Timing is everything, especially when it comes to controlling weeds, insects and diseases. Spray delays of even a day or two, in some instances, can cause substantial erosion in yield potential.

As much as Shane Reinneck values residue, the Freeburg, Ill., no-tiller knows residue slows the warming of his soils, forcing him to be a little more patient than conventional-till neighbors when it comes to planting.

How you manage your crop residues this fall can have a major impact on the profit of your 2009 crops.

In a recent entry on The Mitchell Farm Web site (www.mitchellfarm.com), I wrote that “effectiveness comes from getting the one piece of information necessary to make a decision and leaving the rest unseen.” I was referring to how easy it is to get smothered in GPS field-generated data, but often not knowing how to put it to work.

It’s times like these when the sticker shock of rising costs combined with the opportunities presented by rising prices leads resourceful growers to take a new look at the way they run their operations. New and innovative technologies available today can help you reduce the use of materials and take fuller advantage of the assets you already have.