Beck’s conducts research trials to help farmers succeed

SYCAMORE, Ill. — The Practical Farm Research conducted by Beck’s is aimed to make a difference and help farmers succeed.

“We know you are fighting for margins so we try to do as much as we can to help you with information,” said Chad Kalaher, field agronomist for Beck’s.

Beck’s conducts research at 12 locations that includes over 1,200 acres and more than 150 studies. Several years ago, the company started to replicate the same research protocol at multiple sites.

“That makes the data more powerful,” said Kalaher during a PFR Insight meeting hosted by Beck’s.

Over 150 practices researched by the company have received the PFR Proven stamp.

“To earn a stamp, we have to test the practice a minimum of three years, it has to give us a yield increase every year and it has to average a positive return on investment over the years it was tested,” the field agronomist said.

During the meeting, Kalaher highlighted some of the results from trials conducted by Beck’s, including information about soybean seed treatments.

“We do not offer untreated soybean seed, our base package comes on every soybean seed and we are the only company that offers a standard nematode product in our base package,” Kalaher said.

“In 2025, we saw a yield advantage from our base treatment of four bushels per acre,” he said. “When we added Saltro, we saw an additional 2 bushels on top of the base.”

Red crown rot is a new soybean disease threat.

“Last year was the first time I aggressively scouted for the presence of red crown rot,” Kalaher said.

Soybean plants with this disease will have red coloring at the base of the stem and white mycelial growth is often associated with the red color.

“The leaves tend to stay attached at the top of the plant, and even during harvest, leaves can still be attached to the plant,” the field agronomist said. “For sudden death syndrome, those leaves will fall off.”

Kalaher talked about a soybean field in southern Douglas County that was impacted by red crown rot. Parts of the field yielded 78 bushels per acre, but the infected plants produced 55 bushels per acre.

“Red crown rot is potentially as damaging as white mold and maybe even more,” Kalaher said. “It is something we need to be watching for and potentially managing for in the future.”

The company did screening projects with known red crown rot areas in two Illinois locations.

“We found that there are variety differences,” Kalaher said. “Victrato is a new seed treatment from Syngenta that gives us better protection for red crown rot and it is also better than Saltro for sudden death syndrome and soybean cyst nematode.”

PFR research shows that farmers may want to change their talc and graphite mixture.

“Stride Bio is an 80/20 talc graphite blend that also has nutritionals put in and it has earned the PFR Proven stamp with a return on investment of almost $14,” Kalaher said.

GroPak A.I. has nutritionals and microbes, the field agronomist said.

“For two-year results, we’ve seen pretty good results from this product,” he said. “This is one thing that you are probably already doing that doesn’t take any additional time or effort to boost production.”

For corn, researchers at Beck’s looked at how to manage hybrids based on their ear styles and root architecture.

“With plant populations of 28,000 to 40,000, for semi-determinate ears, the ear size pretty much stays the same no matter the population,” Kalaher said. “But for full-flex ears, the ear size tends to go down as the plant population increases.”

With semi-determinate ears, the field agronomist said, the researchers do not see a difference in population trends for both of the root styles.

However, the researchers are seeing differences in hybrids with full-flex ears.

“The vertical root hybrids tend to show a trend for higher populations doing better,” Kalaher said.

“For horizontal root hybrids with full-flex ears, if we plant them too thick, we see the yield come down,” he said. “There is a $90 per acre difference in 28,000 and 40,000 populations.”

Farmers need to pay more attention to the architecture of corn roots along with the ear flex to determine the population, Kalaher said.

“Match the correct population to the hybrid,” he said.

Applying fungicides to crops can be accomplished in several ways, including ground sprayers, drones, helicopters or airplanes.

“Here are three years of data, where we sprayed 10 to 20 gallons per acre with ground rigs, which gave us a $6 to $7 return on investment,” Kalaher said. “Spraying with the drone at 2 gallons per acre resulted in an average of $14.66 return on investment.”

“There are many effective ways to get that application of fungicide on and we need all the options,” the field agronomist said. “Because it comes down to getting the field sprayed versus not sprayed.”

“In 2025, we had heavy pressure from southern rust and tar spot, so at one location we saw a 30-bushel yield advantage with the fungicide,” he said. “And I know there are guys who had 80-bushel yield losses, who did not spray fungicides on corn.”

The pH of the water and of the solution after products have been mixed in may also dictate the success or failure of fungicide applications.

“A pH of 7 is neutral and lower than 7 is acidic, which is what we want,” Kalaher said.

“If you have a neutral pH in your spray system, it takes three hours for half of that active ingredient to degrade and not be active,” the field agronomist said. “So, you just lost half of your money for that application.”

“If you make the pH 5, you increase your time from three to 10 hours,” he said. “The product is remaining active that much longer on the leaf surface if the pH is correct.”

When the Brandt Indicate 5 water conditioner is added to a spray tank, it turns pink when the solution is at pH5.

“That product gave us the highest return,” Kalaher said.