AGRONOMY
2019 Pre-Harvest Customer Appreciation Event
Amanda Steffel
Phil Keefauver, District Sales Manager WinField United
“Farmers have
a lot of options
for
managing
their crop and
weed control,” Phil
Keefauver said. Trait packages available for Soybeans in 2020
include Roundup Ready, Liberty Link, Xtend, Enlist
and LLGT27. But he warned that some weeds like
water hemp and giant ragweed , may require
more than 1 post-emergent application to knock
them out.
As
District
Sales Manager for
WinField United,
Keefauver knows
a lot about crop
protection,
and
what products are on the market. This August, he
was the featured speaker at the 2019 Mid-County
Agronomy Pre-Harvest Customer Appreciation
Event, and spoke about weed control for soybean
fields. “We can’t control weeds without these
products,” Keefauver said. “Different trait packages
fit different farms, but the key to controlling weeds
is acting early, when they are still small. Four inches
or less.”
“The best time to kill problem weeds is with a
soil-applied herbicide. It kills the weed seed before
it germinates and gets established in the field,”
Keevauver said. “But when we do have weeds
emerge after the herbicide is applied, we need to
control those early.”
New trait packages are available for 2020,
which Keefauver says will be useful for farmers.
www.midcountycoop.com
While each of these herbicide systems gives us
another tool for controlling weeds in soybeans,
the bottom line is that we are after the highest
yield possible. The first year Xtend soybeans were
available, the beans themselves did not have the
best agronomics. After a few years, the Xtend
soybeans have the best genetics and disease
control on the market. We are most likely dealing
with the same timeline with the Enlist and LLGT27
soybeans. The new technology is exciting, but
make sure you are choosing a soybean that will
perform all the way to harvest. The Mid County
agronomy staff is only a phone call away to discuss
your seed questions.
Mid-County Coop has been
testing two diff erent products
this growing season. Last fall,
we applied Urea to approxi-
mately 400 acres with a new
“Nitrogen Stabilizer” in hopes
that we could preserve those
nutrients throughout the fol-
lowing growing season. This
allowed growers to plant ear-
lier by not having to perform
another spring application.
We have been taking soil and
tissue samples throughout
the season to compare nitrate
levels, and so far the tests are
looking good. We will keep
you posted with the yield
results.
A second product that we
have been seeing great results
with is Miravis Neo, a new fun-
gicide from Syngenta. Miravis
Neo was applied to 10 dif-
ferent fi elds in strips, split, or
whole fi eld trials. There was a
noticeable diff erence in over-
all plant health, white mold
tolerance, and greater bean
pod count in many of the
fi elds. We are very excited to
see the end results of both
trials! If you are interested in
hearing more about these tri-
als give us a call! Good luck
with harvest and be safe!
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