By Brian Hefty
If you were one of the 10,000+ farmers who attended the Ag PhD Field Day last month, thank you! We hosted farmers from 25 countries and 40 U.S. states at this event where we had our best attendance ever.
We put on this free, all-day show as a way to say thank you for watching Ag PhD TV for the last 18 years and listening to Ag PhD Radio on SiriusXM or on a radio station near you. Without your support these shows would not be on the air.
The Field Day started quite a few years ago so we could show other farmers some of our research and some of the new technologies and farming practices we were using in our operation. Today, we continue doing those things on a bigger scale, and we bring in other companies and great guest speakers to talk about some of the best ways to increase yields and profits. Our goal is to show you a wide variety of things, realizing not all of them will be profitable or will fit in every operation, but if you get a look at some of these technologies or practices you may have some even better ideas or figure out where they could work in certain situations.
A highlight for me the last couple years has been the First Steps plots, where we invite top-yielding farmers in corn, soybean, and wheat production to not only speak at the Field Day, but to have plots they manage throughout the season at the Field Day site. Our research lead, Glenn Herz, is in constant communication with these farmers, so whatever they want to do in their plot, he can carry it out. I have picked up several things from these great farmers, and we are looking forward to learning even more in next year’s trials. By the way, we call them “First Steps” plots because we can’t expect another farmer to come onto our farm and take 250 bushel corn up to 500 in one year or to take 70 bushel soybeans up to 120 in one year. Instead, each farmer can take the “First Steps” to ultra-high yields and greater profits, and that’s about all we can ask for in one or two growing seasons.
We would love to have you join us for next year’s free Ag PhD Field Day on Thursday, July 27, 2017. We have already decided on many improvements and additions, so I can promise you that we will have a whole host of new things to check out in 2017. You can find more details about next year’s Field Day here. You can also pre-register, so when you arrive we can get you into the Field Day more quickly. Please check out our 2017 Winter Workshop schedule, too!