Research shows some profit winners for corn and soybeans this year are the same as last. But there are differences because of weather.

“Narrow-row corn is looking good this year because the shade between the rows is keeping the moisture in, which helped during dry periods,” Jason Webster, Precision Planting lead commercial agronomist, said during a field day at the Precision Technology Institute (PTI) in Pontiac.

Last year, narrow-row corn (15-inch rows) also made the top five best returns on investment (ROI).

High management corn, and irrigation/fertigation were the top two, respectively, on the list of best ROI. Fertigation is irrigation with fertilizer.

“Irrigation and fertigation will be tremendous this year,” the PTI farm manager and agronomist told dozens of farmers from 10 states and South Africa touring some of the 400-acre farm’s 60 agronomy trials Aug. 13.

On tours he pointed out the water reservoir used in connection with tile drainage and drip irrigation. Webster said one of his goals is to lobby for federal funding so more farmers can install water management systems that are both good for the environment and crop yields.

Another big winner this year is the strip-cropping system, which allows for corn to get more sunlight by growing it with shorter crops in the strips. The corn had tremendous yields when soybeans were the shorter crop, but soybean yields weren’t great in earlier years.

So, to keep those high corn yields, Webster switched from strips of soybeans to strips of cover crops that could be grazed. He introduced the stock cropper, where confined animals graze in an autonomous vehicle that moves regularly.

This year it houses sheep, hogs on slats to avoid compaction and contribute manure along with meat chickens, which are scavengers and also suppliers of manure.

Last year, corn in the grazer strip-cropping plots yielded 400 bushels per acre and this year the crop looks at least as good. The profits of selling the livestock for meat will boost the ROI, Webster said.

Some farmers at the field day said the system is interesting, but they can’t see how they would use it on their larger corn and soybean farms.

“A lot of what we saw today is great for small scale,” said Curt McQuellon of Iroquois County, who attended with his wife, father-in-law and son.

While the research plots were interesting, “We’re here for the equipment,” he said. McQuellon was keen to see the latest in planting technology and take part in the ride and drive portion.

One of the newer research projects is based on the fact lightning produces atmospheric nitrogen that benefits the crop. While the ROI on the “homemade nitrogen” from the Plasma Nitrogen Technology by greenlightning ag is excellent, Webster is not recommending farmers buy it yet.

“It’s only the second year,” he said of tests of the technology in Pontiac. However, he said he does see the equipment being used on the large scale in the future by ag suppliers providing the nitrogen it makes to farmers.

So far this season, planting dates are likely responsible for some of the biggest ROI losses, especially crops planted when “the conditions were not right,” he said.

With the wet spring, problems with closing systems on planters were a big issue as they caused sidewalls or air pockets reducing the consistency of seed emergence.

Other “significant yield losses” seen this year were caused by the lack of effective closing systems on planters, he said.