Articles by Dan Crummett

New Ag Chemical Label Illuminates EPA ‘Mission Creep’ Beyond Environment

The new labeling system looks familiar but may require a second look after roll-out of fledgling federal crop protection registration language

By Dan Crummett posted on December 23, 2024 | Posted in Crop Protection

Until recently, once the EPA issued a registration for various crop protection products, growers and product manufacturers seemed to be on solid ground when they read and followed application rules and regulations published on the official label.

Fact Checking Strip-Till Assumptions with Research Data

On-farm trials show even in colder climates, strip-till offers early-season corn planting flexibility, high yields & lower operating costs

By Dan Crummett posted on December 23, 2024 | Posted in Strip-Till Farming

As with any new practice, many growers considering a switch to strip-till for corn and soybeans may question what the eventual payoff will be.

Burning Field Residue an Expensive Way to Solve Planting Problems

By Dan Crummett posted on November 26, 2024 | Posted in Residue Management, Soil Health

A quick fire to eliminate standing stubble in harvested grain fields costs much more than the match that lights it. Valuable plant nutrients sent up in smoke must be replaced with purchased fertilizers.

Micronutrients, Part 9

Lab Partners to Help No-Tillers Monitor Micronutrients, Soil Health

By Dan Crummett posted on November 22, 2024 | Posted in Soil Health

To cap of a year-long series on micronutrients vital to optimal crop vitality, here's a list of laboratories specializing in agricultural soil and plant tissue testing.

Tillage On Display Supports Researcher’s Soil Erosion Estimates

By Dan Crummett posted on October 30, 2024 | Posted in Residue Management

Geologist says the effects of tillage should be incorporated into the USDA’s erosion estimates, so the agency's numbers might better align with the 57.6 billion metrictons of soil that the researchers estimate has been lost across the Midwest in the last 160 years.

Ahead of the Curve

Toyota, GAC Unveil Ammonia-Fueled Internal Combustion Engine

Prototype engine uses high compression, boost and tweaked combustion chambers to run liquid NH3 for a carbon and particulate-free exhaust stream. Will we ever see it on the farm?

By Dan Crummett posted on October 29, 2024 | Posted in Nutrient Management

If you’ve read this column very long you realize I have an interest in engines of the rotating and reciprocating varieties — those that burn energy-dense fuels and don’t require fuel tanks the size of a submarine.

No-Till Conditions, Elevated pH May Spur Zinc Deficiency in Corn

Cool, wet conditions & alkaline soils can tag-team seedling corn to affect yields shortly after emergence by hiding & binding the zinc supply. Caught early, applications of zinc can offset damage.

By Dan Crummett posted on October 28, 2024 | Posted in Nutrient Management

Cooler soil temperatures typically found in no-tilled corn fields, as opposed to nearby conventionally tilled soils can be responsible for zinc deficiency development, especially if the planting season is cooler than normal.

5 Takeaways After 35 Years of No-Tilling

Avoiding the expense of annual tillage on heavy soils quickly raised the bottom line at Mooremaw Farms, & it continues to pay today

By Dan Crummett posted on October 28, 2024 | Posted in Seeding & Planting, Equipment

It was the last soybean field Jim Maw and his Dad planted during the 1989 season, and the weeds had been waist high before a burndown.

Ahead of the Curve

Color-Coding Plant Disease in the Field to Improve Fungicide Timing

Startup company & Purdue harness corn DNA to allow the plant to signal when fungal spores are present on leaves

By Dan Crummett posted on October 10, 2024 | Posted in Crop Protection

If having the ability to get a 7-10-day early warning on plant disease in your no-till corn crop interests you, that possibility may be in your crop protection arsenal quicker than you think.

Sulfur: It Once Fell from the Sky!

Because of regulatory standards set to remove “free” sulfur-dioxide gas from the atmosphere, growers across North America have had to begin adding S to their fertilizer purchases

By Dan Crummett posted on October 9, 2024 | Posted in Nutrient Management

Over the past 25 years the traditional macronutrient trio, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) has slowly begun to share its NPK analysis shorthand with what has become a fourth “major” crop nutrient — sulfur (S).

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Soil Health Principle 4: Continual Living Plant

Regenerating Your Profits: No-Till, Covers & Livestock

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Cereal Rye Mix Sequesters $435 Worth of NPK in No-Till System

On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, No-Till Innovator Rick Clark gives a presentation at the Regenerative Agriculture Summit in Chicago, Ill., explaining how cover crops are saving him hundreds of dollars on inputs per acre.

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