Tom Bechman

1 week ago | farmprogress.com | Tom Bechman

What can make you more anxious than waiting for it to dry out to plant soybeans? Waiting for them to emerge! After all, the best place for a rotary hoe is in the toolshed. Almost every farm still has one, and almost every farmer hopes it is one tool that stays put. You can’t always pick the “right” days to plant — the days that will allow soybeans to emerge without issues, notes Steve Gauck, a farmer and regional agronomy manager for Beck’s, based near Greensburg, Ind.

1 week ago | farmprogress.com | Tom Bechman

What happens when Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate, and key spring jobs pile up? What if the calendar says you should plant corn, but you still have nitrogen to apply? Two Midwest agronomists, Dan Quinn and Mark Licht, answer questions that might be on your mind in this situation. Quinn is the Purdue Extension corn specialist. Licht is an Extension cropping system specialist with Iowa State University. If you think they will make the decision for you, think again.

1 week ago | farmprogress.com | Tom Bechman

Sometimes you don’t need a sixth sense to know it is likely going to be a bad day. Smelling sour or rotten grain while inspecting a bin is one of those times. One way to minimize the odds of spoiled grain spoiling your day is to continue monitoring grain still in storage, even during busy spring and summer seasons. You may be tied up spraying or applying nitrogen, but if you still have grain in bins, someone should be checking it carefully on a routine basis.

1 week ago | farmprogress.com | Tom Bechman

Maybe you have already planted into dry soil. Perhaps your corn and soybeans are up and growing. On the flip side, maybe your seed is still in the bag because conditions have been too wet. It doesn’t take Johnny Carson’s character Cognac the Magnificent, a Ouija board or a Magic 8 Ball to know that if you have planted, you likely farm anywhere from western Illinois farther west, or in select spots in other states.

1 week ago | farmprogress.com | Tom Bechman

Editor’s note: Find out more about Max Armstrong’s tractor collection in the latest episode of FP Next. Max Armstrong’s ties to red tractors run deep. In fact, if you ask him where he was born, he will tell you it was at the Gibson General Hospital in Princeton, Ind., quickly adding, “The hospital was only a couple blocks from the International dealer in town.” Sure enough, Armstrong’s family spent time at Adams & Morrow Inc. at 113 S. Hall St. until that dealership closed in 1984.