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February 2013

The February issue offers lots of Think Different opportunities for farmers. From making variable-rate seeding work and fertility strategies and tests to climate and weather predictions and boosting your farm biz savvy, the issue brings you tips and ideas to help you farm smarter, profitably and different.

Think Different

  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Think Different: Farmer v. Monsanto

    It’s not often a five-page letter from a farmer crosses my desk, even though it is obviously a typewriter-written, mass-mailed letter addressed to “magazine officials.” It was a letter from Vernon Bowman, a 74-year-old farmer from Sandborn, Ind. He outlined his use of commodity soybeans purchased from a local elevator to use as inexpensive double-crop soybean seed, and the subsequent legal actions taken against him by Monsanto....More

Profits

  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Farm Growth Beyond Acres

    “You get more of what you measure” – a common phrase in business best followed by, “Be careful what you measure.” What can this mean on the farm? One of the easiest things we can measure on our path to building our farm is number of acres....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Take the Pricing Leap

    Talk of the fiscal cliff wore me down. It reminded me of the buzz surrounding Y2K at the new millennium. What happened on January 1, 2000? The sun rose in the East and I had a cup of coffee. Life as we know it continued to march forward. I expected the same from a fiscal cliff....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    $8 Soybeans?

    Don’t let that frighten you. And don’t jump off a cliff. I throw that number out there more for conversation purposes than an outright prediction. On the other hand, if history repeats itself, that is likely the downside target for soybeans. This is a potentially very bearish situation soybean producers could be facing in the next several months....More

Features

  • Jan. 17, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Make Variable Seeding Work

    Keith Alverson and his family started to variable-rate plant in the 1990s, and now find benefit with the practice on every corn acre. He, his father Ron and uncle grow corn and soybeans on rolling land near Chester, S.D. In the early 1990s, they started reducing seeding rates manually in the dry corners of pivot-irrigated fields, where yield potential is always much lower. The practice cut seed costs by 25% in unwatered sections, and was especially beneficial in dry years, Alverson says....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Uncertain Climate Ahead | You Will See Warmer Highs, Heavier Rains, More Variable Weather

    Climate change doesn’t mean banana trees will replace corn stalks in the Midwest, but growing corn will likely become a greater challenge. And the Corn Belt will likely move northward....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Grain Sellers Unite | Marketing Clubs Make Sense to Sharpen Your Skills

    Grain marketing clubs come in all shapes and sizes. With so much money on the table, most farmers need all the information they get on making crop sales, trends that impact prices, whether China is still calling the shots or whether Texas feed yards will still pay $8 for corn....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article

    Landlord Shock | Farmers Learn New Perspectives From Next-Generation Landlords

    Farmers aren't the only ones getting older. Forty-two percent of non-operating landlords (NOLs) were more than 70 years of age in 1999*. As control of rental property shifts to the next generation, long-term tenant relationships can shift, too....More
  • Jan. 17, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Spring Fertility Strategies

    If you didn’t fertilize last fall, soil sampling can be one of the best fertilizer management tools this spring. “If you don’t soil sample every year and you didn’t sample last fall, this is the year to do it, says Gary Hergert, University of Nebraska soil and nutrient management specialist....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    3 Best Nitrogen Tests

    It came as no surprise to Tim Mundorf last fall that many post-harvest corn stalk test samples contained high levels of nitrogen (N). The field representative for Midwest Laboratories in Omaha, Neb., says dry weather and poor yields are reminders of how much N can go unused by corn plants in a drought. The lesson to be learned is that you should test under all conditions as part of a long-term, successful N management plan....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Sidedress Yields Big Returns | This Simple Rig Helped Slash N Use, Reduce Runoff Concerns

    For Jason Sheehan, cutting input costs was the main impetus for moving to variable-rate fertilizer application and N sidedressing. Reducing the potential for any off-site movement was a close second....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Switch to Drip Irrigation

    Using subsurface drip irrigation, Nebraska farmer Don Anthony has maintained big corn and soybean yields while improving his watering efficiency by 35% or more. Like many western Corn Belt and southern High Plains growers with limited annual rainfall, Anthony has counted on irrigation as a staple for his corn, soybeans and other crops....More
  • Jan. 17, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Improve Your Crop Scouting

    A new iPad/Android tablet app offers a comprehensive approach to corn and soybean crop scouting, management and recordkeeping. So says Michael Koenig, who co-founded ScoutPro with Stuart McCulloh and Holden Nyhus through Iowa State University’s (ISU) Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative. Tap into university Extension photo references like ISU’s Weed Identification Field Guide to identify weeds, insects and diseases in the field....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Think Like a Weed

    A proven method for understanding opponents is to put yourself in their shoes and see the world as they see it – in this case, to think like a weed. What do weeds need to thrive? What plant characteristics and cultural practices are beneficial to herbicide-resistant weeds? What management tactics have proven effective against them?...More
  • Jan. 17, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Upstream-Downstream Drainage Issues

    There’s an old adage in drainage lore: Whiskey’s for drinkin’; water’s for fightin’! Upstream and downstream farmers along 100-year-old County Ditch 57 in Blue Earth County, in heavily tiled south-central Minnesota, started out at loggerheads over ditch improvements. But they ended up working together to improve both drainage capacity and water quality – thanks to innovative drainage methods and a determined fundraising effort by local leaders....More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Boost Farm Biz Savvy

    “Farms are just like any small business; they fail if not run properly,” says family farm manager Jacob Wagers, when discussing the need to take family farms to the next level. “So many fail when they make a generational change.”...More
  • Feb. 1, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Market Your 2014 Crop?

    For farmers who got sucked into questionable multi-year corn and soybean marketing in the mid-1990s, talk of the 2013 fiscal cliff would be just a speed bump. Not only were there massive losses, some wound up with heavy fines and even jail time. Unsecured hedge-to-arrive (HTA) contracts mismanaged by elevators, market analysts and farmers caused the stench....More
  • Jan. 6, 2013
    Article
    Corn and Soybean Digest

    Chances for Insurable Margins Again for 2013

    With the likelihood of lower premium rates and better overall coverage, federal revenue crop insurance should provide farmers with tools to potentially insure profit margins for 2013 crops, says Bruce Sherrick, a University of Illinois farmdoc farm management specialist. He stresses that with crop price protection levels likely in the $5.70/bu. range for corn and about $12.75/bu. for soybeans, “adequate margins may be insurable again this year.”...More
  • Dec. 27, 2012
    Article

    18 Resolutions to Improve Farming Practices in 2013 5

    New Year's resolutions aren't just for those who are overweight, sedentary or struggling to break a bad habit. Farmers can resolve to avoid poor management practices or implement better production techniques in 2013. Here, Purdue University crop, livestock and agricultural economics specialists share their top three farmer resolutions for the year ahead....More
  • Jan. 7, 2013
    Article

    Historic 'Flash Drought' to Continue into 2013 2

    The drought that swept across wide areas of the United States in the past year was historically unusual in its speed, its intensity and its size, say climatologists at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. And, they say, those dry conditions are expected to last at least through winter. Forecasts show little hope of quick improvement, deepening the negative effects on agriculture, water supplies, food prices and wildlife....More
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