Agronomy Articles
News from Dimock
By Ryan McGinnis, Agronomist, Dimock
This is Ryan McGinnis, Sales Agronomist out of Dimock. I recently started in May of 2024 upon graduation. I attended Dakota Wesleyan University and Mitchell Technical College. I’m excited to be part of the CFC agronomy team. Meeting local growers in the area has been the most rewarding part of my role so far. It’s time to be thinking about booking fertilizer for this fall and upcoming spring. With this, I’m excited to share the news regarding a new fertilizer plant being built here in Dimock. This is a great opportunity and addition for our growers. The plant is approved and has begun the building process expected to be done spring of 2025. Once completed, we plan on having an open meal and showing, inviting growers to see the new plant. Summer is coming to an end and Fall is here. Harvest is right around the corner and silage season is in full swing. From all of us at the Dimock location, we hope that everyone has a safe and successful harvest coming soon.
9/13/2024
Spray Drones
By Andy Stapleton, Precision Ag Manager
CFC is entering into the sprayer drone business after acquiring 2 DJI drones, the T40 (10gal. capacity) and the smaller T20 (5.3gal. capacity). These are very handy when applying herbicide to those hard-to-reach pasture acres by ground rig, or when a plane/helicopter is not available near residential areas. Fungicide and insecticide application is another useful tool to avoid rundown crop. The drone package also includes a dry spreader rig for seeding cover crops. When run in tandem during liquid application, the drones can cover about 50 acres per hour. We look forward to covering plenty of acres with this new and somewhat ‘niche’ program to provide a broader service to our customers. If you have some pastures that need herbicide application this fall or if you have any questions about the operation, please reach out to either me or your local agronomist.
9/6/2024
Chemical Programs
By Cody Plamp, Agronomist, Dimock
The growing season continues with a wide variety of issues in the countryside between drown out, lack of rain, and now bug pressure in some parts of our trade territory. It has sure been a challenging year, but we have a lot to be grateful for and need to keep what we have for crops protected. Our southern and eastern trade territories have been spraying soybean aphids in the last week to 10 days with the bug pressure being extremely high. I believe they will keep moving their way north and west unless we happen to get a big rain to slow them down. Soybean aphids can cause significant yield losses if not controlled promptly. Farmers should inspect the undersides of leaves, as aphids tend to congregate there. If aphid populations exceed the economic threshold of roughly 200 aphids per plant timely insecticide application may be necessary. Call your agronomist today if you have any concerns or need a field looked at. It is also highly recommended to put fungicide in with this insecticide.
Another item to keep in mind as we get closer to the October/ harvest time frame is stalk strength. The stalks have seemed a little weaker this year compared to normal due to the late planting dates and the fast-growing corn. If possible, it will be key to keep the corn in the field as long as possible to help get the moisture down. If needed, due to weak stalks, take the corn out so it doesn’t end up on the ground.
WEEDS! We need to have a plan going into fall on what we are going to do with all the prevent plant acres that are across our trade territory along with any low bottoms that may have been drowned out. There are many. Winter annual weeds are widely seen across our trade area and will likely cause problems going into spring of 2025 if we do not act this fall. Fall herbicides will be critical to help take control of these weeds as we plan for next year’s crop. Get ahold of your CFC agronomist to discuss a two-pass fall/spring chemical application program.
8/9/2024
Agronomy Staff
 Jeff Schmiesing
Agronomy Dept. Manager
Cell: 605-940-7665
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 Allen Johansen
Seed Lead
Cell: 605-661-4882
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Clay Hespe
Tyndall Agronomist
Cell: 605-421-1636
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 Cody Plamp
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