The 2021 growing season had its fair share of challenges — and The Amplifier was there for the ups, downs and crop season milestones. We shared agronomic tips, profiled technologies and introduced a few farmers and faces of NK — and we had a lot of fun along the way.
TEN 2021 TAKEAWAYS FROM THE AMPLIFIER
- From crop rotation to seed selection to pre-plant weed control strategies and equipment repairs, we helped farmers start the 2021 growing season strong with a pre-planting checklist.
- We celebrated 25 years of Bt technology with NK Seeds district manager, Marc Hennen, who was a South Dakota agronomist involved with the very first test plots of Bt corn. “We didn’t realize at the time that there was much more [corn borer] damage out there or understand how much it was impacting yield potential until we had this technology that not only kept insects out but also kept pathogens from entering the plant,” Hennen recalls. “We had many discussions back then about how much was needed, but today it’s used far and wide — because it works.”
We hit the road last summer with a father-and-son team who embody teamwork both on the farm and on the racetrack. “It brings me lots of joy to work with farmers like Scott and Colton Whitworth,” said their NK Seeds sales representative, Val Oberbroeckling. “They are great farmers and stewards of the land, but they are also fine neighbors and wonderful people — I appreciate their business, and I’m proud to see their successes, on and off the farm.”
- The NK agronomy team went “digging for data” by conducting a series of midwestern root digs to gauge the effectiveness of NK’s Agrisure Duracade® traits, and those of leading competitors, in controlling corn rootworm.
- We took a look at a new technology for an age-old practice: crop scouting. NK agronomist, Mark Riehl, shared how “Adding DroneDeploy to our typical scouting program has been exciting and fun, especially when tied to nutritional samples. We got to see early-season plant health, and flew the field again after foliar application at the end of June.”
NK Seed representatives from across the Corn Belt shared mid-season highlights and challenges from their areas. While there was extreme drought to the north and flooding to the south, it was smooth sailing in Nebraska, according to Jake Krings, NK Seeds sales representative.
- “A perfect petri dish of warm, moist air.” This is how NK Seeds agronomist, Craig Mackey, described the 2021 Tar Spot challenges that farmers in the Eastern and Northern Corn Belt were forced to contend with. Mackey discussed Tar Spot’s symptoms and offered practical agronomic tips for managing it.
On a lighter note, last fall NK representatives shared their favorite harvest recipes — hearty stews, chilis and snacks perfect for feeding a hungry farm crew.
- We also shared harvest reports from farmers like Ronald Wingfield, who was seeing strong early yields from his NK products in late October. “The last 8‐10 years NK has improved every year — they always produce quite well, and I’ve never had an NK product that fell apart or didn’t perform for me,” he reported.
- We ended the year with a farmer gift guide compiled by NK representatives for the hard-to-shop-for farmers on their holiday shopping lists.
We thank you for reading The Amplifier, and we’re looking forward to bringing you many more informative posts — and featuring more NK farmers, representatives, products and technologies — in 2022!
© 2021 Syngenta. Important: Always read and follow label and bag tag instructions; only those labeled as tolerant to glufosinate may be sprayed with glufosinate ammonium-based herbicides. Agrisure Duracade®, NK® and the Syngenta Logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. LibertyLink®, Liberty® and the Water Droplet logo are registered trademarks of BASF. HERCULEX® and the HERCULEX Shield are trademarks of Dow AgroSciences LLC. HERCULEX Insect Protection technology by Dow AgroSciences. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. More information about Agrisure Duracade® is available at www.biotradestatus.com.