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8/4/2019 CQ Perspectives Nov 2005
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1C r o p Q u e s t P e r s p e c t i v e s
Volume 15 • Issue 6 • November 2005
Navajo AgriculturalP roducts Indust ry A Farming Success
In New Mex ico
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CROP QUEST AGRONOMIC SERVICES, INC
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2 C r o p Q u e s t P e r s p e c t i v e s w w w . c r o p q u e s t . c o
Navajo Agricultural Products Industry Continued from Page 1
Leonard Scot
“Over a short period of time, I have gone from being a
skeptic to being a strong supporter of Crop Quest,” he says.
“I depend on my farm managers, and each of the three
who work with Crop Quest on a regular basis tell me the
relationship has made them more efcient,” Lewis says.
Leonard Scott, who is small grains crop manager at NAPI,
says his relationship with Crop Quest is one of trust. “John
Hecht (Crop Quest special projects manager) and I have been
working together for three or four years, and I now trust him to
provide me the production information I need to meet my goals,”Scott says. “Each year, I set aside a number that I hope to reach in
terms of yield per acre and, so far, we have met our goal each year
that John and I have worked together,” he says with Navajo pride.
Scott s̓ number is not a small one for wheat, averaging over 100
bushels per acres for up to 10,000 acres of wheat for the past three
years.
“Storage and transportation are my main problems with wheat
production,” Lewis says. “We recently built two new silos, each
holding 15,000 tons, which has helped with storing such huge
amounts of grain that we generate at harvest time,” he explains.
“Most of our wheat goes to California and has to be trucked
about 90 miles to the nearest railhead, so we still struggle with
transportation from time to time,” he concludes.“From a production standpoint, we donʼt have many problems.
John Hecht, Adam Sandoval (small grain crop foreman) and I sit
down and plan out our crop each year. John provides me with the
information I need for fertility and water needs at planting and
monitors weed and insect buildups during the growing season,
so the production part of growing wheat goes smoothly – as long
as we plan carefully – I am a big believer in planning to get the
timing of everything right,” Scott stresses.
“Wheat prices have been good in recent years, and we have had
good yields, so we can expect acreage to increase on the farm. We
currently have 70,000 acres under irrigation, and we have another
35,000 acres or so to develop,” Scott explains. “If we continue
to do well with our crops, we will surely need to take advantage
of grid sampling, variable rate chemical application and other
precision farming techniques that Crop Quest has introduced to
growers in other parts of the country,” Scott concludes.
The
single largestcrop produced at
NAPI is alfalfa.
The high-quality alfalfa
hay produced by NAPI
goes primarily (about
80%) to dairy farms in New
Mexico, but some makes it way to the thoroughbred farms of
Kentucky and to other regions of the country.
The alfalfa operation, which will likely reach 16,500 acres th
year, is headed by Jennifer Elliott. Elliott, who is not Navajo,
exudes the same pride in alfalfa as do her Navajo counterparts
other NAPI crop production areas.
“This past year, I started working with Gary Knight (Crop Quagronomist) who helps me with water scheduling, especially on
new stand alfalfa,” Elliott says. “Out here, we have to schedule
water two to three days ahead of time, so that the reservoir, wh
is about 30 miles away, will have time to get water to us,” she
explains.
“With so many acres of alfalfa under center pivots, it is critic
to have another set of eyes in the eld. Gary has been a great he
in keeping me aware of production needs and pest problems,”
Elliott says.
In the high desert of New Mexico, alfalfa grows for eight
months of the year. Elliott plants alfalfa from July to Septembe
and harvests hay four times a year from May until October. Las
yearʼs crop averaged over six tons per acre, making alfalfa ano
protable crop for NAPI.
“Gary and I typically meet once or twice a week to talk abou
what he is seeing in the eld and what we need to do. Sometim
he sees problems in a certain area or I will direct him to a certa
area. He also works with our alfalfa crop foreman and, among t
three of us, we are able to stay ahead of any production problem
that might come up,” Elliott concludes.
“I also have marketing responsibilities for alfalfa, so it often
becomes impossible to focus on the everyday production probl
that occur. Gary and my crop foreman take care of many of the
routine problems we see, freeing me to look at the crop on a
bigger scope,” Elliott explains.“All of our crop managers do a wonderful job of managing th
overall crop,” says General Manager Lewis. “Sometimes they a
so focused on the forest, they donʼt see the trees so well and
Crop Quest keeps track of the trees, allowing the forest to grow
as it should,” he explains.
“Working with NAPI is an ongoing learning experience and
denitely a work in progress,” notes John Hecht. “With the lan
base they have and the availability of water on the farm, their
opportunities are endless. We feel like we have just scratched th
surface in helping the farm managers here be more efcient and
productive with their crops,” he concludes.
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Fertilizer Prices As the price of anhydrous ammonia pushes over $500 per
ton, the question on everyoneʼs mind is, why are we seeing such
a sharp rise in fertilizer prices? It has to be more than just the
increase in the cost of natural gas or the hurricane disasters.
According to a recent article by “The Fertilizer Institute,”
since fertilizer is a commodity, the supply and demand factors in
major world markets are having an impact on the price that U.S.farmers are paying for fertilizers. What are some of the primary
factors that have resulted in these higher prices?
The article pointed out that there has been an increased global
demand for fertilizers in recent years that have played a large
part in putting pressure on fertilizer prices. From FY2000/01
to FY2004/05, world fertilizer demand has increased by an
estimated 20 million nutrient tons, or by 13%. This increase in
demand alone is almost equivalent to the total nutrient usage in
the United States, which was 23.4 million nutrient tons during
the 2003 to 2004 fertilizer usage period. Over this same time
period, world nitrogen demand rose by almost 10%, phosphate
usage grew by 13% and potash usage rose an alarming 25%.
In addition, the supply factor is also driving up fertilizerprices, especially nitrogen, due to the increased cost of natural
gas. Anhydrous ammonia is the source of almost all the nitrogen
fertilizers produced in the world, and since it is produced by
combining nitrogen from the air with hydrogen from natural
gas, it stands to reason that an increase in the price of natural
gas will impact the price of anhydrous ammonia. Seventy to
90% of the production cost of ammonia is due to the cost of
natural gas. From 1999 to 2003, the latest year for which dataare available, the average U.S. ammonia production costs
doubled and the price of natural gas has continued to rise since
that time. As a result of the high cost of natural gas and the
squeeze on production margins, U.S. ammonia production has
fallen by 34% in only ve years with the closing of 16 ammonia
plants and the idling of an additional ve plants. Consequently,
the United States now relies on imports for nearly 45% of its
nitrogen supplies which has risen from 15% during the 1990s.
It appears in the near term, higher prices for fertilizers are
going to be with us. Soil testing is even more critical during
these times of high cost. Visit with your Crop Quest agronomist
about how you can protect your yields while making the most
efcient use of your fertilizer dollars.
By: Ron OʼHanlon,President
Member, National Alliance
of Independent Crop
Consultants, CPCC-I
Certied
With the cost of diesel fuel and petroleum-based products
soaring, farmers across the country are looking for ways to
reduce application costs. Crop Quest s̓ precision agriculture
leader, Nathan Woydziak, and Kyle Aljoe, a Crop Quest
agronomist working in Dimmitt, Texas, have used computer-directed (applied by air) variable application rates to improve
efciency of both application and production of cotton.
Woydziak says, “This is the rst year we have worked with
the concept of varying application rates by air. We have used
ground application successfully for several years, using Grid
Sampling as the basis for varying rates of fertilizer and other
farm chemicals.”
The rst use of the new application technology was done in
July on eight cotton elds in west Texas. “So far the cotton looks
good and the aerial applicator was very pleased with how easy
the system was to use,” notes Aljoe. “It allows the applicator
to make only one pass across the eld, instead of having to
make a second pass across parts of the eld where the cotton isgrowing.”
Woydziak explains that Crop Quest agronomists use SST
Summit™ Pro software to collect and store data. “We have
digital eld maps loaded into SST Summit Pro which allows
us to break the eld into management zones,” he says. “Once
the zones are created, Kyle sends them to us, where we
further process the data using Del Norteʼs FliteTrac™ 2005
software. Finally the rened formulations are sent back to Kyle
and the aerial applicator,” Woydziak explains.
“Thus far, we have been focusing on cotton, because it is
simple to see the benets,” notes Aljoe. In the future, Aljoe and
Woydziak agree that once they get more procient using the
technology, there will likely be other situations in which variable
rate aerial application will be advantageous for other crops.
For more information on ground or aerial application, contact
your local Crop Quest agronomist. By the 2006 crop year, each
Crop Quest agronomist will have SST Summit Pro software andwill be able to assist in planning more precise ways to manage
crops to reduce overall fuel usage.
V a r i a b l e R a t e A e r i a l A p p l i c a t i o nIncreases Efficiency in Texas Cotton
7.73 gal/ac
3.87 gal/ac
5.80 gal/ac
4.83 gal/ac
3.87 gal/ac
FliteTrac™ 2005 is a registered trademark of Del Norte Technology, Inc.
SST Summit™ Pro is a registered trademark of Site-Specic Technology Development Group, In
This map shows how different parts of one of the Texascotton elds received varying amounts of growth regulator.Traditionally one application rate is used, thus, some partsof the eld would get too much chemical and some parts not
enough.
3C r o p Q u e s t P e r s p e c t i v e s
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Mission StatementCrop Quest is an employee-owned company dedicated to providing the highest quality agricultural services for each customer. The quest of our network
professionals is to practice integrity and innovation to ensure our services are economically and environmentally sound.
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
DODGE CITY K
PERMIT NO. 43
“Employee-Owned & Customer Driven” Crop Quest Agronomic Services, Inc.
Main Ofce: Phone 620.225.2233
Fax 620.225.3199
Internet: www.cropquest.com
Crop Quest Board of Directors President: Ron OʼHanlon
Director: Jim Gleason
Director: Dwight Koops
Director: Cort Minor
Director: Chris McInteer
Director: Rob Meyer
What Did We Learn About Asian Soybean Rust This Summ
A
Randy Waldren, Senior Agronomist and Administrative
Assistant, recently celebrated 30 years of service to farmers in
Kansas, having spent most of his career serving
clients in Ford and Hodgeman Counties.
Randy currently serves clients on more than
8,000 acres of cropland. Additionally, Randy
does nutrient management planning with Excel
Corporation and a swine farm in Norton
County. Throughout most of his career, he
has also been responsible for vehicle and
communication systems purchases, auto
insurance policies and vehicle damage
reporting for Crop Quest.
Randy was born in Tribune, Kan.,
and he and his wife Francis have a 15-
year-old son named Quincy.
Randy graduated from Kansas State University with a B
degree in biology and an MS degree from Fort Hays State
University in biology. He started his career in crop consul
on October 15, 1975, and he has been with Crop Quest sin
beginning in 1992.
Among the many highlights of his career are the introdu
of the glyphosate herbicides to Kansas farmers, and more
recently, the increased usage of no-till farming practices.
“Randy has been a tremendous asset to Crop Quest sinc
inception of our company,” notes Ron OʼHanlon, presiden
Crop Quest. “His leadership with technological innovation
including the introduction of the cellular telephones, has
provided a valuable service to our company,” OʼHanlon
concludes, noting that mobile communication was extrem
limited when Randy began his career.
By: Jim Gleason
Regional Vice President
St. John, Kan.
Randy Waldren Celebrates 30 Years
There was a lot of knowledge gained about soybean
rust this summer but no rst-hand experience of dealing
with this disease in the High Plains region. This disease
has been in the continental United States for a year and
it was only found in soybean elds in the Deep South
this growing season. There was a big effort from USDA,
university people and industry personnel to get the word
out on soybean rust and to educate the public. The rust
spores had overwintered in Florida just as the experts
predicted. Systems were put into place to monitor elds
across the United States to ensure early detection of the
spread of the disease.
All of these efforts had soybean producers prepared for
anything that might develop. We all anxiously watched
each passing storm front for movement northward of the
rust spores and waited for the reports of new infe
There were conrmed reports of spores being blo
into the Corn Belt. Why didnʼt the disease develo
environment was too dry for the spores to take ho
infect the soybean crop. If normal weather with a
rainfall has occurred this summer instead of the d
conditions, things might have turned out differenIn the High Plains, we knew that our arid weathe
conditions would offer us a good line of defense.
not foolproof. It only takes a few hours of leaf we
during the time the spores are trying to germinate
the infection. Dry weather after the disease is und
wonʼt stop it.
It appears that rust will be a concern for us to kee
eye on for next season. We donʼt want to drop ou
just because it never developed into a big problem
summer.