Delaware-Maryland 4R Alliance and Partners Host Successful 4R Field Day
Chestertown, Maryland (August 27, 2021) – The Delaware-Maryland 4R Alliance hosted their annual 4R Field Day on Thursday, August 26, 2021, at Corteva’s Chesapeake Farms in Chestertown, MD. The event was attended by 100 farmers, agribusiness professionals, government, and conservation partners. Participants enjoyed a four-station rotation where they learned about the 4R’s of nutrient stewardship; using fertilizer of the Right Source, at the Right Rate and Right Time, in the Right Place.
Mike Twining of Willard Agri-Service led a station on nutrient timing and placement. Twining demonstrated the different spray boom attachments and when and why a grower would want to use these placement tools. Twining also spoke about the importance of timing. “Back in the 1980s, we thought if you didn’t have all your nutrients on corn by tassel-time, you missed the boat,” Mike explained that now growers can spoon-feed their crops to ensure nutrients are available when the crops need them. “If your corn wanted to ‘eat’ 12 pounds of Nitrogen and 8 pounds of Potash that day but they could only get 10 and 6 pounds respectively; well, that’s a bad day for corn and you’ve limited your yield. If I have a bad day, I get to start over the next day but corn only has so many days to make it count.”
Nate Hykes of Growmark FS led a station featuring a FALCON soil sampling demonstration. The FALCON is pulled behind a truck or other all-terrain vehicle and takes a soil sample every 15 feet. “If you had to do it by hand, it would get a little arduous” Hykes explained, “but the FALCON allows us to intensify the rate at which soil samples are taken to better inform a nutrient prescription.” Hykes went on to explain the different scales of sampling including field, grid, and zone, and how those samples are used to inform a 4R nutrient application plan.
The Corteva led station was hosted by Tyler Patton, Andrew MacRae, and Justin McCullough This station was focused on nitrogen stabilizers and N-modeling. The presenters spoke about the nutrient need of corn at different stages of maturity and how Nitrogen stabilizers help to ensure the Nitrogen is there when the crop needs it. Just McCullough demonstrated the Granular technology platform and how modeling can help meet crop nutrient needs at the Right Rate and Time.
Participants enjoyed a lively conversation with Laura Starr, Ph.D. of The Nature Conservancy about Carbon Markets. Starr went over the basics of carbon credits and the different programs and companies that are purchasing credits. Farmers asked many questions about pricing, measurement, and verification.
Before lunch, Aaron Givens of Delaware Department of Agriculture spoke about the DE Nutrient Management Commission effort to collect 4R practice implementation data in partnership with the 4R Alliance to ensure growers were getting credit for these practices in the Chesapeake Bay Model.
Thank you to our partners and sponsors for making our Field Day a success!
- Chesapeake Farms with Corteva AgriScience
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation | Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund
- Maryland Department of Agriculture
- Decision Ag Solutions
- Maryland Farm Bureau
- Energy Works
- Environmental Tillage Systems
- MidAtlantic Farm Credit
- Growmark FS
- 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification
- Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology
- King Crop Insurance
- MARBIDCO
- Local Seed
- Walls Irrigation
- Mosaic
- Willard Agri-Service of Lynch, Maryland