“We do a lot of field walking. As a farmer, the visual indicators of getting out in the field – seeing the crop conditions, weed pressure, disease pressure – really being able to see that with your own eyes, that is so valuable. Doing your own agronomy work, versus having standard scouting done by other people, helps us make better management decisions and see a higher return on investment. That’s why we walk so many fields.”
Hedrick has seen the benefits of cover crops, grazing livestock, and using manure on his ground, starting with 1.7% organic matter in the 2012 season and increasing to 8.2% by 2022.
“For every one percent increase of organic matter, I’m boosting my water holding capacity to about 25,000 to 27,000 gallons,” he explained. “That means I have the ability now versus 10 years ago to hold another seven acre inches of moisture in the top six inches. Based on corn using ¼ inch of moisture a day during vegetative growth, that is 24 days longer I can go without rain than my neighbor without adding drought stress. And if we’re not stressing the plant, we’re putting on maximized yield.”
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