Ag PhD

Here are some of the highlights for this year’s Field Day on our farm on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Free admission. Free food. Free parking. It’s our way of saying THANK YOU for watching Ag PhD TV (we just completed our 28th season) and listening to us on Ag PhD Radio (we are just finishing our 13th year on SiriusXM). We know you’re busy, so we try to pack as much as we can into one fantastic day. We start early (7 a.m.), but we finish early (4 p.m.), and there is a lot to see.

I’ve been a huge believer in pulling soil tests right behind the combine, but now spring, in-crop soil testing is a very viable option… Here’s why. VRAFY makes this possible. It can take the spring in-crop grid soil tests you pull and meld that together with yield data from this fall. In other words, it takes the current fertility and subtracts off what your crop removes based on your yield map. This allows you to very accurately know what to apply in every single grid on your farm.

Using a great pre-emerge residual program is often the best weed control decision you make all year. Adding additional residual control to your first post-emerge application has become a difference maker on many farms, as well. We’ll discuss a few of your options and the reasoning behind why you might choose each of them. Plus, we’ll give you some watchouts to consider. chloepeterJuly 8th, 2026|2026|

Life can be funny sometimes. You never know for sure how things are going to go, and the journey to get there often takes some unexpected turns… While this statement may generally hold true for most, it is especially true for John and Miranda Gutschenritter, who live, work, and farm just north of Hartford, Wisconsin, an area northwest of Milwaukee with a contoured landscape easing its way to the shores of Lake Michigan. chloepeterJuly 8th, 2026|2026|

Big corn yields require lots of nitrogen. Dialing in your rate so you don’t have an excess or a shortfall is a real challenge… Here are my top tips on how to apply the right amount of nitrogen (and a few other nutrients) in-season. HOW MUCH NITROGEN DO I NEED? No one can predict exactly how much nitrogen you need. Quite frankly, no agronomist or soil fertility expert can predict it, either – because no one knows exactly on each acre of your farm what your yield will be.

2024 was a bad year for corn diseases, and 2025 was even worse! I heard that statement from many farmers across the Corn Belt this winter. Does that mean 2026 will be bad, too? Not necessarily, but does that mean you should prepare like it could be? Absolutely. And I’ll tell you how. But first, some key principles… In order to preserve maximum yield potential and get the highest return on your fungicide investments, you must treat before the plant is infected with disease.

Geography and climate are two of the most significant factors in determining which crops can be successful. Areas of the lower Mississippi River valley crossing Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri are extremely flat – the soils and topography of these acres make for prime rice-growing conditions. “For us, rice is like others’ corn. It’s our big money crop, the one that sustains our operations – until it doesn’t,” said Scott Matthews, 62, a rice grower from northeastern Arkansas.

If you use any plant nutrient correctly, it is NOT toxic. I have probably heard 1000 people say something along the lines of, “boron is toxic”. The next page shows you how to use boron safely and details why it is so essential in plants. Boron is only called a micronutrient because plants don’t need a lot of it. However, I would consider it a MAJOR plant nutrient because without it, you can’t hit the yield or profit goals you hope to achieve! chloepeterMarch 1st, 2026|2026|

How is your yield on your last-planted field each year? Is it as good as what you planted first? If you started planting 5 days earlier than normal, which then means you would finish 5 days earlier, does that mean your spraying and every other job on the farm gets done more timely? How much is that worth? The two reasons why I think you should at least consider planting super early in the future are: Higher yield More time to do all your other work on the farm

I love seeing new baby calves in the spring, especially when they are out in the pasture. Growing up, I learned that the first few weeks of a young animal’s life were often the most important. If they didn’t get off to a great start, they could never make it up. A runt generally remained a runt.