Is Fall the Best Time for Soil Sampling?

Is fall the best time to take soil samples? Many growers take soil samples in the fall after their crops are off. It’s a good time to sample for several reasons. In fall, it’s convenient to drive the fields and pull samples when there isn’t anything growing to get in the way, and soils tend to be drier. Fall also tends to be less busy than spring, giving more time for sampling. Knowing your soil nutrient levels in fall gives you time to put on a …

Know Before You Grow

Soil testing has become a fundamental best management practice in crop production. The knowledge provided by these tests allows growers to apply the exact amount of nutrients needed in each field, helping avoid over or under application of valuable crop inputs. In this Q&A, we sat down with Midwestern BioAg’s lead soil technician, Andrew Cory, to learn more about the benefits of soil sampling and the services available to Midwestern BioAg customers.
What soil sampling services are available?

Better Soil, Bigger Yields

Shullsburg, Wisconsin, farmer Chad Gleason is enthusiastic about everything he does — from managing his 400-head steer finishing operation, to growing corn and hay for his livestock with help from Midwestern BioAg.
Gleason farms on a wide variety of soil types — some of them are great like his Tama soil (reputed to be the best soil in the world), and others that are not so great in the hills.
But all of the fields are going gangbusters since he decided to utilize the products and …

Building Yields, Soil Health

Twenty-five years ago, when Gary Manternach first began working with Midwestern BioAg, few would have predicted that topics like sulfur, calcium, micronutrients, and soil biology would be a vital part of mainstream agriculture today. “The whole industry is talking sulfur now,” notes Manternach as an example. “You can’t open up a magazine without reading about biology.”
Today, Manternach successfully farms his Iowa silt-loam acres by focusing on both soil health and profits. Working with soil health to build yields and profitability makes farming a pursuit he …

5 Ways Biological Farming Can Improve Your Operation

What’s coming down the pipeline to help farmers increase profitability? Biological farming has been getting a lot of attention lately — and for good reasons. Genetic technology and equipment innovations have made dramatic changes in farm management and profitability within a generation. Yet most farmers are still using the same fertilizers their fathers used. That’s where looking at soil nutrients comes in, says Bob Yanda, a 25-year biological farming industry veteran and Vice President of Development for Midwestern BioAg.

From the Farm of Gary Zimmer

Dear Farmer/Agribusiness person,

What a beautiful fall, not only is the weather wonderful but these fall colors are incredible. It’s harvest time of a year I’d call ‘not bad’: it sure had its challenges. There was plenty of water, just delivered at the wrong time in the wrong amount.
My son says we need more “good” land. I say we need to do better with every acre we already have. When our range on alfalfa grass blend hay runs from 4 to over 8 tons/acre …

Fall Soil Sampling: To Grid or Not to Grid

When planning for fall soil sampling there are a number of things to consider. Like a lot of things, it used to be pretty simple. You took your shovel, dug some soil from a couple spots in the field and called it a day. Over the past decade or more, however, we’ve become much more aware of how variable the soil environment can be. We’ve also developed some really powerful tools and technology that can use our soil test data to help us dial in on …