FARGO, N.D. – Bigg Dogg Agg is the local Opti-Crop licensee in Felton, Minnesota. When it signed on with Opti-Crop in 2003, it started with 18,000 acres under management contract. In 2005, it had 65,000 acres.
Opti-Crop consultants charge farmers $5 to $6 per acre, which includes a broad spectrum of pre-season crop planning and in-season agronomic management services. At today’s wheat prices, a yield increase of two bushels per acre can offset that cost.
“Now, if we can’t grow an additional two bu. per acre for a farmer, then we’ve got no business being on his farm,” said Tim Sickman, an Opti-Crop agronomist headquartered in Owensboro, Kentucky.
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“There’s a misconception in some circles that our program is just about boosting yield for yield’s sake alone. Nothing could be further from reality.”
He said the company offers an agronomically sound program that helps growers achieve greater profitability.
“Extra yield means nothing at the end of the day if it doesn’t translate into more net income for the farmer.”
Sickman said that contrary to what some people believe, Opti-Crop does not recommend pouring on tonnes of extra nitrogen. Rather, the program has three key objectives: improve yields in small grains; enhance grain quality and increase growers’ net income per acre.
“What we do is not dramatically different from what a guy was doing before he signed on. It’s a matter of training yourself to pay extreme attention to detail. It’s not rocket science.”
Sickman said people should not confuse intensive management with high rates of nitrogen. These are two different concepts, he added, and Opti-Crop stresses intensive management and maximum profit.
“The concept of intensive wheat management is to strive to get everything right and do it in an economically feasible manner,” he said, including proper seeder calibration and depth control, correctly targeted seeding rates, careful variety selection, soil fertility, timely weed, insect and disease control, proper combine setup and residue management.
“We go right back to basics with the grower and work through the entire year with the aim of managing all the controllable variables as well as we can. If you can do that, if you can focus more attention on each detail and improve the timing of various field operations, then you can improve your chances for making better money with the wheat enterprise.”
Opti-Crop, the consulting arm of Kentucky-based Miles Farm Supply, was established in 1986 to provide agronomic consulting to wheat growers in Kentucky and nearby states who wanted maximum financial return.
In the past decade, it has expanded to new geographical areas, bringing with it the lessons it learned in the pursuit of maximum financial return.
Critics say lessons learned in Kentucky don’t apply to the northern Great Plains and Sickman conceded that the precise management practices used in growing soft red winter wheat in the Ohio River Valley may not apply directly to hard red spring wheat production in the northern latitudes.
However, he said the fundamental concepts of intensive wheat management remain the same across diverse geographies.
He said that the one major difference between southern latitude winter wheat and northern latitude spring wheat is the speed at which crops progress through their growth stages.
Growth stages move faster in the spring wheat crop, owing greatly to the increased hours of daylight at the more northern latitudes.
“You can see spring wheat advance from one growth stage to the next in just three or four days in some instances,” he said.
“That presents a greater challenge in terms of timing various inputs to achieve optimal performance.”
However, he said those challenges can be met with vigilant crop scouting and close communication between the consultant and grower.
Sickman said the accusation that Opti-Crop’s management strategy starves wheat plants probably stems from a misinterpretation of its in-crop nitrogen management practices.
“A wheat plant essentially has no will power to limit its consumption of nitrogen. If you have all the N down early, the plant will engage in luxury consumption and take up as much as possible. That’s just the way it is.”
The result, he said, is often too many tillers or stools for the best possible yield or the most profitable crop, which can lead to smaller stem diameter and weaker straw strength and the risk of increased lodging.
“By split applying N, with some being put down at planting and topdressing the balance after the crop is growing, you get stronger straw and you avoid the problem of too many tillers.”
He said the common practice of applying nitrogen in the fall with anhydrous or trying to put it all in with one-pass seeding in the spring gives the young wheat plant access to more nitrogen than it should have.
Sickman said his company’s agronomists try to target most of the nitrogen in the three- to six-leaf stage. If they see a thin stand of wheat, they will apply nitrogen early at about the three-leaf stage to encourage plants to tiller out more. If they see a thick stand that already has too many tillers, they won’t apply nitrogen until closer to the six-leaf stage.
“You don’t want to starve the plant for N, but you also don’t want to overfeed with N early on.”
He said most of the company’s clients in Minnesota and North Dakota have reported that in-crop nitrogen is giving them a half to a full percentage point on their protein.
“We had one fellow last year with a dollar per bu. protein premium. He averaged 80 bu. to the acre and it went for $5.10 a bu. He’s happy with our program.”
He added that those kinds of results are do-able with strong-straw varieties such as Granite and Trooper. Although Opti-Crop promotes in-crop nitrogen, it also has clients with one-pass operations where all the nitrogen is applied at seeding time.
Sickman said most of his company’s clients are cautious when it comes to nitrogen because they don’t want to tie up their nitrogen investment until they have to and until they see what the prospects are for the crop.
“They feel more comfortable making those decisions after we’ve had a chance to walk their fields and after they’ve assessed soil moisture.”
Sickman said different varieties receive different nitrogen management because they tiller out differently. The weather in any given year also has a big impact. These are all factors Opti-Crop consultants take into consideration.
He said when they work with a client on variety selection, they also look at residual nitrogen in the soil as well as soil moisture in each field. Their goal is to pick a variety for each field that can take full advantage of what’s available and what can be added. He emphasized that the variety must match the situation.
“The final choice of variety often depends on residual N. If you have 50 units of residual N, you want a variety with good straw strength going into that field. If the next field only has 20 parts per million residual N on the soil test, then variety selection isn’t as critical.”
The company has done field work with in-crop nitrogen application controlled by the Hydro Precise N-Sensor, which takes an optical reading of the plant leaves and translates the data into a nitrogen recommendation for that specific spot in the field. However, the reaction time for changing the rate was too slow.
Recent technological developments with similar systems such as Green Seeker and Crop Circle show more promise because the reaction time is quicker. He thinks these units may have a future in fine tuning in-crop nitrogen rates.
Sickman said Opti-Crop uses the same management tools that are available to any farmer, including soil tests, organic matter, plant tissue analysis, stand counts and field scouting.
“We walk every field once a week. We have some clients who sign up for our services for that reason alone. They know they don’t have the time to do all the scouting they should. One of our crop consultants can handle about 25,000 acres.”
Sickman said Opti-Crop makes an effort to provide better weed control using less chemicals. The key is to get a jump on weeds.
“We seldom recommend a blanket spraying of the whole farm. That isn’t prudent. We recommend very selective spraying and we very carefully pick the products for each field. And we never call for an application unless it’s needed. We typically time it so the grower can save field trips by mixing products; for instance a fungicide with a herbicide.”
The final decision on what and when to apply always rests with the farmer. Opti-Crop does not sell fertilizer, seed or crop protection products, so the client is free to buy from any source.
Sickman said there is no doubt that the Opti-Crop system will involve higher input costs compared to most traditional wheat management programs.
For example, there may be one or two more field passes to facilitate precise timing of the applications.
“Farmers must be satisfied that they’re getting their money’s worth,” he said.
“Because the only guys who’ve pulled out of the program so far are the ones who’ve thoroughly picked our brains and feel they can do it on their own.”
