Monday, August 20 offers you one of the most profit-motivated and practical field days we’ve seen assembled in more than 30 years of fielding seminars.
Just head for the machine shed on the Schwartz farm, 1778 Highway 44, west of Guthrie Center, for the all-day presentations and field day starting at 9:30 a.m.
August 12, 2018 — Here are a dozen benefits you’ll gain from the day:
- Learn how the test fields produced big yields in 2018, and how you can apply this knowledge in 2019 and beyond.
- Learn which newer products in these trials promise to produce the highest return on investment.
- Learn what steps and products can improve soil health and increase your Haney and PLFA scores.
- Learn how good soil health correlates to good plant health.
- Learn how and when you should sample your fields for the Haney analysis.
- Learn what products to use and how much it will cost and how long it might take to build desired test levels for high yields.
- Learn about humates, what they do and which forms are most effective.
- Learn about N stabilizers to minimize N runoff, stop leaching, and protect late-season plant health.
- Learn the benefits of using Silica fertilizers to gain green snap resistance, drought tolerance, stronger stalks, and increased yields.
- Learn about coping with the intensifying bacterial disease complex which has been constraining corn yields since 2009.
- Learn the role of endophytes.
- Learn about a new product to eliminate heat stress in plants.
The 15 speakers assembled by crop consultants Dave Schwartz and Bob Streit include many specialists we’ve worked with for several years, plus several innovators we’re eager to meet face to face for the first time.
First, the agenda:
9:30 am – 9:40 am: Jim Jordahl – Clean water goals and programs
9:40 am – 10:05 am: Ken Wacha – The National Laboratory for Agriculture & the Environment (USDA-ARS)
10:05 am – 10:35 am: Mitchell Hora – Soil health consulting & how to turn your fields around
10:35 am – 11:00 am: Bob Wagner/John Hughes – Biodyne, new products, observations & results
11:00 am – 11:30 am: Dave Schwartz/Mike Zwingman – Overview of Verdesian, polymer use, and the farm’s purpose
11:30 am – Noon: Dr. Dave Sasseville – Importance of micro-nutrient nutrition to plant yield and health
Noon – 12:40 pm: Lunch
12:40 pm – 1:20 pm: Dr. Rusty Rodriguez – BioEnsure – Endophytes, heat and drought stress managment
1:20 pm – 1:40 pm: Howard Vlieger – Demo of new product for weed control
1:40 pm – 2:10 pm: John Kelly – Redox – Silica value, stress relief in plants
2:10 pm – 2:40 pm: Tom Wood – O2YS – Insect/fungal disease control plus osmotic regulation
2:40 pm – 3:10 pm: Ken Hamilton/Dr. Salam Awada – BioEmpruv – the thought process behind its development, evaluation & application tips
3:10 pm – 3:30 pm: Bob Streit – Putting it all together
3:30 pm – 3:45 pm: Q&A session
3:45 pm: Farm tours
See the full bios of speakers at this link on the Central Iowa Agronomics website. Western Iowa farmer and consultant Howard Vlieger will introduce a preview of a new, soil-friendly herbicide that he and a development team are shepherding thorough the approval process. In the past four years, we’ve tested early predecessors of this burndown product. It originated in Australia and shows real promise here for replacing non-selective weedkillers like glyphosate and gramoxone.
Also on hand in person: Ken Hamilton and Dr. Salam Awada, the key developers behind the Bio-Empruv product which Bob Streit has shown effective for extending corn life against encroachments of what we call “early die-down.”
Please read the entire biographical sketches of the speakers at the link above. These are cutting edge innovators, and their technologies are getting an excellent test on the Dave Schwartz farm. Dave’s test-plot fields contain a series of corn and soybean trials where one to five foliar and soil treatments are successively added, one after another, to measure the individual and cumulative cost/yield results. This season, Dave acquired some WakeUP Summer from us… we’re eager to see if our unique surfactant found its way into the web of product tests which Dave managed. A Renewable Farming LLC team will be on hand to video the indoor presentations and field visits.
Last year, Dave’s machine shed was nearly full of farmer participants. Like all good opportunities, the word is spreading with farmers inviting their friends to this season’s day. So… Carol Streit is standing by to record your free registration; call 515-231-6710 or visit info@centraliowaag.com. Carol recommends that you bring a comfy fold-up lawn chair… you’ll want to concentrate on every presentation and be ready for the field tours.
Here’s a glance at just one of the test plots. Behind the steep hills on Dave’s farm there are full-sized fields where Bob and Dave anticipate hitting 400-bu. corn.
