Boots In The Field Report
335 episodes - English - Latest episode: 21 days ago - ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsOne of the founding pillars of Crop-Tech Consulting is integrating a systems approach to farming. Crop-Tech is continually adding to their expertise and services. To aid in this process, CTC conducts over 150 test plots every year and works in conjunction with Farm Journal to gather research data on the industry’s equipment, practices, and technology. The Boots in the Field Report features Crop-Tech Consulting agronomist Ken Ferrie. He will keep you up-to-date by describing what he is seeing while in the field.
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Episodes
Episode 331: Boots In The Field Report April 9, 2024
April 09, 2024 00:00 - 6 minutes - 10.7 MBWith the predicted weather for Central IL, Ken gives a green light for full season beans on ground that is fit and sees a window for a possible green light for corn starting as early as this weekend. Ken fears some growers will grow impatient and work ground too wet to try to dry it out, creating season long compaction, or mud in corn. He also reminds growers not to let covers ahead of corn get too big, to keep an eye on seed quality and germ when choosing which seed to plant early,...
Episode 330: Boots In The Field Report March 27, 2024
March 27, 2024 00:00 - 5 minutes - 11.7 MBAs growers start to roll on planting early beans, Ken Ferrie walks through considerations for deciding when the right time for your operation is. Planting beans in March doesn’t show a large yield advantage over waiting to plant the first week in April but can provide some advantages for operations that only have the ability to plant one crop at a time, then having some bean planting done when the ground is also fit to plant corn could bring more benefit. He encourages growers to as...
Episode 329: Boots In The Field Report March 22, 2024
March 22, 2024 00:00 - 6 minutes - 10.7 MBKen covers questions about using spring anhydrous strip-till or a Zone Builder when facing the possibility of a dry year. There are options that can make it safer but most of them require water. The drier it is or higher rates of anhydrous make for bigger risks of planting issues.
Episode 328: Boots In The Field Report March 6, 2024
March 06, 2024 00:00 - 6 minutes - 11.6 MBTime spent on planters now can bypass a lot of headaches later and can keep farmers from jumping the gun on doing tillage passes before the ground is fit. A simple test is taking soil right below tillage depth, balling it up in your hand, and see if you can ribbon it. If it ribbons an inch or more, it will be a compaction layer not just a density change you will be putting in. Ken also advises growers to do some grow outs to check for herbicide carry over due to the dry June of 2023...
Episode 327: Boots In The Field Report February 23, 2023
February 23, 2024 00:00 - 6 minutes - 9.56 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie advises growers, if they haven’t gotten their wheat top-dressed, the window to get that on is closing fast. He comments, if tougher wheat stands are going to corn in case of a winter kill, he would still top-dress it, but if going to beans, might want to hold up on top-dressing. Due to Iowa’s drought conditions, they can start rolling on some field work as long as the soil is dry enough, but he warns to make sure you are not creat...
Episode 326: Boots In The Field Report February 13, 2024
February 13, 2024 00:00 - 8 minutes - 10.1 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie answers the question of if freezing and thawing will take out a compaction layer and if it could actually make it worse. He also speaks with University of Tennessee State Specialist Ryan Blair on how the growing season went last year and about the expansiveness of the Extension system throughout Tennessee.
Episode 325: Boots In The Field Report January 25, 2024
January 25, 2024 00:00 - 6 minutes - 9.72 MBIn this week’s Boots in the Field Report Ken Ferrie answers some questions coming in from winter meetings: Will a spring or fall horizontal tillage pass put in more of a density layer?, Was it allelopathic toxins in the cereal rye ahead of corn that caused such a yield ding?, Will there be a cap to CI payments per farm operations?
Episode 324: Boots In The Field Report January 5, 2024
January 05, 2024 00:00 - 8 minutes - 14.9 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie answers a question from a Beyond The Basics viewer from Southwest Ontario. The viewer was asking about nitrogen carryover in red clover, where is the best place to reduce nitrogen in the overall nitrogen program when using red clover, and does it pay to use a nitrogen stabilizer in that situation.
Episode 323: Boots In The Field Report December 21, 2023
December 21, 2023 00:00 - 9 minutes - 6.45 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie shares his concern on the December 12th drought map for the “I” states and advises growers to close tile gates, if they haven’t already, to keep what water they have from getting away. He also answers the question from a Beyond the Basics viewer about how deep to pull samples in long term no-till fields. Ken advises that it could be beneficial to pull a couple of stratification samples, checking the top three inches compared to the...
Episode 322: Boots In The Field Report December 4, 2023
December 04, 2023 00:00 - 16 minutes - 11.5 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken talks with Jared Bergan about the stats from this year’s hybrid flex plot: hybrids added, operations and locations participating, record for highest and lowest kernels per bushel. Ken also answers a question from a Beyond The Basics viewer about how soil test values can be helpful in hybrid selection and placement.
Episode 321: Boots In The Field Report November 22, 2023
November 22, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 13.3 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie covers the last of the Hybrid Ear Flex plots that came out this past week, hard pulling conditions, and considerations for growers contemplating going from narrow to wide row beans.
Episode 320: Boots In The Field Report November 14, 2023
November 14, 2023 00:00 - 10 minutes - 16.7 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie takes a peek into the results that came off the host of plots that came out last week, from N rate, planter fertility, corn nematode, fix/flex, to bean tillage and row spacing plots.
Episode 319: Boots In The Field Report November 1, 2023
November 01, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 5.45 MBThe rain events are creating some delay for harvest and tillage work and but it also brought lower soil temperatures to get growers closer to safer anhydrous application conditions. While more often growers are concerned in dry falls about sealing for anhydrous, Ken Ferrie warns that too much moisture can create smearing from the knives, preventing a good seal and creating Nitrogen loss. In this episode he is able to share Sullivan Agro’s results of their 8 variety, 3 planting date ...
Episode 318: Boots In The Field Report October 20, 2023
October 20, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 5.37 MBIn this Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie covers harvest recaps getting called in. Fields that got that heavy rain in August have high ground out yielding low ground, beans that turned too quickly showing premature death from disease, and harvest loss proving to be an issue for some field conditions. Ken recaps the fungicide and insecticide plot that came out and the outcome of 2 fix/flex plots that came out this week. In addition, he advises growers to check their WAAS satellite...
Episode 317: Boots In The Field Report October 13, 2023
October 13, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 5.34 MBIn this Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie reports on initial review of soybean plot data that came out this week. He advises that the research crew will have to look at a lot of variables: planting dates, varieties, maturities, row spacing, rainfall timing, rainfall amount, tillage, use of covers and more. While the data may vary widely this year, it will give growers excellent data to find field advantages and identify field weaknesses if they take the time to make sure they are...
Episode 316: Boots In The Field Report October 6, 2023
October 06, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 4.96 MBIn this week's Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie reports on harvest progress and recounts yields getting called in throughout IL and IA. Wide swings in yield not only throughout the state be in single fields. He also updates on lime shortages and replant bean plot results.
Episode 315: Boots In The Field Report September 28, 2023
September 28, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 5.08 MBJoin us for this week’s episode of Boots in The Field Report with Ken Ferrie, where he provides a plot and harvest update that's both informative and timely. Ken dives into the ongoing issue of lime shortages that some growers are grappling with. Furthermore, Ken underscores the importance of keeping a close eye on harvest loss and the correct calibration of your yield monitors. He walks us through the meticulous process Crop-Tech employs for scaling yield monitors, especially when...
Episode 314: Boots In The Field Report September 21, 2023
September 21, 2023 00:00 - 9 minutes - 6.76 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field report Ken covers why it is more important than usual this year to calibrate the yield monitor to make sure growers are capturing spatially accurate yield maps. These dry years can give clues to where perched water tables and sand lenses are located out in the field. Ken also advises harvest scouting teams to stay on top of the push test, as some hybrids are flat coming apart. He recommends if scouts find that hybrid failing the push test, that they...
Episode 313: Boots In The Field Report September 12, 2023
September 12, 2023 00:00 - 10 minutes - 7.02 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie covers the range of yields being called in as harvest kicks off and reminds growers to stay on top of the push test when letting corn dry down in the field. Due to the variability in fields, combine operators will have to continuously check for harvest loss as they change fields and change hybrids. Ken also warns, with the dry June, growers will need to watch out for carry over issues on those products with 10 month cropping restri...
Episode 312: Boots In The Field Report September 1, 2023
September 01, 2023 00:00 - 12 minutes - 8.82 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie covers reasons for seeing so much top die back in the corn. 1. Disease issues like anthracnose top kill will be on sporadic plants in the field, show black spores on outside of stalk on full dead plants, and behind the leaf sheaths on top killed plants. Can be hybrid and stress related. 2. Insect issues like corn borer. Will have dead tops, maybe even broken over from wind and with tunneling into nodes. 3. Heat Stress. More consis...
Episode 311: Boots In The Field Report August 24, 2023
August 24, 2023 00:00 - 6 minutes - 4.35 MBKen covers what he saw in his travels through IN, OH, NY, and IA in this week’s Boots In The Field Report. The Eastern region, traveled on way to New York, showed plenty of rain but being further behind in maturity than GDUs and planting date would normally be. Have had several cases of tar spot and SDS and he suspects that number to increase with this week’s heat. Ken mentions that the early planted corn that struggled causing it to be short and fail to close the rows is going to b...
Episode 310: Boots In The Field Report August 3, 2023
August 03, 2023 00:00 - 9 minutes - 6.35 MBKen uses this #BIFR to catch up on pest reports, update tar spot locations, cyst pressure coming around traits, how last week’s heat affected this crop and why you don’t want to group up your pollination window. He reminds growers to check planting dates when reviewing yield plots this year to create fair comparisons.
Episode 309: Boots In The Field Report July 10, 2023
July 11, 2023 00:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie touches base with Matt Duesterhaus to get more insight in how fields are looking in the areas hit by the derecho that went through and how crops and growers are fairing in the week since. Ken also covers what the short corn means for yield potential and why the rule of thumb about plants being more than a collar behind is different this year than when looking at years with uneven emergence. Ken also gives a run down of the pest rep...
Episode 308: Boots In The Field Report June 28, 2023
June 28, 2023 00:00 - 16 minutes - 11.3 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken talks about how the wildfire haze might be helping us out in this drought, why corn on corn or corn with a rye cover are getting hit harder in dry areas, and why it is especially important to keep an eye out for silk clippers this year. He continues to reminder growers to never walk away from a growing crop and encourages growers to work to help the crop pollinate because if you miss pollinations and it starts to rain, there is no recours...
Episode 307: Boots In The Field Report June 19, 2023
June 19, 2023 00:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBGrab a cup of coffee or a cold bottle of water, Ken has two weeks to cover in this week’s Boot’s In The Field Report. He walks through frost reports in NE Iowa, drought map getting bigger and uglier, and corn hitting the rapid growth stage amid water concerns. In these challenging conditions the sins of spring are coming to light, and while many may have gotten away with the same practices in other years without a penalty, not everyone is getting away with it this year without a cos...
Episode 306: Boots In The Field Report June 2, 2023
June 02, 2023 00:00 - 5 minutes - 4.4 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken covers some of the issues he is seeing in this dry weather including drought stress on crops, herbicide carryover from last June being dry, and lack of mass flow for potassium uptake. He continues to get reports of leaning corn issues due to lack of crown root development and warns that dicamba type product applications will probably make this problem worse. He has also spotted silvering on corn due to low temp / scalding on leaves, cutwo...
Episode 305: Boots In The Field Report May 26, 2023
May 26, 2023 00:00 - 13 minutes - 9.42 MBThis week’s Boots In The Field Report covers issues popping up in fields as this crop starts to take off. Ken Ferrie reports on heavy cutworm pressure causing growers to spray, dry conditions causing herbicide carryover and a number of conditions causing good but not great ratings for corn stands. Ken also reminds growers of the difference between the ugly corn phase and the carbon penalty. He recommends that now is the time to be in the fields documenting conditions, checking for r...
Episode 304: Boots In The Field Report May 18, 2023
May 18, 2023 00:00 - 14 minutes - 9.69 MBHigh Ear Counts = High Yields In this week's #BIFR, Ken reminds growers that high ear counts are the key to high yields. He also covers planting updates, replant decisions, the ugly corn phase, and insect activity. Cutworm feeding has started, so pest teams be on the lookout!
Episode 303: Boots In The Field Report May 10, 2023
May 10, 2023 00:00 - 9 minutes - 6.23 MBKen Ferrie covers planting progress and emergence in this week’s Boots In The Field Report. Much-needed rain came for most of the Midwest and will help reduce a lot of service calls on all the seed that was sitting in dry soil. Bean stands are looking good and indicating a lot will make early flowering. While corn stands look good from the road, Ken advises stretching a tape to see what your stand count and ear count are. While industry standard says growers should shoot for a 13%...
Episode 302: Boots In The Field Report May 2, 2023
May 02, 2023 00:00 - 8 minutes - 6.15 MBIt is finally here! In this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie gives the green light locally for planting corn and encourages growers to get this planting season in the books. But he does caution growers to make sure they are planting into moisture. He gives the following advice if still needing to do tillage before plating: Horizontal tillage: make sure the planter is on the tail of the tillage pass to make sure moisture doesn’t get away. Vertical Tillage: If have to ru...
Episode 301: Boots In The Field Report April 26, 2023
April 26, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 5.4 MBIn this Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie covers the calls coming in on the crops planted April 3-10th that took the hardest hit from the freeze. The first step to evaluating replant decisions is to have accurate counts for what plants survived. For beans checking that the stem below the cotyledon is firm. If soft, it gets counted in the dead column. If firm, it gets counted in the maybe column and growers will have to watch for new growth to confirm (70-90 GDUs – so could be nex...
Episode 300: Boots In The Field Report April 18, 2023
April 18, 2023 00:00 - 14 minutes - 12 MBIn this week’s Boots in The Field Report Ken covers planting progress of last week and concerns as we look at the weather ahead. Beans that were planned to be planted early and have been treated for SGS, can be planted understanding that they will be in the ground for awhile before they come up and require growers to keep an eye on soil crusting to make sure it doesn’t become an issue. He also explains the difference in conditions that cause concern for losing spike down plants vers...
Episode 298: Boots In The Field Report April 10, 2023
April 10, 2023 00:00 - 5 minutes - 4.79 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken gives the green light locally to plant fully treated beans for early planting with the understanding that there is always a risk that you may have to replant if we get a heavy frost. If forecast locally is correct then also giving a yellow light to plant corn Wednesday through noon Saturday to get the first day willies out. Understanding that the corn will most likely be in the ground until May 1st if the forecasted weather between now an...
Episode 297: Boots In The Field Report March 31, 2023
March 31, 2023 00:00 - 8 minutes - 6.16 MBThis week on the Boots In The Field Report podcast Ken Ferrie advises that now is the time for the pest boss to lay down the first line of defense. He recommends cutworm and armyworm traps going out wherever you have green cover, setting up wireworm and grub bait stations, and putting out gopher and vole bait traps. Most problems are very manageable if caught early enough. When the population grows too big, then you start to run out of options to manage and avoid a reduction in yiel...
Episode 296: Boots In The Field Report March 15, 2023
March 15, 2023 00:00 - 7 minutes - 5.24 MBThe question to ask: “Is the soil dry enough?” In this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie covers why this questions is so important, with 80% of the service calls for compaction that he goes on can all be traced back to this first pass in the spring. If growers are doing vertical tillage, asking is the soil dry enough to handle the weight of the equipment without creating compaction? If doing tillage, what is the moisture like below the tillage layer, is it too moist and wi...
Episode 295: Boots In The Field Report March 10, 2023
March 10, 2023 00:00 - 11 minutes - 7.65 MBIn this Boots in The Field Report, Ken Ferrie stresses that harvest starts now. A little planning now can alleviate a lot of pressure and stress come harvest. He suggests picking for yield first and then narrowing that down based on ear flex and leaf structure to help manage known conditions in the field. Ken advises breaking down maturity groups into: early, mid and full season varieties, to stagger pollination and harvest windows. He also suggests staggering ear flex within the ma...
Episode 294: Boots In The Field Report February 24, 2023
February 24, 2023 00:00 - 8 minutes - 7.61 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie walks through why 2022 was such a nitrogen friendly year for central IL. While reminding growers it didn’t take less N to grow a bushel last year, it did take less applied N for most due to the decrease in losses and the increase in mineralization. He also encourages growers to not only make their spring plan, but to make sure it is written down and shared with all the players to make sure everyone is operating from the same play b...
Episode 293: Boots In The Field Report February 6, 2023
February 06, 2023 00:00 - 9 minutes - 6.32 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie tackles the question: “If I have organic matters of 3.5% or higher do I need to apply sulfur?” Despite higher organic matter soils having the ability to provide sulfur later in the season, due to a reduction of sulfur naturally occurring in most environments, they often struggle in having enough available for early season. Ken covers the basis on a 4R approach to sulfur and reminds growers to switch to thinking of sulfur more as a ...
Episode 292: Boots In The Field Report January 13, 2023
January 13, 2023 00:00 - 9 minutes - 6.57 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie covers some of the questions that came in during the Virtual College. In particular the topic of Tar Spot and what the difference is in pressure and management of “home grown” Tar Spot and “blown in.” The conditions must be right for Tar Spot but when it is, it can cause a huge yield hit. Ken talks through what we have learned so far and how we will continue to learn about this disease in the future.
Episode 291: Boots In The Field Report December 22, 2022
December 22, 2022 00:00 - 11 minutes - 7.56 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken Ferrie covers several questions about what kind of efficiencies are gained with banding fertilizer and what he has been seeing as they kick off the yield map review season.
Episode 290: Boots In The Field Report December 9, 2022
December 09, 2022 00:00 - 12 minutes - 8.46 MBIn this week’s Boots in The Field Report podcast Ken Ferrie takes some time to answer questions that have been coming in: “Switching to corn on corn or beans on beans due to market and yields, what should be considered?” and “If growers find urea priced right can they use it as their N source?” He covers what concerns or questions growers need to think about to help make the right choice for their operation.
Episode 289: Boots In The Field Report November 23, 2022
November 23, 2022 00:00 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MBKen takes a little more time this week to catch up with the Matt Duesterhaus in Quincy, Il to see how their harvest finished up and then speaks with Isaac Ferrie on what they saw on the plot side this year during this week’s Boots In The Field Report. Matt commented on higher-than-average corn yields, surprising a lot of growers for how dry they got in August. He also covers some wind events, wildlife damage and fungicide results that he saw in his area. Isaac touches on the plot pr...
Episode 288: Boots In The Field Report November 16, 2022
November 16, 2022 00:00 - 10 minutes - 7.27 MBIn this week’s Boots in The Field Report Ken Ferrie recaps the last of the plots coming out, highlighting a fungicide plot out of this year’s tar spot alley, NE Iowa. He also goes over some of the yield data coming out of the ear flex plots and why some areas that experienced a flash drought in the rapid growth stage may be disappointed in the yields of their L1 hybrids. Ken reminds growers to mitigate risk with their hybrid selection and know the weaknesses of the chosen hybrids so...
Episode 287: Boots In The Field Report November 4, 2022
November 04, 2022 00:00 - 1 minute - 4.2 MBIn this week’s Boots in The Field Report Ken covers harvest progress throughout the state and reports most areas pleased with corn yields and ended up with average bean yields. Several reports coming in have shown a reduced yield coming out of the April planted corn this year and Ken reminds growers that we plant by soil conditions and not the calendar.
Episode 286: Boots In The Field Report October 28, 2022
October 28, 2022 00:00 - 7 minutes - 5.03 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken recaps harvest progress and reminds growers to be patient and wait for the correct conditions before applying anhydrous. Reports from Iowa are showing yields getting dinged by the September frost causing test weights to be off and some field edge scalding in the dry area. Ken also recaps some initial reports of yield data off plots that got harvested this week from deer repellent products to planting date, maturity groups, and row spacing...
Episode 285: Boots In The Field Report October 18, 2022
October 18, 2022 00:00 - 9 minutes - 6.32 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken talks bigger than expected swings in bean yields and attributes that to the maturity of the bean planted and the weather it received. He is getting a lot more reports of white mold showing up and recommends combine operators make a note for pest team for yield map review if they are seeing that show up in the grain tank. Ken also recaps yield results from the Corn College Campus teaching plots and discusses why L1 and L2 hybrids have seem...
Episode 284: Boots In The Field Report October 7, 2022
October 07, 2022 00:00 - 7 minutes - 4.94 MBKen talks about the gift and the curse of the dry fall: easier harvesting without getting equipment stuck/wheel tracks, don’t have to go as deep with fall tillage to get full width shatter, and good conditions to build fall strips, but without moisture it may make fall anhydrous applications impossible to seal. He also reminds growers that they will need to have notes of weed escapes because it will take 3 years of staying on top of it to get them back under control. Ken advises har...
Episode 283: Boots In The Field Report September 30, 2022
September 29, 2022 00:00 - 10 minutes - 6.94 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken gives a harvest report of yields coming in across the state and comments that combine operators are saying the big swings in yield in a field are coming from the swings in stand throughout the field. Yields are expected to improve in corn fields as growers move to later planted corn that had less weather obstacles at the beginning of the season. The good September weather is helping gain depth of kernel which helps offset some of the tip ...
Episode 282: Boots In The Field Report September 23, 2022
September 23, 2022 00:00 - 9 minutes - 6.68 MBIn this week’s Boots In The Field Report Ken covers the harvest reports coming in and the highlights from his recent Iowa / Minnesota crop tour. He reports Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota seem to be the heaviest of Tar Spot Alley this year. Several areas had a challenging July and August but a favorable September. If plants could stay healthy long enough to take advantage of September, growers might be presently surprised at harvest. Ken also encourages pest teams to watch how ...
Episode 281: Boots In The Field Report September 8, 2022
September 08, 2022 00:00 - 7 minutes - 5.06 MBKen Ferrie recaps 2,700 miles of crop touring over the last week on what he saw on the way up to Canada and coming back. He also reports April planted corn locally is hitting black layer and causing some growers to think about harvesting soon to cash in on premiums. Ken additionally comments on how corn that is stressed now, is hustling to black layer and that will come at the cost of grain fill.