AgriGold

From compaction to disease, fungicide to nitrogen, how are the corn and soybean crops across the Midwest faring?

Got GDUs? If so, how many? What kind of nutrients are your corn plants using at 750 GDUs? How about 1,150 GDUs? How much and what kind of nutrients will that crop need to maximize not just yield, but grain fill and test weight?

Are the planting and harvest seasons shifting forward for farmers in the Midwest and across the U.S. Corn Belt? One agronomist who has been watching the seasons change thinks it could be happening.

Where will the 2022 corn crop grow — and go? Those are the big questions that AgriGold agronomists attempted to answer as they submitted their national average corn yield guesses for the current growing year.

AgriGold is continuing to develop specialty products for farmers who want to diversify their crops. The four main specialty corn products are waxy, hard endosperm/yellow food grade, white hybrid and conventional yellow dent.

Farmers may notice sulfur deficiencies in cornfields this year. “We’ve seen quite a bit of sulfur deficiency this year, especially in no-till or heavy residue situations,” said Kevin Gale, AgriGold agronomist in northern Illinois.

From raising pumpkins on the family farm in his youth to training Zambia, Africa, farmers in modern practices, agriculture has been ingrained in Todd Steinacher’s early life and career. The AgriGold agronomist’s dedication to the industry led to Steinacher being named the 2021 International Certified Crop Adviser of the Year at the American Society of Agronomy annual meeting.

Soybeans and corn are often put into the same management strategy bucket, but the “soy factory” is more complex.

An AgriGold soybean variety recognized by the Illinois Soybean Association High Yield PLUS Quality program for high livestock feed value set a new world yield record for non-irrigated soybeans in 2020 on a Nebraska farm. The variety, G3520RX, yielded 148.8 bushels per acre.