Learning about the field tests that scientists and farmers will do throughout a new growing season is always interesting. This year, they will expand on developing trends while promoting fresh concepts.
Conservation is high on what's happening with field research in 2023, both for saving money on inputs and preserving the environment. Cover crops and other techniques are being improved, among other things.
According to Jim Schwartz, director of Beck's Research Agronomy and Practical Farm Research, farmers may cultivate smaller parcels in the future—not fewer acres, but smaller portions of each acre.
He stated that while most farmers currently farm nearly every square foot of the 43,560 square feet per acre, they may only be farming one-quarter of that in the future — right where the crops are. He said the Quarter-Acre Initiative is what Beck refers to as his study of this tendency.
Study on high-yield corn
This year, Beck will conduct tests on population and corn row width.
Fertilizer banding is already the subject of ongoing research. Manufacturers are developing machinery to target plant rows, and developments are being made to employ chemical control on specific plants.
Plant by plant farming
Farmers are looking for techniques to plant more precisely where the crop is due to the costs of inputs like petrol and fertilizer. Schwartz, 60, remarked that the day when farmers are restricted to 10,890 square feet might not come in his lifetime. ft. or one-quarter of an acre, but he anticipates a day when they will focus on the 4 inches on either side of the row.
According to him, this change is being made possible by elements like modern strip till machinery, worries about the environment, and improvements in fertilizer placement.
Systems that will enable a farmer to farm plant by plant are the focus of "our study," he claimed.
"I believe the day that 43,560 sq. The days of feet per acre are numbered, according to the Directory of Agronomy Research.
One of the systems is the research on fertilizer banding. The two years of banded fertility data indicate that it will probably take around eight years of investigation to get the knowledge farmers to need, according to Schwartz, who deems a study in 2022 "interesting."
He added that more applicable farm research would examine foliar treatments plant by plant to determine the most successful and efficient.
Beck's is experimenting with short-season corn types this year to see if they need less nitrogen, a lower fungicide carrier, and the ideal row width and population.
According to him, short corn cultivars can use fewer inputs while producing equivalent yields and may be used in some areas to manage residue and lessen lodging.
The head agronomist for Precision Planting, Jason Webster, will evaluate the short corn using various protocols, such as row width and fertilizer placement.
In his new experiment, strip cropping, which was of interest to farmers on the Precision Technology Institute research plots in Pontiac, Illinois, last year, he will examine short corn in a different environment.
According to Webster, strip cropping had the best net returns in 2022, whose plots produced 398 bu./corn.
Although the extra sunshine on the plants increased photosynthesis and yields, soybean strips beside the corn indicated losses of 5 to 10 bu./acre. According to him, the profits from maize are swiftly reduced by soybean prices.
He suggested that a shorter corn variety might work well here instead of growing soybeans between the corn strips.
According to Webster, new grain drying and storage facilities will be finished in Pontiac this year, enabling research on the ideal grain harvest and storage moisture levels.
When farmers wait for lower moisture levels to reduce drying expenses since propane is so expensive, there are occasionally harvest losses. Finding out which timing decisions can be more advantageous will aid with research. According to Webster, he and his team will also investigate the possibilities of rehydrating soybeans.
Using cover crops is one strategy for maintaining healthy soil. The research will examine "the true economics" and the possible timeframe for change.
A 10-year study on soil health is currently in its third year at Webster. Many growers find this issue to be relevant, according to Webster, who operates a farm in east central Illinois with his family.
This year, important research initiatives will continue, including those at the University of Illinois centered on photosynthesis.
Another $34 million award to the RIPE project in Urbana-Champaign was announced by the Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations project in December.
According to a press release, researchers Lisa Ainsworth, Stephen Long, and Donald Ort will continue to oversee the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency project, which they have led for the past ten years and has shown significant increases in crop productivity in field trials on the university farm.
Researchers keep looking for solutions to make renewable energy and solar panels compatible as support for both industries grows and concern about agriculture being lost to solar panels also increases.
According to ACES communication expert Marianne Stein's report on Dec. 1, agrivoltaics offers a method of integrating solar panels with crops or observing animals in the same areas.
Yet, because the area would no longer be categorized as agricultural, such initiatives have regulatory issues. An analysis of the zoning and taxation restrictions that impact agrivoltaics across the US is being compiled in a new study from the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois. For agricultural leaders and politicians, it will highlight problems and suggest potential solutions.