening in agriculture,” he says. “We’re in this technology boom, and I can almost guarantee there will be another groundbreaking technology that don’t exist today that will come along and fundamentally change the way we farm.”

The updated study findings (the original study data was published back in 2020) were released in collaboration with the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, CropLife America and National Corn Growers Association. Kearney, a global management consulting firm, had a team of project management professionals and subject matter experts to assist AEM in executing the study update.

The full study is available now on AEM’s Insights page at www.aem.org/insights .

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New Tool Helps Farmers, Ranchers Identify Conservation Incentive Programs

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 12:49:38 GMT

Conservation incentive programs that fit your farm and specific agronomic practices and/or livestock are not always easy to identify and sign up for online.

But those hurdles could soon be problems in the past, thanks to a new online platform, the Conservation Connector, which was just launched this week by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC)

The new tool allows farmers, ranchers, and farm advisers to easily evaluate conservation incentive programs and connect with technical support at one online site, according to Ryan Heiniger, CTIC executive director.

As a fourth-generation farmer, Heiniger says he knows firsthand how challenging it can be to identify programs, companies and the individuals in charge of them who can provide more details in a phone call or an email.

“You might visit four or five government offices and a dozen websites, only to collect bits and pieces of information on those programs that would be a good fit for you. Our goal with the Conservation Connector is to bring all of that under one roof, so to speak, to help farmers, ranchers and advisers more easily find what is available in their area and fits with their needs,” Heiniger says.

The platform currently has around 500 programs and service providers in the Midwest that are participating, Heiniger says. He notes the tool is continually updated with the latest program offerings from trusted agencies, organizations and conservation partners. In addition, Connector.ag has no associated costs for farmers, ranchers and advisers to use.

“I want to underscore that it’s free for farmers; none of the information is behind any kind of paywall,” he says. “It’s also free for people who want to create a listing.”

The Conservation Connector is easy to navigate – it’s searchable by geography, commodity, incentive type, and/or management practice.

“We’ve made it easy for people who are on a specific mission to filter through,” Heiniger says. “You might be in New York looking for help with pasture renovation, and you don’t want or need to see what programs are available in Iowa. So, you can default right to New York. Or, you can default to a specific crop. The filters can help you ratchet down to the specific information you want to dive deeper into.”

Heiniger says the idea for Conservation Connector originated from Houston Engineering, the Nature Conservancy, and Open Team, and the CTIC invested the past 18 months in developing it.

CTIC invites farmers, ranchers, technical service providers, and conservation partners across the country to explore the platform at Connector.ag . You can provide feedback about your experience to help inform future iterations of the platform here .

Equipment Malfunction Causes Manure Spill in Ohio, Sparks Vital Lessons for Farmers

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 20:09:47 GMT

A farming equipment malfunction is the cause of a manure spill that turned a creek red in Wyandot County, Ohio, reports the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA).

According to Glen Arnold, field specialist and manure nutrient management systems professor at Ohio State University Extension, a part broke on the irrigation system that allowed the manure to flow into nearby Carey Creek, also known as Poverty Run. An alarm system should have indicated a problem did not work properly. Ohio EPA reports that the red color stemmed from a discharge of liquid manure that was pulled from an anaerobic manure lagoon on a nearby hog farm.

“As soon as it was discovered, the farmers shut the manure source off and took steps to pump the manure-contaminated water back out of the creek,” Arnold explains. “This time of the year in Ohio, we are at a minimum flow time. We haven’t had much rain, so the creeks wouldn’t have much water to carry manure downstream.”

An example of equipment being positioned to remove manure from a ditch.

(Glen Arnold)

This means the manure-contaminated water wouldn’t travel very far, he says.

Carey Creek is not a drinking water source, Ohio EPA reports. It flows into Tymochtee Creek then the Sandusky River.

Fortunately, no impacts to wildlife have been reported, Ohio EPA says. Cleanup is underway by a contractor hired by the farm. The farm is working closely with Ohio EPA, Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, and the Local Soil and Water District. Ohio EPA will continue to oversee cleanup until the issue is resolved.

Why Did the Water Turn Red?
Reports said the creek turned a light red to a pink color. Although this may seem odd to most people, for those who understand anerobic lagoons, this is anything but weird.

“That would be pretty standard for a manure lagoon,” Arnold says. “In lagoon situations, you’re hoping the bacteria will break down the solids that are in that manure pond or lagoon. You don’t generally pump it all the way out, you basically pump liquids off the top on a regular basis. Because of the bacteria that are working together to make that lagoon work as it should, the liquids generally have a red tint.”

For the most part, liquids are being pumped off the top of the manure pond or lagoon, he explains.

“It’s low-nutrient water – most of the high nutrients are down in the bottom,” Arnold says. “In that situation, that red tint that was in the manure pond then gets transferred into the creek. It’s not more toxic or more dangerous in any way, but that was the color of the original liquid manure.”

Ohio EPA reports this red tinted color is caused by purple sulfur bacteria commonly found in anaerobic manure lagoons. This color means the lagoon is working properly.

How Should You Handle a Manure Spill?
If a spill occurs, Arnold says the first thing producers should do is contact the local authorities. In Ohio, it’s generally the Soil and Water Conservation Service District, but some larger permitted farms can call the Ohio Department of Agriculture directly.

“Malfunctions happen,” Arnold points out. “Anytime a problem like this occurs, quick action is the best way to go. Get the situation mitigated as quickly as possible. Get the source stopped, get the creek or river dammed up, contain the spill, and then we can pump it back out.”

A manure tanker sucking up liquid manure from a emergency sump hole dug in a corn field.

(Glen Arnold)

He says it’s important to remember that you can’t rely 100% on technology at all times.

“You have to put eyes on the manure application process,” Arnold says. “You have to put eyes on the field tile. You’ve got to put eyes on surface ditches and be sure they’re not allowing the manure to escape from a field. It’s important producers give thought to their first line of defense and second line of defense to prevent these things from happening.”

After everything has been done to pump the water out, Arnold says the next step is to mitigate or improve the quality of the water through aerification.

“Aerification is where we shoot the water up in the air to let ammonia get out of the water, and to add oxygen to the water,” he says. “We can put bubblers in the water to bubble air into it to improve the water quality or add some additional water from a source like a fire truck or water tanker to get fresh water into the creek or ditch.”

He says this is important because manure contains ammonia, and ammonia will bind with the oxygen in the water, making it unavailable for fish, crawdads and other aquatic life.

“It’s always difficult once a manure spill has occurred to think clearly and follow a plan,” he says. “I would encourage producers to think through the steps they would take if a spill occurred. Who would you need to contact? Do you have their cell phones handy? What equipment would you need to get your hands on?”

Respect Authorities When a Manure Spill Occurs
It probably goes without saying, but it’s important to cooperate with the authorities when a spill occurs, Arnold adds.

“The agency people have a job to do,” he says. “I know how it feels – you are partly embarrassed because you’re the center of attention, and farmers rarely want to be the center of attention. You’re partly mad at the equipment that broke, or the unexpected clay tile that allowed the manure off the field that you didn’t know about in advance, or the fact that the neighbors are going to be watching you now.”

Manure being sucked from a ditch after a spill.

(Glen Arnold)

If you’ve got a solid track record and are upfront about what happened, the authorities will generally work with you to resolve it, Arnold says.

“But if someone shows a bad attitude or has a history of repeated manure escapes or spills, that’s a very different situation. The best thing you can do is demonstrate that you’re taking responsibility and making every effort to do the right thing.”

Tips for Smooth Manure Application
The old adage that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ is true, especially when it comes to manure management.

“We don’t want to make mistakes when handling manure,” he says.

Although manure is an organic product that breaks down rapidly and does not last long in the environment, having a manure spill is disruptive, troublesome and costly.

Remember to look closely at fields this time of year before you apply manure, Arnold says.

A temporary dam built in a corn field to stop swine from manure escaping after an equipment pumping failure.

(Glen Arnold)

“Because of our clay content in our soil, we’re going to have a lot of cracks,” he says. “We use tillage to disrupt those preferential flows, the worm holes, the cracks in the soil, crawdad holes, and those types of things.”

He also urges producers to understand the tile structure in the field where manure is being applied. Check the weather forecast before applying manure, and of course, apply manure at the proper rate.

“Farmers live as close to their hog buildings as anyone in the community,” Arnold says. “The same groundwater and surface water that their families drink is the water we all depend on. Pork producers want to do right because they hope their children and grandchildren will remain on the land and be part of the farm’s future. Protecting water is not only about farming responsibly — it’s about safeguarding our own families and neighbors.”

Cheryl Day, Ohio Pork Council executive vice president, says producers are already doing a responsible job managing nutrients, but no one can afford complacency.

“Every decision we make on manure handling and application matters,” Day says. “One mistake can set back the progress our industry has made and risk both water quality and community trust. Stewardship isn’t optional — it’s our responsibility, and it must remain our highest priority.”

No one plans for a spill, but planning for the unexpected makes all the difference. Farmers who know their tile maps, watch the forecast, and have response plans ready are protecting more than their farms — they’re protecting their communities.

Proposed Final WOTUS Rule Coming This Summer

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 22:01:05 GMT

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of the Army announced June 17 that the groups expect to issue a final Waters of the U.S. that will bring it in line with the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett decision by the end of 2025.

The announcement came in the wake of nine listening sessions the groups conducted to get input from key stakeholders. Those listening sessions included one that sought comments from the state level and another that focused on industries including agriculture .

“When it comes to the definition of ‘waters of the United States,’ EPA has an important responsibility to protect water resources while setting clear and practical rules of the road that accelerate economic growth and opportunity,” says EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “These listening sessions gave us real-world perspectives as we work toward a proposed rule that follows the Supreme Court decision in Sackett, ends the regulatory uncertainty and ping-pong that has persisted for years, supports our nation’s farmers who feed and fuel the world, and advances the agency’s Powering the Great American Comeback initiative.”

During the state-level listening session, commentors stressed the need for cooperative federalism and flexibility. During the industry-focused listening session, those representing agricultural interests frequently echoed the need for a predictable, understandable definition that is consistently enforced.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plays a key role in implementing the Clean Water Act. The importance of input from all our stakeholders including landowners, local governments, the states, Tribes and others is critical to how we undertake our statutory responsibilities,” says Lee Forsgren, acting assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works. “We understand the importance of communication and appreciate the feedback we received as we move forward together with EPA on this important effort.”

What’s coming for WOTUS

EPA’s press office tells The Packer the agencies expect a proposed final rule will be issued in the coming months during the summer. This proposed rule will be available on the Federal Register .

“Once proposed, EPA and Army will open a public comment period, review comments and finalize a rule. Per typical agency practice, public comments would be submitted to the rulemaking docket, including via Regulations.gov ,” the EPA press office says.

The process of reviewing public comment can take some time, particularly on regulations that come with as much public attention as WOTUS. The EPA press office noted that it received over 45,000 letters submitted via the recommendations docket that was open alongside the listening sessions, for example.

The agencies said they intend to issue a final rule by the end of 2025 after the public input is reviewed.

“Once the rule is finalized, it typically takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register pursuant to Congressional Review Act requirements,” the EPA press office says.

More information about WOTUS can be found online . Interested members of the public can also subscribe to specific agencies on the Federal Register to be alerted when new documents for public comment are available.

California governor proposes fast-tracking water infrastructure projects

Mon, 19 May 2025 16:02:11 GMT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a proposed addition to his state budget May 14 that would “fast-track” water infrastructure improvements. The presented changes would, among other things, change the way property acquisitions — including eminent domain — are dealt with relative to water infrastructure projects under the State Water Project . It would also change how protests to water rights permitting decisions are managed.

“For too long, attempts to modernize our critical water infrastructure have stalled in endless red tape, burdened with unnecessary delay,” Newsom said in a news release. “We’re done with barriers — our state needs to complete this project as soon as possible, so that we can better store and manage water to prepare for a hotter, drier future.”

The proposal includes several changes to existing law.

For example, it notes the state currently must appraise a property it seeks to acquire before negotiations start. The government must also provide a summary of how that appraisal was reached to the property owner. The proposal would exempt efforts by the State Water Resources Development Board to acquire property relative to the needs of water supply facilities from these requirements.

The proposal also notes that, under existing law, protests to water rights permitting decisions must meet certain requirements, including deadlines. While existing law “authorizes the board to cancel a protest, permit or petition” for failure to meet the specified requirements, the new proposal would require the cancellation.

“The proposals will allow the Department of Water Resources to move quickly through the permitting and land acquisition processes for the Delta Conveyance Project to allow the state’s most important water supply and climate adaptation project to move forward, saving years, and billions of dollars by avoiding further delay,” Ryan Endean, deputy director of communications for the California Department of Water Resources, told The Packer.

“The State Water Project delivers water to 750,000 acres of farmland,” he added. “Fast-tracking the Delta Conveyance Project will allow the system to more reliably deliver water to those agricultural regions — providing growers with a higher degree of water supply security — as we see more extreme swings between wet periods and drought.”

Endean said Newsom’s proposed budget will go to the California Legislature, which is required to pass the main budget by June 15. The same deadline is not required of trailer bills such as the new proposal.

“If approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor, the proposals would take effect later this summer,” said Endean, who added, “The target date for the start of [the Delta Conveyance Project’s] construction is 2029 and these proposals keep that target on track.”

Ferrie: Elevate Your Corn Planting Game Instantly With 7 Proven Tips

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 14:16:48 GMT

Soil conditions, temperatures and weather outlook are finally aligned this week in much of Illinois and other parts of the Midwest. “Let the big dogs run, and keep the planters running until you’re finished,” says Ken Ferrie.

In the process of planting, he offers corn growers this reminder: to get a 250-bushel corn yield average at harvest, you have to start with a 300-bushel picket-fence stand.

Here are seven recommendations Ferrie offers that can help you grow what could be the biggest corn crop of your career:

1. Plant early-maturing corn hybrids first and end with your full-season hybrids.

This will mitigate the risk of having all your corn pollinating at the same time, says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

“If you do it the other way around, all your corn is going to pollinate in the same week, and then it’s all going to be ready to harvest at the same time, which puts a time crunch into your harvest,” he explains. “So, let’s stretch out the risk by mitigating it, planting our shorter season hybrids first, our full-season hybrids last.”

Going with that approach will also make it easier on the rest of your farming crew when it comes to scouting, spraying and harvesting the crop this season.

2. Consider your planter closing system.

Ferrie explains that your planter closing system has two things it needs to accomplish: It needs to close the furrow from the bottom up, and it needs to firm the soil over the top of that seed so that moisture doesn’t get away.

Ferrie says spike wheels struggle with the firming part in dry conditions – if that describes your situation.

“In dry conditions, go back to the solid wheels if you still have them, especially in tilled fields,” he advises. “Make sure the depth wheels stay snug against the disk opener and don’t allow dry surface soil to fall into that trench and get onto the seed before we close it.”

In tilled soils, Ferrie says you may have to increase your downforce on your depth wheels to hold a true V, which can help prevent surface soil from falling in on the seed.

“We need to be at 100% contact but we’ve got to make sure that we’re not sloughing dry soil into the trench,” he says. “You may have to go up on your margin – up on your down pressure.”

3. Do cross-sections of the furrow to see if you have sidewall smearing.

Sidewall smearing results from too much downforce, in conditions that are too wet or in soils that are a combination of wet and dry.

If the monitor tells you to lighten the downforce, lighten it until the monitor tells you you’re not maintaining the needed planting depth. Then, add downforce until you reach what the monitor says the correct depth is being maintained.

At this point, get off the tractor and do your cross-sections of the furrow, checking for any sidewall smearing.

“We don’t want to see a scene in the furrow where both sides come together. We want that furrow closing without any evidence of how that seed got there,” Ferrie says.

“If you can’t get rid of sidewall smearing without losing adequate depth, it’s too wet to plant,” Ferrie says. “Don’t only check the dry parts of the field, of course, check the wetter ones as well.”

4. Evaluate the performance of row cleaners. If you’re faced with a planting scenario where there’s dry soil on top of the field and too much moisture present at the planting depth, take care with how much of the residue you remove. Push it aside only enough that your disc openers can flow through the soil.

“Don’t plow all the dry real estate off the top with your row cleaners and then set your depth wheels in the wet soil,” Ferrie advises. “Run on top of that dry soil and plant into the soil moisture.”

5. Trust but verify what the monitors tell you. Technology can help you but don’t rely on it. You have to get off the tractor and check soils and your planting quality.

“Check a couple of times in every field to verify what the monitor tells you,” Ferrie advises.

He offers more corn planting tips during his Wednesday AgriTalk discussion with Host Chip Flory.

6. Keep a seed sample from each hybrid, if you didn’t do any seed testing ahead of planting.

Keep samples in a cool, dry place until the crop comes up. “If you get good emergence, discard the sample. If you end up with poor emergence, send the sample off to check the quality of it. This will allow you to identify if seed quality had anything to do with your poor stand,” he says.

7. Do a good job of labeling each hybrid in the monitor. Make sure you put in the correct information prior to starting every field.

“The better job you do, the easier it’ll be for everyone that comes behind you, from your sprayer operators to bug scouts, to combine operators all the way to the yield map meetings in the fall,” Ferrie says. “Everyone else will appreciate it, plus it beats writing the information down in a pocket notebook that many times ends up going through the washing machine.”

That doesn’t mean you can’t have a written copy of what you planted, but digital records can be shared so much faster and easier than what you jotted down in a notebook, he adds.

Check out this week’s Boots In The Field podcast if you’re planting soybeans this week, for more great agronomic tips:

Your next read: Rain Slows Record Start to Iowa Planting Season, but Farmers Optimistic About Early Finish

EPA To Address ‘Government Overreach’ on Defining WOTUS

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 18:20:03 GMT

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced on Wednesday the agency will undertake 31 historic actions “to advance President Trump’s day one executive orders and power the great American comeback.”

Among the announcements, Zeldin said EPA will work with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise to review the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS).

“The agencies will move quickly to ensure that a revised definition follows the law, reduces red tape, cuts overall permitting costs, and lowers the cost of doing business in communities across the country while protecting the nation’s navigable waters from pollution,” Zeldin said in a prepared statement.

“Given the U.S. Supreme Court’s watershed decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, it is time for EPA to finally address this issue once and for all in a way that provides American farmers, landowners, businesses, and states with clear and simplified direction,” he added.

Zeldin’s announcement was an important step forward in correcting what the Supreme Court had ruled in 2023 as EPA’s overreach in defining WOTUS. At the time, the agency had charged ahead ignoring concerns raised by the Supreme Court, 26 states, and farmers and ranchers across the country, according to American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Zippy Duvall.

“The Supreme Court clearly ruled, almost two years ago, that the government overreached in its interpretation of what waters fell under federal jurisdiction, but inaction and vague implementation guidelines by EPA led to permitting delays, litigation and uncertainty,” Duvall said in a prepared statement on Wednesday.

Listening Sessions Are Being Scheduled By EPA
Mary-Thomas Hart, chief counsel for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), told AgriTalk Host Chip Flory on Thursday the Supreme Court had ruled EPA’s overreach on WOTUS in 2023 amounted to a violation of a landowners’ constitutional rights.

“Because there are criminal liabilities that attach to violation of the Clean Water Act, a landowner has to be able to know when they look at their land or when they look at a water feature, what is or isn’t WOTUS,” Hart said.

A priority for the Trump Administration moving forward will be working cooperatively with state partners, empowering them and local officials to protect water bodies while accelerating economic opportunity. As a result, “decisions will be made efficiently and effectively while benefiting from local knowledge and expertise,” EPA’s Zeldin said.

To inform those decisions, EPA has issued a request for information from stakeholders about how they’re impacted by WOTUS and will host a series of listening sessions from late March through April 2025, according to information on the agency’s website.

EPA will hold at least six listening sessions, with two open to all stakeholders, one open to States, one open to Tribes, one open to industry and agricultural stakeholders, and one open to environmental and conservational stakeholders.

The agency said registration instructions and dates will be forthcoming at the following website: https://www.epa.gov/wotus/public-outreach-and-stakeholder-engagement-activities.

Persons or organizations wishing to provide verbal recommendations during the listening sessions will be selected on a first-come, first-serve basis. Due to the expected number of participants, EPA said individuals will be asked to limit their spoken presentation to three minutes. Once the speaking slots are filled, participants may be placed on a standby list to speak or continue to register to listen to the recommendations.

Listen to the AgriTalk discussion on WOTUS with NCBA’s Mary-Thomas Hart here:

Kansas Farmer Chase Larson's Ability to Overcome Adversity, and Still Grow, Will Inspire You

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:33:50 GMT

A pilot by training and a farmer by trade, Chase Larson runs his Kansas operation more like a Fortune 500 company than he does a farm.

“Being able to get outside of what you’re doing every day and hearing other people’s experience is crucial to making a successful company,” says Chase Larson, CEO of Bestifor Farms , which is based in Belleville, Kansas.

The Decision to Make Chase CEO
From regular board meetings to his involvement in peer groups, Chase took over as CEO just over a year ago.

Chase Larson sits in the company’s board room.

(Tyne Morgan, Farm Journal)

“He was doing a lot of the responsibilities up to that point, as far as negotiations, cropping decisions, and relationships - everything it takes to run a farm. He earned that respect and my feeling the time was right,” says Thayne Larson, Chase’s dad who also now serves as Bestifor board president.

Chase recalls the point his dad decided it was time to fully transition, “He walked in, and actually my mom was there too, and said, ‘You are CEO of all of Bestifor.”

An aerial view of harvest for Bestifor Farms.

(Chase Larson)

That moment was a surprise in a way, but Chase has always been an integral part of the operation, even buying and brokering loads of hay in college.

“That’s how I really got into it was through logistics and shipping and negotiating when we got into the trucking business,” Larson says.

Bestifor Farms is one of six companies for this sixth-generation farm family.

(Matt Mormann, Farm Journal )

Today, Bestifor Hay Company and Bestifor Farms are just two of the six businesses that make up the Bestifor family of companies.

“We hired better and better people and provided benefits. We worked off of that model, and we’re still working off that model today. But not only the farm and the hay company, but all the additional companies that we have surrounded that support it,” Thayne says.

Bestifor family of brands includes six companies today.

(Matt Mormann, Farm Journal)

Pursuit to Enter Into Pet Food
With 40 employees, 30 of which are full time, each of the Bestifor companies inject values into the overall Bestifor brand, and one of the businesses that’s sprouted within the last decade is a company called Grandpa’s Best.

“We realized we had some really good talent around us being in the hay business for a long time. We said, ‘How hard can it be to start a pet food company?’ And turns out, it’s really hard,” Chase says.

Grandpa’s Best is a small family company committed to providing premium quality Timothy Hay, Orchard Grass Hay, Alfalfa Hay, and native Kansas Prairie Hay to small herbivores and exotic animals.

(Matt Mormann, Farm Journal)

The wild idea to start a pet food company didn’t come from Chase or Thayne. The idea came from Chase’s late wife Celine.

“She came out here and she just got a curious mind,” Thayne says. “She walked the pastures and she was a K-State grad who grew up in California. She said, ‘I wonder what else can eat this grass besides cattle. So, she got seven or eight or 10 different species of grasses, and she sent samples to K-State for research asking what else will eat this? And it came back with rabbits and gerbils.”

They hired a firm to help explain the pet food business, uncovering a $3 billion pet food market worldwide.

“And we said, ‘Well, sure, there’s a piece of that we can find,’” Thayne says.

And they did - a business that’s doubled in sales every year since 2019.

“Chase and Celine, they brought a different side to the operation,” Thayne says. “They showed us there’s more to this than just local and quality for what we’re trying to accomplish as a family. And they have just taken it to another level and put it on steroids. It’s taken off in a whole different direction, and we’re excited about it.”

Constantly uncovering new opportunities, Chase’s late wife Celine was the one who came up with the idea for Grandpa’s Best.

(Chase Larson )

The Battle Against Cancer
Celine Larson was a light on the farm, in their family and in their community.

“She was someone who was an entrepreneurial spirit,” Larson says. “She enjoyed agriculture.”

In 2017, Celine was diagnosed with cancer. Their four kids were 2, 4, 6 and 8 at the time, and Chase’s focus shifted from farming, to fighting for Celine’s life with treatments in Texas.

“I think the longest stint was like 36 days that we never came back,” Chase says. “My mom took the girls to school every day, got them ready, fed them and took over that role while we were down there fighting cancer.”

Chase, along with his late wife Celine, have four daughters.

(Chase Larson )

On Dec. 9, 2019, a little over two years since she was first diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma, Celine Larson passed away at the age of 35.

“When she passed away, it changed our perspective on what’s important in life,” Chase says. “You rethink what you want to do, what you don’t want to do. But the family support on both sides was unbelievable. And most people think, ‘How do you get through things like that?’ But it these negatives are not negatives.”

Thayne adds, “He hasn’t talked about his faith, but it’s rock solid. He’s just such an inspiration and so dedicated. And that’s part of the balance of his life.”

Water Management Software Built By Farmers
Constantly striving for balance, Chase is also always uncovering new ways to grow. One example is through is latest endeavor, which is an app for real-time water management called VandWater, a company that was built by farmers for farmers.

“We figured out how to write it, got the right coders, hired them and went from concept to that in three months,” Chase says.

Chase Larson created VandWater two years ago, which is software for anyone who manages water. The goal is to make comprehensive water management more simple through software.

(VandWater )

Today, VandWater is a fully web-based app, available on any iPhone or Android. It has thousands of wells on the system across three states.

The new ventures are allowing the operation to grow in new ways, all while not losing sight of their roots, which is the farm. Bestifor Farms has managed to double in size over the last 16 years - growing to 12,000 acres today.

Sixth Generation Farm With Sights Set on the Future
And Chase says this sixth-generation farm isn’t finished growing yet.

“We’re very entrepreneurial driven,” Chase says. “We’re not afraid to fail, not to figure out a mistake here or there. You’re not going to grow without constant change and being outside of your borders.”

Chase’s constant hunger to find value, while not losing sight of the fact quality is their legacy here, makes Chase Larson a finalist for 2025 Top Producer of the Year.

Your Next Reads:

2025 Top Producer of the Year Marc Arnusch Looks for Success Beyond Commodity Farming

How Iowa Farmer Mark Hanna is Investing in Innovation and Giving Ag Startups a Fighting Chance

Dalton Dilldine: Next-Generation Producer Follows in His Father’s Footsteps

Texas Rancher Kimberly Ratcliff Trades the Big Apple for Community Beef Business

Ducks Unlimited and National Sorghum Producers Pair Up to Promote Water-Smart Agriculture

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 20:54:33 GMT

Ducks Unlimited (DU) and National Sorghum Producers (NSP) have announced a partnership to focus efforts on water savings and market innovation. The goal is to support growers and rural communities in water efficiency efforts that:

expand waterfowl habitat
recharge below-ground aquifers
support new value-added opportunities around ‘water-smart’ commodities

“If there’s one thing that ducks and agriculture both need it’s water,” says Adam Putnam, DU CEO. “DU and NSP have a shared interest in conserving America’s precious water resources, and our collaboration will enable us to achieve success that wouldn’t be possible alone. Together, we’ll promote voluntary, water-smart agriculture practices, and we look forward to finding new, innovative methods of leveraging our natural resources for the benefit of waterfowl, other wildlife, producers, and communities.”

“National Sorghum Producers has long championed innovative, sustainable practices that enhance agricultural productivity while preserving our vital natural resources,” says Tim Lust, NSP CEO. “Sorghum, known as The Resource Conserving Crop, serves as a water-sipping alternative to more thirsty crops, making it indispensable in water-stressed regions. This partnership with Ducks Unlimited further solidifies our dedication to foster water-efficient solutions that enhance both crop productivity and the protection of precious water resources.”

“In many regions like the Great Plains, water resources are becoming more finite and presenting challenges to wildlife, agriculture, and the industries they support,” says Billy Gascoigne, DU director of agriculture and strategic partnerships. “The need to leverage resources, expertise, and market innovation is greater now than ever. This partnership looks to do just that.”

“We recognize the importance of proactive water management to maintain sustainable farming landscapes,” says Matt Durler, NSP managing director of climate-smart sorghum. “This collaboration is a commitment to balance water-wise farming with environmental stewardship and ensure communities that rely on agriculture and waterfowl habitats will flourish for generations to come.”

Helena’s Two New Brands With A Sustainability Focus

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 01:34:23 GMT

With a focus to offer science-based technology that performs in the field, Helena has launched two new products to address environmental challenges and management resource consumption.

Enertia is an enzyme-based soybean seed treatment to works to improve soil quality. Productive roots rely on enzymes to move nutrients from the soil to the plant, and as a seed treatment Enertia works to improve nutrient availability in the soil as roots develop.

“Helena has been researching and developing biological products for decades,” says Mike Powell, Sr. Brand Manager of Crop Production and BioScience products for Helena. “It’s given our customers ways to make important changes on their farms such as the reduction of nitrogen rates and implementation of plant-based inputs. Now, with protected enzyme technology, we’re targeting the needs of our soil to take a natural approach to raising productivity.”

Helena says its Enertia seed treatment stabilizes its enzymes with VersaShield Formulation Technology for longer-lasting activity in the soil and more compatibility with other soybean seed treatments. In its trials across the Midwest and southern geographies, Enertia produced a 14% increase in root weight by mass, a 3% increase in plant population, and a 2.4 bushel per acre yield advantage over the standard fungicide and insecticide seed treatment alone.

Resgenix is water use management tool that can be applied via irrigation or spray methods. This tool works to improve aggregation in all soil types–strengthening water holding capacity and mitigating erosion, run-off and soil moisture evaporation loss.

“Water impacts everything we do on the farm,” says Austin Anderson, Brand Manager of Adjuvants and Water Management Products for Helena. “If we don’t utilize the water we have effectively, we could lose productivity in the field, and the efficacy of our spray applications could suffer.”

The development of Resgenix was further prioritized by worsening drought conditions and growing populations causing an increased demand for fresh water, leading to more water restrictions and higher water costs for agricultural producers.

Resgenix uses a revitalized polyacrylamide formulation to improve water use efficiency with greater ease. For example, its liquid formulation is convenient and compatible with most crop management products and requires no special equipment for application. In field trials, even with a 20% reduction in irrigation water, adding Resgenix maintained soil moisture content and exceeded yield compared to water alone.

The company says these new products balance crop production needs with environmental stewardship to increase yields responsibly and efficiently.

The Scoop Podcast: Corral The Controllables In Agronomy

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 11:00:00 GMT

As an agronomist and crop consultant with Nutrien Ag Solutions, Jeff Kloucek says working out in the field is where he enjoys his job the most. While the weather was the biggest challenge last year, Kloucek doesn’t expect too much of a reprieve from that unknown this year.

However, he and the team in Nebraska and South Dakota are focusing on what they can control. And shares more in The Scoop Podcast:

“When we can figure something out, come up with a solution, and then see it works with real yield data to show our decision made us money and we fixed an issue—that’s when it’s fun,” he says.

In soil fertility, they are taking a new look at the whole system and how nutrients interact with each other.

“With some of our theories on fertility we’re really switching gears and going a different direction,” he says. “And we’re looking the whole balance of the soil and how different nutrients work together or work against each other.”

And for weed control, Kloucek has two pieces of advice: “Don’t cut the rates. And adjuvants are just as important as the herbicides you put in the tank.”
Even though they can’t control the weather, Kloucek and his team tested a new irrigation sensor last year to refine their water management, and they are fully deploying those this year.

As an agronomy leader eager to try new things and improve each year, Kloucek encourages others in the industry to develop in their careers.
“Don’t be afraid to ask questions and find a good mentor,” he says. “One of the greatest mentors I had was another applicator when I first started. He took me under his wing, and I learned a lot from him. He told me what I needed to know and where I should go look to learn more and was very instrumental in my career.”

Hear more from Kloucek in The Scoop Podcast.

Seed Technology and Evolving Farming Practices Win Against Drought's Grip

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 15:27:49 GMT

Farm Journal’s Smart Farming Week is an annual week-long emphasis on innovation in agriculture. The goal is to encourage you to explore and prioritize the technology, tools and practices that will help you farm smarter. Innovation today ensures an efficient, productive and sustainable tomorrow.

It’s been said a high-yielding corn crop needs 25" of moisture per acre per year. Of course, the timing of that rain makes all the difference, but management strategies to retain soil moisture coupled with genetic technology have been a boon for bushels in recent years when Mother Nature didn’t cooperate.

Minnesota Farm Scores big with Only 7" of Rain
In 2023, David Heublein grew a contest-winning corn yield of 314.93 bu. with only 7" of rain in Minnesota. If you wonder how that’s possible, you’re in good company. Heublein says he is still amazed by the experience.

“We thank the good Lord for providing just enough rain to give us this yield,” says Heublein, who won the conventional, non-irrigated category of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) yield contest for Minnesota. He farms in the southeast corner of the state with his wife, Jennifer.

Trait Tech Pays Off
The winning entry of DKC59-82RIB was planted in a 40-acre field at the couple’s home farm near Lewiston, in Winona County, on May 1 and was harvested Oct. 11. On the day before harvest, the U.S. Drought Monitor showed 75% of Minnesota’s corn crop, including Heublein’s, was enduring moderate (D1) to extreme (D2) drought.

“I’m convinced these high-yielding hybrids with new traits are a huge reason for our success,” Heublein says. “I’m also blessed to be surrounded with knowledgeable, caring individuals who help me make qualified decisions to better my bottom line.”

Heublein also credits his success to careful planting and harvesting practices, timely fertilizer and fungicide applications, the area’s nutrient-rich Port Byron and Mt. Carroll soils, moderate temperatures that climbed above 90°F only two times during the summer and the precious inches of timely rainfall.

“We recorded 1.1" in May, 1.5" in June, 3.9" in July and just a half inch in August for a grand total of 7" for the season,” Heublein recalls. “That was about one-third of our normal rainfall. What these hybrids can go through with the weather we have today and still put on a good-sized ear with such kernel depth amazes me.”

Two other farms Heublein grows corn on didn’t fare well last season. The family’s farm north of Fremont, Minn., received only 5" of total rainfall. Their farm, near Wilson, Minn., was hit with high wind and golf ball-sized hail on July 14. As a result, corn yields on both farms tanked.

Looking Ahead
Heublein says he anticipates he’ll enter the NCGA yield contest again in 2024. He and Jennifer have competed in the annual contest since 1991.

“I like seeing how our crop compares with other corn yields across the state and the nation,” Heublein says. “Getting over 300 bu. was a real accomplishment and an incredible experience. It’s really fun to see what these hybrids can do.”

Attention to Detail Matters
Every growing season, David Heublein focuses on about 15 practices to produce a high-yielding corn crop. “Attention to detail is so important because there’s no silver bullet,” he says. “Last year, so many things worked to our favor on the Lewiston farm.”

These five practices top the list:

Garden-like soil conditions with excellent subsoil moisture made it easier for him to achieve a consistent planting depth of 1.75".
Good technology is a benefit, such as DeltaForce to keep 100 lb. of down pressure on the opener at all times to maintain planting depth. ”I want that consistency because it helps us get uniform plant emergence, which is huge,” he says.
Fertilize fields to equip them to achieve high yields. “I’m a big believer in ESN time-release nitrogen. It’s got a polymer coating, so I think it stays available in the root zone longer than other fertilizers,” he says.
Timely weed control practices are a must for contest-winning yields.
In-season fungicide use is also a must. “On July 15 we hired a friend and neighbor’s son and his girlfriend to apply Delaro Complete fungicide. They used a drone with GPS guidance to make a really accurate application that got down into the corn,” Heublein says.

Tech Advancements and Evolving Farming Practices for the Win
After U.S. corn production was hardly dented by back-to-back growing seasons that were the driest in a decade, Andy Heggenstaller is getting used to fielding questions about how modern varieties can still yield so much.

Growers in northern Illinois who exceeded 250 bu. per acre marvel to Heggenstaller, the head of agronomy for Syngenta Seeds, about the results.

In 2023, U.S. corn producers averaged 174.9 bu. per acre — just 1% under the record of 176.7 set two years earlier — despite below-average rainfall that rivaled the 2012 drought. That year, production bottomed out at 123.1 bu. per acre, 20% less than the national average the previous five years.

“I do think whatever level of drought stress we’re talking about, if it happened 10 years ago versus today, the crop would withstand it better today than it would have 10 years ago,”Heggenstaller says.

Heggenstaller credits three main areas for the improvement:

advancements in technology
a more robust seed selection process
adaptations made by farmers

Drought Research
The advancements follow years of specialized drought research by numerous seed companies.

When developing its drought-tolerant artesian hybrids, Syngenta turned to its research locations in naturally parched areas in Colorado and California. Heggenstaller says researchers analyzed which hybrids performed best and identified genes associated with that stress tolerance. The research continues today.

Bayer conducts drought studies at its Water Utilization Learning Center in Gothenburg, Neb. Similar to a retractable roof sports stadium, the facility can detect moisture in the air and automatically close — even in the middle of the night — to keep the corn and soybean plants underneath dry.

“It really gives us the ability to test for drought stress tolerance in a way we couldn’t years ago,” says Jeff Spieler, a DeKalb Asgrow technical agronomist. “We’re doing a much better job at selecting genetics to develop that tolerate stress at certain times.”

Seed Selection
Beyond the specialized research sites, Heggenstaller says industry seed selection processes have changed considerably in the past decade.

Companies test their seeds at hundreds of locations and select the best hybrids based on a growing library of years of data instead of a single season, which was a more common practice prior to 2010.

“The net effect of that is because the intensity with which we’re selecting these hybrids has increased, only the best ones are making it forward,” Heggenstaller says. “The best ones are ones that can adapt and deal with a lot of different stresses.”

Some seed options are enhanced with biotech traits, such as corn rootworm resistance, that indirectly improve drought tolerance. Corn rootworms damage the roots that suck up moisture from the soil, so eliminating corn rootworm keeps the plant better hydrated.

Credit to Farmers
Similarly, evolving management practices by growers help crops thrive with less moisture — sometimes as an unintended side effect.

Advances in precision planting and fertilizer application allow crops to grow faster and establish roots more quickly, providing them access to more water throughout the growing season. In addition, strobilurin fungicides that have recently grown in popularity slow the respiration of corn and make plants use water more efficiently.

“That’s why you’ll sometimes see farmers spray fungicides on corn when there’s no disease present,” Heggenstaller says.

Reduced tillage and better management of moisture-sucking weeds also contribute to higher yields.

“Growers have so many more tools to manage tillage, fertility and weeds,” says Spieler, who’s now seeing corn grown in parts of South Dakota where it hadn’t been considered viable. “You combine all those things, and we’re able to manage corn in times when we do get water.”

No Heat Waves
With all the apparent successes, it might still be too soon to declare a victory over drought.

Although April to September 2023 was the driest in the Corn Belt since 2012, according to National Centers for Environmental Information climate data, it wasn’t accompanied by crop-killing heat. Since the flood-inducing rains of 2019, it’s been much drier but not unbearably hot.

“There has been a relatively small amount of extreme heat, and that has been a big factor in yields dropping a little bit – but not as much as you might expect if you were only looking at the precipitation charts,” says Brad Rippey, a meteorologist with USDA.

In July and August 2012, 30% to 40% of USDA’s Midwest climate hub was in an extreme or exceptional drought — some of the worst conditions ever recorded in the area by the U.S. Drought Monitor. In the Northern Plains, about 40% remained in those two categories until the following April.

By comparison, the worst stretch of 2023 had about 13% of the Midwest in an extreme or exceptional drought during a brief September window.

“No two droughts are going to behave the same way,” says U.S. Drought Monitor climatologist Curtis Riganti.

He shares eastern Nebraska experienced a “flash drought” last year, which is a lack of spring rains followed by what had been a longer-term period of moderate dryness.

“Years ago, we could have dry spells like that and it could be devastating,” says Mark Grundmayer, an agronomist for LG Seeds in Nebraska. “Current products and the practices most farmers are using make a big difference in how we can weather some of these dry spells.”

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New Water-Use Management Tool For Commercial Crops

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 21:51:40 GMT

Water availability is fundamental to crop production, and in the last few years farmers have seen widely varying degrees of moisture available during the growing season – both too much and too little.

Helena is offering a new product, Resgenix, that can help row-crop growers address the latter. The product can help farmers manage the water available to crops to optimize its use, says Austin Anderson, brand manager of adjuvants and water management products for Helena.

“Whether you’re on dryland acres – where you’ve got to maximize your rainfall events that you get throughout the year – or you’re using irrigation and want to run the pivot a little less and get more out of your water, Resgenix is a tool to help you do that,” Anderson says.

How It Works
Resgenix works by coating soil particles. The process can help improve aggregation in all soil types – strengthening water-holding capacity and mitigating erosion, run-off and soil moisture evaporation loss.

“On sandy ground where the gaps between soil particles can be really big, Resgenix reduces the space between the particles,” Anderson says. “In a heavier soil type or in clay-based soils, it helps create more space between soil particles, so plants get the benefit of the moisture that is available.”

In either dryland crops or in those under irrigation, the idea is to make available moisture work harder longer. In crops grown under irrigation, for instance, Anderson says Helena is seeing farmers commonly use 20% less water and produce the same crop yields at harvest.

Flexible Application
The standard use rate for Resgenix, which is in a liquid formulation, is a half-gallon of product per acre. The product has no cropping restrictions for use, requires no special equipment for application and has no application timing restrictions.

During an interview at Commodity Classic, Anderson outlined what he anticipates will be some of the common application timings for Resgenix use in corn and soybeans.

“When you consider how important it is for standardized emergence of corn, Resgenix is a good fit for use at planting,” he says. “Post-emergence timing, when you’re making a herbicide application is also a good fit. Another good opportunity is when the plant is deciding the number of kernels, both around and down the ear, and then at tassel or shortly thereafter to help with grain fill and to finish out the crop.”

For use in soybeans, Anderson says a key time to consider using Resgenix would be behind the planter at planting to help make sure the crop emerges and gets a strong start. Another key time for consideration would be during reproductive stages or about R3.

More information is available at helenaagria.com

CropX, Reinke Team Up on Actual ET Sensors

Young Farmer Breaks Soybean World Record With Stunning 206-Bushel Yield

How To Treat Your Water Right

314 Bu. Corn Yield Uses Only 7" of Rain to Score Big Win in Minnesota

CropX, Reinke Team Up on Actual ET Sensors

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 20:03:37 GMT

CropX Technologies announced the launch of Reinke Direct ET™ by CropX, a sensor-based innovation that provides Actual Evapotranspiration (ETa) measurements on a Reinke center pivot irrigation system.

The product is available exclusively through Reinke.

By measuring the amount of water that crops use, Reinke Direct ET gives farmers daily insights into their crop’s water needs, enabling informed irrigation decisions.

CropX is also releasing its Actual ET sensor, a device that can be installed in any field to measure ETa. In combination with a CropX soil sensor as part of the CropX agronomic farm management system, users will have access to accurate water-plant usage and soil water availability metrics.

“Precision agriculture is crucial for modern farming. This collaboration with Reinke Irrigation allows us to deliver solutions that help farmers optimize their water usage. Our new Actual ET devices can ensure pivot and non-pivot growers can access the same level of detail,” said Tomer Tzach, CEO of CropX.

The underlying ET measurement technology was developed by Tule Technologies, which was acquired by CropX in January 2023.

Click here to learn more.

The Scoop Podcast: Beyond Typical Ag Retail and Co-op Services

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 14:11:17 GMT

As an irrigation water management specialist at Centra Sota Cooperative based in Minnesota, Rebecca Schubert does farmer outreach, education and program partnerships while running the cooperative’s water management program.

As a technical service provider, Schubert assists farmers with opportunities via USDA-NRCS. She says this expansion is beyond what has been assumed a co-op can provide while also helping farmers pull together all aspects of their approach to conservation.

“Farmers get an opportunity to get financial assistance through the government to further their conservation efforts, and we get to be on the frontline of that,” Schubert says. “We get to come help them complete the program and help them along the way. It’s been a great way to connect the cooperative with the public sector.”

The expansion of services into environmental and water management includes moisture sensors installations, water irrigation uniformity testing, and services Schubert says are “beyond the typical retail ag co-op.”

“When we think of retail ag co-op we think fertilizer, fuel, feed. This is really a service that takes that one step further, and it incorporates all that and more into their conservation practices,” Schubert says.

As an example of the type of water management program she’s assisted with, Schubert gives an example of a farmer who installed their first center pivot two years ago.

“He really took to me and relied on me to help educate him along the way as far as water management, when to water and how much to water. He’s really been grateful along the way, and we’ve really developed an amazing client-consultant relationship,” she says.

Within the co-op, the water management team works with other divisions.

“Any of our recommendations that go along with our environmental service programs, like farm planning or nutrient management planning through NRCS, are when our crop advisors can come to us as a resource,” Schubert says.

Schubert started at the co-op as an intern, and today she helps mentor the intern program, a full circle experience she says is very rewarding.

Hear more in The Scoop Podcast.

The Scoop Podcast: Maximizing The Value of Irrigation

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 21:47:49 GMT

Consulting with farmers across 40 crops, Cory Broad and the team at Avid Water help bring agronomic solutions to the field including system automation, moisture monitoring, satellite imaging, water treatment systems and more.

Avid Water has 15 location spread across California and helps farmers with everything from the pump to the sprinkler.

With $20/hour minimum wage and the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, Broad shares how irrigation technologies can help farmers answer these challenges.

“When we think about how can we continue to farm, our major labor intensive crops, we have to have automation,” Broad says. “I’ve seen automation specifically for us in irrigation, include the ability to reliably turn pumps off and on, open and close valves, switch irrigation sets, remotely and predetermined.”

Young Farmer Breaks Soybean World Record With Stunning 206-Bushel Yield

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 20:29:30 GMT

Soybean yields just went nuclear — 206.7997 bushels per acre.

And what do world record 206-bushel soybeans look like? Ask Alex Harrell.

The southwest Georgia farmer grew the highest yielding soybeans in history, hitting 206.7997 bushels per acre on Aug. 23. Harrell’s stunning total shatters the previous world record of 190.23 bushels per acre grown in 2019 by fellow Georgian, Randy Dowdy.

“It was surreal sitting in that cab watching the yield monitor,” Harrell explains. “Long story short, this comes down to late-season management.”

Pushing to the End

On 3,000 acres in Lee County, Harrell, 33, grows corn, soybeans, watermelons, and wheat. In 2023, out of the gate in the Georgia Soybean Production Contest, Harrell determined to push hard on a flat, 60-acre field of red loam watered by a center pivot. (In 2022, the field was in corn, and over the 2022-23 winter, it was covered in a cereal mix of oats, rye, and triticale.)

On a particular 10 acres within the 60, Harrell went full throttle. “I cherry-picked a spot with a yield goal of 200. I wanted to push, push, and push on that spot and see what was possible.”

Prior to planting, he applied variable rate lime, along with gypsum to build calcium levels. However, Harrell also put out chicken litter—a fertilizer typically applied to corn on his operation.

On April 5, after treating seed with Brandt SeedZone Zn, Harrell planted a maturity group IV soybean— Asgrow 48X9 in a single-row configuration with 30” spacing, backed with biologicals from Hefty Seed Company. “I strip-tilled into the cover crop and planted at a population of 85,000.”

However, a packing rain gave Harrell serious doubts. “The rain knocked us back to a count of 77,000. I was thinking afterwards that the crop wouldn’t be special, but I was still intent on pushing to the end and never giving up.”

In the Cards?

Sticking to clockwork, Harrell tissue sampled each Monday—never missing a single week. “We used the tests to be certain we only applied according to the results and never shot in the dark. We then either foliar fed, Y-drop fed, or injected through irrigation.”

Almost all foliar products applied by Harrell were Brandt-based. “We also used a lot of PGRs—both sprayed and in-furrow from Loveland and ROI Biologicals. Also, we put on humic acid from ROI Biologicals, along with a sugar product and a fulvic acid from TEVA.”

The crop got whatever the crop needed, according to Harrell. “We watered steadily until the beans were mature. That meant watering until we had membrane separation on the top two nodes.”

At what point in the season did Harrell suspect he had a world record crop? He did not dare. Rather, by July, Harrell wondered if a second-place finish was in the cards. “I was skeptical and I didn’t think my beans were going to break any records. I knew the beans might triple the national average (roughly 50 bpa in 2022), or even go much higher, but I genuinely thought they might come in about 175—higher than Kip Culler’s 161, but lower than Randy Dowdy’s 191.”

However, Harrell’s pickup tailgate told a different story.

Explosion

Prior to harvest, Harrell observed phenomenal bean size in the rows. Outrageous girth. “On average, it takes 2,500 to 3,000 soybeans to make a pound, but we were in the 1,650 to 1,700 range. It’s not like I had three times as many pods as anyone else, so although the field looked great, you couldn’t tell much about yield beyond that.”

However, the pod count was still remarkable, Harrell continues: “We did have 5-bean pods that we’d never seen before. Also, for the first time in my life, we had more 4-bean pods than 2-bean pods. When we’d shuck off pods on the tailgate, the 3-pod pile was always the biggest. Usually, you’ll have a few 4-bean pods and a lot of 2-beans pods, but this year when I saw more 4’s than 2’s, I knew we onto something good. I just didn’t realize how good.”

On Aug. 11, Harrell dessicated and cut 12 days later into an explosion of yield.

Respect

With a University of Georgia Extension agent riding shotgun on Aug. 23, Harrell watched the biggest numbers of his life—or anyone else’s—flash across his yield monitor. “It was incredible. I knew it was a good crop and the rest of the field came in at about 100 bushels, but this spot was unbelievable. Then we weighed, scaled, and it was double-checked and verified at the University of Georgia.”

World record. The highest soybean yield in the history of agriculture: 206.7997 bushels per acre.

What did Harrell do after breaking the soybean record? Pay respect.

“I tried to call my friend, Randy Dowdy, but he was in the middle of surgery. I told myself earlier in the year that if I was to somehow break the record, I’d call Randy first. Randy has helped me so much along the way and I could never have done this without him. I’m in Total Acre , which was started by Randy and David Hula, and both guys have been so good to me. Randy opened my eyes as to what is possible and if he hadn’t have set his record, I’d have had nothing to chase.”

In conclusion, how does Harrell summarize his record-shattering 2023 soybeans?

“The yield came down to test weight and that comes down to late season management,” he adds. “Some guys make a mistake by giving up on beans too early, in my opinion. Again, I truly believe our extra weight and bean size were due to getting it right on late-season management.”

For more from Chris Bennett (cbennett@farmjournal.com 662-592-1106) see:

Priceless Pistol Found After Decades Lost in Farmhouse Attic

Cottonmouth Farmer: The Insane Tale of a Buck-Wild Scheme to Corner the Snake Venom Market

Tractorcade: How an Epic Convoy and Legendary Farmer Army Shook Washington, D.C.

Bagging the Tomato King: The Insane Hunt for Agriculture’s Wildest Con Man

Young Farmer uses YouTube and Video Games to Buy $1.8M Land

While America Slept, China Stole the Farm

Bizarre Mystery of Mummified Coon Dog Solved After 40 Years

The Arrowhead whisperer: Stunning Indian Artifact Collection Found on Farmland

Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam

Skeleton In the Walls: Mysterious Arkansas Farmhouse Hides Civil War History

US Farming Loses the King of Combines

Ghost in the House: A Forgotten American Farming Tragedy

Rat Hunting with the Dogs of War, Farming’s Greatest Show on Legs

Evil Grain: The Wild Tale of History’s Biggest Crop Insurance Scam

Emerging Groundwater Issues Likely to Affect U.S. Agriculture

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 12:43:44 GMT

With Skip Hyberg

In August 2023, the New York Times published the results of a study it conducted using a dataset constructed from groundwater monitoring data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and 28 state and regional water authorities. The report presented two results that highlight the decrease in this important resource. In 2022, the water level in nearly half of monitored groundwater sites had significantly declined since 1980, revealing that groundwater was being used faster than is sustainable. The second finding emphasizes the consequences of this use, over the last decade nearly 40 percent of the groundwater wells monitored were at their lowest observed level. Most of the declines were found for wells located west of the Mississippi River, with concentrations in the High Plains, California’s Central Valley, and Eastern Arkansas. However, declines were also observed elsewhere including the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Florida. The declining groundwater levels in critical regions, combined with more easily observed lower water levels in surface waters are causing significant problems, such as within the Mississippi River system, where the current drought has recently allowed saltwater intrusion further up the river, and the Colorado River system where reduced flows have triggered mandatory reductions in state water allocations. These matters portend a developing water crisis that requires careful and clear-eyed examination.

Groundwater is a critical national resource. Twenty six percent of all United States water withdrawals, over one third of the volume of drinking water, and 90 percent of US public water systems rely primarily on groundwater. Small public water systems and rural users in particular are dependent of groundwater. As of 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that 23 million U.S. households rely on private wells for drinking water. In spite of its importance, groundwater use is largely unregulated, and the regulation that exists varies from state to state and across jurisdictions.

Groundwater exists in many separate independent pools or aquifers across the country, and not all of them are declining. However, the fact that under current regulations groundwater levels are on a long-term decline in many locations and large numbers of people and businesses are dependent on this water leads to the conclusion that something has to change.

Inevitably, that change is going to affect agriculture because agricultural uses account for 68 percent of groundwater withdrawals, with 98 percent of this use being for irrigation. According to the 2018 Irrigation and Water Management Survey (part of the U.S. Census of Agriculture), just under half of the 55.9 million irrigated acres in the United States rely solely on groundwater from wells, while an additional 16 percent utilize a combination of groundwater and surface water. USGS data indicate that groundwater withdrawals increased by 6 percent between 2010 and 2015 and irrigation groundwater withdrawals increased by 16 percent over the same period. The results of the New York Times analysis indicate an unsustainable trend that has implications for agriculture and water use policies. Agriculture needs to recognize these implications and prepare for this change.
Water issues are complicated involving geologic, climatic, economic, human factors and their interactions. Aquifers are porous underground layers that can store water from precipitation that fell often decades or even millennia ago that has percolated through the ground, and in many cases can take equally long to recharge. In arid regions groundwater withdrawals can easily exceed the rate that the aquifer is recharged.

Groundwater is stored within the aquifer’s pores and can support the subsurface layer so it does not compress. In some locations the substrate in which the groundwater is stored, can become compacted as water is withdrawn. This compaction can permanently reduce the water storage capacity of that aquifer and its ability to recharge. The subsurface compaction can lead to ground subsidence with economic consequences such as damage to roads, canals, pipes, and other infrastructure.
Groundwater stored in aquifers often interacts with surface waters, supplying water to maintain base levels for wetlands, lakes, and streams. As ground water levels decrease, these surface waters can shrink or even disappear as they lose their underground water source. Aquifers in coastal zones also interact with ocean water. Over-extraction of groundwater in these areas can lead to salt water intrusion, where ocean water enters the aquifer making the groundwater salty and unfit for most agricultural or human uses.

Climate change is occurring, with most regions facing increased temperatures and more intense precipitation events. As average temperatures increase so does evapotranspiration which both increases demand for irrigation from groundwater sources and reduces the water available for groundwater recharge. In addition, more frequent heavy rainfall events lead to more water running off the surface into waterways which reduces the amount of water available for groundwater recharge.

The economic implications of groundwater depletion for agriculture are formidable. Irrigation has enabled agriculture in many regions to prosper, especially in the western United States, by reducing risk and enabling the production of water intensive crops in arid climates. Declining groundwater levels increase the cost of pumping the water to the surface. And if these levels continue to drop, pumping water for irrigation will become more and more expensive, and in some cases economically infeasible. Additionally, if the level drops far enough the rate of flow from wells decreases, reducing its ability to supply irrigation water. This can increase risk or even force the producer to shift to a less water intensive crop.

And then there is the human factor. Currently some of the regions with the fastest growing populations, are those with most rapidly falling groundwater levels. These growing populations are increasing demand water and as noted before, groundwater is largely unregulated. These emerging issues provide a strong incentive for agriculture to reexamine water use throughout the United States. It is in agriculture’s interest to help find water use policies designed to balance an increasing water demand with a limited water supply, particularly in the more arid regions with a strong agricultural presence. It is in producers’ interest to understand the implications of different policies so they can be proactive rather than reactive. Our next blog on this topic will examine some of these policy options.

Tile Drainage Spacing With The Highest Economic Return

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 11:00:00 GMT

A study recently published in the 2023 Journal of the ASFMRA titled “Economic Analysis of Subsurface Tile Drainage Spacing” presents valuable insights based on data collected between 1984 and 2021 from a long-term drainage experiment in southeast Indiana. The study authored by Michael Langemeier, Eileen Kladivko and Edward Farris, compared four in-field drainage spacings: 16', 33', 66' and 133'.

The researchers evaluated various economic factors such as gross return per acre and net return per acre to determine the most profitable spacing option. As part of the analysis, the researchers also incorporated risk analysis using expected utility analysis and stochastic dominance.

The option for greatest return

The findings revealed the 16' spacing resulted in the highest gross return per acre. However, due to the high cost of tile installation associated with this spacing, the net return per acre was significantly lower compared with the other spacing options. Surprisingly, the 66' spacing emerged as the most economically viable choice because it yielded the highest net return per acre.

The 66' spacing not only offered a better net return per acre but also exhibited a higher certainty equivalent of net returns. The certainty equivalent represents a risk-adjusted return that considers average net returns and downside risk. The study employed second-degree stochastic dominance analysis, which showed that the 66' spacing was preferred by risk-averse decision-makers.

To account for variations in economic parameters, the researchers conducted sensitivity analyses. They tested different discount rates, tile installation costs and useful life assumptions for the drainage system. While these factors influenced the average net returns and certainty equivalents, the relative superiority of the 66' spacing remained consistent across the scenarios.

It is important to note this study focused primarily on economic aspects and did not extensively explore agronomic and water quality factors associated with tile drainage. However, previous research suggests tile drainage offers benefits such as improved timeliness of fieldwork, increased crop yields, enhanced infiltration and reduced sediment and nutrient losses in poorly drained soils.

What to learn from this study

The study’s findings provide valuable insights for farmers and land managers considering subsurface tile drainage in their fields. By considering the economic implications and incorporating risk analysis, decision-makers can make informed choices for drainage spacing.
Attendees of the ASFMRA’s Annual Conference in November will hear from Langemeier who will provide additional context and insight into these findings during a breakout session.

How To Treat Your Water Right

Thu, 27 Apr 2023 11:00:00 GMT

A quality water supply for your spray tank is the foundation for a successful application. According to Helena, poor water quality can lead to antagonisms, active ingredient decomposition and/or formulation incompatibilities, which can reduce efficacy up to 50%. And 80% of application issues are attributed to how the application was made (including water quality) and not the product itself.

For the past four years, Helena has offered AquaLenz Advanced Water Analysis, which is a product to better inform the farmer of their water quality issues.

“Water sample reports can be extremely complex—they aren’t like a plant tissue report,” says Paul Crout, senior product manager. “So we’ve developed a way to take a sample and get key pieces of information.”

He explains each characteristic of the result is given a red, yellow, or green flag to indicate importance of addressing. The key characteristics measured are:

Hardness
Iron Antagonisms
pH
Carbonates/Bicarbonates
Sodium
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

“The most important problem is at the top—so it’s also prioritized and provides specific product recommendations for the best water treatment material for the problem,” Crout says.

Michael Kenty, product specialist, adds this tool has been incredibly insightful for Helena agronomists and the farmer customers at solving the problems they were encountering out in the field.

“Now, the first question I ask when there is a field call is if there’s an AquaLenz sample,” Kenty says. “It has been the best tool to start the troubleshooting with.”

From salted out tank mixes, to clogged hoses, to physical evidence in the field of product application gone awry, Kenty says the best tool is a proactive—not reactive one—and AquaLenz fits that bill.

So what do these characteristics of water do to the dynamics in the spray tank?

Hardness measures the total amount of dissolved cations in water. Metal cations (calcium and magnesium) bind with herbicides to produce antagonisms. Hardness is problematic with glyphosate, glufosinate, paraquat, 2,4-D amine and clethodim
Iron antagonisms effect the weed control provided by glyphosate and dicamba
pH is neutral at 7, but a ph of 3 to 6 (which is more acidic) is considered optimal for most pesticides. But this does vary by product
Carbonates/bicarbonates at high levels greatly affect the efficacy of glyphosate, 2,4-D, clethodim and sethoxydim
Sodium is a factor with irrigation suitability and particularly becomes an issue when combined with carbonates and bicarbonates. Sodium can also negatively interact with certain pesticides.
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) measures the total amount of minerals dissolved in the water, which is particularly important to monitor when sourced from creeks, rivers, lakes, ponds, etc., and if the water is brown. TDS can render glyphosate and paraquat ineffective.

The greatest benefits farmers have received is more efficient uses of their inputs, greater efficacy of the products, and improved stewardship to apply the needed amounts to address the pest problems.

“Aqualenz has made the science more understandable,” Crout says. “Our treatment product sales have increased year over year, which is sign growers are making the choice to address the identified issues.”

AquaLenz also helps inform which product to use to resolve an issue with the water quality. Kenty highlights how Helena has more than 10 water conditioner options, and each brings a unique value to the spray tank depending on the analysis results.

How often should farmers test water?

The Helena team advises to test any new water source, i.e. any new well farmers plan to use. Crout highlights how in California most water boards require yearly testing.
As for timing, Helena recommends testing water before you make treatment options, and up to twice a year.

“When we look at a sample, we’re providing a solution. It’s a solution to a specific problem. If you don’t get your water tested, you’re shooting in the dark,” Kenty says.

California Drought: Looks Promising But the Jury is Still Out

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 16:30:30 GMT

Matt Comrey, a technical nutrition agronomist with Wilbur-Ellis, is based in Yuma City, California. In that role, he assists the PCAs in the field with agronomic support.

Comrey came on The Scoop podcast to share the challenges northern California growers are facing across the variety of crops he helps consultant on.

He highlights two trends in ag retail:

a regulatory trend with the state getting much more involved in production agriculture. He says that is driving farmers to be more productive and efficient with less.
Growers have elevated and diversified expectations of their PCA. Comrey says in the past 10 years PCAs are no longer just focused on integrated pest management but also irrigation, fertility and other agronomic practices.

The recent rain events have helped ground surface water levels, but Comrey says when it comes to recharging the aquifers, the recovery is still three years out.

“We keep a close eye on reservoirs, and they’re looking promising at the moment,” he says. “But the jury’s still out. We need we need probably another good month a month to six weeks of solid rainfall to for growers to get out of the woods.”

Specific to the drought conditions, he highlights 3 tools growers can use to manage water to the best of their ability. Which is important as due to their semi-arid climate with no summer rain, farmers have control of 100% of their irrigation management decisions.

Those tools are:

tracking and understanding evapotranspiration
understanding distribution uniformity (which is relevant for water and fertility as much of the crop nutrient applications are done with irrigation water)
capacitance probes to measure soil moisture

Also, as a 40 Under 40 awardee, he shares for those in the early chapters of their career in ag retail to “stick it out” and find an ag retailer who will invest in their career and potential.

Comrey recently joined the California CCA board, and he advocates the CCA accreditation is a baseline for those in professional agronomic consulting.