Providing Insight

Soil test values are important indicators of soil chemistry. When properly sampled, soil test values will naturally vary by up to 10% from the “true” value. When greater year to year variation is [...]

Managing residue cover is critical to maintaining soil biology over winter and preparing the soil for timely planting next spring. Farmers have a significant impact on how quickly residues [...]

Basic science reveals that soils provide the foundation of crop nutrition. Crops provide the chemical energy required through photosynthesis to feed soils with residues and root exudates. Diverse [...]

The Maximum Farming System® is built on key insights about crops and soils that have been revealed through basic science research. Farmers who appreciate this foundation can achieve better [...]

Spring planting sometimes has to be done more than once. Replanting can happen for different reasons. Dr. Jim Smart, Research & Teaching Agronomist for Ag Spectrum talks about some common [...]

One of the most challenging springtime decisions: when to start planting. Correctly judging when conditions are right to plant can be difficult as farmers evaluate day-to-day soil temperatures, [...]

Since the start of the 21st century, scientists have made several discoveries that will substantially improve farmers’ capacity to recapture applied nitrogen. First, recent studies have shown [...]

May is here and planting is significantly behind in most corn producing states. While farmers want to get going, sound agronomic decisions must take precedence. If soils are too wet and cold, [...]

This spring is a little slower at getting conditions right for planting. Delk Crosier, Maximum Farming Implementation Specialist, says despite the urge to go now, planting conditions must be [...]

Nitrogen is among the costliest of annual grain farming inputs, so optimizing its use is critical to improving profitability. Consider these four factors when deciding on a nitrogen program to [...]