July 17, 2025 • 23 mins
- Matt Bennett, AgMarket.net
- Giovani Preza Fontes, University of Illinois
- Mike Tannura, Tstorm.net
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Todd Gleason (00:00):
From the Lend Grant University in Urbana
Champaign, Illinois, this is theclosing market reported as the
July. I'm extension's ToddGleason. Coming up, we'll talk
about the commodity markets withMatt Bennett. He's at agmarket
dot net. We'll return to aconversation I told you earlier
in the week that we'd discuss ingreater detail about nitrogen
(00:22):
applications in soybean, andthen we'll take up the weather
forecast too.
We'll do that with Mike Tenoraat T Storm Weather, all on this
Thursday edition of the closingmarket report from Illinois
public media. It is public radiofor the farming world online on
demand at willag.org. ToddGleason's services are made
(00:46):
available to WILL by Universityof Illinois Extension. As we
begin our program today, we takea moment to remember Mike Perine
who passed yesterday at age 83,farm broadcaster from the state
of Illinois and a member of theNational Association of Farm
Broadcasting Hall of Fame.December corn for the day
(01:07):
settled at $4.21.
That was three lower. The Marchat $4.38 and a quarter down two
and three quarters. Septemberbeans $10.12, up six and a
quarter. November up six. At$10.26 and a half, the bean meal
30¢ higher.
The bean oil up a dollar 40.Soft red winter wheat was down 7
and a half cents. It settled at$5.54 a quarter in the December.
(01:30):
The hard red December at $5.40,down 5 and a quarter cents. Live
cattle futures were down 42 anda half, feeders 57 and a half
lower, and lean hogs up a buck90.
Matt Bennett from agmarket.netnow joins us to take a look at
the marketplace. Hi, Matt.Thanks for being with us today.
Matt Bennett (01:48):
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Todd Gleason (01:49):
Corn down 3 to 4¢, and soybeans up 6 to 8 or
thereabouts. What'd you make inthe marketplace today?
Matt Bennett (01:56):
Well, you know, this corn market, of course,
first three days, we actuallyrallied. And, you know, it's the
first time we've had a three dayrally in a while. But, overall,
you know, there's a lot of talkabout, of course, some
pollination issues, first ofall. And, you know, high
pressure ridge setting up herenext week, I don't know if it's
gonna quite get to us. Butcertainly to the Southwest of
(02:16):
us, it looks to be excessivelyhot, you know, and you don't
know if that thing's gonna keepmoving to the east or if it's
gonna set up in that area.
And so the trade, I think, whichhad basically been beaten down,
as you know, for quite sometime, the trade, I think some of
the funds probably decided webetter go ahead and cover some
of these shorts over the lastthree days. And then you come in
(02:39):
here today and the reality ofthe situation is, yeah, mine end
up being awfully hot. Butclearly, there's just multiple
rounds of precipitation for alot of folks. I I know in your
neck of the woods, my neck ofthe woods, there's some really
good opportunities for rainfall,you know, over the next several
days. And if you could getthrough this pollination window,
(03:00):
you know, in good form, it'sgonna be really tough to get
this market super excited,unless, you know, you get
excessively hot, for yournighttime temperatures and, you
know, don't give that plant achance to shut down.
Todd Gleason (03:12):
Is there any, real worries about pollination
issues, the ones that we'veheard? Are you hearing that from
the industry, or is that justhere and there and people
looking for something to movethe markets?
Matt Bennett (03:25):
I I mean, I think that there's a fair amount of
it, Todd. I don't know how much,but I don't know percentages.
Clearly, whenever you get onsocial media and you see stuff
like that, you gotta take itwith a grain of salt. But at the
same time, we have checked inwith several growers that have,
you know, witnessed pollinationproblems. Now, you know, what's
the extent of it?
I really don't know. You know,you hear a few hybrids talked
(03:46):
about where it's most prevalent,but at the same time, you know,
as you maybe are alluding to,sometimes things get overblown
in a big way. So, you know,overall, there could be some
pollination problems here andthere. That really doesn't take
away from the fact that, youknow, if there's one or two even
fairly large scale type numbers,there's a lot of other folks in
(04:07):
the Corn Belt that have lookedat pretty much ideal weather
conditions since they were ableto get the crop on the ground. I
know that doesn't go foreveryone.
You know, there's some folksthat have had just a horrific
spring, but at the same time, Ithink several of us that were
dry before are no longer dry,and we're sitting in pretty good
shape as a whole.
Todd Gleason (04:27):
Oftentimes you travel across the Corn Belt.
Have you done that recently byvehicle and been able to see
much of the Corn Belt?
Matt Bennett (04:34):
Yeah. So last week, I actually drove over to
Cedar Rapids, then back over toIndianapolis, and then I went
out to the Ozarks. And so I sawa large section of the Corn
Belt. Now I didn't get into thedrier areas in Northern Illinois
or Indiana. I stayed south ofthose just because of my route
being the quickest.
So the route that I was on, tobe honest, I just didn't see
(04:55):
much in the way of for corn.Now, we did have several people
that came to our meeting fromthose areas or that drove
through, for instance, NorthernMissouri, and there's definitely
still some pockets that folksjust continue to get
shortchanged on moisture. Butoverall, I would have to say
that 74% good to excellent isfairly true. You know, I've got
(05:15):
to think that there's a lot offolks that are looking at, you
know, all time records if mothernature cooperates. Now, that's a
big if, you know.
We've still got really anothersolid probably four weeks to go
on this corn crop for most folksto really feel good about it
being in the bin, so to speak,as far as their yield's
concerned. And then, of course,on soybeans, you've probably got
(05:37):
at least a good six weeks beforeyou can feel that way. But,
overall, I think the crop's inreally good shape.
Todd Gleason (05:43):
Are you satisfied to stand aside the marketplace
at this time, or is there actionthat needs to be taken by
producers?
Matt Bennett (05:49):
You know, the problem, Todd, is that if you
get to looking at this, youknow, you're looking at these
corn in that four twenty, fourtwenty one level. And, you know,
overall, that's not horrible. Ithink that if you could get a
decent basis locked in withyields, know, if you can trust
yourself to go ahead and peg itat something well above APH. And
(06:09):
I think most producers that Italk to would feel comfortable
with that. You you could maybeleg in the sun of it.
My biggest concern, though, isthose bushels that have to go to
town this fall. I do thinkstorage will pay. You look a big
carry in the market at store andyou're corn at home. I think you
could play the basis and carrygame similar to the elevator and
the way they handle it andreally do well in those bushels
(06:31):
at home. But the problem, ofcourse, is delivering to the
elevator.
We've got to assume, Todd, if weget as big a crop as what a lot
of folks are suggesting and whatyou and I have seen, know, basis
could be just ugly as couldpossibly be this fall. I don't
want growers to have to haul inand just take a price. You know,
clearly, they can do somecommercial storage if they want.
(06:54):
You know, but looking at themarket right now, commercial
storage is gonna eat up most ofthat carry. So they'd have to
either bet on a basisappreciation and or, you know, a
futures rally.
Todd Gleason (07:03):
Thank you, Matt.
Matt Bennett (07:04):
Oh, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Todd Gleason (07:05):
Matt Bennett is with agmarket.net. Now one note
of action. The house is holdinga final vote later today to
eliminate federal funding forpublic media stations like this
one, WILL AM five eighty, wherethis program originates. It's
your last chance today to shareyour opinion. You can go to
(07:26):
willag.org to learn how.
You're listening to the closingmarket report from Illinois
Public Media. It's public radiofor the farming world online on
demand anytime you'd like tohear us at willag.0rg. You'll
find a list of articles pennedby the crop scientists, the
animal scientists, the ageconomist from the University of
(07:48):
Illinois. It includes one titledNitrogen Fertilizer and Soybean
Yield. I told you earlier in theweek that we would spend some
more time with GiovanniPrezafontes discussing it.
That comes up next. GioPrezafontes now joins us. He's
an agronomist here on the UrbanaChampaign campus of the
(08:10):
University of Illinois and withExtension. Thank you, Gio, for
taking some time today. You,along with John Jones and
Emerson Nafsig, are allagronomists in the Department of
Crop Sciences, have penned anarticle, I believe producers
across the Midwest, certainly inIllinois, will find of interest
related to nitrogen andsoybeans.
(08:34):
Can you lay out for me, kind ofwhat you did and why in a series
of field trials over threeyears?
Giovani Preza Fontes (08:42):
Sure. Yeah. First of all, thanks for
having me, Todd. Yeah. That wasa a work that was initiated by
doctor Neff Sigr back in 2014,and I think that it's valid
until today because there'sstill an ongoing question about,
nitrogen fertilizer and soybeanyield responses.
And I think the idea comesbecause soybean requires a lot
(09:06):
of nitrogen. Right? So soybeanhas seed that has high protein
content. So roughly, we thinkthat they need about five 4.5 to
almost five pounds of nitrogenper bushel, and they remove
about 3.5 pounds of nitrogenwith grain. So if you do a quick
math, right, a 60 bushel soybeanwill require about two seventy
(09:30):
pounds of nitrogen per acre.
And it's not unusual to seefields yielding 80 bushels or
more. So for those situationssoybeans will require more than
three fifty pounds of nitrogenper acre.
Todd Gleason (09:44):
So in this case producers hearing this and
probably thinking about it overthe last decade have come to a
conclusion that maybe additionalnitrogen, as in the case for
corn, might be needed to makesure that the highest yields are
available. That's what you allset out to do and that Emerson,
(10:05):
put forth in this trial. Can youexplain how the trial was set
up?
Giovani Preza Fontes (10:09):
So, yeah, we did this trial over three
years between 2014 and 2017. Wehad a total of nine locations
over the three year studyperiod, and we have different
locations across the straightthe state that provide us a good
range of soil environment. So wehad locations at our old
(10:32):
experiment station atBrownstown, and then we also had
locations on the experimentstations here on campus at the
South Farm in near Malmouth. Wealso had one more location at
near Chilikothi in PeoriaCounty. That was a farmer's
field that we collaborated with.
(10:55):
And, again, all of thoselocations spanning good range of
texture soils with low organicmatter, for example, at the
Chikothi and Brownstown sides,to up to very productive fine
texture soils, our highlyproductive mollisols with higher
(11:15):
organic percent matterpercentage at Monmouth and
Urbana.
Todd Gleason (11:20):
I I wanna divide these into two sections because
there was really only one placewhere nitrogen over the trial
period, the additional nitrogenpaid off. That was on the soils
near Chillicothe. They were alsoirrigated and really pretty poor
soils. Can you tell me aboutconditions there and how things
(11:40):
transpired?
Giovani Preza Fontes (11:41):
Yeah, like you said, I think that
Chillicothe was the site that weconsistently saw substantial
yield responses with appliednitrogen over the three year
period. So soils that chilicoffee was, you know, coarse
textured soils, they were loamand sandy loam soils with about
2% organic matter. We had acenter pivot irrigation where we
(12:08):
provide more water throughirrigation as needed. And if you
look at the data there, in 2015and 2016, we saw a substantial
yield increase when we appliednitrogen at planting. We saw at
about 3538% yield increasecompared to our untreated
(12:31):
control in both years, and thoseare significant.
They they correspond to almost20 to 22 bushels more per acre
when we compare to our control.
Todd Gleason (12:41):
So now we have producers excited this can work.
However, Urbana, Monmouth, andBrownstown were not the same as
those very poor soils atChillicothe, though Brownstown
soils weren't particularly goodeither.
Giovani Preza Fontes (12:57):
Yeah. It was interesting to see that
yields were quite good atBrownstown given the soil. It's
still a silt long seasony soilseries with, you know, about a
1.7% organic matter, but wedon't expect that soils to yield
much. But we were surprised tosee that yields were were on
(13:17):
average. Our untreated controlat Brown Stown yielded about 61
bushels per acre, which is, Iwould say, very good for that
region.
So, yeah, we didn't see anyresponse when we applied
nitrogen either at planting oreither time during reproductive
stages where we applied nitrogenat a single application at R1,
(13:38):
R3, or R5. And when we look atour more productive soils like
in Mammoth and Urbana, we alsodidn't see any yield response
when we applied nitrogen, asingle application, either at
planting or during anyreproductive stages like we did.
Todd Gleason (13:57):
So what's the takeaway for this as it's
related to farmers across thestate of Illinois and making
additional nitrogen applicationsto soybean. Because the one
thing we didn't talk about, Ithink, and there are two
takeaways. If you're gonna doit, I suppose, you need it it
appears nitrogen up front asopposed to in season might be
(14:19):
better, but across the board,maybe not economically
worthwhile?
Giovani Preza Fontes (14:25):
Yeah. Overall, our results didn't
support because let me go back alittle bit. When we think about
nitrogen responses versus yieldlevel, right, going back to the
basics where all of this beginswhen we think about high
yielding soybeans because theyrequire more nitrogen, I think
there's a common perception thatthose high yielding soybeans
(14:48):
fields will likely to respondmore to supplemental nitrogen.
And and that was not the case,at least under the conditions of
our study. We didn't our datadoes not support that assumption
that high yielding soybeans willrespond more to nitrogen
fertilizer.
There is a figure in in thearticle that shows the
(15:08):
relationship between yieldresponse to fertilizer nitrogen
and the yield of the untreatedcontrol. And what we found was
negative relationship betweenyield responses and the yield
level of of the untreatedcontrol, meaning that as the
yield of the untreated controlincreased, we saw an yield
(15:31):
responses to nitrogen tended todecrease.
Todd Gleason (15:34):
Do you know why?
Giovani Preza Fontes (15:36):
Yeah. We think that, you know, like, you
think about the soil our soils,our molysoles in Central And
Northern Illinois, I mean, thoseare highly productive. Right? So
if you think about soybean,right, so where they they get
their nitrogen from, it it's wethink that about 50 to 60% comes
(15:56):
from biological nitrogenfixation. Right?
That's relationship that theyhave with the Bradyrhizobium,
and 40 to 50% comes from thesoil. So if you think about
those high productive soils, ifyou think about mineralization
in nitrogen supply from thesoil, conditions that favor high
(16:17):
yields, I will also favororganic matter mineralization.
So what that means is that, youknow, if you if the weather is
good and and you're havingyou're setting up a you a good
yield potential. Right? So thatalso means that, you know,
there's a lot of nitrogen beingmineralized from the organic
(16:38):
matter, and those nitrogen aregonna be available for the
soybean to take up.
So even though in high yieldingsand and we saw that our Urbana
Fields and Malma Field, we hadyears that we had 80 to 90
bushel soybean per acre. So,yes, they do require more
nitrogen, but, there's a lot ofnitrogen being mineralized from
(17:01):
the organic matter, that isgonna, supply most of that
nitrogen requirement in highyielding fumes.
Todd Gleason (17:08):
Hey, Gio. Thank you much. I appreciate you
taking the time with us for theday.
Giovani Preza Fontes (17:12):
Thank you, Todd. Appreciate it.
Todd Gleason (17:14):
Giovanni Preza Fontes is an agronomist on the
Urbana Champaign campus of theUniversity of Illinois. He works
with Extension along with hiscolleagues, John Jones and
Emerson Nafziger. They revieweda nitrogen study that was run
between 2014 and 2017. It'sactually a three year study for
(17:34):
most of the farms, but itspanned that four year period.
They were looking at whetherhigh yielding soybeans that
above 60 bushels to the acrewould benefit from nitrogen
applications.
The answer with just oneexception is no. That exception
took place on sandy irrigatedsoils near Chillicothe just
(17:57):
north of Peoria. You may findthe article penned by Giovanni
Prezefontes, John Jones, andEmerson Nafziger on our website
now look for the headlineNitrogen fertilizer: Soybean
Yield. Let's turn our attentionnow to the global growing
(18:27):
regions. We're joined by MikeTenora.
He is at t storm weather. That'ststorm.net. Thank you, Mike, for
being with us. You serve, ofcourse, as the CEO and president
of the company there. I'd liketo talk to you a little bit
about the this week and what theweather looks like and then what
the following week looks like inThe United States, particularly
(18:50):
because there appears to be someheat that may be building in.
We can get to that. But beforethat, what happens over the next
three to five days?
Mike Tannura (19:00):
Well, it's going to be cool and somewhat stormy
through early next week. We havea very cool air mass in place
across the Dakotas and into theNorthwest Corn Belt, and that's
expanding southward as we speak.This will lead the northern half
to two thirds of US corn andsoybeans normal to cool over the
next several days. And so thatin and of itself doesn't lead to
(19:22):
too many concerns. On top ofthat, we have a favorable setup
for thunderstorm clusters comingup.
Now we'll see a few storms overthe next two days in the
Southern Corn Belt, but thething that we're more noted,
more focused on is what's comingup this weekend and early next
week. We have this cool air massin place, but that's going to
attempt to retreat, and aretreating air mass like that
(19:45):
with waves of energy nearby is apretty good recipe for
thunderstorm clusters. So wethink there's going to be some
heavy clusters in the key cornand soybean region starting on
Saturday and then continuingthrough Monday. So, Todd, some
pretty good rains are coming up.And at this point in time, it
looks like the best rains aregoing to focus on Illinois and
Indiana, which is really theonly dry spot in the entire
(20:08):
Central US.
Todd Gleason (20:09):
Now then next week, there's been a lot of talk
about heat building in and thehumidity sticking around. Can
you tell me what you're watchingand what issues and what parts
of the Corn Belt might be atissue?
Mike Tannura (20:23):
Well, there is a heat wave coming up. It's just a
matter of how long it's going tolast and exactly where it's
going to be, which, of course,are very important questions.
But at this point, it looks likeupper level high pressure is
going to set up around Arkansasearly next week, and that will
then expand westward and envelopthat region plus the Central And
Southern Plains later next week.So pretty much an arc from
(20:44):
Colorado and Kansas throughArkansas and into that whole
area of the Mid South is goingto turn pretty hot and also dry
out a lot as you move throughnext week. Now to the immediate
north, this is where there's alot of uncertainty.
Now on the one hand, if thatupper level high were to really
get going, that's how you get anice big heat wave in the Corn
Belt. And there are some hintsof that on these various models.
(21:08):
On the other hand, there's a lotof soil moisture in place. It's
been raining cats and dogs inmost areas over the last couple
of months. And you put a hot airmass on top of wet soils, and
that's a recipe for highhumidities, and that makes it
easier for thunderstorms todevelop than it would be in
another in a more normalsituation where you had average
soil moisture.
(21:29):
So we think there's going to besome pretty big thunderstorm
clusters with this setup. Nowany one of those has the ability
to pull cooler air southward anddisrupt what would otherwise be
a notable heat wave. And wethink that that's something that
needs to be respected. So we'rebasically telling our clients
that, look, it's going to be hotsouth, but there's going to be
some pretty good rains north.There's an area in between
(21:52):
that's kind of in thattransition zone, but they don't
really need any rain, especiallyif the forecast verifies over
the next few days.
And there should be some coolair intrusions at least once or
twice later this month. Sooverall, there are some weather
concerns developing, but it'sgoing to take a lot for this to
really turn into a big story.And basically, it's going to
(22:13):
have to turn hot, turn dry, andit's gonna have to blast right
into August because it's been sogood at this point in time.
Todd Gleason (22:20):
Hey. Thank you much. I appreciate it. We'll
talk with you again next week.
Mike Tannura (22:23):
Yeah. Sounds great, Ted.
Todd Gleason (22:24):
That's Mike Tanura. He is with t storm
weather. That's tstorm.netonline. He serves as the
president and CEO of thecompany. You've been listening,
of course, to the closing marketreport on this Thursday
afternoon.
We'll record our commodity weekprogram later and then you can
hear it up on our website atwillag.org by about 06:00 this
evening. And tomorrow on ourhome station, you'll hear all of
(22:48):
the program, a portion of itprobably, on many of these radio
stations, and most of them willcarry it over the weekend as
well. Thank you for listening tothe agricultural programming
that comes to you from Illinoispublic media. It is public radio
for the farming world. I'mUniversity of Illinois
Extension's Todd Gleason.
From the Lend Grant University in Urbana
Champaign, Illinois, this is theclosing market reported as the
July. I'm extension's ToddGleason. Coming up, we'll talk
about the commodity markets withMatt Bennett. He's at agmarket
dot net. We'll return to aconversation I told you earlier
in the week that we'd discuss ingreater detail about nitrogen
(00:22):
applications in soybean, andthen we'll take up the weather
forecast too.
We'll do that with Mike Tenoraat T Storm Weather, all on this
Thursday edition of the closingmarket report from Illinois
public media. It is public radiofor the farming world online on
demand at willag.org. ToddGleason's services are made
(00:46):
available to WILL by Universityof Illinois Extension. As we
begin our program today, we takea moment to remember Mike Perine
who passed yesterday at age 83,farm broadcaster from the state
of Illinois and a member of theNational Association of Farm
Broadcasting Hall of Fame.December corn for the day
(01:07):
settled at $4.21.
That was three lower. The Marchat $4.38 and a quarter down two
and three quarters. Septemberbeans $10.12, up six and a
quarter. November up six. At$10.26 and a half, the bean meal
30¢ higher.
The bean oil up a dollar 40.Soft red winter wheat was down 7
and a half cents. It settled at$5.54 a quarter in the December.
(01:30):
The hard red December at $5.40,down 5 and a quarter cents. Live
cattle futures were down 42 anda half, feeders 57 and a half
lower, and lean hogs up a buck90.
Matt Bennett from agmarket.netnow joins us to take a look at
the marketplace. Hi, Matt.Thanks for being with us today.
Matt Bennett (01:48):
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Todd Gleason (01:49):
Corn down 3 to 4¢, and soybeans up 6 to 8 or
thereabouts. What'd you make inthe marketplace today?
Matt Bennett (01:56):
Well, you know, this corn market, of course,
first three days, we actuallyrallied. And, you know, it's the
first time we've had a three dayrally in a while. But, overall,
you know, there's a lot of talkabout, of course, some
pollination issues, first ofall. And, you know, high
pressure ridge setting up herenext week, I don't know if it's
gonna quite get to us. Butcertainly to the Southwest of
(02:16):
us, it looks to be excessivelyhot, you know, and you don't
know if that thing's gonna keepmoving to the east or if it's
gonna set up in that area.
And so the trade, I think, whichhad basically been beaten down,
as you know, for quite sometime, the trade, I think some of
the funds probably decided webetter go ahead and cover some
of these shorts over the lastthree days. And then you come in
(02:39):
here today and the reality ofthe situation is, yeah, mine end
up being awfully hot. Butclearly, there's just multiple
rounds of precipitation for alot of folks. I I know in your
neck of the woods, my neck ofthe woods, there's some really
good opportunities for rainfall,you know, over the next several
days. And if you could getthrough this pollination window,
(03:00):
you know, in good form, it'sgonna be really tough to get
this market super excited,unless, you know, you get
excessively hot, for yournighttime temperatures and, you
know, don't give that plant achance to shut down.
Todd Gleason (03:12):
Is there any, real worries about pollination
issues, the ones that we'veheard? Are you hearing that from
the industry, or is that justhere and there and people
looking for something to movethe markets?
Matt Bennett (03:25):
I I mean, I think that there's a fair amount of
it, Todd. I don't know how much,but I don't know percentages.
Clearly, whenever you get onsocial media and you see stuff
like that, you gotta take itwith a grain of salt. But at the
same time, we have checked inwith several growers that have,
you know, witnessed pollinationproblems. Now, you know, what's
the extent of it?
I really don't know. You know,you hear a few hybrids talked
(03:46):
about where it's most prevalent,but at the same time, you know,
as you maybe are alluding to,sometimes things get overblown
in a big way. So, you know,overall, there could be some
pollination problems here andthere. That really doesn't take
away from the fact that, youknow, if there's one or two even
fairly large scale type numbers,there's a lot of other folks in
(04:07):
the Corn Belt that have lookedat pretty much ideal weather
conditions since they were ableto get the crop on the ground. I
know that doesn't go foreveryone.
You know, there's some folksthat have had just a horrific
spring, but at the same time, Ithink several of us that were
dry before are no longer dry,and we're sitting in pretty good
shape as a whole.
Todd Gleason (04:27):
Oftentimes you travel across the Corn Belt.
Have you done that recently byvehicle and been able to see
much of the Corn Belt?
Matt Bennett (04:34):
Yeah. So last week, I actually drove over to
Cedar Rapids, then back over toIndianapolis, and then I went
out to the Ozarks. And so I sawa large section of the Corn
Belt. Now I didn't get into thedrier areas in Northern Illinois
or Indiana. I stayed south ofthose just because of my route
being the quickest.
So the route that I was on, tobe honest, I just didn't see
(04:55):
much in the way of for corn.Now, we did have several people
that came to our meeting fromthose areas or that drove
through, for instance, NorthernMissouri, and there's definitely
still some pockets that folksjust continue to get
shortchanged on moisture. Butoverall, I would have to say
that 74% good to excellent isfairly true. You know, I've got
(05:15):
to think that there's a lot offolks that are looking at, you
know, all time records if mothernature cooperates. Now, that's a
big if, you know.
We've still got really anothersolid probably four weeks to go
on this corn crop for most folksto really feel good about it
being in the bin, so to speak,as far as their yield's
concerned. And then, of course,on soybeans, you've probably got
(05:37):
at least a good six weeks beforeyou can feel that way. But,
overall, I think the crop's inreally good shape.
Todd Gleason (05:43):
Are you satisfied to stand aside the marketplace
at this time, or is there actionthat needs to be taken by
producers?
Matt Bennett (05:49):
You know, the problem, Todd, is that if you
get to looking at this, youknow, you're looking at these
corn in that four twenty, fourtwenty one level. And, you know,
overall, that's not horrible. Ithink that if you could get a
decent basis locked in withyields, know, if you can trust
yourself to go ahead and peg itat something well above APH. And
(06:09):
I think most producers that Italk to would feel comfortable
with that. You you could maybeleg in the sun of it.
My biggest concern, though, isthose bushels that have to go to
town this fall. I do thinkstorage will pay. You look a big
carry in the market at store andyou're corn at home. I think you
could play the basis and carrygame similar to the elevator and
the way they handle it andreally do well in those bushels
(06:31):
at home. But the problem, ofcourse, is delivering to the
elevator.
We've got to assume, Todd, if weget as big a crop as what a lot
of folks are suggesting and whatyou and I have seen, know, basis
could be just ugly as couldpossibly be this fall. I don't
want growers to have to haul inand just take a price. You know,
clearly, they can do somecommercial storage if they want.
(06:54):
You know, but looking at themarket right now, commercial
storage is gonna eat up most ofthat carry. So they'd have to
either bet on a basisappreciation and or, you know, a
futures rally.
Todd Gleason (07:03):
Thank you, Matt.
Matt Bennett (07:04):
Oh, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Todd Gleason (07:05):
Matt Bennett is with agmarket.net. Now one note
of action. The house is holdinga final vote later today to
eliminate federal funding forpublic media stations like this
one, WILL AM five eighty, wherethis program originates. It's
your last chance today to shareyour opinion. You can go to
(07:26):
willag.org to learn how.
You're listening to the closingmarket report from Illinois
Public Media. It's public radiofor the farming world online on
demand anytime you'd like tohear us at willag.0rg. You'll
find a list of articles pennedby the crop scientists, the
animal scientists, the ageconomist from the University of
(07:48):
Illinois. It includes one titledNitrogen Fertilizer and Soybean
Yield. I told you earlier in theweek that we would spend some
more time with GiovanniPrezafontes discussing it.
That comes up next. GioPrezafontes now joins us. He's
an agronomist here on the UrbanaChampaign campus of the
(08:10):
University of Illinois and withExtension. Thank you, Gio, for
taking some time today. You,along with John Jones and
Emerson Nafsig, are allagronomists in the Department of
Crop Sciences, have penned anarticle, I believe producers
across the Midwest, certainly inIllinois, will find of interest
related to nitrogen andsoybeans.
(08:34):
Can you lay out for me, kind ofwhat you did and why in a series
of field trials over threeyears?
Giovani Preza Fontes (08:42):
Sure. Yeah. First of all, thanks for
having me, Todd. Yeah. That wasa a work that was initiated by
doctor Neff Sigr back in 2014,and I think that it's valid
until today because there'sstill an ongoing question about,
nitrogen fertilizer and soybeanyield responses.
And I think the idea comesbecause soybean requires a lot
(09:06):
of nitrogen. Right? So soybeanhas seed that has high protein
content. So roughly, we thinkthat they need about five 4.5 to
almost five pounds of nitrogenper bushel, and they remove
about 3.5 pounds of nitrogenwith grain. So if you do a quick
math, right, a 60 bushel soybeanwill require about two seventy
(09:30):
pounds of nitrogen per acre.
And it's not unusual to seefields yielding 80 bushels or
more. So for those situationssoybeans will require more than
three fifty pounds of nitrogenper acre.
Todd Gleason (09:44):
So in this case producers hearing this and
probably thinking about it overthe last decade have come to a
conclusion that maybe additionalnitrogen, as in the case for
corn, might be needed to makesure that the highest yields are
available. That's what you allset out to do and that Emerson,
(10:05):
put forth in this trial. Can youexplain how the trial was set
up?
Giovani Preza Fontes (10:09):
So, yeah, we did this trial over three
years between 2014 and 2017. Wehad a total of nine locations
over the three year studyperiod, and we have different
locations across the straightthe state that provide us a good
range of soil environment. So wehad locations at our old
(10:32):
experiment station atBrownstown, and then we also had
locations on the experimentstations here on campus at the
South Farm in near Malmouth. Wealso had one more location at
near Chilikothi in PeoriaCounty. That was a farmer's
field that we collaborated with.
(10:55):
And, again, all of thoselocations spanning good range of
texture soils with low organicmatter, for example, at the
Chikothi and Brownstown sides,to up to very productive fine
texture soils, our highlyproductive mollisols with higher
(11:15):
organic percent matterpercentage at Monmouth and
Urbana.
Todd Gleason (11:20):
I I wanna divide these into two sections because
there was really only one placewhere nitrogen over the trial
period, the additional nitrogenpaid off. That was on the soils
near Chillicothe. They were alsoirrigated and really pretty poor
soils. Can you tell me aboutconditions there and how things
(11:40):
transpired?
Giovani Preza Fontes (11:41):
Yeah, like you said, I think that
Chillicothe was the site that weconsistently saw substantial
yield responses with appliednitrogen over the three year
period. So soils that chilicoffee was, you know, coarse
textured soils, they were loamand sandy loam soils with about
2% organic matter. We had acenter pivot irrigation where we
(12:08):
provide more water throughirrigation as needed. And if you
look at the data there, in 2015and 2016, we saw a substantial
yield increase when we appliednitrogen at planting. We saw at
about 3538% yield increasecompared to our untreated
(12:31):
control in both years, and thoseare significant.
They they correspond to almost20 to 22 bushels more per acre
when we compare to our control.
Todd Gleason (12:41):
So now we have producers excited this can work.
However, Urbana, Monmouth, andBrownstown were not the same as
those very poor soils atChillicothe, though Brownstown
soils weren't particularly goodeither.
Giovani Preza Fontes (12:57):
Yeah. It was interesting to see that
yields were quite good atBrownstown given the soil. It's
still a silt long seasony soilseries with, you know, about a
1.7% organic matter, but wedon't expect that soils to yield
much. But we were surprised tosee that yields were were on
(13:17):
average. Our untreated controlat Brown Stown yielded about 61
bushels per acre, which is, Iwould say, very good for that
region.
So, yeah, we didn't see anyresponse when we applied
nitrogen either at planting oreither time during reproductive
stages where we applied nitrogenat a single application at R1,
(13:38):
R3, or R5. And when we look atour more productive soils like
in Mammoth and Urbana, we alsodidn't see any yield response
when we applied nitrogen, asingle application, either at
planting or during anyreproductive stages like we did.
Todd Gleason (13:57):
So what's the takeaway for this as it's
related to farmers across thestate of Illinois and making
additional nitrogen applicationsto soybean. Because the one
thing we didn't talk about, Ithink, and there are two
takeaways. If you're gonna doit, I suppose, you need it it
appears nitrogen up front asopposed to in season might be
(14:19):
better, but across the board,maybe not economically
worthwhile?
Giovani Preza Fontes (14:25):
Yeah. Overall, our results didn't
support because let me go back alittle bit. When we think about
nitrogen responses versus yieldlevel, right, going back to the
basics where all of this beginswhen we think about high
yielding soybeans because theyrequire more nitrogen, I think
there's a common perception thatthose high yielding soybeans
(14:48):
fields will likely to respondmore to supplemental nitrogen.
And and that was not the case,at least under the conditions of
our study. We didn't our datadoes not support that assumption
that high yielding soybeans willrespond more to nitrogen
fertilizer.
There is a figure in in thearticle that shows the
(15:08):
relationship between yieldresponse to fertilizer nitrogen
and the yield of the untreatedcontrol. And what we found was
negative relationship betweenyield responses and the yield
level of of the untreatedcontrol, meaning that as the
yield of the untreated controlincreased, we saw an yield
(15:31):
responses to nitrogen tended todecrease.
Todd Gleason (15:34):
Do you know why?
Giovani Preza Fontes (15:36):
Yeah. We think that, you know, like, you
think about the soil our soils,our molysoles in Central And
Northern Illinois, I mean, thoseare highly productive. Right? So
if you think about soybean,right, so where they they get
their nitrogen from, it it's wethink that about 50 to 60% comes
(15:56):
from biological nitrogenfixation. Right?
That's relationship that theyhave with the Bradyrhizobium,
and 40 to 50% comes from thesoil. So if you think about
those high productive soils, ifyou think about mineralization
in nitrogen supply from thesoil, conditions that favor high
(16:17):
yields, I will also favororganic matter mineralization.
So what that means is that, youknow, if you if the weather is
good and and you're havingyou're setting up a you a good
yield potential. Right? So thatalso means that, you know,
there's a lot of nitrogen beingmineralized from the organic
(16:38):
matter, and those nitrogen aregonna be available for the
soybean to take up.
So even though in high yieldingsand and we saw that our Urbana
Fields and Malma Field, we hadyears that we had 80 to 90
bushel soybean per acre. So,yes, they do require more
nitrogen, but, there's a lot ofnitrogen being mineralized from
(17:01):
the organic matter, that isgonna, supply most of that
nitrogen requirement in highyielding fumes.
Todd Gleason (17:08):
Hey, Gio. Thank you much. I appreciate you
taking the time with us for theday.
Giovani Preza Fontes (17:12):
Thank you, Todd. Appreciate it.
Todd Gleason (17:14):
Giovanni Preza Fontes is an agronomist on the
Urbana Champaign campus of theUniversity of Illinois. He works
with Extension along with hiscolleagues, John Jones and
Emerson Nafziger. They revieweda nitrogen study that was run
between 2014 and 2017. It'sactually a three year study for
(17:34):
most of the farms, but itspanned that four year period.
They were looking at whetherhigh yielding soybeans that
above 60 bushels to the acrewould benefit from nitrogen
applications.
The answer with just oneexception is no. That exception
took place on sandy irrigatedsoils near Chillicothe just
(17:57):
north of Peoria. You may findthe article penned by Giovanni
Prezefontes, John Jones, andEmerson Nafziger on our website
now look for the headlineNitrogen fertilizer: Soybean
Yield. Let's turn our attentionnow to the global growing
(18:27):
regions. We're joined by MikeTenora.
He is at t storm weather. That'ststorm.net. Thank you, Mike, for
being with us. You serve, ofcourse, as the CEO and president
of the company there. I'd liketo talk to you a little bit
about the this week and what theweather looks like and then what
the following week looks like inThe United States, particularly
(18:50):
because there appears to be someheat that may be building in.
We can get to that. But beforethat, what happens over the next
three to five days?
Mike Tannura (19:00):
Well, it's going to be cool and somewhat stormy
through early next week. We havea very cool air mass in place
across the Dakotas and into theNorthwest Corn Belt, and that's
expanding southward as we speak.This will lead the northern half
to two thirds of US corn andsoybeans normal to cool over the
next several days. And so thatin and of itself doesn't lead to
(19:22):
too many concerns. On top ofthat, we have a favorable setup
for thunderstorm clusters comingup.
Now we'll see a few storms overthe next two days in the
Southern Corn Belt, but thething that we're more noted,
more focused on is what's comingup this weekend and early next
week. We have this cool air massin place, but that's going to
attempt to retreat, and aretreating air mass like that
(19:45):
with waves of energy nearby is apretty good recipe for
thunderstorm clusters. So wethink there's going to be some
heavy clusters in the key cornand soybean region starting on
Saturday and then continuingthrough Monday. So, Todd, some
pretty good rains are coming up.And at this point in time, it
looks like the best rains aregoing to focus on Illinois and
Indiana, which is really theonly dry spot in the entire
(20:08):
Central US.
Todd Gleason (20:09):
Now then next week, there's been a lot of talk
about heat building in and thehumidity sticking around. Can
you tell me what you're watchingand what issues and what parts
of the Corn Belt might be atissue?
Mike Tannura (20:23):
Well, there is a heat wave coming up. It's just a
matter of how long it's going tolast and exactly where it's
going to be, which, of course,are very important questions.
But at this point, it looks likeupper level high pressure is
going to set up around Arkansasearly next week, and that will
then expand westward and envelopthat region plus the Central And
Southern Plains later next week.So pretty much an arc from
(20:44):
Colorado and Kansas throughArkansas and into that whole
area of the Mid South is goingto turn pretty hot and also dry
out a lot as you move throughnext week. Now to the immediate
north, this is where there's alot of uncertainty.
Now on the one hand, if thatupper level high were to really
get going, that's how you get anice big heat wave in the Corn
Belt. And there are some hintsof that on these various models.
(21:08):
On the other hand, there's a lotof soil moisture in place. It's
been raining cats and dogs inmost areas over the last couple
of months. And you put a hot airmass on top of wet soils, and
that's a recipe for highhumidities, and that makes it
easier for thunderstorms todevelop than it would be in
another in a more normalsituation where you had average
soil moisture.
(21:29):
So we think there's going to besome pretty big thunderstorm
clusters with this setup. Nowany one of those has the ability
to pull cooler air southward anddisrupt what would otherwise be
a notable heat wave. And wethink that that's something that
needs to be respected. So we'rebasically telling our clients
that, look, it's going to be hotsouth, but there's going to be
some pretty good rains north.There's an area in between
(21:52):
that's kind of in thattransition zone, but they don't
really need any rain, especiallyif the forecast verifies over
the next few days.
And there should be some coolair intrusions at least once or
twice later this month. Sooverall, there are some weather
concerns developing, but it'sgoing to take a lot for this to
really turn into a big story.And basically, it's going to
(22:13):
have to turn hot, turn dry, andit's gonna have to blast right
into August because it's been sogood at this point in time.
Todd Gleason (22:20):
Hey. Thank you much. I appreciate it. We'll
talk with you again next week.
Mike Tannura (22:23):
Yeah. Sounds great, Ted.
Todd Gleason (22:24):
That's Mike Tanura. He is with t storm
weather. That's tstorm.netonline. He serves as the
president and CEO of thecompany. You've been listening,
of course, to the closing marketreport on this Thursday
afternoon.
We'll record our commodity weekprogram later and then you can
hear it up on our website atwillag.org by about 06:00 this
evening. And tomorrow on ourhome station, you'll hear all of
(22:48):
the program, a portion of itprobably, on many of these radio
stations, and most of them willcarry it over the weekend as
well. Thank you for listening tothe agricultural programming
that comes to you from Illinoispublic media. It is public radio
for the farming world. I'mUniversity of Illinois
Extension's Todd Gleason.
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