The Blog

Soil and weather conditions this spring in Iowa and surrounding states could have a major impact on development of the region’s corn crop going into the heart of the growing season, says an area agronomist. Crop stress associated with nitrogen deficiency should be a big concern for corn growers who experienced a cool, wet spring. That stress may start showing up soon in some fields.

According to Tracy Blackmer, an agronomist with the Iowa Soybean Association, the large amounts of rain and extended wet growing conditions this spring in some parts of Iowa and neighboring states resulted in higher than normal leaching and denitrification of earlier applied nitrogen fertilizers. In addition to wet weather, Blackmer adds that numerous other field and soil conditions, including crop residue levels, soil pH and type of nitrogen fertilizer used, can impact nitrogen availability and cause deficiency stress.

“Nitrogen stress is critical to plant development from the eighth leaf stage to silking when the plant’s need for nitrogen is at its peak,” says Blackmer. He notes that similar wet weather in the spring of 2004 resulted in nearly 75 percent of tested fields in some areas of the state being nitrogen deficient during the growing season. This year could follow that same pattern.

Blackmer says remote sensing using aerial photography can be an effective tool to help detect nitrogen deficiency in plants early so that additional nutrients can be applied in a timely fashion.

Crop images provided by remote sensing services, such as the OptiGro™ system from John Deere Agri Services, make it even easier to detect even subtle changes in chlorophyll levels within the crop canopy, which correlate directly to nitrogen availability to the plants. “Remote sensing can be effective in detecting problems early, before it results in significant yield losses,” Blackmer adds.

As mentioned in a previous post, as we get deeper into the “precision revolution,” compatibility is growing, and practitioners are choosing their brands of equipment more carefully. That seems to be supported by the results of a recent reader poll, showing that nearly 60% run their operations with 3 brands or less of equipment.

Q: Counting self-propelled equipment, electronic controllers, GPS receivers, in-cab computers, yield monitors, and implements, how many different brands of these types of equipment do you use in your operation?

Response/Percentage
1-3 brands: 57%
4-6 brands: 33%
7-9 brands: 2%
10 or more brands: 8%
Total Responses: 46

Content courtesy of Paul Schrimpf, PrecisionAg, a Meister publication.

There is still a lot of discussion about the need for compatibility across agriculture equipment, be it a tractor, a sprayer, or a controller. True plug and play is possible in some instances, but has been slow to come. In a free market, that comes with the territory – companies put a lot of time and effort into developing specialized equipment, so there is always going to be the tendency to make things proprietary.

But as we get deeper into the “precision revolution,” compatibility is growing, and practitioners are choosing their brands of equipment more carefully. That seems to be supported by the results of a recent poll showing that nearly 60% run their operations with 3 brands or less of equipment.

Everyone agrees that compatibility and ease of use will be critical to pushing precision ag practices to the next level of adoption.

Content courtesy of Paul Schrimpf, PrecisionAg, a Meister publication

Farmers interested in applying variable rates of crop inputs based on current crop conditions have another service option, courtesy of John Deere Agri Services’ new OptiGro Imaging System.

The OptiGro system features a proprietary combination of high-tech automated cameras, custom software and the Web to deliver digital color and near-infrared images. Images are shot from a small airplane; the pilot focuses on flying, since the cameras are automated. The on-board computer helps direct the pilot’s flight path and captures differential GPS data, which is imbedded in the images. This allows the imagery to be used as the basis of a variable-rate application map. Using airplanes instead of satellites provides more flexibility to capture images when conditions are right and allows various image resolutions, depending on customer needs.

Content and full story courtesy of Farm Industy News.