By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph Post2023 was an “interesting year,” to say the least.Agronomist Wade Kent with Nutrien Ag Solutions says yields
across the Corn Belt were better than expected last year, despite widespread drought.“That was due to a few things. I think we had timely rains. We
just didn’t recognize how timely they were and how beneficial they really were.
The other piece is, we had pretty cool temperatures during pollination. That tends
to help a lot. That was one of the drivers behind it,” Kent tells KFEQ.&nbsp; “I think, overall, growers were not expecting
what they saw. It’s kind of setting up for an interesting plan going into 2024.”Kent, who is North American Digital Agronomist for Nutrien Ag
Solutions, says a look back will help farmers better prepare for planting time
ahead.“Trying to understand why it happened is going to be what we
spend a lot of time over the next few months figuring out is where that yield
came from, what was the actual driver of to see it,” according to Kent. “Overall,
it was a good year. Going into 2024, I think it’s going to be in the back of
everybody’s mind. I think it’s just putting together a good plan.”Data from precision agriculture, according to Kent, will help
farmers better prepare for 2024.Kent’s colleague at Nutrien, Todd Fester, calls 2023 a strange
year. He recommends farmers focus on the seed they choose. Fester says Nutrien
believes every farm is different and attempts to tailor its products to the
individual farmer.“Yeah, we take a lot of pride in that, that local touch,
right, and working closely with them, being their partner, being hopefully that
trusted adviser, that’s willing to work with them field by filed to make the
right selections,” Fester tells KFEQ, saying Nutrien helps with selection of
seed or fertility or in-season crop inputs.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Interesting 2023 should help prepare farmers for 2024