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View From the Cab 05/24 04:58
View From the Cab Farmers Take First Looks at Emerging Crop
DTN's View From the Cab farmers from Maryland and Minnesota are busy sizing
up crop emergence and scouting for potential problems this week.
Pamela Smith
Crops Technology Editor
DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) --
-- Memorial Day may be the unofficial start of summer, but for Tyler Rath,
it typically signals the start of edible bean planting. This year, though, cold
weather has the Belgrade, Minnesota, farmer on hold waiting for higher
temperatures to start those plantings. Newly emerged field corn and peas could
also use the growing degree units.
"If I knew what a normal year looked like, I'd hope for it," said Rath. "Our
first corn fields have mostly popped through and are still waiting for warm
weather to emerge in low spots. All of the peas are up and we had a nice
4/10-inch of rain this week. But it is COLD."
In central Maryland, Chris Weaver's crops also received rainfall this week.
That was a much-needed boost to a stand that, prior to the precipitation, he
had deemed "near perfect, but needing a drink." Those rains were also well
timed as they arrived after he had just baled and put the first cutting of
alfalfa into the barn.
Scouting and checking fields are top of mind for both farmers this week.
This is the second combined View From the Cab report this season. Find the
first report here:
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/farm-life/article/2026/05/17/farme
rs-assess-spring-planting-5
CHRIS WEAVER: FINKSBURG, MARYLAND
It may have been Will Rogers who famously said, "The farmer has to be an
optimist, or he wouldn't still be a farmer." But optimism is a quality Weaver
intentionally weaves into how he operates. This week, nature lent a helping
hand with nearly an inch of rain that fell the evening of May 20.
"I'm really excited about what we're seeing so far. It's been dry, but I
still have cotyledons alive on soybeans," he said (before that rainfall).
Cotyledons fuel the plant's growth before the plant's root system, and initial
leaves are fully capable of doing so.
"Stand counts on corn and soybeans are near perfect. I'm really excited
because early tissue sample numbers are coming back even better than I've seen
in the past two years on early stuff," Weaver said.
Those tests provide indications of the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus,
potassium, calcium, boron, zinc and various microbes in the leaf tissue, he
noted. Years of testing have helped him build a database for the farm that
signals what nutrient ranges are desirable at different plant growth stages
based on parts per million (ppm) of nutrients available in his soil and his
yield goals.
Weaver, who also serves as an agronomy consultant to other farmers,
recommended that those interested in developing a high-yield crop program start
by drilling down on macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
"Once those macros are established, we can begin to look at ratios between
different nutrients and decide how to make corrections through foliar
applications," he said. "The important thing to remember with these kinds of
adjustments is that it needs to be based on your farm, and it all takes time to
learn and to see results."
Weaver recognized that he's fiercely competitive. "When I mow the lawn, I
actually set a stopwatch to see if I can mow it faster than I did the week
before," he admitted.
"I don't care what the neighbors are doing, but I'm not happy if I'm not
pushing myself and learning. That's fun for me," he said.
Fun also means heading to the field on the four-wheeler to scout crops. He's
typically armed with a sweep net, handheld microscope, soil penetrometer,
shovel and a bucket of water for washing plant roots.
"I feel as though I am on my phone all day long. But I don't look at the
phone while I'm in the field, so that's an escape. I enjoy the fact that the
field is always teaching me something. I love it when one of my kids goes
along, and they see something I don't. Or, sometimes I will miss something on
purpose to see if they see it.
"I'm an old-school notetaker," he added. "I've got stacks of those 2-inch
diary-style notebooks full of hand-written observations. I'm always going back
and forth between my planting book and my scouting books to compare what worked
and what didn't or just remind myself why I tried something the way I did," he
said.
This week he'll be watching closely for grubs and slugs. The pests are known
to hang out beneath the fodder in no-till systems.
"They've mostly stayed buried this year because we've been hot and dry --
they do not like hot. But with recent rain and cooling temperatures, we could
easily see them resurface and they can devour a crop," Weaver said. He also
spotted a few cutworms in his field visits this week.
Staying observant isn't good enough if you aren't willing to make management
corrections. For example, Weaver used to routinely throw an insecticide
treatment in with his herbicide burndown.
"It was a relatively inexpensive practice at the time, and we were going
across the field anyway," he said. "But we discovered that insecticide was
hurting beneficial microbes that were actually helping control slugs. We've
experienced a lot less slug damage since we discontinued that practice."
The first cutting of alfalfa and some grass hay was rolled into bales last
week. Early low temperatures curbed expectations by about 1.5 tons per acre on
the alfalfa cutting. The farm realized 4 tons per acre of dry alfalfa hay and 3
tons per acre on early grass hay. There's more grass hay baling to be done
during the next few weeks, as weather permits.
"Spoon-feeding alfalfa similar to what we do with corn has really paid off
for us," Weaver said. He also uses fungicides on alfalfa and will be scouting
for alfalfa weevil.
Temperatures soared into the 90s Fahrenheit this past week, which stalled
applications of foliar nutrients such as calcium, boron and sulfur on the newly
harvested alfalfa.
"We shut down sprayers when temperatures are above 80 degrees -- regardless
of crop or product," Weaver said. "There's no point in adding stress to a crop.
It's all about photosynthesis. Why do I want to burn the leaves that I need to
grow the crop?" he asked.
The only real weed breaks he's seeing so far are Canada thistle and patches
of Italian ryegrass. "It was cool and dry when we did preemergence herbicide
applications earlier this spring, and we didn't get a good kill on that
ryegrass. Spot spraying should be enough to get it under control," he said.
This week Weaver headed back to the University of Maryland to receive the
Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA) Distinguished Alumni Award. It's an
honor that wraps family into its acceptance -- there's a "we" in every
statement he makes when it applies to the farm.
"My speech will revolve around the need for the three things I depend on:
Faith, family and being patient," he said.
TYLER RATH: BELGRADE, MINNESOTA
Short-sleeve weather can't come soon enough for Rath. Cold weather has
slowed almost every farm operation this spring.
The central Minnesota farm is still a week away from first-cutting alfalfa,
and he anticipates that yields will be poor.
"Some area farmers are tearing up alfalfa stands due to excessive winter
kill. Grass hay is poor with lots of dead spots," he reported. "Dandelions
don't seem to have a problem flourishing, though. I tell our edible bean seed
guys that they need to develop a seed crossed with dandelion and Canada thistle
that would grow well anywhere."
Calving has finished, and his father, Dennis, was working this week to keep
those energetic calves secured with adequate fencing -- which delivered a
shocking wake-up call to prove everything was working. Getting zapped -- either
through fences or frost -- seems part of the drill this year.
"This week we sorted cattle and put them to pasture with the bulls while we
were in our winter coats. I've never done that before," Rath said. On the work
agenda this week was recording which cows went to which bull.
Rath will be getting after weeds in organic corn production by "flaming" the
crop right as it spikes. This helps control broadleaf weeds and knocks back
grasses enough to give the corn a few days' head start. A pull-type weed burner
keeps the flame away from the tractor.
"In organic corn production systems, grass is by far our most difficult weed
to kill," Rath said. Waterhemp and common lambsquarters are also problematic
since both of these summer annual weeds can set volumes of seed if not
controlled early.
Sustainable warm weather is preferred to get started on weed control prior
to planting navy and kidney beans, Rath noted.
"We also need temperatures to be consistently in the 70s or better for
several days to plant these crops," he said.
DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick said the chances are good for some
temperatures in the 80s this coming week for the Belgrade area.
"A couple days could touch 90 if the skies stay clear. There may be a few
chances to get a few showers to move across the region, but most likely they'll
be dry and get missed," Baranick said.
This week Rath continued to walk corn fields to check on emergence and dug
to check for issues such as sidewall compaction or anything that might restrict
roots. Recent rains have provided adequate moisture levels.
Fortunately, English peas endure cool weather, and Rath was able to get his
acreage drilled by the beginning of May. However, the short growing season,
coupled with very short preharvest intervals, makes this food-grade crop tricky
when it comes to the use of any chemical control. This week he'll look over all
the pea fields to scout for weeds.
One place he won't be as worried about weeds is in the garden. He covered
the entire area with a weed barrier cloth for the first time last year and
couldn't believe how well it worked to smother weeds while still allowing
moisture penetration. The landscape cloth was rolled up at the end of the year
and reused this year.
His wife, Ashley, is the main gardener in the family, and they plant a wide
variety of garden produce such as beets, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions,
peppers, potatoes, popcorn, radishes, pumpkins and zucchini for personal use.
"We even planted some peas and green beans -- even though we raise hundreds
of acres of them. But the kids like to eat them while they are out in the
garden," he said.
Rath credits one of his classmates from The Executive Program for
Agricultural Producers, known as TEPAP, for planting the seed for this
timesaving gardening idea. He graduated from this program several years ago and
continues to use the experience and connections to ask other growers what they
are doing or seeing.
"Seems like I can always learn something from someone in a different growing
environment, even if it's not directly applicable," Rath said.
**
More on DTN:
-- "Farmers Assess Spring Planting Progress,"
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/farm-life/article/2026/05/17/farme
rs-assess-spring-planting-5
-- Profile of Chris Weaver's farm operation: "Maryland Farmer Pushes Yields
and Curbs Inputs,"
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/AG/news/farm-life/article/2026/05/04/maryl
and-farmer-pushes-yields-curbs
-- Profile of Tyler Rath's farm operation: "Minnesota Farmer Diversifies to
Reduce Risk,"
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/farm-life/article/2026/05/10/minne
sota-farmer-diversifies-reduce
Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com
Follow her on social platform X @PamSmithDTN
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