Recent wet conditions are delaying any potential very early planting of corn in much of Nebraska.  The cold spring has delayed greenup of winter annual weeds and other plants by about 2 weeks, compared to recent years.

The rains are very much welcome to any of the dry winter wheat growing areas to the west and south.

With the winter annual weed growth behind normal, very few have been treated yet this spring.  More fall treatments have been promoted;  those fields treated last fall are very clean for planting this spring.

Many may forgo any treatment of the small winter annual weeds now.  If the soils dry out in the next 7 days, spring fertilizing will be done.  Corn planters will be going with growers who are done with anhydrous ammonia applications.

Those who are caught up with fertilizing, have committed more acres to corn that were going to soybeans.  Even with the very high fertilizer prices, it has been more economical for corn than soybeans, provided the corn can get planted in a timely manner in April.

Pictured are shepardspurse plants.  These winter annuals emerged last fall.  They are some of the more difficult species to control in the spring.  They bolt early and flowering and seed production is early and prolific. 

Besides drying out the soil and causing uneven early crop emergence and height, the green weeds attract dingy cutworm moths in the fall and black cutworm moths in the spring.  Even with seed treatments on corn that suppress cutworms, one may have to rescue treat if cutworm populations are high.  Careful scouting is imperative.

The very high grain prices shouldn’t cause much anxiety for growers.  This is the dream that most have wished for many years.  However, the pessimistic gene in most of us tells to be cautious, that this won’t last (the last few days have seen some significant price drops from profit taking).

Those who applied fertilizer last fall at the reduced prices that were being offered then, compared to now, are looking very good at this point.  Selling the crop on the futures prices should allow a grower to make a nice profit this year.  If waiting to buy inputs this spring, that could be a different story.

Of course fertilizer prices are very much elevated from last fall and 12 months ago.  Many of the seed and chemical inputs have increased.  Most disturbing is the land and rent prices going very high. 

Many fear the land and rent will remain very high even if the commodity prices start coming down.  Some growers could be stuck in the middle if that happens; that’s where they are nervous.

Ethanol is driving the higher prices.  Will all the plants continue to operate to give a good market for the corn?  This is worrisome to many in the ag industry now.   With the weaker dollar, the exports market is very good.

We need to continue to control inputs based on sound economics and market the crop accordingly.  Many need to take advantage of these prices to pay down their debt.  There have been few opportunities such as this to get some solid footing under some shaky financial farm businesses. 

The NAICC annual meeting was recently held in Seattle, WA.  A near record attendance of independent crop consultants and contract researchers were at the professional 3 ½ day meeting. 

The following topics and events were important for me:
-the importance of the ongoing work of the various committees of NAICC, their activities truly allow NAICC to function
- the global fertilizer outlook and why we have the elevated prices now
- the importance of looking at vertical stratification not just spacial variability when soil testing
-comparing several on-the-go nitrogen sensors for variable rate nitrogen applications
-international views of fertilizer management and biofuel production
-the emerging technologies of many of the sustaining members of NAICC
- foliar fungicide use in row crops and the experiences of crop consultants from the past few years
-working with fungicide resistance programs, the need for different mode of action for new products
-a crop consultant’s experience with managing Asian soybean rust in the south
-improving our crop consulting businesses;  hire employees slowly and fire quickly;  attitude is more important than expertise;  don’t be afraid to raise prices for quality work;  take some time for yourself;  collect your bills
-various roundtable discussions on the major crops, it is good to learn how crop consultants from other areas of the country handle crop production issues
- the introduction of the past presidents of NAICC from the first 30 years and their contributions to professional independent crop consulting and contract research
-the value of interacting with friends and colleagues from past NAICC annual meetings, much information is gleaned from “in the hall” discussions
-an equally important contract research program was ongoing with the crop consulting sessions
-next year’s annual meeting will be Jan 2009, in Memphis, TN

HELP!
Where are the young agronomists?  One of the common complaints from consulting agronomists is the difficulty of finding interns and college graduates for new hires to help on expanding consulting businesses.
With newer corn hybrid traits, it was feared by some crop consultants that the need for their services would be curtailed.  Not so.  We still provide a needed service to optimize all of the grower’s management practices.

The agricultural departments of universities are declining in student enrollments.  The number of farm kids has declined greatly in the past 10 years. 

Studies have shown that most kids are growing up “nature starved”.  Even farm kids don’t have the outdoor experiences now compared to the past.  Growing up in front of TV’s, video games, and computers doesn’t instill the joy of being outside and pursuing a career that requires one to  spend much of the growing season being in the fields.

Universities are changing the names of the agriculture curriculums to attract students.  For example a degree in Soil Science is perceived to be a boring degree.  The University of Nebraska has changed it to Environmental Restoration to be more attractive.

The word needs to get out to young students in grade and high school to pursue careers in agriculture.  Historically “smart kids” were encouraged to go into engineering, medicine, or law.  Even with the very high commodity prices, challenges are great in the future to maintain a profitable, sustainable production system to meet the food, feed, and now biofuel demands.