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Planning for the ’22 crop

An agronomist with Advanced Agrilytics says it’s not too early to begin making management decisions for the 2022 season.

Erika Parker says growers interested in planting soybeans early next season should think about residue management.

“If we have certain fields that we know we want to go into in 2022 with early planted soybeans, getting the corn off early and working the ground earlier this fall will help us set up a better seedbed and a better residue situation for what we will have for early-planted soybeans in 2022,” she says. “I know that’s not always possible but it’s at least something to consider if we try and plan toward making a successful run at the soybean crop in 2022.”

She tells Brownfield fall fertilizer applications will also be important.

“I think there will be more fall anhydrous application due to supply and demand situations and that’s fine, but if we do have more fall anhydrous let’s try to make sure that we do that in a way where we minimize our loss potential– meaning let’s wait until the soil temperatures are at the right stage and use an inhibitor,” she says. “In addition to that, let’s not forget the goal of the corn crop and how important it is to finish the corn crop off. So, if you do use fall anhydrous, don’t put 100 percent of the nitrogen in fall anhydrous because it’s so important to get that kernel fill as we enter R3 in 2022.

Parker says when considering different management decisions, it’s important to compare “apples to apples.”

“You can’t look at a field in one spot and look at a field five miles away and make equal comparisons— they went through different weather conditions and have different soil types,” she says. “Take a step back and make sure they’re fair and equal comparisons as we try to pick out which management decisions we need to move forward with.”  

Parker is based in Illinois.

Audio: Erika Parker