Logan Agri-Service, Inc Griggsville, IL East-Central MO 800-564-2624 573-406-8579 Star City, IN 574-727-7804 Pre-pay prices good through January 10. Contact your Logan Ag crop specialist or sales associate for best prices of the 2011 season! DEF – What Is It & Who Needs It If you purchase a 2011 diesel truck or diesel tractor, you may need DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid). DEF is used in Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems to reduce harmful emissions and meet the 2010 EPA tailpipe standards. SCR systems incorporate aftertreatment technology that treats exhaust gases downstream of the engine. Diesel Exhaust Fluid is a non-toxic solution of water and automotive grade urea. It is colorless and may have a slight ammonia smell. Small quantities of DEF are injected and mixed into the exhaust stream. Within the SCR system, DEF works to change oxides of nitrogen (NOX) emissions in diesel exhaust to nitrogen and water. Environmentalists need not worry about excess nitrogen in the atmosphere. 78% of the air we breathe is comprised of nitrogen. High horsepower off-road engine manufacturers employing DEF to reduce emissions (AGCO, Case IH and New Holland) claim superior engine efficiency and fuel economy compared to other emission systems on the market. John Deere and Cummins utilize cooled EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and a diesel particulate filter to accomplish the emissions reduction. In the trucking industry, only Navistar utilizes EGR; all other manufacturers use the SCR system and add DEF. The DEF system requires a separate holding tank. Case/IH designed their DEF tank so that it would be filled on every other fueling stop, and estimates the use rate of DEF at ≤5% of diesel fuel consumption. Case/IH suggests each gallon of DEF January 2011 Pitsburg, OH 937-692-5181 may save as much as two gallons of diesel fuel. Logan Agri-Service plans to stock DEF as the need arises. Tax Legislation Critical For Biofuels Hotly debated tax legislation passed in December contained some important provisions for the biofuels industry. Both the 45¢ per gallon blender’s credit for ethanol and the $1 per gallon blender’s credit for biodiesel were included in the legislation, Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. The ethanol industry needed the tax credit in order to stay somewhat competitive compared to gasoline in an era of $5.00+ corn. The biodiesel industry experienced multiple plant closures throughout 2010 because Congress had not previously passed the extension of the tax credit that expired on 12/31/09, Without the tax credit, biodiesel was not at all competitive with petroleum diesel. In Illinois, biodiesel blends remained competitive with petroleum diesel due to sales tax exemptions of 20% for B2 and B5, and 100% exemption of sales tax on B11. Passage of the bill should reinforce the biofuels industry, and increase production of both ethanol and biodiesel in 2011. Production increases should keep a floor under corn and soybean prices. Mycogen Seed Delivers Seed corn sales season is in full swing, and all seed companies have products they believe will perform well on your farm. How do you determine what brand or what hybrid to plant? How is your decision impacted by the company or sales rep selling the product? Mycogen is a major player in the seed corn industry. Mycogen Seeds, an affiliate of Dow AgroSciences, LLC, has a 4.5% share of the U.S. seed corn market. Seed companies owned by Dow AgroSciences including Mycogen, control 8% of the U.S. corn market. Dow genetics are planted on 22% of the U.S. acres, and Dow is the #2 provider of traits worldwide. Thanks to Greg Welsh/DuPont, Jack Fry/Valent, Joe Kritenbrink/FMC, and Andy Welbourne/Syngenta for their participation this month. Continuous Corn In 2011 Yield of continuous corn acres left something to be desired for most growers in 2010. Let’s briefly review what occurred in the past season, and what to expect in 2011. Not convinced yet? Dow hybrids are tested in more than 1 million test plots in the U.S. And Dow developed the Herculex trait used by Pioneer and other leading seed companies. The fall of 2009 was wet, and harvest was delayed in many locations. Many growers were unable to perform fall tillage trips to aid in decomposition of corn residue following harvest. Through the worldwide resources of Dow AgroSciences, Mycogen corn delivers diverse characteristics, performance testing and industry leadership. And that’s just the beginning. In the future, look for innovative concepts such as refuge-in-thebag, a new family of herbicide tolerance traits that will be a “game changer” in weed control systems, and stress tolerance technology offering improved water and nutrient utilization. Spring 2010 was warm, and soils warmed up quickly. As soils warmed, soil microbes quickly went to work to decompose surface residue on continuous corn acres. These microbes consumed tremendous amounts of nitrogen. As a result, many fields suffered from nitrogen deficiency in the early part of the growing season and never had access to the amount of nitrogen required to produce a normal crop yield. CCA Edward Logan estimates some fields lacked as much as 60 LB N. Logan Ag is proud to supply Mycogen corn hybrids and soybean varieties. See or call Wayne Bingham, Jeff Butler and Dave Bryant in Griggsville, Steve Crosby in Star City, IN or Dean Osborn in east-central MO for Mycogen seed products. Chemical Comments Crop protection chemical representatives are vital resources for up-to-date product information and usage recommendations. Review the last pages of this issue for this month’s comments from local chemical representatives. Fall 2010 was nearly the opposite of 2009. Warm weather ruled, soils were dry, and nearly everyone who wanted to make a tillage pass was able to complete the task. As a result, stalks began the decomposition process early. This nearly complete reversal of the issues that produced lower corn-on-corn yields in 2010 bodes well for those planning continuous corn in 2011. Corn prices point to high gross revenues. Proper management techniques including adequate fertility, proper hybrid selection, acceptable weed and insect control, etc., should provide a return to historic yields on continuous corn acres in 2011. Spring Fertilizer Outlook The New Year provides pause to review fertilizer markets. After a robust fall application season locally, many growers already have NPK applied for 2011 corn and soybeans. For others, we offer this perspective for spring and beyond. NH3: Rising grain values are partly responsible for increased demand. While we experienced a strong fall application season in west-central Illinois, other areas of the Midwest were not as fortunate as dry weather delayed or prevented application. Spring prices have increased, and no drop is anticipated near-term. UAN (nitrogen solutions): Producers are as much as 2 months behind on shipments. Many storage tanks in the Midwest are nearly empty. Product is still available for spring delivery, but is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Supply situations suggest higher prices before spring application. Urea: Urea remains competitively priced at this time as many buyers have not made the decision to commit to product until the full extent of fall NH3 application is known. Prices could strengthen before spring wheat topdressing. DAP: DAP prices increased as much as 40% since June, and have doubled since 9/09. Fortunately, prices have leveled. Product supply is still an issue in some locations. Potash: Increased fall application and lack of production last summer from Canadian mines have created shortages in potash. Potash prices increased nearly 40% in the past 5 months, and no price drop is anticipated short-term.