Perhaps you have a vague idea of how much it costs per bushel to produce your crop. Some farmers likely have it figured down to dollars and cents per bushel for the farm, a field, maybe even a soil type. Odds are virtually no one can accurately report cost per bushel on an area as small as a 60-by-60-foot square!

Syngenta and Premier Crop Systems LLC have formed a partnership to help customers develop customized, variable-cost-per-bushel analysis maps. Both say it’s a first-of-its-kind map.

Here’s how it works: Syngenta offers AgriEdge Excelsior, a whole-farm management program that helps increase and retain return on investment. Growers have access to Land.db software, which provides financial data.

Enter Premier. It offers productivity data. Using the two together, you can analyze your within-field cost per bushel on blocks as small as 60 feet. The idea is that field-relative yield maps will help you leverage your equipment’s variable-rate capabilities.

Rootworm control
Index insecticide from Amvac controls rootworms using two modes of action. This liquid at-plant insecticide works on rootworms and seed-attacking pests. It offers broad-spectrum control of wireworms, cutworms, grubs and seven other pests.

Index is applied in-furrow using water only as a carrier at a minimum of 2 gallons per acre.

According to company officials, the product works well for farmers planting high populations. It protects the root system to improve sustainability. Index can be used on field corn, seed corn, sweet corn and popcorn. Producers can make only one application of Index in a growing season. Call Amvac at 888-462-6822.

Potassium product mixes with UAN
Have you encountered problems mixing UAN and potassium? The right rate of nitrogen and potassium leads to an insoluble precipitant, explains Curt Mans, Nachurs, and that creates a real mess in the tank.

K-fuse is a new product featuring an additive that gives crops three of the critical elements they need — N, K and sulfur — without the mess. It can be blended easily with UAN solutions, which helps deliver more K to the plant during critical growth stages, Mans says. Contact Nachurs at 800-622-4877, ext. 254, or visit nachurs.com. 

Fungicide for frogeye
Acropolis is a new soybean fungicide that controls resistant frogeye leaf spot. Typical resistance is to a strobilurin-type active ingredient. The new fungicide uses two modes of action: tetraconazole and thiophanate-methyl.

In 2016, Acropolis trials saw a reduction in frogeye leafspot while maintaining yield. Applications should be around the R3 stage. If disease pressure is heavy, you can make a second application 15 days later. Acropolis also controls anthracnose, brown spot, purple seed stain, pod and stem blight, powdery mildew, white mold, and Asian soybean rust. Call Amvac at 888-462-6822.

DiFlexx Duo delivers
Spokespeople for Bayer say DiFlexx Duo did what it was supposed to do in 2017. The new product combines a herbicide in the HPPD class with dicamba and CSI safener. The goal is “outstanding” grass and broadleaf control with residual activity.

Spokespeople say it provides two effective modes of action against waterhemp, Palmer amaranth, marestail, kochia and giant ragweed. It can control weeds resistant to glyphosate-, PPO- and ALS-based herbicides. The product can be applied from burndown to V10 in corn.

Farm Progress editors Jill Loehr and Mindy Ward contributed to this column.