Air September 6, 2000

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. I think it is safe to say that there are a lot of people in this area my age and even older, who have never seen an August this hot. Drier, yes, but not hotter!

I was visiting with several farmers last week, talking about what worked good this year and what didn’t work good. There was some talk about big changes next year. I immediately held up the stop sign. Okay, wheat, corn and milo appear to be doing definitely better than soybeans this year. Maybe we have planted a few too many acres of soybeans on some fields that might not be well suited to soybeans. Maybe the same thing for corn. Maybe the 1990’s weren’t quite normal Kansas weather, but then again, 2000 was a bit of an abnormality also. Year after year I have to remind folks that you can’t make big changes in your farming plans based on any one year, especially years that are so abnormal. Make little changes, look at what has happened over the long haul. Make little adjustments, not wholesale adjustments and remember that there is a lot of wisdom in the old saying, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Diversity is good. Common sense and good management will never be replaced by technology. Now, we do need to be talking about next year and making some plans already. One thing we can be working on right now is soil fertility. Unless you had irrigated soybeans, just forget about any nitrogen credit from this year’s crop. Maybe there will be some there, but don’t bet on it. Soil testing after this year is going to be very critical! Applied nitrogen may, or may not have, been used as expected. If we have residual nitrogen let’s take account of it. I’ve seen some soil tests come through already that are VERY LOW in phosphorus and even some that were in need of potassium. This potassium thing is catching a lot of attention of late. We know that added potassium can offer some improvement in stalk rot resistance. We honestly suspect that some of our recommendations have been inadequate in potassium or perhaps even the chloride that often comes with the potassium. Any way you look at it - whether for wheat this fall or spring planted crops in 2001, soil testing is more important than ever this year!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2000.

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