What a thorough presentation. You often find 5 minutes here or there on YT. Our farm is less than 30 miles from the Canadian Shield...we run 72 to 78 day corn hybrids. Although we do not have the disease pressure found in the lower states, we do corn on corn on some fields for 12+ years. We hit a high yield of 288bu on a very small stretch in 2023...overall farm yield after drying was 147bu per acre. So what did we do right on that one spot? That spot was: -planted 3k less per acre -spring broadcast for 180bu corn -chicken manure -dropped planter speed by 2 mph -well drained spot(no tile) -typical wet spot -2 passes of Roundup and no fungicide. My kernel counts were spot on shortly after pollination. With great germination and no drought stress on that spot, those plants grew a 16x35 cob and a 12x25 second at 30k plants per acre. My sugguestion is to try on your smallest worst field in 2025...drop the pop, slow the planter way down and fertilize like you normally would and see of there is a difference.
Dr. Nielsen, this is a really great presentation. Thanks for taking the time to share this with the public. I have taken away some good tips. I have been researching soil health and fertility with a goal to hit 300 bpa field average in the very near future.
It never fails to blow my mind that soil biology / health and how well the end product performs at it's intended use are barely, if ever mentioned by ag academia. I have specialty corn that would really make me worry if I saw yields over 125, because the lab results might show less protein, and it's entire purpose is to provide feed that requires no, or very little soy supplement. These modern hybrids are so much better than the ones from 30 years ago, but 30 years ago, livestock farms and dairy's didn't have to use near as many supplemental additives to their feed. A lot of great info here, don't take me wrong, and I appreciate the effort. I don't expect the whole world to go organic, heck, I don't want anyone else to go organic. I set my own prices and the last thing I want is to be dependent on the commodities market. For the record, the longer RM organic corn I plant has hit 140, 160, and 190 the past 3 years. I attribute the increases to stocking more livestock that graze on the cover crops. I also sold it all for $9-$10. I'll never go over $10, even if conventional GMO corn is bringing $9. Won't do that to my customers and I start making money at about $2.50, but I add 2 bucks to fund growth, equipment and infrastructure.
An excellent presentation. Covers many factors well beyond fertilizers that effect corn yield. The details provide a real insight as to how to recognize the problems.
Thanks Dr. Nielsen. I am here in Malaysia trying to plant some maize. Your lecture is eye opening. We have so much rain and sunshine, I guess our challenges here are seeds and disease.
Ag academia has an absolute unwillingness to learn anything about soil biology. You’re so close. Yes if we increase kernel weight our yields go up. Yes kernel weight is affected by photosynthesis. How do we increase photosynthesis!? Yes dropping our populations can increase it, but how else!? Increasing the relationships between plants and soil biology. The microbes in the soil, if given the chance to make connections with plants, actually incentivize them to photosynthesis more! If we stop tilling, stop adding synthetic fertilizers, and stop leaving our ground in bare fallow after harvest we can increase our yields and profits by pretty amazing amounts. I’m currently a student at Purdue and I’m tired of my professors unwillingness to even just entertain science that contradicts what they teach. I’ve had several refuse to give me their opinions on scientific papers from their colleagues at other schools. The agronomy here, on the whole, is seriously outdated.
they harvest 400 bu per acre ... and when i go to the feed store i have to pay $11 per bu of bagged feed corn.....it used to be $3 per bu ..... why is feed corn so expensive when we have millions of acres of corn growers yielding 300 to 400 bu per acre
Two comments I can offer... 1. Average corn yields are way less than the 400-600 bu/ac yield contest winners and 2. Feed prices are set by the processor and sellers of the feed corn, not by the farmers who grow the corn.
