Cropping Issues in Northwest Minnesota

Dan Kaiser, Soil Fertility Specialist




1. Sample at the correct depthWe calibrate soil test results to a specific sampling depth, so it's important to get this right. Immobile plant nutrients tend to accumulate near the soil surface, so shallow sample depths can inflate results. For immobile nutrients and soil pH, sample at zero to six inches. For fall nitrate, sample at zero to 24 inches.

By David Bau, Extension Educator

Landlords, Farmers, Agri-Business Professionals should make plans to attend one of the informative meetings being held across Minnesota. These free meetings are being provided by the University of Minnesota Extension. Farmer profits are low or negative and farm land rental rates declined slightly while commodity prices have decreased significantly. Determining a fair profitable farm rental agreement is a challenge in today’s economy with recent record corn and soybean prices and record farm land values as recently as 2012 but commodity prices continued to decline since then.

Negotiating a fair rental agreement that satisfies the land owner and the farmer is a challenge. David Bau and Nathan Hulinsky, Extension Educators in Ag Business Management, will provide several ways: by examples, factsheets and worksheets to determine a fair farm land rental rate for both parties.

Topics covered at the meetings will include local historic and projected farmland r…