Purdue Extension Soybean Specialist Shaun Casteel and Corn Specialist Dan Quinn joined HAT’s Eric Pfeiffer at the recent Indiana Farm Equipment & Technology Expo to record the latest edition of the Purdue Crop Chat Podcast. They started by recapping the 2021 season.
“The ‘21 beans were good but not quite as good as ’20, and I think that’s for good reason,” says Casteel. “We didn’t have good nitrogen supply. I think that we turned off dry a little bit in some of these areas and so what few pods were there had a hard time filling.”
“The corn crop, really for the entire year, has been fantastic,” explains Quinn. “It maybe tapered off a little bit towards the end of the season here looking at the most recent USDA crop report for the state, but we’re still settling in at about 189 bushels per acre and 189 bushels per acre is tied for state record yield average.
Casteel encourages farmers to use the winter to really evaluate what worked this season and what didn’t work this season.
“I look at farmers as the first researcher, really. I mean, you’re exploring, you’re experimenting with anything and everything from how you plant a crop to whether it’s fertility, whether it’s we’re playing with sulfur, we’re playing with some fungicides. Go back and learn from it, and then look for how can I set up things to learn again so then I can advance my field, advance my farm, and move forward. So, whether that’s cutting seeding rates or whether it’s looking at combinations with a nutrient practice up front and foliar feeding later or fertility or fungicide. So, just learn. Go back and learn and then start to plan some homework assignments for the coming year.”
Quinn agrees, saying, “You look across this venue (the Indiana Farm Equipment & Technology Expo) and there’s so much technology out there and so many tools that folks have to map their fields and look at your old maps and monitors. Make sure this winter that you’re going back and pinpointing, ‘Okay- this is where I had issues, this is a spot in this field that just wasn’t as good, this yield just wasn’t as good in this area in this field,’ and go back in to understand why.”
You can hear the full Purdue Crop Chat Podcast below or watch the archived video from the Indiana Farm Equipment & Technology Expo above.
