Office Blog - ProAg Consulting

Monthly Fertilizer Prices: Spring 2014 with Comparisons to 2009 through 2013: by Issued by Gary Schnitkey Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics University of Illinois

April 16, 2014Bloomington

Fertilizer prices have been increasing in recent months; however, per acre fertilizer costs should be lower in 2014 than in recent years. In this post, monthly prices for anhydrous ammonia, diammonium phosphate (DAP), and potash are shown for 2009 through 2014. In most cases, monthly fertilizer prices in 2014 have been below prices for the […]

The Surprising 2013 Soybean Crop Posted on December 8, 2013 by Emerson Nafziger

January 27, 2014Bloomington

The 2013 growing season in Illinois was wet early with delayed crop planting, good rainfall in June and July, mostly cool conditions in July, and little rainfall in August and September, with some high temperatures in late August and in September. With late planting and cool weather at times in mid-summer, seedfillling began only in […]

Yield Loss on the Edge of Corn Fields in 2013 Posted on December 9, 2013 by Emerson Nafziger

January 27, 2014Bloomington

We have been receiving reports since corn harvest began this fall about an unusual phenomenon: yields of the outside 8 to 24 rows on the south or west edges of corn fields show lower or much lower yields than corn farther into the field. The damage tends to be relatively uniform down or across the […]

Yield Response to Plant Population for Corn in Indiana

January 27, 2014Bloomington

R.L. (Bob) Nielsen, Jason Lee, & Jim Camberato Summary Results from 58 field-scale trials around Indiana since 2001 (45 since 2010) suggest that optimum plant populations for 30-inch row corn grown under typical yield levels and growing conditions are in the neighborhood of 31,400 PLANTS per acre (ppa) or seeding rates of about 33,000 SEEDS […]

Potash Fertilizer: Is There a Problem? November 21, 2013 by Emerson Nafziger

December 4, 2013Bloomington

In a publication brought to the public’s attention by news release from the University of Illinois several weeks ago, S.A. Khan, Richard Mulvaney and a colleague in the Department of Natural Resource and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois challenged a number of basic tenets of soil fertility, especially practices related to use of […]

2013 County Cash Rents: Levels, Variability, and 2014 Cash Rent Decisions: by Gary Schnitkey Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics University of Illinois

September 19, 2013Bloomington

Average cash rents by county were released on September 6th by the National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These county cash rents are used to develop a relationship between average rents and expected corn yields. A comparison to rents on professionally managed farmland illustrates many cash rents differ […]

Field Drydown of Mature Corn Grain: by R.L. (Bob) Nielsen

September 19, 2013Bloomington

Field Drydown of Mature Corn Grain R.L. (Bob) Nielsen Agronomy Dept., Purdue Univ. West Lafayette, IN 47907-2054 Email address: rnielsen at purdue.edu Weather conditions strongly influence in-field grain drydown. Plant characteristics can also influence in-field grain drydown. Early grain maturation usually means faster in-field grain drydown. Later grain maturation usually means slower in-field grain drydown. […]

Yield Monitor Calibration Advice by:Joe Luck Extension Precision Agricultural Engineer

September 19, 2013Bloomington

September 11, 2013 Checks and Adjustments to Ensure Quality Yield Data Collection Figure 1. Sensors should be calibrated and yield monitor settings checked and adjusted annually. Yield monitor data is one of the most important data layers in site-specific crop management. Yield data allows you to evaluate management practices at the end of the season […]

Windsor businessman to be among (ECIDC) Business Ethics and Social Involvement Award recipients

April 19, 2013WindsorOnline Article

Windsor businessman to be among (ECIDC) Business Ethics and Social Involvement Award recipients http://shelbycountynews.net/windsor-businessman-to-be-among-ecidc-business-ethics-and-social-involvem-p23700-1.htm

Understanding the Continuous Corn Yield Penalty April 11, 2013 By: University News Release

April 11, 2013Bloomington

By Susan Jongeneel, University of Illinois As escalating corn prices have encouraged many farmers to switch to growing corn continuously, they wonder why they have been seeing unusually high yield reductions over the past several years. The University of Illinois conducted a six-year study that identified three key factors affecting yield in continuous corn (CC) systems. […]