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Hoorman Soil Health Services

  With less than a month to go before school starts, summer is winding down. Most farms have had plenty of moisture, so crops on the surface look good. However, there may be some hidden nutrient deficiencies, hidden yield losses, and even insect and disease issues starting to surface. On corn, sometimes too much rain at pollination may cause a problem. Tight tassels may occur which may limit or delay pollination of corn kernels. Sometimes the kernels get pollinated but at different times so the kernels grow at different rates. It creates different size corn kernels and funky looking corn. Some corn varieties are worse than others. Sometimes it is also caused by drought or nutrient imbalances. Yield losses may range from 15% to 40% depending upon how long and tight the tassel wrap occurs. On soybeans, too much moisture often causes poor rooting. Some areas have received twice as much moisture as usual and the soybeans are suffering due to anaerobic (lack of oxygen) soil conditions ...

After a somewhat late start, crops are starting to thrive. While the temperatures have been hot, most farmers having been getting some rain. Generally, rain (in moderation) makes grain! Overall crops are looking good but may be about 1-2 weeks behind in maturity. The first part of August may turn slightly cooler which helps crops grow and improve yields. To get the highest yields, crops require certain nutrients. Most plant nutrient nutrients are processed by soil microbes. Soil microbes thrive on fluctuating wet and dry periods. Right after a nice rain, you may notice crops have a more intense green color. That’s soil microbes supplying nutrients to your crops. In late July and August, these rains may be million-dollar events for the farmer. As far as temperature, crops grow best when day-time temps stay below 85-87°F with night-time temps around 70°F. Many farmers are now spraying their crops with fungicides to maintain or enhance yields. Some are adding micronutrients. Micronutrie...

  Last week, cash rental agreements were discussed and now crop share rental agreements.  For crop share rental agreements, both landowner and tenant share crop expenses and also the crop.  This involves much more involvement of landowners in the farming operation.  The landowner has the land while the tenant supplies the labor and the equipment for farming the crop.  Since the landowner has more risk, usually the return is expected to be higher, but they also have to have more cash  outlay.  For newer farmers or for cash strapped tenant farmers, this can be helpful, lowering the tenant cash outlay and risk, but the tenant should expect lower total returns.   Share crop agreements are much more contentious and require more time to manage.  It requires more trust and transparency into more farming decisions.  Since market conditions vary from region to region and from year to year, they often have to be renegotiated on a yearly basis...

  While the current 2025 agricultural crop season is still in full swing; farmers and landowners are thinking about renewing or making new rental agreements. In Ohio, about 39% of farmland is leased or rented. About 28% of all Ohio farmers rent exclusively and own no farmland themselves. About 13 Midwestern universities have developed a program called AgLease 101 offering descriptions and advantages and disadvantage to landowners and renters (tenants) of various rental arrangements. The most common rental agreements are cash rent. For the Landowner, the benefits include they do not need to provide much input to the farming operation. The landowner gets a cash payment that does not trigger landowner self-employment tax and does not reduce social security benefits at retirement. With less input, generally there is less disagreements between parties. The landowner does not need to worry about pricing the crop or yields or how to divide and market crops. The renter or tenant takes car...

  With the Fourth of July holiday, it is nice to meet family and friends and reflect on life and the blessings we have in this country.  It is also nice to hear and learn how some successful family farms that are thriving.  Here is a local story revised from Farm Journal and Ag Web.   Les Seiler and his family farm in northwest Ohio in Fulton county near the Michigan border.  The Seiler’s plant cover crops on every acre of land that is planted  with the goal of keeping a living root in the ground year-round.  They do that by mimicking Mother Nature, using no-till and cover crops to build soil health. The Seiler’s include Les and Jerry and their two sons farming near Fayette, Ohio.  Seiler’s started out strip tilling in the fall of 2010.  Unfortunately, the wind blew all winter and moved the black soil on some new land they had purchased off the mounds.  So that was the last strip tilling the family did.  They started no-tilling...

  Crops are starting to grow faster with warmer temperatures after a cool wet spring with entering rapid nutrient uptake and plant growth. Most plant nutrients are absorbed through the roots. Some nutrients get locked up in the soil making them unavailable to the plant. There are many factors that contribute to nutrient soil immobilization. If the fertilizer solution pH is too high or too low, nutrient deficient, or excessive; some nutrients might not be absorbed. Low soil organic matter, reduced microbial activity, damaged root systems, excessive water or a lack of water can all lead to lower rates of plant nutrient uptake and absorption. Many farmers regularly use some foliar feeding with herbicides or fungicides to enhance crop growth and yield. The leaves, and sometimes even the stems, of many plants are equipped with tiny, pore-like structures called stomata. Stomata open and close at certain times of the day. Stomata have two major functions. Stomata allow oxygen and water v...

About this time almost every year, we have to deal with high humidity and high temperatures. It is now officially summer, and it feels like it! After a cool, almost colder spring with plenty of moisture, the sun is shining and it is hot. Plants are starting to grow, but most fields are definitely behind schedule. Livestock also suffer during hot and humid periods of time. For livestock, staying cool depends on first getting plenty of water. Check your watering systems to make sure they are working correctly. Keep water supplies in the shade. Cool water helps animals dissipate body heat. Make sure stock tanks are secure and full of water. Sometimes animals will try to get in the tank to cool off or knock it over. Make sure the water flow is adequate. Check automatic waterers and increase the flow if necessary. Dehydrated animals may need electrolytes; consult a veterinarian for the proper dosage. Misters and sprinklers also provide a way for animals to cool down. In extreme heat, animal...

  As farmers struggle to finish planting and replanting due to excess rain and cooler temperatures, warmer or hotter summer weather may be coming soon. Farmers are facing another challenging year. Some new Ag innovations may soon change how farming is conducted. The whole Artificial Intelligence (AI) movement and machine learning is starting to be incorporated into agriculture. Farming is labor intense but also has huge amounts of data that can be harvested from each parcel of crops to make immediate decisions. Sensors, drones, and satellites provide trillions of bits of data to the farmer and/or consultant. This data base can be analyzed almost now with computers, software, and AI systems to easily and efficiently give farmers instant information to improve crop quality and yield. Here are some examples of how this affects agriculture, now and in the future. For predictive analysis; weather, disease and pests, and improving crop yields are important agricultural functions. Curren...

  After a wet and late planted spring, crops and weeds are starting to grow. Spraying weeds is important for getting good yields and reducing weed competition. Many farmers use commercial applicators to spray their fields, but a lot of farmers do it themselves or have applicators for spot spraying. There are factors that affect herbicide performance. Water quality; water pH; the temperature of the water, air, and soil; type and volume of water; size of weeds; and even time of day can impact herbicide effectiveness. In the Midwest, Purdue University is a leader on improving herbicide performance. For anyone spraying herbicides the following publications are a must read. PPP-86: The Impact of Water Quality on Pesticide Performance. PPP-107: Adjuvants and the Power of Spray Droplets. PPP-112: Water Temperature and Herbicide Performance. PPP-115: Compendium of Herbicide Adjuvants which explains how to prevent water minerals from tying up herbicides. Here are some tip: Check your wat...

  Farmers are making significant progress on planting but some areas are well behind. May 2025 has been the second coldest May on record. Between cold, wet, windy conditions; farmers are managing to get crops planted. Some areas have received over 7 inches of rain, just in the month of May and these farmers are way behind getting crops planted. However; soil microbes, plants, and humans would benefit from more sunlight, warmth, and adequate moisture. On the weather front, the polar vortex from the arctic region has been dipping down into the Midwest, bringing cold air, wind, and some moisture. La Nina events may be starting to fade, but it’s allowing the colder conditions to persist. Added to that situation, dry conditions in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada are fueling wildfires and smoke which is further reducing sunlight in the USA Midwestern States. When it is cold, microbes do not reproduce as quickly. Microbes double their population every 10°F increase in temperature abov...

May has been a cold and wet and many farmers are struggling to get crops planted. Some for the first time. Others are already replanting. Although a week old, May 18th USDA's crop progress report is probably fairly accurate with the recent rains. Estimates are that only 34% of corn acres are planted in Ohio, with 22% of corn emerged. Emerged acres are probably higher by now. Corn planting progress was behind the 5-year average (48%), but corn emergence was slightly ahead (20%) as of May 18th. For soybeans, 40% of soybean acre were planted and 24% of soybeans emerged. On corn, some farmers got a few acres planted in late April when the air temperatures for a short period of time were warmer. but soil temps were cool. That corn either emerged, rotted or the soil got hard and struggled to emerge. Corn needs to come up within 3 days of each other for optimal yield. Cold wet weather causes many mineral deficiencies since the microbes in the soil are not warmed up and repopulating. Yello...

Farmers are again struggling this spring to get crops planted. Depending upon the amount and distribution of rain, some farmers may be almost done while other farmers are struggling to get their first field planted. In late April, there was a nice warm stretch of weather for a few days with some relatively dry weather. Some farmers got a lot planted. Others waited. Some fields of corn and soybeans are up but with the cool weather, some are struggling to grow. For slugs; cool, wet weather with slow growing crops are the best conditions for a “ slug fest smorgasbord"! Slugs like wet cool conditions and they love to eat plants under stress. Most plants, especially corn, can out grow slug damage with good weather. Soybeans are the most susceptible to slug damage. Once you see slugs starting to eat newly emerging soybeans, it is too late because once the cotyledon ( first new emerging leaves from the seed) is damaged, the plant dies. A lot of fields have either weeds still growing or...