Agricultural agents attending the Extension Professional Association of Florida (EPAF) conference in Ft. Meyers learned about the value of in-season tissue testing and on-farm demonstrations. As science moves from theory to practice, more and more extension advisors are using field experiments to test, verify, and ground-truth research studies. In this abstract, I shared my experience with 3 corn growers in the Suwannee Valley and the economic results of these trials. In addition to common Best Management Practices, we used leaf tissue testing at 4 stages of corn growth (V4, V8, V12 and R3) to gauge crop health. Measuring nitrogen leaf concentration at these critical times gave us a sense as to how efficient we were with the 4Rs (right source, rate, time and placement). Based upon accepted “sufficiency ranges” for corn, other growers can likewise adapt their fertilizer budgets and more efficiently apply nutrients to their crop.

More precision agriculture tools are coming onto the market and are worth exploring. Check here for more detail on this corn study https://www.slideshare.net/PatrickTroy3/implementing-bmps-in-corn

….and please let me know if I can help you decide which tools can help improve your crop production.

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