You don’t have to look very hard to find chemical manufacturers’ advertisements claiming a significant positive yield response (15, 20, 25+ bu./ac) to using one of their fungicide products. There are many effective products on the market that provide good control and protection against fungal pathogens, but advertisement claims based on ‘average trial data’ aren’t guarantees for your fields. Three critical components (a host, favorable environment, and pathogen) must come together at the same time for a plant disease to thrive. These three components are commonly referred to as the Plant Disease Triangle. Management or alteration of just one of these components prevents or reduces disease severity.

For the most part, farmers will have made their input purchasing decisions before the soil is warm enough to begin planting.  Those in-season decisions that still remain can be some of the most challenging to make.  Not because they’re the most financially significant, but because there are so many factors present once the crop is planted (current weather, short and long-term forecast, crop condition, grain markets, fluctuating input prices, and an endless list of tasks to complete).  All of these factors can have an influence, consciously or sub-consciously, on a grower’s ability to make an effective in-season decision.  

"I think people are really good looking at a 10,000-foot view, but when you dive deeper into the economics and profitability, that's where the rubber meets the road."
- Landon Aldinger, Farmer, Iowa Falls, IA

"We use SciMax Solutions, a Premier Crop partner,
to push everything we can
in order to get the best ROI
and try to do the best job that we can."
- Mike Myers, Waukee, IA

"With alternative things like fungicide, you definitely want to see if that's paying for itself. Historically, the InSiteCDM program is showing every year that it pays for itself. With that knowledge, it makes you more willing to spend the money to put on a fungicide. You wonder, should I or shouldn't I do it? But when you look at the data, you'll know if it works." - Shaun Wolf, 

A legacy for generations in the Rossman Family

There are no right or wrong answers to the title of this blog, How Technology has changed agriculture, instead there are too many to write about. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier and our work more efficient.  Depending on your age (generation) your answers to this question will differ.  I decided to ask my dad and grandpa what technologies have had the most impact on their farming careers.  

"In tough years, it's even more important to manage your inputs and to maximize profit. Way too often, I hear people want to maximize yield and, obviously, the more bushels you have, the more you have to sell. But if it costs you too much to raise, you might not have increased your profitability by increasing yield." – Eric Marchand, Britt, IA

This blog builds on the information I shared in “What is Efficiency in Farming?”.  If you haven’t already, I recommend reading it first. If you have read it, here are a few bullet points to jog your memory.

A quick Google search on the word efficient returns the following definition - achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.  I like to think of efficiency as a ratio, or fraction. Most often the input value of the equation is time or money.  Efficiency is something almost everyone strives for in some aspect of their life. Think about different tasks you try to become more efficient at.