Within close proximity to the Great Lakes, National Forests and America’s best cheese and dairy producers, Northern Wisconsin is a wonderful place to live and farm.
For Short Lane Ag – which operates three Ag Retail locations in Clark, Manitowoc, and Trempealeau counties – the cool climate, short growing season, high humidity, and heavy, highly fertile soils bring along another concern when working with soybean growers: the high likelihood of losing yield to Sclerotinia White Mold.
Understanding the need for better white mold management options, Colin Dutcheshen, President of Heads Up® Plant Protectants Inc., approached Matt Oehmichen, Owner of Short Lane Ag Supply LLC., with a proposal: find a progressive local farmer who has a field with a notorious history of white mold and is rotating back to soybeans in spring 2023, and put Heads Up® to the test.
Heads Up® is a long standing, proven EPA registered seed treatment for the suppression of White Mold, Rhizoctonia, and SDS in soybeans.
Dutcheshen, who had already been working with Oehmichen for several years, explains “The idea was to test Heads Up® in more than just a replicated small plot situation. Working with Short Lane Ag Supply, I knew the challenges their customers face and that Matt would be a perfect partner to conduct a broad acre, real world situation test with a local grower. The idea was to put Heads Up® to the test in an area where White Mold had a strong likelihood of showing up, but also to help Oehmichen collect relatable, localized data on our product which would be relevant to the customers he serves.”
Conducted in replicated strip plots, Matt contacted a Clark County grower who had a 38-acre parcel of land which met all the criteria. The grower would be planting soybeans and had a field with a particularly lousy history of White Mold, which meant a high likelihood of the disease redeveloping. Sclerotinia White Mold, a fungal disease that plagues soybean acres across the Midwest, overwinters in survival bodies called sclerotia, and these sclerotia could be found in the grower’s soils.
Treating the seed for the grower, Matt allocated 40 units of soybeans to receive a base seed treatment, inoculant, and Heads Up®, and 40 units with the base seed treatment and inoculant only. The grower split the planter and layout of the field by mapping replicated strips across the 38 acres. He managed the field after planting just as he would any other field. All things considered, the only variable that changed across the site was that Heads Up® was used on every other strip he planted.
While the 2023 growing season turned out to be a dry year (not favorable for white mold development, a disease which thrives in cool and wet conditions), Oehmichen noticed differences. “The Heads Up treated beans in our trial just had a ‘deeper, greener vibrance’ to them”, Oehmichen explains. “I attribute the color differences to reduced stress. Where Heads Up® was applied in the seed treatment package the soybeans didn’t seem to turn yellow as early as the check. The Heads Up treated beans also had more pod sets and more lateral branching.”
Post Harvest, results across the 38-acre parcel show the strips with Heads Up® yielded an average of four bushels better than the check strips. Per Strip yield differences were measured between +2.73 to +5.1 bu/ac better with the Heads Up® seed treatment package than the check alone.
Returning an average of four bushels an acre better than the base seed treatment package, Heads Up® made for a phenomenal return on investment.
Oehmichen explains, “It only takes 1/3 of a bushel to pay for the [Heads Up®] treatment. With today’s soybean prices (around $12/bushel) every bushel after that first 1/3 of a bushel is pure profit. And its no extra work for the farm [to use Heads Up]”
Heads Up® Plant Protectants would like to thank Short Lane Ag and their grower for their efforts and commitment to the Showcase Plot Program.
If you’re in Ag Retail and are interest in running your own 2024 trial with Heads Up®, get in touch with Heads Up® Plant Protectants at the number below.
Heads Up® Plant Protectants was established in 1999 and is a family-owned ag chem manufacturing company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. To contact call 866-368-9306 or visit www.headsupST.com
Short Lane Ag Supply LLC was established in 1987 and is a family-owned ag retail company with three locations in Colby, Mishicot and Pigeon Falls WI. To contact call (715) 223-4916 or visit www.shortlaneag.com.
Within close proximity to the Great Lakes, National Forests and America’s best cheese and dairy producers, Northern Wisconsin is a wonderful place to live and farm.
For Short Lane Ag – which operates three Ag Retail locations in Clark, Manitowoc, and Trempealeau counties – the cool climate, short growing season, high humidity, and heavy, highly fertile soils bring along another concern when working with soybean growers: the high likelihood of losing yield to Sclerotinia White Mold.
Understanding the need for better white mold management options, Colin Dutcheshen, President of Heads Up® Plant Protectants Inc., approached Matt Oehmichen, Owner of Short Lane Ag Supply LLC., with a proposal: find a progressive local farmer who has a field with a notorious history of white mold and is rotating back to soybeans in spring 2023, and put Heads Up® to the test.
Heads Up® is a long standing, proven EPA registered seed treatment for the suppression of White Mold, Rhizoctonia, and SDS in soybeans.
Dutcheshen, who had already been working with Oehmichen for several years, explains “The idea was to test Heads Up® in more than just a replicated small plot situation. Working with Short Lane Ag Supply, I knew the challenges their customers face and that Matt would be a perfect partner to conduct a broad acre, real world situation test with a local grower. The idea was to put Heads Up® to the test in an area where White Mold had a strong likelihood of showing up, but also to help Oehmichen collect relatable, localized data on our product which would be relevant to the customers he serves.”
Conducted in replicated strip plots, Matt contacted a Clark County grower who had a 38-acre parcel of land which met all the criteria. The grower would be planting soybeans and had a field with a particularly lousy history of White Mold, which meant a high likelihood of the disease redeveloping. Sclerotinia White Mold, a fungal disease that plagues soybean acres across the Midwest, overwinters in survival bodies called sclerotia, and these sclerotia could be found in the grower’s soils.
Treating the seed for the grower, Matt allocated 40 units of soybeans to receive a base seed treatment, inoculant, and Heads Up®, and 40 units with the base seed treatment and inoculant only. The grower split the planter and layout of the field by mapping replicated strips across the 38 acres. He managed the field after planting just as he would any other field. All things considered, the only variable that changed across the site was that Heads Up® was used on every other strip he planted.
While the 2023 growing season turned out to be a dry year (not favorable for white mold development, a disease which thrives in cool and wet conditions), Oehmichen noticed differences. “The Heads Up treated beans in our trial just had a ‘deeper, greener vibrance’ to them”, Oehmichen explains. “I attribute the color differences to reduced stress. Where Heads Up® was applied in the seed treatment package the soybeans didn’t seem to turn yellow as early as the check. The Heads Up treated beans also had more pod sets and more lateral branching.”
Post Harvest, results across the 38-acre parcel show the strips with Heads Up® yielded an average of four bushels better than the check strips. Per Strip yield differences were measured between +2.73 to +5.1 bu/ac better with the Heads Up® seed treatment package than the check alone.
Returning an average of four bushels an acre better than the base seed treatment package, Heads Up® made for a phenomenal return on investment.
Oehmichen explains, “It only takes 1/3 of a bushel to pay for the [Heads Up®] treatment. With today’s soybean prices (around $12/bushel) every bushel after that first 1/3 of a bushel is pure profit. And its no extra work for the farm [to use Heads Up]”
Heads Up® Plant Protectants would like to thank Short Lane Ag and their grower for their efforts and commitment to the Showcase Plot Program.
If you’re in Ag Retail and are interest in running your own 2024 trial with Heads Up®, get in touch with Heads Up® Plant Protectants at the number below.
Heads Up® Plant Protectants was established in 1999 and is a family-owned ag chem manufacturing company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. To contact call 866-368-9306 or visit www.headsupST.com
Short Lane Ag Supply LLC was established in 1987 and is a family-owned ag retail company with three locations in Colby, Mishicot and Pigeon Falls WI. To contact call (715) 223-4916 or visit www.shortlaneag.com.
