By Brian Hefty

Soil testing is supposed to help you make important decisions on the farm, right?  Well, what if the soil sampling you’ve had done is not representative of your land?  What if the soil testing methods are substandard?  What if the person you’ve trusted to give you the results isn’t properly interpreting the data for you?  What if – and let’s be honest – you are not testing your ground often enough?

These are some hard questions, and I’m not trying to be too harsh here, but the fact of the matter is you will likely be investing millions of dollars on your farm toward your fertility program over the next few years.  Why not get the best program possible for your investment?

I realize that the crop in your field today isn’t even made yet, so why am I talking about soil testing and your fertility program for next year’s crop?  Here’s why.  It’s hard to make any big decision or big change in your operation when you only have a few days to think about it.  This summer, I want you to mull over what I am proposing to you today.  Ask around a little bit.  Do some research.  Talk to other farmers.  Then when fall comes this year, you will be totally ready to go with your new program that will help your farm next year and for the rest of your farming career.

Here are the three things I want you to kick around over the next few months:

  1. Start doing your own soil sampling.  Last year, in conjunction with FarmLogic and Midwest Labs, we developed the free Ag PhD Soil Test App for your smartphone or tablet.  There is no additional charge to use this app vs. pulling your own tests and sending them to Midwest Labs for analysis.  We just put the effort into it because we feel it is needed in ag, and hopefully you’ll appreciate it and keep watching our TV show and listening to our radio program.  If you need help getting started doing your own sampling, in select areas for $1 per acre we will have a Hefty Agronomist sample with you this fall.  If you need a trained expert to sample for you, we have people who will do that for $2 an acre.  Contact us this summer if either of those things interests you.  Ultimately, our goal is for you to sample yourself, with your only cost being your time.
  2. Learn how to interpret soil test information.  With the Ag PhD Soil Test App you will receive, at no additional cost beyond the regular analysis fee at Midwest Labs, both Midwest Labs recommendations and the Ag PhD recommendations for your soil.  Beyond that, we encourage you to attend a free Ag PhD Soils Clinic next winter and read up on your own about soil testing and how to work with your test results.  If you knew every last detail about your soils, don’t you think you would be able to better invest your fertilizer dollars, which would eventually lead to more yield and profit on your farm?  The other thing I want you to consider is the long-term improvement to your soil’s health that will be achieved when you properly fertilize and manage your other soil factors better.
  3. Don’t be afraid to make big changes, at least on a few acres.  When we survey farmers about their fertility plans from one year to the next, almost no one says, “I’m going to change my program dramatically from what I did before because that’s what my soil test results say will make me the most money.”  Most farmers do about the same program year after year.  Most soil tests that have been run in the last 20 years have been all about N, P, and K, instead of soil pH, sulfur, micronutrients, cation exchange capacity, and soil organic matter.  There is a lot more to raising a good crop than N, P, and K.  It’s very possible that you may need to cut your nitrogen by 20 percent, increase your potassium by 40 percent, and start applying micronutrients and sulfur where you never have before.  That’s what I would call a dramatic change; but if you don’t have the information, you don’t know what to do.  Once you get your results and see that a big shift in your program looks like the right thing to do, if you’re still not confident in that, start trying it on a few acres first.  That’s basically what we did years ago, and now after 20 years of testing things we have extreme confidence that when a soil test says go, we go.

Hopefully commodity prices go up and all our costs on the farm go down.  Whether that happens or not, managing your fertility program better every year is important if you want more yield, better land, and higher profits.  Having a great soil testing program is incredibly helpful, so start thinking this over so you’re ready to move forward post-harvest.