Kelly Roder

@Dusty3080467325 It’s a sound plan. We keep pushing that same direction, closer to 1:1 n:s with some trials of 2:1 sulfur with low n rates.

@kdroder No sir late side dress Mineralized N won’t release until warmer ground temps in my opinion

Use N/ATS at 2 to 1 ratio It works It’s simple 60 lbs of applied N will produce 200 plus bu corn on most soils in the upper Midwest

@pete_90210 Someday you’ll figure out you need to work with Green Key. Until then we’ll just wait….

One thing is for sure in the corn belt carbon is the single most important thing for productive soil, and Labile carbon (which includes WEOC), is likely the most important yeild driver. But Nobody fully understands how carbon behaves in the soil, and we can’t accurately measure it. In my opinion.

WEOC vs. Copilot: copied and pasted. The "bottom line" portion is exactly what I had in my own mind: someone's trying to sell something. Be careful who you listen to and always test the messaging you allow into your thought process. #WEOC #Skeptic #LookingForAnswers #FAFO From Copitot: Hot take: WEOC is wildly overrated as a soil “health” metric. Yeah, it’s flashy. It moves fast. It reacts to management. It makes great conference slides. But here’s the uncomfortable truth nobody selling tests wants to say out loud: • WEOC is labile to the point of chaos. A warm week, a rain event, or a mower pass can swing it. That’s not “sensitivity”—that’s volatility. • There’s no standard method. Change the extraction ratio, shaking time, or pre‑treatment and you get a different number. If pH behaved like this, we’d riot. • Context dominates the signal. Climate, texture, mineralogy, and land use can overshadow management. A “high” WEOC in Iowa might be meaningless in Arizona. • It doesn’t predict yield. Zero validated agronomic thresholds. Zero decision‑ready guidance. It’s a research metric masquerading as a management tool. • It’s not uniquely special. POXC, HWEOC, MBC, respiration—they all capture different slices of labile C. WEOC isn’t the king; it’s just one more contestant. • It’s a tiny fraction of SOM. Treating WEOC like a master indicator is like judging a whole farm by one fencepost. Bottom line: WEOC is useful, but the hype is outpacing the science. If someone tells you it’s the soil health metric, they’re selling something—or oversimplifying a complex system.

@Bkitch1Bodie Yes easy possible in our area to be at .4-.5nue and 250+ yield. Hard to convince growers they can do it on their own farms as well.

Do you believe it’s possible to raise 250bu corn on 100# or less of Soil applied synthetic N? No manure Jus soil applied N We did it on 146# last year and I rly want to get to 100# or less of soil applied N with 250bu corn. Anyone want to try with me this year?

@PaulKuchar @steeke7 Nitrate and white mold, as well as other insects and diseases, have a direct correlation. No3 and nh4 in the plant should be converted to amino acids and proteins quickly. Yes molybdenum is a component in that conversion process.

@steeke7 @kdroder I’ve heard if you want nitrate in soybeans lower you should use Moly to do that. I don’t have any experience doing that but it’s something to try.

My soil + tissue tests kept flagging K, and the playbook was loud: “Hit tissue K targets all season.” So I spent years testing sources + formulations to move tissue K. SOP finally delivered—tissue K jumped and plant physiology responded. Yield? Flat. ROI? Negative. Targets are built from averages…but farming is constraint management. How many seasons of “tissue yes / yield no” do you run before you pivot to a new hypothesis (timing, balance, water/root limits, other nutrients first)?

I'm not trying to bog you down, but this is another excellent review about a cropping issue of direct personal interest that I've read this weekend: "Re-thinking soil nitrogen availability to crops in the context of soil organic carbon" researchgate.net/publication/39…

@ashleyn_dean Do you believe crw are nonselective in which fields they attack, thrive and spread? I get a kick out of the guys that beetle bomb their fields as precaution because the neighbor has crw and don’t want to spread. I tell them to grow healthier crop than the neighbor and you’re fine

And if you want a more Iowa-focused report, check this out: crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2026/…

@steeke7 @drich82 Yes we run a fair amount of moly. But many other micros play into that metabolizing nitrate into aminos and proteins as well.

@kdroder @drich82 Kelly, are you running a fair amount of Mo on legumes to protect against nitrate build up?

Only on random plants and only at soil surface level. What are we looking at here? Wipes off like dew…

@JasonSchley If a guy wanted to increase weoc by 50 ppm, what is the fastest, easiest way to do that with consistent results?

I get asked a lot about WEOC vs OM. I even see some on here think it is close enough to OM, and no reason to test it…. It’s all the same etc. As you can see, in the real world, there is a small correlation but it is very weak. Personal experiences show that you can have 5% OM and 150 Weoc or you can have 1% OM and have 150 Weoc. This is the last 62,588 samples the lab ran. Definition of Weoc from Grok: This soluble carbon serves as a vital energy source for soil microbes, influencing biological activity, nutrient cycling, and overall soil health—higher levels often indicate improved fertility and microbial efficiency in agricultural systems. Does this not seem important to you? I feel if people understood it better they would focus on it. It’s the driver of a lot of the nutrient efficiencies or lack there of we see in ag.

@billionare81 They literally already have technology for doing just that. 🤦🏻‍♂️

This is neat and all but I would think we’d be better served trying to figure out how to use less fertilizer and chemicals. I think that would have a better ROI.

@pete_90210 Are you planning to cut 70+lbs of applied N out of your program for next year, maintain or increase yields and get down to a .6 NUE?

@pete_90210 Grower standard practice was 230# of N for 230ish bushel yield? No wonder Des Moines is crying about nitrates, again.

Here are the results showing the fate of our applied nitrogen. These Haney test results by depth were taken in June 2025 in northwest Iowa across various farms, nitrogen management practices, and farmers. Nitrate represents our applied N, while Haney N includes nitrate, ammonium, and the amount predicted to be available by the Haney test. At V7, rooting depth reaches 14 inches. We leached 65% of our applied N out of the root zone a couple of weeks before peak uptake.

@ChrisK_Banded How does the “soluable carbon” piece fit into “applied carbon” sources?

“But lime won’t improve your WEOC !!!!” (Said with a Napoleon Dynamite delivery) If I have good drainage and adequate moisture, I won’t have high WEOC anyway, at least nothing more than a temporary level.” If you want to see high CARBON levels in soils, you must stop biology from breaking it down to CO2, NOT PROMOTE biology! Reference: Any swamp any freakin’ where on earth.

@JasonSchley There is a correct and proper process with both equipment and products to make an exceptional cattle manure compost.

How many of you make your own compost? If you do, what materials do you most commonly use? Has it worked well? With the expense of hauling stock piled cattle manure mixed with bedding and seeing results with composted manure I wonder why more haven’t tried it? Just curious who has real world experience and if it’s been a good investment or not.

@AgrisAcademy I always knew you were kind of a big deal! Thanks for sharing for insite and details to your personal experience in how socialism/communism did/will ruin a country.

My Venezuela experience as head of trading in the region for Cargill. Cargill was/is the leading producer of critical staple ingredients such as flour, pasta, vegetable oil, and rice in VZ. I am not saying I agree with grabbing the dictator, but I did have a front row seat to the damage a kleptocracy did to innocent people. 1. The government took over our "minute rice" facility at gunpoint because we were "gouging" the nation's poor. The government was never able to run the plant. It never ran again. It was returned years later with no equipment inside 2. There are 1000's of generals in the army. They are each given a slice of the economy to loot. The large number of generals made it difficult to organize a coup against the regime. 3. The government opened grocery stores and sold staples below the cost we sold them to the government. In theory they used petro oil money to lower grocery prices. Our regular grocery outlets were forced out of business. When the government demanded we sell them products below cost we simply had to shut down. The populous became ever more dependent on the government handouts. (PS this is the mayor of New York City's proposal. 4. Dollars- We needed dollars to go buy raw materials like wheat from places like the US and Canada. The government would periodically allocate us some dollars that could only be spent for raw materials and freight. Eventually only the local companies that can and would pay bribes got dollar allocations. We had several facilities closed for lack of raw material 5. My employees liked working for Cargill. The office was an armed compound with access to a gym, high speed internet, global communications, and a weekly box of basic staples. Cargill provided a safe and secure environment if only for the working hours. 6. Employees became very close to others inside the apartment building. Going out on the street with a desperate population was not advisable. 7. I needed wood pallets for feed. We tried to export wood pallets to swap for grain. We refused to pay the bribes it would take to export the pallets 8. I once tried to set up a closed loop wheat planting to flour mill supply chain. A. They came and stole all the seed wheat for food. When we tried to ship in seed wheat in containers via US donors there was no way to get it out of the port without it being stolen 9. Livestock- Our feed business completely collapsed. Even if you could raise a pig, you couldn't defend it from being stolen. People with guns were hungry. 10. Employees- In the end my highly skilled team alone with other highly educated people chose to leave. Cargill often found jobs for them in other Latin countries. The regime was more than happy to see the well-educated leave the country. Setting these employees up with high quality stable jobs after fleeing remains one of the best things I ever did in my career. No one remembers millions in trading earnings. This is a short list. In my opinion the first money spent needs to happen now and it needs to be food. The US is already on the clock. The current regime does not care if it starves the population. The orgy of theft will actually accelerate if they believe their days are numbered. VZ should be an outstanding customer of US grown ag products. Rice, bread wheat, veg oil ect. Feed the people first. Jeff Kazin Former head trading Cargill

@BobGunzy Does their own data not say that phos applications under 8ppm have a less than 25% chance of yield increase? Over 10 ppm it’s 90% likely to not raise yields.

@kdroder What are soil test P levels like in your area? I see a lot of VL in SC Iowa, but at high P $ it is definitely hard to justify building. Totally agree on nitrogen management, we can do better.

Fertility knowledge drop from Antonio Mallarino at the ISU ICM conference this week, blending soil P:yield response with economics. During low crop $ it still pays to apply a removal rate (40-60 lbs P2O5/ac) in very low P soils, if not build as well.