A large crowd enjoyed the opening day of Becknology Days yesterday at the Beck’s Hybrids headquarters in Atlanta, Indiana. Growers traveled from all over Indiana and beyond to hear about the latest data and insights from Beck’s Practical Farm Research.
“We get our best ideas from growers…We want their input to say what are they interested in because we will listen to them and we’ll design studies around that,” explains Jim Schwartz, Director of Research, Agronomy, and PFR for Beck’s. “We’re doing some interesting studies that are new this year. Short corn is going to be something that’s new on the horizon. We want to understand that, so we’re doing studies on nitrogen, row width, population, and carrier rate on short corn. So, that’s our job is to really look out in the future, hear what growers want us to study, do those studies, and bring the results back to them.
If you visit Becknology Days Friday or Saturday, you can see their short corn trials as you turn off of 31.
Schwartz says one of the most common questions they get as it relates to their research is, “How do I make my spray pass more profitable?” He says there are three things to consider, and the first is managing the water itself.
“So, if you live in the Midwest, you’re spraying hard water. So, managing those cations in that water and managing your pH is number one.”
The second thing is carrier rate.
“Water is cheap,” Schwartz explains. “We can go 15 to 20 gallons on corn, 20 gallons on soybeans as a carrier rate and improve your profitability.”
And lastly, Schwartz says research has shown them that time of day can play a big factor.
“Spraying in the morning, those droplets survive longer when the temperature is low and the humidity is highest in that time of day. So, spraying in that morning time window, if you can, we realize it’s not practical for everyone, but that also helps improve the results.”
Schwartz will speak again Friday and Saturday at Becknology Days in Atlanta. Visit the Becknology Days website for more information.