We’ve done our part to help you get ready for the 2017 growing season. We’ve offered tips on improving planter performance, reducing soybean seeding rates, controlling tough weeds and making soybeans after soybeans work. No doubt you’re ready. Once the planter rolls, it’s like the green flag being dropped at Indianapolis — the race is on!

After talking to dozens of agronomists and farmers in preparing stories for this season, it’s obvious it might not be business as usual this year. The financial climate has forced some tough decisions. New weed control options are bringing new opportunities but also new challenges.

Here are five factors that could make this season different from past seasons. And we’re not even including what role the weather might play.

1. Many of you will be applying different herbicides than you have before. If you switched to glufosinate-tolerant soybeans to try to hold the line on weed resistance, do you know how to spray Liberty? Bryan Johnson, a Purdue University weed scientist, notes that it’s not like spraying glyphosate. It’s a contact herbicide, and it takes much more complete coverage to be effective. That may mean applying more total spray volume per acre.

2. Some of you will plant Xtend soybeans for the first time. There seems to be two camps of people planting Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans, which are tolerant to dicamba herbicides. There are those who intend to spray one of the three new dicamba products over the top, and those who just want the protection against possible dicamba off-target movement should their neighbors plant them.

Company experts assure everyone the technology is solid, and it seems ready to go. But nightmares that unfolded in Missouri and Arkansas last year when farmers applied regular dicamba products illegally and drift followed have some farmers on edge.

3. Determine where crops sensitive to dicamba are planted, and follow labels. The DriftWatch website that allows growers to note where sensitive crops are planted has been in effect for a while. It’s now part of a bigger effort called FieldWatch. The third leg of the stool is BeeCheck. This process works two ways. If you have bees or sensitive crops, you can denote where they are on the website. If you’re going to spray a herbicide, you can access the site to determine what’s around the fields where you will spray. Check out fieldwatch.com.

4. If you didn’t use a hybrid with rootworm protection or an insecticide, watch for rootworms. The need to cut budgets has many of you in this boat. Crops consultants say you can return to the days of digging plants, washing roots and finding larvae, but if you do, you’re mainly gathering information for next season on how to better control rootworms. Rescue treatments aren’t very effective.

5. Step up scouting if you plant soybeans after soybeans. If you made this choice to save money on input costs, it may turn out to be a gamble. Crops consultants stress that diseases and insects, plus soybean cyst nematode, could be more problematic in continuous beans. Most recommend seed treatments. That may actually add to cost. Several agronomists also stress the need to fertilize soybeans, especially with potassium. That could mean spending more for fertilizer, not less.