Another National Farm Machinery Show is in the books, and as always, it was quite the spectacle with over 300,000 people packing the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville, Ky.

Our team got an up-close look at some of the newest farm equipment, technology and innovations on the market. There were some great educational sessions as well. I learned quite a bit about tar spot from Beck’s agronomist Travis Coleman. He says there’s no silver bullet, but micronutrients, sulfur and early-morning fungicide applications can help mitigate risk. And you never know what you’re going to see at the show, like this Kioti transformer-looking thing and this corn root cage at the Beck’s booth. Steve Gauck, what can we learn from this?

“Now as we think about roots, and every time we up population, we’re losing about 1% of roots a year on corn. Are there different ways we should apply nutrients? A horizontal root system takes the nutrients and water out of that top zone. Balanced roots go everywhere. Vertical root systems lean slightly towards a banded-type fertilizer. We’re also noticing some stress tolerance differences. Vertical roots can go deeper for water — a little bit better stress tolerance. Now, ultimately there’s not a perfect root system. There’s not necessarily a perfect root system for your farm. It’s going to vary based on your fields and soil types.”

“As we learn more about root architecture and you think about population. Horizontal roots like lower populations. They’re more of your flexier type hybrids; they don’t like that competition. A balanced root goes everywhere, and a vertical root system will actually perform better in higher populations, so there’s less competition as roots go down and pull nutrients out of the ground.” 

Watch the full version of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.