IMPERIAL Neb. (AgPR) — Input costs are high, and Tim Spector is expanding his crop production playbook to gain an edge for his growers with more plant nutrition and weed control options for the upcoming crop season.
“I’m on the phone five or six times a day checking the market, because any event that happens globally within 10 minutes affects the prices we’re paying for materials,” says Spector, vice president of agronomy for Frenchman Valley Coop (FVC). “We’re trying to position products at a level that brings more affordability back to the farm gate.”
In addition to prudent sourcing of NPK – especially phosphorus – Spector says FVC is pulling out all the stops to integrate innovative technology and improved practices to help farmers extract more value from every dollar they spend. Key to driving this adoption is FVC’s Acre+ research effort designed to help farmers optimize productivity.
“In our Acre+ program we’ll take DNA samples from your soil and then start building recommendations from there with our grid sampling,” Spector explains. “We don’t want to over-apply. We don’t want to under-apply. We want to get the right mix on a per acre basis.” The rigorous evaluation of new products and practices is another component of the Acre+ Program.
“Our number one weed is Palmer amaranth, and they can produce millions of seeds, so it’s paramount we control these early on and don’t let them go to seed,” Spector says. “Through our Acre+ program, we’ve done a lot of fall application of herbicides to better understand how to stay ahead of them.”
Jeff Wessels, the veteran research agronomist who leads the Acre+ program for FVC, has become an expert on countering the onslaught of Palmer amaranth and kochia across the Great Plains and he recently gained a new tool through collaboration with Ben Sauder, an old friend and former FVC colleague. Sauder, who spent 22 years as a crop advisor and vice president with FVC before joining Planet Earth Agronomy, introduced him to Satchur 8®, a product formulated to amplify the efficacy of herbicides.
“We’ve found that using SATCHUR 8 with our fall applications holds the chemistry up into the top of the soil, so you don’t have leaching,” Wessels says. “The SATCHUR 8 also helps spread out the chemistry and get it into the weed leaf better.” Wessels says he sees longer control from atrazine, flumioxazin, and metolachlor products when it’s mixed in. “SATCHUR 8 has a very large benefit for the few dollars an acre it costs because we never have to go back to that field again and try to do a cleanup job.”
Capturing benefits from rapid crop residue breakdown has also resulted from FVC’s Acre+ research effort and again the teamwork with Ben Sauder and Larry Fiene, founder and CEO of Planet Earth Agronomy. Carbon Cycle® results from more than a decade of research Fiene has conducted with a wide variety of microbes applied to residue breakdown.
“We’ve been researching CARBON CYCLE for several years ourselves now,” says Spector. “You let the microbials break those cornstalks down and get those nutrients back into the soil profile. That helps you get ahead of the game. But we’re just not going to offer any biological or crop enhancement product unless we’ve studied it, researched it, and it fits our environment.”
Sauder sees the growing collaboration of Frenchman Valley and Planet Earth Agronomy as a continuation of his own personal mission to serve farmers in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming with new technology that make more of every acre they farm.
“We have the common goal of serving farmer customers. Unless the product improves the profitability of the farmers, we’re not interested,” Sauder says. “With FVC and our other allies, we are in the business of harnessing new technology and research to their customer service to bring net return on investment (ROI) for more farmers. ROI for farmers drives everything we do.”
About Frenchman Valley Coop
Frenchman Valley Coop is a leading agricultural cooperative serving Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. Our values of integrity, innovation, and dedication guide us in every endeavor – ensuring that we not only meet but exceed the needs and expectations of our patrons. From offering the best in agronomy, feed, energy, and grain services to fostering sustainable farming practices, our focus remains steadfast: to contribute significantly to the success of our members and the wider agricultural community.
About Planet Earth Agronomy
Planet Earth Agronomy (www.planetearthagronomy.com) is an agronomic consulting and new product development business providing quality products, outstanding insight, and best-in-class service to farm businesses seeking to produce higher yields and greater return on investment while safeguarding their land for future generations. With research farms, offices and warehouses in Wisconsin and Nebraska, Planet Earth Agronomy is devoted to bringing proven innovative technology to growers seeking to earn more from every acre they farm. For more information, visit www.planetearthagronomy.com.
– AgPR
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