The extreme dry weather in the midwest was very evident at this week’s Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour. Out in the corn fields we had a nice breeze, but that breeze was blowing a lot of dust! On our first stop, Martin Case, AGROTAIN, was a presenter. This is the second year of this tour and we’ve gone from one weather extreme to the other. As Martin puts it, “We’ve got the tale of two years,” since last year’s weather was abnormally wet and this year is abnormally dry. Maybe comparing nitrogen use data for both those years will yield an average?

Martin says that AGROTAIN is trying to evaluate nitrogen stabilizer strategies in this project which can also be used in other areas of Illinois and beyond. It’s all about improving nitrogen use efficiency to not only increase the return on investment to the farmer but also to the environment. He says that last year they saw an extreme advantage to using their SuperU technology. Data for this year is not available yet. Listen to Martin explain more about the two technologies contained within SuperU in my interview with him: Interview with Martin Case

2012 Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour Photo Album