CREA - Research Plots on Corn

I was able to visit two different CREA research projects during the past couple weeks, one investigating fertilizer effects on soils and crops, and the second investigating fungicide effect on corn yield. The first visit was with Miguel Boxler, the research coordinator for Sur de Santa Fe and Fernando Garcia with International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), and Ricardo Pozzi, a CREA advisor and the coordinator of this project. This project was coordinated across the Sur de Santa Fe Region.

Dr. Garcia and IPNI were interested in the long term effects of fertilizer on soils and crop yields. They needed competent producers to carry out the long term project. They turned to CREA Sur de Santa Fe. They also needed a sponsor for the project. ASP (similar to CPS in the States) volunteered and provides all of the fertilizer for the tests.

Dr. Garcia informed me that they are in the tenth year of the project and they have six farms remaining. Each farm has fertilizer treatments involving nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur, all compared with no fertilizer. Each farm has three replications of the treatments. Everything is performed with farm-scale equipment and the plots are very large. The farms then operate one of two rotations: corn - wheat - double crop soybeans or full season soybeans - corn - wheat - double crop soybeans.

Over this time, students at universities have conducted research projects. CREA, IPNI and ASP all are interested in as much data as possible. They welcome university researchers. Some of the measurements on the soils include soil stability, velocity of infiltration, young carbon, bulk density, soil P fractions and soil microbiological properties. All of these measurements are compared across the contrasting fertilizer treatments.

After we looked at two different fields, Dr. Garcia, Jorge Minteguiaga (regional coordinator for CREA), and Ricardo Pozzi discussed the direction of the research plots over lunch. After 10 years of data, they were asking each other if new treatments, changes to current treatments or other factors should be included. Personally, I would love to have six farms with replicated plots for ten years. Ricardo told me that the soils in this area are about 70% silt, 25% clay and 5% sand. I would love to have that soil as well!

Miguel told me that he is managing 70 research plots for CREA Sur de Santa Fe, including hybrids, fertilizers, etc. All of the plots are conducted with farm-scale equipment and use large field plots. In addition to these research plots, many of the CREA groups conduct research plots as well. About 270 sites of research are being conducted this year across Sur de Santa Fe (70 of those are organized by the region, the remainder are organized by individual groups or farms).

The second visit was with Maximo Uranga, producer, and Juan Pablo Ioele, advisor, of CREA Posta Espinollos. This CREA group had put together a fungicide protocol on corn. The treatments included six hybrids, all planted in long strips. Fungicide (Opera) was applied at about V14 or at R1 (tassel/silking) in two separate treatments. Each farm has only one replication, but six different farms serve as the replications.

In addition to these treatments, Maximo included some nitrogen fertilizer rates and plant density rates. If I understood correctly, these treatments were solely on Maximo's farm and he had three replications of these treatments.

While Maximo collected grain samples from the harvester, Juan Pablo and I checked stalks for disease. I wasn't keeping track of the treatments, but it appeared that stalk diseases were a function of hybrid and less affected by fungicide. Fungicide timing did increase grain moisture content (the no fungicide treatment was the lowest grain moisture and R1 treatment was the highest grain moisture concentration). Grain yields appeared to be sporadic and not influenced by fungicide treatment. Again, this is only one site and I was looking at the preliminary data.

What I have witnessed is some really good research being conducted on large-scale plots with a coordinated effort. They have the same challenges as we do, such as getting some treatments to work well with equipment limitations. But, to have this many farms with research plots and for these farmers to be sharing their research with each other is extremely helpful to all producers. In addition, I was told that CREA will share their research results with non-CREA producers. They have the opinion that they want more farmers to join CREA and the research plots are a good advertisement for that.

A spot in the field with a "triple", three plants very close to each other. I've noticed a lot of doubles and triples in many of the fields. Planter accuracy is a problem here, but seed costs are much less. Since contractors get paid by the hectare, there is pressure on them to plant each hectare as fast as possible. That probably leads to more doubles and triples.

Dr. Fernando Garcia with IPNI (middle), Miguel Boxler, research coordinator for CREA Sur de Santa Fe (far left) and Ricardo Pozzi, CREA advisor, (between Miguel and Fernando) examine corn in the fertilizer trials.

Maximo is talking with the contractor about how to harvest the plots.

A couple of Maximo's children are enjoying riding in the combine.

Checking stalks for diseases. We saw some anthracnose and a little fusarium.

The weigh wagon is equipped with scales, allowing the contractor to record the weight of each plot.

Economies of Scale

Field and farm sizes here are on a different scale than back in the States. Two weeks ago, I visited "Runciman" a farm close to Venado Tuerto that had 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) all in one tract of ground. This farm was a bit unique in that it had a working railroad pass through one edge of it and the farm had its own grain bins and driers. All of the land was either Class I or Class II. The entire farm was in a corn-wheat-double crop soybean - full season soybean rotation, where corn is grown every three years. The farm is broken into almost equal units, with about 1/3 in corn this year, 1/3 in double crop soybeans and 1/3 in full season soybeans.

This farm is wholly owned and the managers wanted to keep the rotation for long-term productivity. (This year, soybeans were more profitable because of the market prices here. Corn cannot be exported from Argentina, which has artificially lowered the price of corn.)

Like most farms I have visited, this farm contracts most of the work. The only exception is that they have one small sprayer used mostly for herbicides. This farm is 100% no-till (or direct seed "siembra directa" as they call it). Runciman is not part of a CREA group, but they work with INTA on research plots.
I was impressed with the size of the operation, the simplicity of the operation and efficiency at which it was able to operate.

Later in the week, I visited "La Baya"another farm close to Venado Tuerto, with just over 4,000 hectares (9,880 acres) all in one tract. Corn, soybean and cattle are raised here. To my understanding, this farm was owned by a single family. I noticed a combine parked outside with a tarp over it and a tractor and planter, also parked outside, but no other equipment.

The agronomist for La Baya is active in CREA and they hosted a workshop on stink bug identification, thresholds and control. Other agronomists from other companies in the same CREA group attended the workshop. I'll write more about the workshop in another post.

Visiting two farms in the same week, one with 7,400 acres and the other with 9,880 acres was amazing. The ability to farm all of that ground,... all of that ground that was contiguous,...  all of that ground that was mostly level,... the natural resources and the scale at which farming can occur here is amazing.

I have been told that most CREA companies (farms) are typically larger than average in Argentina. So, I recognize that I am not seeing the "average" farms. Having said that, what I have seen in terms of natural resources, and the economies of scale is awesome.


One sprayer for 3000 hectares? Most of the herbicides on this farm are applied with this sprayer. Having all the ground in one spot makes things much easier.

About a 300-acre field of soybeans (by my estimation). 9,800 acres in one spot and fields about 300 to 500 acres in size. This makes for efficient farming.

Anyone like to see four soybeans in a pod? This plant had several pods with four seeds. More soybeans in a pod does not guarantee higher yields, unless you get rains during seed fill. They have gotten rains during seed fill, so the yields should be excellent.

Argentina Soils and Climate of the Humid Pampas

One of our first visits was with Tecnoagro, a private company that conducts soil tests and make fertilizer recommendations. The soils of the Humid Pampas are very deep and derived from grasslands (similar to the prairie soils of Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois).

The soils in the Humid Pampas of Argentina have high native K values. Soil pH is not a concern in most of the region. In addition, farmers plan to get about half of their nitrogen requirements from the soil. So, farmers here fertilize N, P and S. Research here has shown crop yield increases from fertilizer sulfur. (Research in Kentucky to date does not show yield increases from fertilizer sulfur.)

Summer here is similar to summer in Kentucky, but winter here is more mild... more similar to central Georgia winters. Rainfall in this region is about 1000 mm, which is similar to Kentucky annual rainfall. Like Kentucky, the amount of rainfall is not the problem, but timeliness of that rainfall is often a concern. For the 2009/10 crop, rainfall has been very high. Parts of this region received about 400 to 450 mm in 45 days. Typically, March is a rainy month so farmers here are concerned about getting the crop harvested.

Right now, corn is in the dent stage and about 1/2 milkline. Some of the corn is already at blacklayer (physiological maturity). Full season soybeans are close to the full seed stage while double crop soybeans at the full pod to beginning seed stage. Insects have been very active this year and most fields have been sprayed with an insecticide. Frogeye leaf spot (Cercospora sojina) is in most fields this year and is a relatively new disease for Argentina.