Agronomist shares harvest update, 2024 advice

BATTLE GROUND, Ind. — As farmers push to finish the 2023 harvest, David Cosgray, DEKALB technical agronomist in central Indiana, shared an update with AgriNews.

How is harvest progressing for farmers in central Indiana?

For central Indiana, harvest has been moving at a fairly rapid pace until we got a little bit of rain and temperatures cooled off. With bean cutting, some areas of the state are further along than others.

Bean cutting has slowed down during cloudy and rainy days. Corn harvest has slowed down a little bit, but not as much as beans.

What kind of yields do you think farmers will see?

I think we’re going to see average to above-average yields for the most part. Most growers have an idea based on yield estimates. But when the combines hit the field, it’s a little bit different story.

The cool weather allowed a big grain fill period on corn and soybeans. There are really good yields — 10, 20, to 30 bushels better than expected on corn and 5 to 15 bushels better on soybeans.

Are there any management practices that paid off this year?

In the last 10 years, fungicide has gained a lot of traction. Anything we can do to keep that plant healthier throughout the growing season.

On the corn side, a lot of people have moved to an earlier fungicide application at V5 to V6 application of Delaro Complete. That increases stalk quality and stalk strength later in the season.

It also keeps the plant healthy going into tassel. It’s kind of like a boost to the immune system.

Looking to 2024, do you have any agronomic advice for farmers?

Farmers are seeing better yields than expected. In turn, the crops are removing more nutrients. Make sure we’re putting back adequate nitrogen and potassium into the soil to keep that bank built up.

One of the trends the past five years has been planting soybeans early. I think that trend holds true. A lot of farmers are starting with soybeans.

The risk with early corn is if we lose a little stand on corn, that can be a lot more of an issue — whereas, if we plant beans at an adequate population, and we lose a little bit of stand, beans can compensate. The beans are a bit of a safer bet for planting earlier.

Do you have any advice for farmers interested in conducting on-farm trials?

Reach out to your local dealer or agronomist. If you’re near Purdue or want to work with Purdue, reach out to them. If you don’t ask for any help, you’re not going to get any help. But on-farm trials are always desired.

There are a lot of new things in ag. When you think about biologicals, sulfur has picked up a lot of steam in the past four or five years. The way we learn more about that is on-farm, larger-scale trials.

Anything else you’d like to mention to farmers?

There’s still a lot of corn that’s pretty wet out in the field. I don’t know how long I’d let that stand.

I’m afraid that the drought stress could create a risk for stalk lodging. The stalks aren’t the greatest right now.