Yield Builders content series

Beyond the Rate: 4 Ways to Sync Corn Nutrient Timing

Fri, 01 May 2026 13:40:47 GMT

Beyond “How much do I apply?” growers need to ask “When can my corn actually use it?” says Connor Sible, a crop physiologist at the University of Illinois. Sible and Fred Below’s research shows dialing in the timing and placement of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) applications can be the difference between a 160-bu. crop and a 230-bu. or even 300-bu. one.

“The key is peak uptake. Your crop doesn’t need the same amount of nutrients every day. There’s a short window when demand spikes, and that’s what really drives yield,” Sible noted during the 2026 Crop Management Conference.

Here are four ways Sible and Below say corn growers can use that insight in the field this season.

(Chart Source: Illinois Crop Physiology)

1. Build A Plan to Meet Peak Demand.

High-yield corn doesn’t consume nutrients at a steady, linear pace, according to Below. His research indicates that a 230-bu. crop can pull more than 2 lb. of P₂O₅ per acre per day during peak demand. N demand is even more intense, reaching 5 lb. to 9 lb. per acre per day.

He encourages high-yield farmers to shift their mindset from total seasonal pounds to daily availability. For example, growers hitting the 230-bu. mark typically:

Use realistic yield goals and removal charts to calculate total needs.
Overlay uptake curves provided by agronomists or seedsmen to identify the exact window of peak demand for specific hybrids.
Target the window and build fertilizer plans to meet that two- to three-week peak demand period.

(Chart Source: Illinois Crop Physiology)

2. Place Phosphorus Where Roots Can Reach It.

Phosphorus is notoriously immobile in the soil, relying on root interception to be absorbed. This makes placement a critical timing tool.

To support peak demand, Sible and Below suggest banding P under the row. The goal is to create a vertical column of phosphorus that corn roots naturally penetrate exactly when demand spikes. This results in the nutrient being in the path of the growing plant rather than scattered throughout the soil profile.

(Chart Source: Illinois Crop Physiology)

3. Use Split Nitrogen Applications to Cover the Surge.

To ensure N is present and accessible during the midseason surge, high-yield growers are increasingly moving toward split applications.

Sible notes a common successful strategy includes a preplant base followed by a sidedress application between V5 and V8. This can be achieved via knife, coulter or injection, often supplemented by Y-drops or high-clearance applications near tassel in some cases.

This strategy serves three purposes:

Reduces the time N sits in the field before the crop needs it.
Replenishes the root zone as demand ramps up.
Maintains the necessary 5 lb. to 9 lb. of daily available N during the fastest growth stages.

(Chart Source: Illinois Crop Physiology)

4. Protect Uptake With Soil Health And Residue Management.

Corn growers aiming for high yields can support peak nutrient uptake in corn by fostering soils that mineralize nutrients naturally. Sible points out that while fertilizer covers the shortfalls, the soil provides the baseline.

“High-yield growers keep residue managed, via strip-till or strategic tillage, so microbes can break it down and release N, P and S over time,” Sible says. “They also maintain or build organic matter, which feeds the mineralization engine that kicks in as soils warm into early summer.”

This “mineralization engine” provides a steady background flow of nutrients, Sible adds, allowing supplemental fertilizer and precision placement to push the crop through its highest-demand hurdles.

When Weird Corn Ears Wreck the Bottom Line

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 15:20:06 GMT

Abnormal corn ears may look like a cosmetic problem, but depending on the severity, they can deliver a significant hit to yield, reports Osler Ortez, Ohio State University corn specialist.

“If a field is managed for 200-bushel corn but only delivers 100 bushels because abnormal ears dominate, then every pound of nitrogen, every inch of irrigation and every pass you make across that field becomes much harder to justify,” he says.

Yield losses from abnormal corn ears can range from 35% to 91% in affected plants, with typical field-wide impacts often trailing lower, Ortez reports.

For reference, an “average” corn ear generally produces 16 kernel rows with about 800 kernels per ear, according to the Iowa State Extension.

Irregularities such as zipper ears (shown below), earless plants or multiple ears, reduce grain yield through poor kernel set, abortion or reduced kernel weight.

A common abnormality called zipper ear is caused by kernel abortion or failed pollination. The issue is often triggered by severe environmental stress during early grain fill or pollination from factors including drought, high heat or nutrient deficiency.

(R. L. Nielsen, professor emeritus and Purdue University Corn Specialist, retired)

Ortez emphasizes no single factor explains abnormal ear development. It’s nearly always the result of an interaction between three factors that corn researchers refer to as GEM:
G — Genetics (hybrid)

E — Environment (weather, stress)

M — Management (practices)

He adds that understanding when the stress is happening, the timing of it, is also important. For instance, early-season stress can limit ear initiation and potential ear number, while midseason issues impact pollination and kernel set. Late-season stress reduces kernel fill and overall weight.

Strategic Management Levers

While the weather can’t be controlled, Ortez says understanding the GEM interaction gives corn growers more leverage than they realize.

He lists three management decisions that can help growers mitigate the risk of abnormal ear development:

1. Evaluate the genetics: Treating hybrid selection as a defensive tool against ear problems — right alongside disease tolerance and standability — is one of the clearest ways to lower risk.

2. Pick a recommended seeding rate: In Nebraska field trials, Ortez observed abnormal ears increased at both ends of the seeding rate spectrum.

“Chasing a few extra bushels with aggressive populations, especially on drought-prone or otherwise stressed acres, often backfired when stress hit at the wrong time,” he notes. Conversely, pulling populations too low also created conditions where ear development went off track.

3. Consider the planting date: Researchers found planting hybrids outside the optimal window — either very early into cold, wet conditions or very late into heat and moisture stress — made it more likely sensitive growth stages would line up with damaging stress. Matching planting date to local recommendations and the strengths of a given hybrid proved to be an important way to reduce those risky overlaps.

Ultimately, by tuning into GEM, farmers can better safeguard their investments. As Ortez points out, the more sides of that triangle a farmer can stabilize or improve, the less likely a season’s worth of hard work and inputs will be undone by a field of problem ears.

Hear Ortez share more of his research on abnormal ear development in a recent podcast sponsored by the Crop Protection Network.

3 Corn Disease Lessons You Should Apply in 2026

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 19:49:18 GMT

As farmers continue to battle through the valley of the current farm economic cycle, they can glean valuable lessons about managing corn disease from the 2025 season. According to Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie, these three takeaways can apply next year:

Diseases might be severe in one area but nonexistent a few miles away.
Designating a pest boss and a pest management team pays big.
Don’t walk away from your crop.

Here You Find Disease, There You Don’t

“In 2025, in many areas of the Corn Belt, farmers experienced 10-to-50-bu. yield losses from corn disease,” Ferrie says. “The big problems were tar spot and southern rust, often in the same field. When disease was discovered in time, damage was somewhat preventable.

“Here’s what made management tricky: One field would be at threshold levels for treatment, but 5 miles away fields were disease-free. It boiled down to the disease triangle, requiring a susceptible host, a pathogen and the right environment. In some areas, where the three components never came together, growers harvested some of their highest yields ever with no fungicide.”

That hit-and-miss disease situation, in a period of tight profit margins, made scouting fields and having a pest boss making timely treatment decisions even more crucial than usual.

These photos taken through the windshield of a combine show the impact of a disease compared to two applications of a fungicide. Besides higher yield, the stay-green effect of the fungicide can also lengthen the harvest window.

(Crop-Tech Consulting Inc.)

“Where disease was present, many growers netted a 25-bu.-to-40-bu. yield response from a fungicide application,” Ferrie says. “Good managers who continued to scout often discovered diseases coming back about two weeks after treatment. Many of them sprayed a second time and netted another 20-bu. or 30-bu. response in addition to improved standability. That’s why I say never walk away from a growing crop.

“Conversely, many farmers who failed to identify disease in their fields and did not apply a fungicide found their yields shrank by 40 bu. per acre from their July estimates.”

Go Low for Rust and Tar Spot

One lesson from 2025 that applies to fungicide application confirmed Ferrie’s previous studies and observations.

“Last season, tar spot and southern rust started low on the plants and worked their way upward,” Ferrie says. “Fungicides had to penetrate deep into the canopy to control them.”

With aerial application, big droplets often fell beneath the aircraft and penetrated the canopy. But the smaller, lighter droplets floated to the outside of the pattern, remaining on the top leaves. Most years, that’s not a problem; but in 2025 it provided streaky results.

“With ground applicators, we did not see that streaking effect, because we got good penetration across the swath,” Ferrie says. “They put the fungicide down low, where it was needed.”

Lesson for 2026: To control tar spot and rust low in the canopy, when using aerial application, narrow your spray pattern.

“If you have both diseases in a field, make sure you use a fungicide that controls both,” Ferrie adds.

Your Pest Management Team

“Don’t have a pest management team yet? The offseason is the ideal time to assemble one. Here’s some advice to help:

A team can consist of farm employees, retail employees or scouting services. Hesitant to use someone who sells products? “Lots of great pest managers work in retail,” Ferrie says. “Their success depends on you being successful also.”
You might want to assemble several teams, for various issues such as weeds, disease and insects.
On a smaller operation, the whole team can be just one person, but make sure someone is authorized to make timely decisions.
The team must know how to collect accurate data, including good pictures for the pest boss. There’s no room for emotion in their reports.
Scouting must not stop after a treatment is applied. “If a disease resurges, as many did last year, it can shorten the grain-fill period and turn a great crop into a mediocre one,” Ferrie says.
Just like the scouts, the pest boss must base decisions on data, not emotion, coffee shop conversation or someone else’s team.
While market prices influence the economic threshold of when to treat, don’t let them create an emotional situation where the option is to treat or not to treat.
The pest boss must consider crop insurance coverage when making treatment decisions. Is the operator insured? The landowner? For how much? Do any other insurance factors apply?

Can Good Fertility Levels Reduce The Need For Fungicides?

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 19:40:13 GMT

A farmer recently asked Ken Ferrie this two-part question: Can a soil test help determine the need for a fungicide application, and does healthy soil correlate with less need for fungicide?

“The answer to these questions is yes, maybe and sort of,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

The final determination is based on the disease triangle – you must have the disease, a host and the right conditions to trigger a disease outbreak. Soil health falls under the area of conditions, and soil tests can help identify conditions.

What a soil test doesn’t do is detect the presence of disease in a field – an insight that is valuable to know if you experienced heavy disease pressure in corn this season.

“Healthy soils do not prevent disease from moving into a field, but we do know healthy plants handle stress better than unhealthy plants,” Ferrie explains.

That fact was evident in Farm Journal corn fertility test plots in 2021 and again this season in Midwest farmers’ fields as Ferrie and his agronomic team helped corn growers deal with a toxic mixture of multiple diseases ranging from southern rust to northern corn leaf blight and tar spot.

“In some of our nitrogen (N) plots, an additional 30 pounds of N looked like a fungicide application when it came to keeping corn greener longer, packing more starch in before disease shut down the plants,” he recalls.

What Farmers Need To Consider For 2026
Soil tests done this fall can give farmers some indication of which fields could be at risk to any disease pressure that shows up next season. Ferrie offers several scenarios as examples:

“Low potash testing fields will have more trouble than fields where the potash is adequate. Fields that are acid and need limestone will be more susceptible to disease pressure,” he says.

“Fields that run out of nitrogen during grain fill are more susceptible to disease pressure. In our test plots where we pulled N rates back and disease was an issue (in 2021), some hybrids died a month early, knocking 30 to 50 bushels per acre out of the yield,” he adds.

Fungicides and good fertility levels will lessen the impact of a disease outbreak, but they will not eliminate it. “Therefore, we want to be careful pulling back too far on our fertility, especially in those fields that aren’t at the optimum levels to begin with,” Ferrie says.

Along with that recommendation, Farm Journal Field Agronomist Missy Bauer encourages growers to keep some level of nutrients in the field.

“So even if you put reduced rates of fertilizer on, keep soluble nutrients in front of your crop,” she advises.

Crop-Tech Consulting Field Agronomist Isaac Ferrie says to manage pH levels based on what soil tests show. Even small changes can have a significant impact on plants, nutrient availability and soil microbial activity.

“Keeping your pH in check will help keep other nutrients more available, so make sure your pH levels are in good shape and lime where needed,” he advises.

Your next read: 26 Ideas To Cut Fertilizer Costs In 2026

Want to Boost Corn Yields? Balance Your Nitrogen Checkbook In-Season

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 11:00:00 GMT

As Aaron Gingerich walked across jade-green fields of newly emerged corn plants this spring, he had a hunch about the crop that stand evaluations would soon validate: his 2025 crop was off to a winning start.

Mindful of high input costs and low commodity prices, Gingerich pondered his next decision in late May – whether to keep the yield goals he had penciled out for the crop last winter or move them higher, based on what he was seeing in the field. He opted for the latter, bumping his overall yield goal by 12% and making a corresponding increase in his nitrogen program to support the decision.

The plan-then-verify approach to setting yield goals and supporting them with adequate nitrogen (N) in-season has been Gingerich’s go-to strategy in recent years to build incremental yield increases – an annual chess match with Mother Nature that he wins more times than not come harvest.

“The goal is to make sure the crop gets enough nitrogen from day one and through the entire season but to do it as efficiently and sustainably as possible in the process,” says Gingerich, who farms near Lovington, Ill. “It’s been a journey of learning for the past 15 years, and we’re still learning.”

Strategic N Decisions Based On Corn Yield Goals
Gingrich aims to achieve between a 0.85 and a 0.9 nitrogen use efficiency ratio per bushel of corn.

The past few years he has been able to achieve that with a nitrogen program that includes fall-applied DAP, followed in the spring with a banded application of 20% of his total nitrogen, made with a strip-till freshener just prior to planting on the strip. The modest amount of N applied then fuels a strong start in the crop at emergence (VE) and also helps address the carbon penalty, in which a large volume of old crop residue stimulates microorganism populations and causes soil nitrogen to become tied up and unavailable until later in the season.

Next up, Gingerich plans his sidedress applications by pulling nitrate samples to evaluate N availability and whether any leaching issues have occurred. Based on the test results, he makes sidedress applications with the remaining 75% to 80% of his N, paired with a nitrogen inhibitor.

Ken Ferrie calls the process of evaluating nitrate test results and then fine-tuning nitrogen applications at sidedress time and beyond balancing the nitrogen checkbook.

Implementing the practice is important to use for a variety of reasons and is always geared to helping farmers fuel their corn adequately to reach target yield goals at harvest, says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

“There are things we can’t control, like the weather, but we can make agronomic decisions to mitigate risks and give the crop its best chance to perform up to its potential,” he says.

A common scenario is like the one Gingerich gladly faced this spring – when young corn stands are better than anticipated, and a boost to N rates is needed to reach higher yield goals.

“Say you had a 220-bu. yield goal originally and you decided to go for 260 bushels after corn stand evaluations, the nitrogen needs to be adjusted for that,” Ferrie says.

Another scenario Ferrie has seen play out this year is where farmers opted out of N use last fall, because of budget constraints, but then made no adjustments to their nitrogen program this spring.

“If a year ago we wrote the grower a fertilizer recommendation and it had 48 pounds of N in the dry application but he decided to not put it on due to budget, that 48 pounds has to come back into the picture now, and sometimes farmers forget,” he explains.

Weather conditions always play a role in nitrogen use. In areas where farmers have dealt with too much water this season, Ferrie says pulling nitrate samples for testing – which provides a snapshot in time – works like a nitrogen inventory checker.

“Here locally, I’m feeling good about our N program. For the guys that have been held up by rain and are fighting that, I know that statement may not be true at all, unfortunately,” he says.

Decisions Based On The 4Rs Improves Yield Outcomes, ROI
Ferrie says he sees growers increasingly tuned into using the 4Rs – right product, right rate, right place, right time.

“Farmers are learning to walk that tightrope better, while still making sure corn never has a bad day,” he says. “With our nitrogen recommendation, it pertains to yield goal, hybrid type, population, soil type, organic matter, and we can do what’s called an estimated nitrogen release test to kind of put that all together.”

The way a nitrogen program works is lighter soils need the most applied N. Heavier soils take less N per bushel of corn because the soil supplies that balance.

“When you get into your lighter timber soils, they take more applied N per bushel because the soil can’t supply it. So somebody who’s on a light timber soil and gets nervous and pulls his N rate back, he’s going to get hurt harder than somebody who’s in some heavy black soil that has a lot of built-in horsepower.”

With the 4Rs in mind, Gingerich has tweaked his application timing several times over the years. “We used to fall-apply anhydrous, and then we went to split applications, and we’ve kept adjusting. Now, because we do have heavy soils, I can apply those higher rates of N at sidedress, knowing it’ll be there when the crop needs it at tassel, ear fill and beyond,” he says.

Never Let Corn Have A Bad Day
The right-time aspect of the 4Rs requires understanding how much nitrogen (per day, week or month) corn plants take up at each stage of growth. “Fortunately, there’s a wealth of published information farmers can use for guidance,” Ferrie says. “Using computer models, we can input our planting date and weather data and the model can predict when plants will reach various growth stages and how much nitrogen must be taken aboard each day.”

To reach a specific yield goal, growers need to know about a hybrid’s season-long uptake and N timing needs along the way. For instance, a 200-bu. per acre corn crop will consume between 330 lb. to 350 lb. of nitrogen per acre, on average.

“On many soils, we only need to apply about 200 lb. of nitrogen, or less, because the soil provides the rest of the nitrogen,” Ferrie explains. “Our challenge is to make sure sufficient nitrogen is present when the plant needs it throughout the growing season. That requirement is small at the beginning and becomes very large later in the season. And it varies by hybrid.”

Right after emergence, corn takes up only a very small amount of nitrogen. By the time a plant reaches the V5 growth stage (five leaf collars showing), it might contain only 8 to 10 grams of dry matter in its leaves, stalks and roots, and that dry matter is only 1.5% to 2% nitrogen. So, at 36,000 plants per acre, 1 acre of corn takes up only about 1.2 lb. of nitrogen through the V5 stage.

Although N uptake is low from emergence to V5, it can’t be neglected. “Poor placement, one of the 4Rs, can restrict plants from finding even 1 lb. of nitrogen,” Ferrie says. “If you applied anhydrous ammonia 7" to 8" deep the previous fall, the N might still be there, but it will be out of reach for the plant.”

During the V5 through V8 growth stages, sufficient nitrogen is critical because that’s when many hybrids begin adjusting their potential ear size. “If a plant suffers serious nitrogen deficiency between the V5 and V8 growth stages, it might cut back from 18 rows of kernels to 14 or 16,” Ferrie says. “Once a plant scales back its ear girth, we can’t get it back.”

Nitrogen Requirements Through Corn Reproductive Stages
From V12 to R3, plants store nitrogen in their stalks. If at any time a plant can’t meet its nitrogen needs, it translocates nitrogen from its stalk to the grain.

At V12, growth becomes so rapid that, as farmers often say, you can hear the corn grow. “At this stage, the nitrogen uptake rate is steep, and the supply is critical,” Ferrie says. “This is the crucial period in which maximum ear length still is being negotiated inside the plant. It continues all the way to grain fill.

After V12, if we stress the plant very long, without enough nitrogen, it might start to abort kernels.

Kernel abortion can continue into the dough stage, and, once it happens, you can’t get those kernels back.

“Our studies have shown, by the time we see lighter green color in nitrogen-deficient strips, we usually have given up some yield. We can turn those plants green again by applying nitrogen—and we have to, to avoid losing much more yield—but we can’t make up the lost yield potential.

Generally, a plant accumulates about 70% of the total N it will need before silking and accumulates about 30% during reproductive growth, according to Purdue University Extension.

At about R3, the plant begins heavy translocation of nitrogen from the stalk to the grain, as plants work on filling kernel depth. Through R4 and R5, entering the dent stage, the plant continues to translocate nitrogen from the stalk into the grain. “If the stalk is empty of nitrogen at this time, it will affect grain fill,” Ferrie says.

Gingerich says, so far, his sidedress applications are keeping his corn adequately fueled through harvest, though he has contemplated applying N with a Y-drop application. “So far we haven’t seen an economic benefit to it, but we might in the future,” he says. “With these newer hybrids using more nutrients to stay greener and healthier longer, I can see how making an adjustment at some point could provide more ROI.”

Talk With Your Seed Supplier
Seed companies are starting to provide farmers with information about corn hybrid response patterns to nitrogen.

“Some can tell you whether the hybrid needs N up front, at the back end or broken up with split applications,” Ferrie says. “If this information is not available for your hybrids, you can incorporate nitrogen timing into a hybrid test plot and observe the response.”

Ferrie offers a final caution for farmers who believe corn needs to turn yellow before nitrogen deficiencies limit yield. That’s a theory that can cause significant yield losses.

“You can have a 20-bu. loss in yield from a lack of adequate nitrogen and not be able to see that from the pickup,” he says. “When we are dealing with nutrients that affect yield, nitrogen is the big dog. And when you run out, yields will drop. Missing P and K will change soil test values, but missing out on nitrogen reduces yields,” he adds.

Darrell Smith contributed information on nitrogen application timing to this article.

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Sap Tests Can Help Reduce Nutrient Use, Improve Crop Health and Boost Yields

Thu, 01 May 2025 15:09:26 GMT

As farmers look for ways to increase crop yields with strategic fertilizer use and contain costs at the same time, some are turning to sap testing and analysis.

“[Sap testing] helps us fine-tune our fertility program in-season based on what the plants tell us they need nutrient-wise, so we don’t over-apply or under-apply fertilizer,” says Lawrence Hewing, who grows corn and soybeans in Champaign County, Ill.

Over the past three years, he’s been able to reduce nutrient use, improve crop health and boost yields.

“We haven’t seen a large yield increase in corn, but we’re using a half pound or less of nitrogen per bushel – half of what we used to use,” Hewing says. “In soybeans we have gained additional yield – up to 10 bu. more per acre from doing a foliar application in-season. I think that’s helped us hold onto more blooms and then retain pods.”

How Sap Testing Works
A sap test measures the nutrient levels – including minerals, sugars and proteins – in the plant’s vascular tissues, the xylem and phloem, according to Mike Evans, co-owner of Calibrated Agronomy, based in Dow City, Iowa.

“Sap tests have taught us a lot about nutrient mobility in the plant, that plants can reallocate certain minerals and not others,” he says. “This was a big a-ha moment for us and really opened our eyes to the deficiencies we’d been missing with tissue tests.”

Tissue tests are done only on new growth, Evans adds, while a sap test is done on both new and old growth, which provides additional data for analysis.

“You’re pulling a sample from a new leaf, just like you would for tissue sampling, but you’re also pulling a sample from an older, mature leaf on the plant, too, and then comparing the test results between them,” Hewing explains. “The idea is to give the plant enough nutrition it can support new growth without needing to rob nutrients from the old growth. We think this helps us improve overall plant health throughout the growing season.”

Because a sap test sample is pulled from both old and new leaves, the analysis can reveal current nutrient deficiencies as well as those that will soon occur.

“It’s like getting a glimpse into the future,” Evans says.

John Kempf, founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA) in northeast Ohio, says sap analysis detects upcoming nutrient deficiencies between 21 to 28 days ahead of tissue analysis and 35 to 42 days before visible symptoms appear.

In-Season Nutrient Adjustments
Evans has used sap testing and analysis with his clients for the past several years. He says the most significant benefit is being able to better address corn nitrogen needs.

“The biggest eye opener has been the value we’ve seen from measuring what we call a plant’s nitrogen conversion efficiency,” he says. “We benchmark the nitrogen at the beginning of the season, and then we watch it. We want to keep it at a level above 95%, regardless of how good the plant looks.”

Sap test and analysis also help Evans’ growers fine-tune micronutrient needs in corn, including zinc, boron, iron and copper.

Who Finds Value In Sap Tests?
According to Evans, producers are usually in one of two camps. “A lot of them have been doing tissue sampling for a while and have hit a yield plateau they can’t get past,” he explains. “Then there are the farmers who are really inquisitive about crop fertility and want to achieve better nutrient efficiency.”

Hewing is in the latter camp. “We knew something was missing in our program and that we needed better agronomic insights,” he recalls. The search for those led him to John Kempf and AEA. The 2025 season marks the fourth year Hewing has worked with the Ohio-based organization.

“We started out using just one sap test on a couple of fields,” Hewing says. “This year, we’re going to use the tests across the whole farm.”

Evaluate The Pros And Cons
The upfront cost of doing sap testing and analysis is about $100 per two-part test – more than the price of a tissue test.

To optimize ROI, Evans says he tells growers to allocate 70% of their dollar spend to their baseline fertility program and then retain 30% of their budget for sap testing and in-season nutrient applications.

Another potential issue with sap testing, Hewing says, is the analysis usually requires more turnaround time than tissue testing.

“Depending on the lab you use and who you work with, it can take 10 days or so to get your results,” he says.

Still, Hewing has achieved measurable results he says outweigh the cost and time involved with sap testing.

He offers a common-sense recommendation to other farmers looking to improve crop health and performance: “I’d tell them to pick out their worst field and give sap tests a try. Evaluate the results for a few years and see what kind of results you get and then go from there.”

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5 Tips for Bigger Corn and Soybean Yields in 2025

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 18:00:04 GMT

World-record farmer Randy Dowdy is no stranger to big yields and big expectations. Through his work with Total Acre , a business he founded with Virginia farmer David Hula, he encourages farmers to ask the right questions and use data to back up decisions in their quest to unlock yield potential on their own farms.

“My brother teased me for years that I came out of the womb saying ‘why?’ rather than ‘waaa,’” Dowdy laughs. “There is a lot of tradition in farming, and farmers do things because their daddy did it or their alma mater says so. My challenge has always been to ask people why they do what they do.”

With the 2025 planting season right around the corner, his advice is to reevaluate common decisions and make sure there’s real information to back up your game plan.

“Hope is a strategy, but it’s not a good one,” Dowdy says. “Hoping versus knowing is a big deal, and I’d rather know what I’m doing than hope I made the right decision.”

Here are Dowdy and Hula’s top five tips for better yields in 2025:

1. It’s All About Emergence.

It’s not about bolts or bushings, it’s all about emergence. Based on Dowdy’s research, to avoid a yield-limiting establishment there must be a certain number of growing degree units (GDUs) between the first and last emerging plants. It’s not about counting stand populations — it’s about simultaneous emergence.

“Farmers know how to grow corn. They know how to put seed in the ground. What they don’t do a very good job of is knowing how long it takes for every plant to come out of the ground,” Hula says. “How long did it take for that first plant to come up and for the last plant to come up?”

It’s asking those questions that can help growers break yield barriers.

“When I spend $25 on a herbicide and $30 on a fungicide or something else, do I want 100% of those plants to respond or do I want 70% of those plants to respond? The only way I’m going to get a 100% response and maximize ROI is if all of the plants have emerged simultaneously,” Dowdy adds.

2. Determine Cold Germ Score.

Look beyond germination and know how your seed will react to temperatures and conditions. The warm germination test is the standard measurement for seed viability. Total Acre recommends getting a saturated cold germination test. If you want to plant early, or push conditions, you need to know the cold germ score.

3. Is Your Planting Population Reaching Its Potential?

If you plant 30,000 seeds, you should make 10 bu. per thousand plants, which is 300-bu. corn. If you’re planting 30,000 plants and you’re only making 240-bu. corn, that’s 8 bu. per thousand plants. Figure out why and work toward reaching that goal.

“If you plant 30,000 seeds, you should make 10 bu. per 1,000 plants, which is 300-bu. corn.”

4. Evaluate Soil Health.

When was the last time you pulled soil samples across the farm? Was it three years ago, two years ago or last year? Hoping your soil sample from three years ago will be sufficient for this year’s crop is just hoping. You have to know reality and make decisions based on data before the planter rolls.

5. Plan to Harvest High-Moisture Corn.

Harvesting corn at a higher moisture can add real bushels to yield. However, capturing that yield takes planning. With today’s equipment, farmers can often plant much faster than they can harvest. It might make sense to spread out maturities at planting so the farm can capture those free bushels at the end of the season.

How High Can Yields Climb?
Dowdy and Hula help growers break through yield barriers every year. One of the bst examples is Alex Harrell, a Georgia farmer who tallied a soybean yield of 218.2856 bu. per acre in 2024 . He eclipsed the previous record, which he set in 2023 with a yield of 206.7997 bu. per acre.

Hula holds the world record for corn yield at 623.8439 bu. per acre.

While 600 bu.-per-acre corn sounds impressive, he thinks the corn yield potential per acre is even higher.

“I did a Google search on the theoretical yield potential of corn and found a professor who said by the year 2030, it was going to be 1,311 bu.,” Hula says. “I don’t think we’re [to the top yet], but clearly we’re over 600 [bu. per acre]. If I had to guess, the potential is in the 900-bu. to 1,000 bu.-per-acre range. There’s a whole lot of room for improvement.”

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