KELLY GARRETT - ARION, IOWA
A fifth-generation farmer, Kelly Garrett farms corn, soybeans, and winter wheat in western Iowa.
Things are starting to move now as the 2023 planting season comes closer. We are finalizing our plans for our in-furrow and 2x2 operations. The only thing that is the same each year is the fact that no year is the same. We do so much testing on our farm that we are always going to be making changes to the way we raise a crop. This coming season, instead of using the typical 28% or 32% Nitrogen in our 2x2, we are going to use an Agroliquid nitrogen product (High NRG-N) in our 2x2. We think it will be a more efficient source of nitrogen that will result in more productivity, and hopefully a yield bump.
We are currently cycling our planters through the shop for maintenance and upgrades. We are changing out our parallel arms to new parallel arms from Integrated Ag Solutions. They have a built-in bearing that reduces wear and tear on the arms and keep the row units running smoothly. Then we are putting our first DEMCO SideQuest Fertilizer tanks on as well. These tanks will hold 1,000 gallons unlike our previous tanks that held 700 gallons. This will give us a lot more productivity in the field.
MATT MILES - MCGEHEE, ARKANSAS
Matt Miles is a fourth-generation farmer in southeast Arkansas who grows corn, soybeans, rice, and cotton.
One year ago, this week I was planting soybeans. Yes, you read that correctly. We took a chance based on a hunch and planted our first field of soybeans in February. The way I figure, one of the questions I have always been asked by other farmers is "How early is too early?" Well, there is only one way to find out. So, we went out and stuck 47 acres of beans in the ground on Feb. 18 and 19.
Those February beans averaged 79 bpa. I can't complain about that number. But, by planting so early, we were able to get a second crop of beans planted in the same field in August that ended up averaging 41 bpa. Then we followed it up by planting our wheat crop in the same field last fall, making it a true triple-crop field.
