Syngenta Thrive

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Agriculture is vulnerable to every kind of extreme weather: hail, flood, drought, wind and more. Extreme weather causes devastating levels of damage and has long-lasting consequences, but there are proactive practices and technologies that reduce damage and help operations recover.

“When most [growers] are asked what their greatest source of risk is in agriculture, they’ll tell you it’s the weather,” says Eric Snodgrass, senior science fellow at Nutrien Ag Solutions. “You can ask any farmer; they’re all going to have a story.”

Marianne Brown, a pecan grower and owner of T&M Brown Farms, LLC in Albany, Georgia has such a story. She is also a partner on TriBaum Farms and helps manage Grebel Pecan Services, Inc.; all three pecan-growing companies were affected by Hurricane Michael in 2018 and lost approximately 30% of trees in the storm.

Plan for Extremes

Planning is the best remedy. Crop insurance is a risk management necessity, but there are also practices growers can put in place to reduce the impact of extreme weather and reinforce crop durability.

For annual crops such as corn, Snodgrass recommends seed choice selectivity. He says growers should understand seed vulnerability to various factors, such as wind, before making their selection. For an area like the western corn belt, he says it might be worth sacrificing yield for stand quality. “I would want to make sure it was harvestable, given all the wind out there,” he says.

Seed selection is an important consideration in perennial crops as well. Newer varieties and techniques may offer better resistance to extreme conditions. For crops like pecans, growers carefully plan planting for the best chance at weather resistance.

“Most farmers are trying to update their orchards by inter-planting – replacing older trees and skips with young trees. Some farmers even put a high-density planting of young trees next to an older orchard so that when they lose a tree, a young tree can be spaded in,” Brown says. “Due to their size, younger trees are more resilient, so they’re more likely to survive and can replace older, damaged trees.”

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When most growers are asked what their greatest source of risk is in agriculture, they’ll tell you it’s the weather. You can ask any farmer; they’re all going to have a story.

Eric Snodgrass Senior Science Fellow at Nutrien Ag Solutions

Follow Best Practices

Certain maintenance practices improve overall crop health, yield and extreme weather resilience. For example, hedging is a practice in pecan farming in which pruning stimulates growth patterns more like hedge rows than typical trees. It allows for better spray coverage and opens the canopy to more sunlight. As it turns out, hedging also reduces hurricane damage.

“Now there’s data after [Hurricanes] Irma and Michael that hedging trees has a significant impact on them staying upright and reducing loss from a hurricane,” says Brown.

Snodgrass states the importance of soil health and stewardship for both healthy crops and weather damage reduction. “The best offense is a good defense,” he says. “Knowing your own ground and your own soil means that you’ll do what’s best for it. It’s kind of like human health: if you do all the right things, everything seems to work well.” It can be a lot to juggle at once, but farms implementing good stewardship practices are more resilient to extreme weather.

Stay Up-to-date

Part of good stewardship is understanding soil and plant health, but updating farm equipment also helps before and after a disaster. In the wake of Hurricane Michael, Brown replaced many damaged trees, resulting in considerable variability in tree height within her orchards. She purchased a smart sprayer that uses LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology to precisely spray chemicals.

“We’ve easily saved 40% of our chemical cost,” Brown says. “This upgrade should prove helpful should a similar disaster strike in the future.”

Weather prediction has also improved. “We’re getting much better at predicting things farther out,” says Snodgrass. “We can predict weather with relative certainty up to 10 days in advance.” The National Weather Service and other sites, such as ag-wx.com, offer weather predictions and models across the country and are an important resource for growers.

Incorporate Industry Improvements

Researchers like Snodgrass continue to look for ways to mitigate extreme weather risk in agriculture. “[Researchers] are improving soil health,” says Snodgrass. “They’re improving our sustainability metrics. They’re improving things that make us less vulnerable to severe weather events.”

Technology, such as Cropwise™ Imagery, makes monitoring plant health easier than ever. Growers can view satellite imagery of their fields, compare fields over time, and see NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) values from anywhere.

Brown sees continued improvements in the industry as well. “Incorporating hedging and precision ag – whether that’s monitors or smart sprayers – have positively affected the industry,” she says. She knows she’s prepared should a similar disaster hit her farms again. “We’re resilient, and technology and information have come a long way. We’ve learned a lot from Irma and Michael and, ultimately, it’s going to make us better growers.”

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Direct-to-consumer food sales totaled $2.9 billion in 2020, and on-farm stores and farmers markets accounted for $1.7 billion, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Chip Ross, wellbeing program manager at Syngenta, suggests that growers open themselves up to the idea of selling at farmers markets.

“It’s certainly something to put yourself out there and build a positive reputation about your produce,” Ross says.

Farmers markets are strong contenders for the future of local food, with more than 8,000 markets selling directly to consumers across the U.S. each season. They benefit local communities by providing fresh produce at an affordable price and empowering consumers to understand where their food comes from.

Heading to Market

Donna and Ed Welchert of Ed Welchert Produce in Ft. Calhoun, Nebraska, have attended the Omaha Farmers Market every Sunday from May to October for 30 years to sell their fresh vegetables.

“We attend the farmers market when we’re growing plants so we can sell them to people and they can start their own gardens,” says Donna, partner and marketing manager. “Once the vegetables start coming in, we sell both plants and vegetables until later in the season.”

Each Sunday, the Welcherts spend three hours removing their produce from the truck and setting up their booth. They require a 10×20 double booth because they grow and sell a large variety of produce including lettuce, peppers, green onions and potatoes. While the weekly setup requires more labor, joining the Omaha Farmers Market is a fairly simple process.

“They make it easy; everything is online. We pay an annual fee for our booth, around $1,100, and we’re in the same exact spot every week, every year, so everybody knows how to find us,” Donna says. “We’ve gained tons of customers who have been with us for years.”

Becoming a Vendor

Maggie Winton, event marketing coordinator at VGA Fundraising and Events, assists in coordinating vendors for the Omaha Farmers Market, which includes creating, collecting and sorting applications.

“We typically give vendors about six weeks between when we send out the applications and when season vendor applications are due,” she says. “During this time period, we categorize our vendors in different ways.”

The two categories are season vendors and weekly vendors. Season vendors have the same spot in the market all season long. Weekly vendors may not be in the market every week, so they’re rotated based on space availability.

On average across the country, farmers market booth fees vary based on the location, size or popularity of the market. Daily booth fees can range from $20 to $50, in addition to permit and insurance fees.

The Omaha Farmers Market has two locations: Old Market and Aksarben Village. “Weekly vendors at the Old Market location typically pay a $35 fee each week they participate in the farmers market and a $40 per week fee for Aksarben Village, since it’s a slightly larger market,” Winton says. “Season vendors pay between $585 and $665 for a single booth.” The market hosts 90 vendor spaces on Saturdays and 120 on Sundays; they also accept SNAP and other food assistance programs.

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I think that these spaces are so integral to the longevity of our farming communities, and our local growers and businesses. I feel really proud to be involved, even if I contribute just a small part.

Maggie Winton Event Marketing Coordinator, VGA Fundraising and Events

Reaping Rewards, Braving Weather

The Welcherts see many benefits associated with attending farmers markets, such as the opportunity to interact directly with customers in-person and through social media; it helps build community connections.

“I do believe our community connections, whether it’s been customers or the market in general, have improved over the years because of social media,” Donna says. “People are able to reach right out to us and get to know the farmer.”

Another major benefit is cash flow. The Welcherts say their income from the farm is made through selling at the Omaha Market, but some years are better than others.

“The income level always changes. It changes with the weather, and a crop may or may not come out good for you,” she says. “We’ve had bad potato years, we’ve had bad onion years, that’s always going to be a thing with farming. But we make a pretty decent living just by participating in the farmers market.”

In addition to the weather’s effect on crop yields, for growers participating in farmers markets, it also affects foot traffic and can impact sales. One common disadvantage is a lack of overhead coverings for booths, which means harsh weather may damage booths, displays and products.

Zoua Lo, owner of Lu’s Flowers and Vegetables, says she sees both good and bad days, and it’s largely dependent on the weather.

“If it’s a rainy day, we don’t have any customers. If it’s a nice day, we have lots of customers,” Lo says.

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Stacking It High

Donna Welchert says when attending a farmers market, always bring ample produce – people appreciate options and enjoy looking through stacks of produce to find their perfect vegetable.

“A long time ago, we were told to ‘stack it high, and watch it fly’,” she says. “We live by this motto, and we found that people want to pick out their own stuff. They want to look through the peppers and say, ‘This is the one I want.’”

Lo believes the key to success at a farmers market is simply talking to customers and fellow vendors, because being friendly and connecting with the community builds long-lasting relationships.

As the Omaha Farmers Market celebrates its 30th year, it’s clear that it has had a great impact on the community.

“I think that these spaces are so integral to the longevity of our farming communities, and our local growers and businesses,” Winton says. “I feel really proud to be involved, even if I contribute just a small part.”

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Insecticide resistance was first documented in 1914, followed by herbicide resistance in the 1950s. The ag community has battled both ever since. Scientists are continually developing products to fill the gaps left by those rendered ineffective due to over-use, but because of the time it takes to bring a new product to market, preserving effective chemistries through strategic application and supportive cultural practices is crucial.

Kevin Langdon, Ph.D., technical product lead for insecticides at Syngenta, says it’s important for growers to understand that resistance to pest control products is an evolutionary process.

“A lot of folks think if they spray the same insect generation multiple times, it’s only those who become resistant,” Langdon says. “They don’t think of resistance as a trait that’s conferred to the next generation.”

According to Langdon, mature insects that aren’t killed by an insecticide can develop metabolic or structural/target site changes that render them immune to the product’s mode of action. Some of their offspring may inherit the immunity-conferring trait, which enlarges the resistant community. Offspring that don’t inherit such traits may develop them if sprayed with the same product or mode of action. The key to preventing this cycle of resistance is to stagger sprays using different modes of action.

“For example, the first and third generation would be sprayed with one mode of action, then the second and fourth generation, if there are that many in a single crop, would be sprayed with a different mode of action group of chemistry,” Langdon says.

In plants, resistance builds over the course of the growing season, and just as with insects, it only takes a few resistant plants to leave a legacy for the following year.

“If you spray a million weed plants and three survive, you never notice that in your field. You killed 99% and the field looks awesome,” says David Belles, Ph.D., technical product lead for herbicides at Syngenta.

But, Belles says, those three that survive can produce up to 250,000 seeds per plant and cross with other plants. Soon, the only ones left are resistant, and subsequent sprays with the same mode of action will only speed up the process of resistance development.

Stewarding efficacy

Good stewardship of effective pest control products takes a variety of forms according to Fred Musser, Ph.D., professor of row crop entomology at Mississippi State University. Musser conducts research on integrated pest management (IPM), which aims to look at pest management in a more holistic way. IPM includes a variety of practices like cultural controls, biological controls, host-plant resistance and insecticides to manage field health.

Corn-soybean crop rotation is a common cultural practice in the Midwest, which, among other benefits, can help control corn rootworm. However, when the same crop rotation is used consistently in a broad geography, resistance to the crop rotation itself can develop, according to Musser.

“The reason it worked against rootworm is the adults would lay their eggs in the fall in corn,” Musser says. “But when they hatched in the spring, the field had been planted to soybeans, so those worms couldn’t feed and didn’t make it.”

At first the practice was virtually 100% effective, Musser says, but since then, two resistance mechanisms have been discovered that undermine it. One is that the adults started laying their eggs in soybeans, which hatched when the field was corn again. The other is an extended diapause, which is a spontaneous interruption in the larvae’s development that delays the hatch.

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A lot of folks think if they spray the same insect generation multiple times, it’s only those who become resistant. They don’t think of resistance as a trait that’s conferred to the next generation.

Kevin Langdon, Ph.D. Technical Product Lead for Insecticides at Syngenta

“So, if the eggs were laid in corn in the fall of ’22, the worms wouldn’t emerge until the spring of ’24, when the field’s back to corn again,” he says.

As a result, rotation is no longer enough to control corn rootworm in pockets where resistance has developed, even in first-year corn. “In those cases, it’s not even pesticide resistance; it’s crop rotation resistance,” Musser says.

Crop by crop, season by season

Geography and climate can also be factors in resistance management. John Palumbo, Ph.D., professor of entomology and an extension specialist at the University of Arizona, works in Yuma, Arizona, where the state’s river valleys and temperate climate mean pest management is done on a year-round, crop-by-crop basis, versus the Midwest’s single growing season.

“Through irrigation, we can grow crops 365 days a year because of our weather,” Palumbo says. “Every month we’re planting something, and every month we’re harvesting something.”

Every acre gets an average of two or three crops in a calendar year, Palumbo explains. While crop-specific pests will move out after harvest, growers are conscientious about managing them while they last.

“We always look for multiple modes of action,” Palumbo says. “We do best when we have a minimum of three to four, and we’re fortunate that whether they’re vegetables or field crops, we do have several available.”

But there are plenty of pests that hang around, Palumbo says. Beet armyworm is a good example. It’s in the Yuma fields year-round and isn’t picky about its host crop.

“It’ll go from lettuce to broccoli to spinach to cauliflower during the winter, then to alfalfa, cotton and melons,” he says, “so we’re very conscious of resistance.” Beet armyworm resistance has been building since the mid-1990s.

“We had organophosphates, carbamate and pyrethroids,” Palumbo says. “We put on too much selection pressure using those chemistries, and then we had problems.”

Fortunately, developments with various product chemistries helped get the problem under control, and educators like Palumbo continue to stress the importance of resistance management: rotating new chemistry, never spraying the same mode of action more than once and rotating to an alternative mode of action.

“When the worms move from the winter vegetables into crops like alfalfa and cotton, we recommend completely different modes of action,” Palumbo says. “So, even if resistance does build during the eight months in the winter, it’s going to get hit with something else in the summer before our next produce season starts.”

Mode of action rotation

To effectively rotate modes of action, Langdon recommends growers start with the IRAC, FRAC or HRAC codes, boldly displayed on the front of product labels, to ensure they’re getting the variety of chemistry they need. He notes that proper application and rate are important, too.

“Make sure you’re getting really good coverage,” he says. “If aerial application is your only option, keep in mind the optimal spray coverage, so the carrier volume is high enough that you’re essentially spraying the entire plant and the bug doesn’t have refuge.”

Likewise, Langdon adds, a sub-lethal dose of pesticide can be as bad as none, since surviving the spray is where resistance can start.

“Some folks cut the rate just to save money, but you’ve got a chemical that’s already being metabolized by the plant, or UV-degraded, so you end up exposing the insect to an even lower dose than you meant to,” Langdon says. “What we really can’t afford is to lose a product to resistance from mismanagement or misuse.”

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“The only trend as it relates to weather is volatility – excessiveness and volatility,” says Marcia Bunger, administrator at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA).

Born and raised on a farm in South Dakota, Bunger currently farms with her husband. She’s experienced unpredictable weather firsthand and through the growers she serves at RMA. Bunger oversees crop insurance across the country and recognizes that excessive moisture, drought, hurricanes, winds and violent weather events are increasingly common. These types of events are devastating, especially for newer operations still building their foundations.

“What’s it going to be this year?”

Farming is financially complex and capital-intense. “In the 1980s, there were a lot of farm sales due to foreclosures,” Bunger says. “That was hard to watch, and we lost neighbors because of the economics of farming.”

Today’s farmers face different economic challenges, but are always wondering, “what’s it going to be this year?” Commodity prices? Interest rates? Wars? Supply chain shortages? Pandemics? And, of course, there’s always the weather.

Support organizations and programs can’t predict input costs or the weather, but they can help offset the risks and farm losses.

“Each and every year, (a farmer’s) total investment is in that crop or that herd of livestock,” Bunger says. “So, when weather comes along and destroys most – if not all – of that year’s crop, without crop insurance, many wouldn’t come back.”

Bunger says she’s seen older generations teach new farmers that crop insurance is an obligation – not an option. But there is little to no awareness about crop insurance in urban agriculture, organic farms and generally underserved populations, leaving many struggling financially each year. To bridge that knowledge gap, RMA made significant investments with partnering universities and local community organizations, helping break down barriers to crop insurance education, awareness and access. They launched two pilot programs within the past year: The RMA Navigator and Building Resiliency.

RMA partners with the University of Arkansas through The RMA Navigator program to hire and train subject matter experts in the Southeast. They assist underserved individuals and communities by connecting them with crop insurance information.

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Each and every year, (a farmer’s) total investment is in that crop or that herd of livestock. So, when weather comes along and destroys most – if not all – of that year’s crop, without crop insurance, many wouldn’t come back.

Marcia Bunger Administrator at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA)

Building Resiliency partners with various organizations to recruit, hire, mentor and license people from underserved communities, helping them become loss adjustors and crop insurance agents. The goal is to increase access and availability in those communities.

Assurance fills the gaps

Eric Honeycutt, digital ag solutions marketing lead for Syngenta, remembers being a kid and watching his grandfather on the farm. He recalls how his grandpa checked the weather forecast three times a day: morning, noon and evening. Adverse weather and its impacts were constantly top of mind.

To help ease growers’ concerns over unfavorable weather, Syngenta recommends signing up for its unique weather protection offer, AgriClime™, which gives growers the confidence to invest in a better crop through the purchase of qualifying Syngenta products. Should favorable weather conditions occur during the growing season, the grower could maximize their yield potential – however, if adverse weather conditions occur, Syngenta stands with the grower to share in that risk through the AgriClime program.

Although crop insurance provides security against severe weather, growers may also want extra protection against commodity price risk. Honeycutt points to other assurance offers that are available to qualifying growers of corn and soy, like Cropwise™ Commodity Pro, which helps growers mitigate the risk of downward commodity prices throughout the growing season.

Cropwise Commodity Pro helps reduce farm profit instability by reducing the risk of downward commodities markets. This exclusive program from Syngenta helps protect the value of premium crop protection purchases against commodity price drops during the growing season.

“With Commodity Pro, you have a protection period,” says Honeycutt. “That protection period typically runs from the end of July through middle of October. At the end of July, we will call a strike, which locks in the protection period at the trading price of corn and soybeans on that particular date. From that point until the middle of October, we monitor the daily trading price of corn and soybeans. If the average daily trading price, referred to as an Asian Put Option, declines from the initial locked-in price, then the grower can qualify for a cash back amount, depending on what percent decline occurred during the protection period.”

Proactively mitigating risk can help keep a farm operational from one season to the next. Find your local crop insurance agent and Syngenta retailer or sales representative to enroll in these programs for peace of mind whatever the season brings.

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Q. Why shouldn’t farmers introduce more than 20-30% new products to their farm each year?

A. Michael Moss, head of agronomic technical development at Syngenta: This rationale is based largely on balancing the risk of trying something new versus the potential reward of increased yields from the addition of new technology. Each situation is different. For example, although a particular farmer may not have used a new product themselves, if their neighbor has used it with great success, they may use the new product on a larger proportion of their acreage. Conversely, if a farmer is happy with their current program and has no prior experience with a new product, they may choose to lessen their risk exposure by deploying the product on a smaller percentage of their acreage. To push yield potential and quality of a crop, all farmers would benefit by trying new technologies on their farms each year.

A. Skye Root, founder/CEO at Root Agricultural Advisory and 2022 Syngenta Farm Manager of the Year: Farmers and other decision makers should take calculated risks. Never trying new products is not wise, but constant, broad scale product changing is far too risky.

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Be quantitative and intentional. Don’t just put a new product on the bad ground immediately. If possible, compare new products on similar quality ground. Start small but scale up or down over a three- to four-year adoption cycle based on initial results.

Skye Root Founder and CEO at Root Agricultural Advisory and 2022 Syngenta Farm Manager of the Year

Q. What resources should growers turn to when selecting potential new products for their farm?

A. Root: Over the last 15 years, the number of new products has increased almost exponentially. That said, those introducing new products today are under unprecedented pressure to immediately “prove” the value proposition with legitimate research, trials and data. Those resources can be useful for farmers to refer to.

A. Moss: Many of these products have been tested widely over many years to determine their value to growers. Company product websites, sales brochures, technical bulletins and university and third-party evaluations are useful. Seeking the input from a “trusted advisor/partner” in the farmer’s operation gives a more personal view of the potential fit and utility in the local geography. Advice from company sales and technical teams, retailer agronomists, crop consultants and others are all valuable sources to help understand the local fit of new technologies.

Q. How should farmers go about introducing a new product?

A. Moss: Talk with a trusted advisor who has had experience with the product to see what fields, or in what situations, the product is mostly likely to add value on your farm. Choose a field that is large enough to evaluate the product and uniform enough to be able to identify product benefits. For example, if testing a new herbicide product in corn, use a whole field with the same hybrid and other inputs and treat one area with the new herbicide and another area with the grower-standard program for comparison. Once the data is taken, the grower can run return-on-investment calculations to determine the value of the new herbicide versus their standard program.

A. Root: Be quantitative and intentional. Don’t just put a new product on the “bad” ground immediately. If possible, compare new products on similar quality ground. Start small but scale up or down over a three- to four-year adoption cycle based on initial results. If the product doesn’t add enough value compared to cost after three or four years, move on.

Q. What should farmers consider when evaluating if a new product works for their farm? What tests should they use and how does data play a role here?

A. Root: Farmers should consider soil tests, production records, aerial imagery and their own records. In-season evaluation, not just at the end of the season, goes a long way. Side-by-side crop comparisons can help show how a product performs against another product or an untreated field.

A. Moss: It comes down to a determination of “did the product perform on my farm?” In most cases, a return-on-investment calculation will be needed to determine the level of performance compared to a grower standard program. Yield data is essential to this analysis, as value per bushel rather than cost per acre is the correct way of determining value. Other items of consideration in “did it perform” include speed of harvest, percent of pest control, ease of use and more. Data-based decisions are always preferred when evaluating a new product.

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What goes up, must come down.

Just how aerial fungicide applications come down is essential for efficacy and safety. To help make aerial application viable for growers struggling to make timely fungicide applications, the National Agricultural Aviators Association holds fly-in clinics across the country.

“Every time an aerial applicator makes an application, we want to ensure it is accurate and on-target, while also mitigating risks to the environment and other people,” says Scott Bretthauer, Ph.D., NAAA director of education and safety. “This is the goal of Operation S.A.F.E. fly-in clinics, which stands for Self-regulating Application and Flight Efficiency.”

Technology advances continuously improve the quality and reliability of aerial application. Through fly-in clinics, pilots learn how to use that technology.

“We’ve come a long way from dispensing paper out of the plane to determine where the next pass should be,” Bretthauer says. “Modern agricultural aircraft use precision equipment, including GPS and automatic flow control systems. S.A.F.E. fly-ins help pilots verify the technology is precisely calibrated so when they go out during the season, they’re giving growers the results they need.”

Garrett Lindell, pilot and executive director of the Illinois Agricultural Aviation Association, also touts the value of calibration events, which he says are held in Illinois twice each year.

“Agricultural aircraft need to be calibrated annually to help us do better,” he says. “For both our retailer and grower customers, calibration gives reassurance that we’re doing a proper job the proper way to serve them well.”

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Every time an aerial applicator makes an application, we want to ensure it is accurate and on-target, while also mitigating risks to the environment and other people.

Scott Bretthauer, Ph.D. Director of Education and Safety at NAAA

Lindell also owns Lindell Aerial Ag Service Inc., based in Aledo, Illinois. During the winter, he says pilots often adjust nozzles and spray booms on their airplanes. Calibration ensures they’ve improved performance before the busy season.

Demand for services like Lindell’s has grown with the use of in-season fungicides to prevent and control diseases and improve plant health in corn, soybeans, small grains and other crops. He estimates that in-season fungicide treatment makes up about 85% of his business.

Timely Treatment

The agronomic window for fungicide applications depends on crop maturity, disease pressure and weather conditions. Rain not only can delay application timing, it also can speed up both crop and disease development.

“There’s a tight window to apply these products, and we can apply them substantially quicker,” Lindell says. “When it rains, airplanes can get back to work as soon as the weather passes.”

Aerial application often is the better option following rain because running equipment through wet soils causes compaction, and that can lead to long-lasting adverse crop impacts, especially in heavy clay soils, says Blake Miller, agronomic service representative for Syngenta in central Illinois. Plus, growers sometimes struggle to navigate equipment through wet soil and end up rolling over crop rows, reducing yield.

Growers can use aerial and ground applications to capture the value of timely fungicide applications – even when the weather is cooperating.

“Typically, in many corn and soybean production areas, the crop is at the right stage for treatment all at once,” he says. “Aerial applicators can get across many more acres. Ground equipment fits where the topography has trees, river valleys, wind turbines or other features that present greater risks for pilots.”

Applied Technology

Some farmers are uncomfortable with aerial application, which happens at high speeds over their fields.

From those farmers, Miller says, “common questions include ‘Will applications be accurate?’ and ‘Will the right field be sprayed?’”

Syngenta sponsors calibration events like Operation S.A.F.E. to address accuracy. Miller believes the calibration process ensures growers get the best application possible, especially when coupled with the technology currently available in fungicides.

“Today’s fungicide products work well via aerial application,” he says. “Starting with Trivapro® fungicide, Syngenta reintroduced the SDHI mode of action. We’re able to make that chemistry work well in the field and premix it with two other complementary sites of action for resistance management.”

SDHI fungicides provide residual action that prevent disease and allow most fields to be treated just once, which Miller says is ideal for both farmers and aerial applicators.

“In the face of a disease like tar spot, which now lives permanently in most of the Corn Belt, SDHI chemistry and aerial application work well together,” he says. “Tar spot infects the entire crop in a region within a week. Correctly calibrated airplanes can effectively cover many acres with a residual that can protect corn from this yield-robbing pathogen.”

An airplane flies over a field of young crops applying an aerial spray of crop inputs

Aerial Calibration

Calibration means the right spray volume leaves the aircraft for every acre covered, according to Bretthauer.

“With newer fungicide technology, we know the intended target for the product to land in the crop,” he says. “Calibration tunes the aircraft to apply fungicide in the manner that will get the most out of the product.”

Pilots use speed, airflow, nozzle type and more to push fungicides into the crop canopy, while mitigating drift. For each calibration series, a pilot makes three passes over an established flight line, spraying water containing fluorescent dye. Each series of passes targets a specific spray volume and droplet size goal, Bretthauer says.

An Operation S.A.F.E. fly-in clinic addresses three main dynamics:

  1. Spray pattern uniformity:
    Like ground application, aerial application must deposit the same amount of product everywhere. Booms and nozzles are mounted to account for how propellers, wings and helicopter rotors push air around the aircraft and direct liquid flow from each nozzle.
  2. Swath width:
    Aircraft wings create a wake of air that pushes spray down and away, allowing a boom to effectively cover an area wider than its length. Airplanes spray trapezoidal patterns, so each pass partially overlaps to ensure even coverage across the target field. Calibration determines the exact swath width and overlap needed for consistency.
  3. Droplet size:
    Aircraft speed is the dominant factor in determining spray droplet size because the high-speed air around the plane shears the liquid as it leaves nozzles. Droplet size affects plant coverage, so minimizing fine droplets limits drift.

Confidence in Coverage

Matt Gill, University of Illinois Extension specialist in application technology, often works calibration events. He helped develop the current software used to analyze data collected from each spray pass.

“This iteration of the software uses new technology to analyze spray patterns,” Gill says. “A digital spectrometer measures the dye captured on the cotton string the planes fly over. It provides a significantly more detailed picture of spray patterns than the previous technology.”

Cotton string and cast-coated paper cards, which are color-sensitive, measure spray deposition during calibration. Using a high-resolution scanner, Gill scans the cast-coated paper cards. The software isolates and measures each droplet stain from the spray, then back-calculates the droplet size that created it. After each stain is measured, the overall droplet spectrum is determined.

During the clinics, pilots receive a report with a pictograph showing their spray pattern and swath width, as well as their droplet size. Using this data, each pilot consults with the Operation S.A.F.E. analyst, addressing areas of concern and other factors to improve application. If warranted, additional calibration passes are made that same day until pilots achieve the desired spray pattern and droplet size.

As a pilot, Lindell uses this information to improve accuracy and show proof of the results.

“I can put my calibration paperwork in front of potential customers to reassure them that we’re doing the best job possible,” he says. “They can see the value of aerial application.”

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Each year, when budgeting for a foliar fungicide application, corn producers weigh fighting disease development with expected returns on investment. But the decision isn’t as simple as it seems, and industry leaders say growers should consider several factors including plant health, hybrid disease susceptibility, weather forecasts, and cropping and disease history.

In addition, AgriEdge® growers may benefit from whole-farm management products available through the Cropwise™ platform for their decision-making around fungicides.

The Cropwise platform tracks input costs, provides in-season satellite crop imagery and helps calculate potential ROI, says Ryan Ploeger, Syngenta AgriEdge specialist and certified crop advisor (CCA) in north-central Iowa. “We’re really striving to put a dollar value on the decisions growers make,” he says.

Beyond Disease Control

Ploeger says most of his growers apply a foliar fungicide at the VT-R1 growth stage regardless of disease pressure because they’ve seen returns that go beyond disease control.

“What’s driving it is the newer fungicides are more robust and more consistent,” he says. “In a drought year with no disease present, we still see very consistent results because the fungicide is going to help mitigate stress and help the plant use water more efficiently. It’s going to keep the plant cleaner and utilize water more efficiently.”

Mark Baer is a CCA and sales manager for Sun Ag Inc., which has six locations in central Illinois. He says growers in his area typically budget for a foliar fungicide every year. “It’s something they do to protect their investment,” Baer says.

In grower trials, Baer says he’s seen a 5-to 45-bushel-per-acre yield improvement with Miravis® Neo fungicide applied at VT-R1. The wide variation is due to hybrid disease susceptibility, disease pressure “and everything to do with the environment,” he says.

A Bird’s-Eye View

Justin Bellcock, who farms corn and soybeans with his father and brother in northwestern Iowa, says they also typically apply a foliar corn fungicide. He tracks his inputs using Cropwise Financials, an AgriEdge farm management software enabling data-driven decisions.

“We use it in planning so we can figure out how much of everything we need as far as chemicals and seed and other things,” Bellcock says.

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In a drought year with no disease present, we still see very consistent results because the fungicide is going to help mitigate stress and help the plant use water more efficiently.

Ryan Ploeger Syngenta AgriEdge specialist and certified crop advisor (CCA)

A variety of digital tools will be available to growers enrolled in the AgriEdge program with the launch of the Cropwise ecosystem. This season, Bellcock monitored crop progress and plant health three or four times by viewing the platform’s satellite crop imagery. He plans to view it even more frequently in 2023 with the Cropwise Imagery platform. “I’ll look at it more in the future,” Bellcock says of the imagery. “I know the new platform will be a lot better.”

Ploeger agrees, adding it’s another tool AgriEdge growers can use to track fungicide efficacy. “With Cropwise Imagery, it’s showing that the plants are healthier,” he says.

Protect the Plant’s Powerhouse

In Iowa, the foliar corn diseases of concern include gray leaf spot, tar spot and northern corn leaf blight. Alison Robertson, Ph.D., Iowa State University professor and Extension field crop pathologist, says growers need to keep the disease triangle in mind before deciding to apply a fungicide. “To have disease, you need to have the pathogen, a host and the right environment,” she says. “If one is missing, no disease will occur.”

To calculate the risk of disease development, growers should consider the environment, Roberston explains. Fungal diseases need moisture as well as mild temperatures to reproduce.

Leaf moisture, particularly with tar spot, is also a driver for disease development that may come from overhead irrigation, a high dew point or precipitation. “When it’s very dry, we’re not going to see as many of these diseases,” Robertson says. “If the leaves are wet at 8, 9, 10 o’clock in the morning, that’s when you’re going to be at risk for the disease.”

Just before tasseling, Robertson recommends growers and consultants scout the lower canopy for disease. “When you think about diseases, they increase exponentially,” she says. “One spot will grow into 10 spots, then 100 spots, then 1,000 spots. Just the presence of a few spots in the field and knowing you have the right conditions for disease puts you at the start of that exponential curve.”

The goal is to protect the ear leaf and those above it since those produce 75% to 90% of the carbohydrates for grain fill. A few spots on the ear leaf likely won’t affect yield, but she says they’re a good indication of conditions conducive for disease development.

“In addition to disease control from fungal pathogens,” says Tyler Harp, Ph.D., technical development lead for Syngenta, “plant health fungicides such as Miravis Neo and Trivapro can help protect corn plants from abiotic stresses like heat and drought.”

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Staying Vigilant on Corn Diseases

Fungicides are a critical tool in fighting tar spot and southern rust, each of which can devastate yields. Tar spot, a relatively new disease in Midwestern corn caused by the fungus Phyllachora maydis, typically shows up later in the season.

Because of the potentially devastating effects of this disease, Baer says, “we’re really vigilant watching for that until the corn gets to the maturity level where tar spot won’t be a problem.”

Tar spot’s actual impacts depend on when the crop was planted, hybrid susceptibility, hybrid relative maturity, when tar spot arrives in an area, and the environment. “Last year it came in early and was a real problem,” Baer says. “In 2020, it came in really late, so it had no impact on yield, and this year we hadn’t really seen it.”

And in Arkansas, southern rust — caused by the fungus Puccinia polysora — is the main foliar corn disease, says Travis Faske, Ph.D., University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Extension plant pathologist. Fortunately, he says, tar spot has not been confirmed in the state.

Unlike some corn diseases, southern rust doesn’t overwinter in plant residue. Wind currents carry rust spores from tropical areas each year and initially infect corn in the southern United States, Faske says. The spores move north during the cropping season, with environmental conditions playing a large role in potential disease development.

To help growers and consultants stay abreast of spore movement and plan for fungicide applications, the Corn IPM PIPE website, https://corn.ipmpipe.org/southerncornrust/, maps southern rust positive reports.

“If I see Trey Price and Tom Allen in south Louisiana and Mississippi have found it, it will be two weeks before I’ll find it in south Arkansas, then another two weeks before it crosses I-40,” Faske says. “Then it will be another two weeks before it gets to the north parts of the state. This provides a general guide for scouting and so you don’t spray too early.”

Faske emphasizes that the IPM PIPE model is just a tool and doesn’t replace boots on the ground. When southern rust is an immediate threat, he says the best time to make a fungicide application for grain yield protection is VT-R3.

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The physical demands that farming requires are no secret, but the mental and emotional demands of the profession are often stigmatized or ignored. Fortunately, the impact running a farm has on mental health is being increasingly studied — and better understood.

Josie Rudolphi, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois, and co-director of the North Central Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Center. Her research and outreach focus on farm stress and mental health, agricultural safety and health, and child agricultural injury prevention.

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“We know that farmers experience really unique work-related stressors,” Rudolphi says. “These include the unpredictable nature of commodity prices and environmental conditions, which can have tremendous impact on their bottom line. Farm finances are a leading source of stress, regardless of what’s happening in the economy. We’ve also seen associations between financial and environmental stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression.”

The number of people in the ag community who experience clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and depression exceeds those who experience similar symptoms in society at-large.

“At any given time, people experience adverse mental health, but what we see is that those experiences are more common in agricultural communities,” Rudolphi says.

“In a survey of younger farmers, for example, we found that nearly 60 percent met the criteria for depression — and even more met the criteria for anxiety — which far surpasses what we would expect to see in the general population, which is closer to 20 or 30 percent.”

Barriers to Care

Many places in rural America are designated mental health care shortage areas. This refers to a lack of providers and services to meet the need. But it’s only one of the challenges farm families face.

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At any given time, people experience adverse mental health, but what we see is that those experiences are more common in agricultural communities.

Josie Rudolphi, Ph.D. Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois

“In terms of barriers, we talk about the four As,” she says. “These are availability, accessibility, affordability and acceptability, or stigmatization. Additionally, most farmers are independent producers who operate on very thin margins. Mental health care is often considered a luxury, or an unnecessary expense.”

Recognize the Signs of Mental Health Issues

A change in behavior is one of the main warning signs of anxiety and depression, according to David Merrell, M.D., regional physician with Syngenta Health Services and the on-site medical doctor for Syngenta in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“When people begin to behave differently, for whatever reason, it’s important to understand why,” says Merrell. “Don’t wait. If you see a behavioral change, raise the question.” Approaching someone experiencing behaviors outside of the norm gives them an opening to talk about their emotional health, stresses and worries.

On average, people experiencing mental health issues take more than 10 years to speak up. That can be especially true for the rural community.

“Farmers and farm families are typically very self-reliant and can be reluctant to seek help,” Merrell says. “Recognize, though, that everything is therapy. Hobbies, self-reflection, sharing your concerns with others are all forms of therapy. The question is, what kind of therapy do you want? Engaging a mental health professional can provide access to a better, higher quality of care.”

Merrell advises a four-step process to enhance your mental well-being:

  • Take time to reflect and engage in meditation, prayer or journaling
  • Have an outlet for your stress and participate in hobbies and outside interests
  • Engage your support system, including friends and/or family
  • Seek professional help

Notably, reports of depression and anxiety increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Rural America was not immune to that trend,” Merrell says. “A positive development, though, is that out of this came a greater awareness for the importance of mental well-being.”

Help is Here

According to Rudolphi, the USDA has funded four regional farm and ranch assistance networks, each with its own dedicated website and links to mental health resources and support for farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers. They are:

“In the North Central region, for example, we are working to deliver mental health literacy programs not only for agricultural producers, but also for those who work with them,” Rudolphi adds. These include bankers, retailers, seed dealers and others who know farmers both on a professional and personal basis.

“We are training these people to be mental health allies,” she says. “That includes being interventionalists, when necessary, knowing how to talk about mental health, how to ask the right questions, and how to refer someone who may be experiencing a mental health crisis. In several states, we also have partners who offer low- or no-cost professional behavioral health services, typically via vouchers which can be redeemed at several mental health providers.”

Historically, stigmas surrounding mental health and its treatment have been pervasive, particularly in rural areas. “We still see stigmatization around mental health in these communities, but I think that’s starting to change,” Rudolphi says. “Hopefully, through education, increased awareness and shifting attitudes, farmers and their families will be encouraged and empowered to take the steps necessary to enhance their emotional well-being.”

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For farmers, preserving and protecting our natural resources is a priority. Whether referred to as “sustainability” or “regenerative ag”, the goal is clear: enhancing productivity and profitability while nurturing and restoring soil health and protecting climate, water resources and biodiversity.

The Cropwise™ Sustainability app is an innovative mobile app that helps measure regenerative ag practices through a range of techniques, enabling better decision-making. This free tool assesses farm management practices, benchmarks them within a given crop or geography, and identifies opportunities using the Sustainable Outcome in Agriculture Standard created by Syngenta.

“This benchmark ability is important because it meets farmers where they are and gives them meaningful insights they can act on,” says Trent Wimmer, Key Account Sustainability Lead at Syngenta. “Cropwise Sustainability opens doors for people who are looking to start or want to better understand best practices and decisions that impact regenerative ag.”

Cropwise Sustainability allows farmers to participate at the farm level. The app asks users to answer a series of questions and delivers measured outcomes. The process takes 30-45 minutes to complete.

Growers work at their own pace and identify outcome-based practices to achieve their goals. Giving growers meaningful insights into their farm’s regenerative ag information helps them see where they lead and where they lag, providing insights for operational improvement. This entry point is perfect for growers who are ‘conservation curious.’

“Regenerative ag is the new era of agriculture as it takes the best of conventional farming and the best of soil health and biodiversity, and melds them together,” Wimmer says. “This type of data validates what farmers are doing and verifies they’re doing the right things to improve climate resilience and help maximize yields.”

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From crop insurance to Farm Bill programs, multiple risk management tools are available for producers. However, working capital, the original and most effective risk management tool, is easy to overlook. Working capital is the difference between short-term assets and short-term liabilities. It measures how much resiliency or shock absorption the farm’s balance sheet provides. During periods of strong profitability and rising production costs, it’s critical to ensure that working capital levels keep up.

Recent History

Figure 1 shows working capital across all U.S. farms since 2009. Working capital tends to increase when profits are strong and then get utilized — or burned — during the lean years. For 2022, the USDA forecasts $123 billion of working capital, slightly lower than in 2021 but considerably stronger than the $65.2 billion low of 2016. For additional context, working capital reached a high of $165 billion during the previous farm income boom in 2012.

More working capital is good news. It means the sector-level balance sheet has more capacity to weather potential hiccups. However, given rising production costs, total dollars — or dollars of working capital per acre or per head — doesn’t provide a complete story.

A line graph depicting working capital in the U.S. Farm Sector, 2009-2022
Figure 1. Working Capital in the U.S. Farm Sector, 2009-2022F.

Figure 2 shows working capital relative to gross revenue. For 2021 and 2022, working capital levels exceeded 20 cents for every dollar of revenue for the first time since 2014. Here again, levels are improved from those in recent memory, but not nearly as strong compared to 2009 to 2014.

A line graph depicting working capital to gross revenue ratio, U.S. Farm Sector, 2009-2022.
Figure 2. Working Capital to Gross Revenue Ratio, U.S. Farm Sector, 2009-2022F.

How Much?

The question is always asked, “How much working capital is sufficient?” The “Farm Financial Standards Council categorized working capital levels above 30% of gross revenue as “strong” and levels below 10% as “vulnerable.” While a useful starting point, each farm must determine the appropriate levels given their unique operations, future plans, and overall risk preference. For example, an operation with a majority of acres owned and little debt might set a lower goal than operations with more debt or expansion plans.

Wrapping It Up

Working capital is often a warning light closely monitored during periods of financial stress in the farm economy. Unfortunately, producers have few options for improving their position when profits are squeezed. With 2023 in focus, producers should review their operations working capital trends and set goals based on their business objectives and risk preferences. In addition to setting goals for total dollars of working capital, it’s also important to ensure those dollar thresholds are sufficient, given rising production costs.

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David and Brent are the co-founders of Ag Economic Insights (AEI.ag). Founded in 2014, AEI.ag helps improve producers, lenders, and agribusiness decision-making through 1) the free Weekly Insights blog, 2) the award-winning AEI.ag Presents podcast – featuring Escaping 1980 and Corn Saves America, and 3) the AEI Premium platform, which includes the Ag Forecast Network decision tool. Visit AEI.ag or email David (david@aei.ag) to learn more. Stay curious.