Stop Growing Plants and Start Building Crops
If you look at the evolution of corn over time, what started as maize or teosinte in Mexico has evolved into the current day plant with a cob through breeding and by getting nutrients into the roots and plant.
Higher yields are Possible
Up until the 1960's-70's, only single-cross corn existed. But with new breeding technologies, we have developed the current corn plant and greatly improved yields over the last 50 years. However, the ability to change the plant to increase yields has slowed down, especially after proving that 600+ bushel corn is achievable!
So how do we maintain or accelerate this potential? In recent years, we have proven that we can affect the plant with stimulating the plant by providing or accessing certain nutrients to trigger a specific stage.
Just as humans can affect the nutritionally, we can also do this with crops. Think: bad food gives you bad response, feeling slow and sluggish. Good food gives good response and good energy!
We all want a profitable yield, and it's possible!
In order to gain a profitable yield, you need to have a stress-free crop. In the picture below, you can see that a plant with oxidative stress needs to be managed differently than a stalk with more pith and phloem health (on the right). It is good to understand that these plants need to be managed differently, however, the best method is to keep the stressors out of the plant in the first place.
Crop science has accelerated significantly over the last few years. Management products that were considered "snake oils" in the past, are now backed by science that proves the correlation between plant biology, microbes and by using the synergistic relationship between management techniques to achieve higher yields.
How can we achieve this?
Soybeans are the "low hanging fruit" that we can now make sure of the plant's responses to achieve greater ROI. Understandings are coming about that many things can now be done to effect the soybean plant to grow more nodes, branch wider, and obtain better yields that couldn't be done before.
Up until a few years ago, most farmers followed the "put more on" approach to obtain higher yields. However, because most of the land is rented and not owned, most farmers simply can't afford to follow that management technique because of the slow response time and dollars needed to invest to get those higher yields and remain profitable.
Don't lose hope.The science is here. The key to accessing the current nutrients in your soil and how to apply certain nutrients that will utilize your soil biology for profitable yields.