SANTEE, S.C. — Corn and soybean growers can learn what they can do to grow profitable crops in 2018 at the Clemson Corn and Soybean Growers Meeting Dec. 7.
The meeting will be held at the Santee Conference Center, 1737 Bass Drive, Santee, 29142. David Gunter, a Clemson University Extension feed grain specialist at the Edisto Research and Education Center, said several experts will speak on topics ranging from setting up a good stand to what the market looks like for corn and soybeans.
“We’ll have information growers will need to help them from the planning stage to the selling stage,” Gunter said. “We invite all South Carolina corn and soybean growers to attend this meeting.”
The 2017 Corn and Soybean Growers Meeting begins with registration at 8:30 a.m. and concludes with the drawing of a grand door prize at 3:30 p.m. Trade show booths also open at 8:30 a.m. A sponsored lunch will be provided.
Experts on the agenda include Missy Bauer, an independent crop consultant with B & M Crop Consulting in Coldwater, Michigan. Bauer will cover what producers need to know to have a good corn stand to increase ear counts. Her presentation will include a discussion on how planter setup affects the number of harvestable ears and how overall yield, late emergence, spacing and so on can result in ear count loss. Other items Bauer will discuss include counting the number of plants and the number of harvestable ears and potential grain yield losses, as well as planter set up.
Edgar Woods of Palmetto Grain Brokerage in Ridgeland will give a market update on corn and soybean futures and a 2017-2018 supply and demand outlook for the markets. Woods said corn carryouts are comparable to last year, but soybeans have a slightly lower carryout than previously predicted. Woods will also discuss South American crop progress and its possible effects on U.S. prices.
“Right now, there’s a lot of demand,” Woods said, “but the markets can quickly change. My discussion will focus on what is happening in these markets and what South Carolina corn and soybean growers need to do to increase their revenues in 2018.”
David Holshouser, an associate professor of crop and soil environmental sciences at Virginia Tech University, will speak on improving soybean yields. Holshouser’s discussion will include how soybean potassium requirements differ for soils in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain Region of the southeastern United States.
“Our soils are either sandy in nature and/or comprised primarily of low-cation exchange capacity (CEC) clays,” Holshouser said. “This inability to retain nutrients such as potassium in the topsoil may require alteration of sampling techniques, more or less fertilizer than what may be currently recommended, and a general change in mindset of how this nutrient is managed.”
Holshouser also will talk about how to make double-cropped small grain-soybean systems profitable in 2018.
“Double-cropping increases total production of food, feed, fiber and/or fuel without additional land requirement,” Holshouser said. “When combined with no-till practices, the additional residue and continuous ‘green’ cover increases soil organic matter, reduces soil erosion and runoff, minimizes deep leaching of nutrients and generally improves physical, chemical and biological soil functions.”
A panel discussion will be held to address herbicide technology. The panel will include experts from the Clemson University Pesticide Regulation Department, Clemson Cooperative Extension Service and industry representatives from Dow and Monsanto.
Certified crop adviser and continuing education certification hours for pesticide applicators have been applied for.
For more information, contact David Gunter at 843-616-2133 or dgunter@clemson.edu
— Denise Attaway, Public Service and Agriculture, Clemson University
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