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West Central Ag News

Patronage 101
Mar 18, 2024 | West Central Ag Services
Patronage dividends are those distributions of profits paid by cooperatives, like West Central Ag Services (WCAS), to their members. The dividends are paid based on a portion of WCAS’ profits, and distributed back to the owner members proportionate to the volume of business...

2023 – One for the West Central Ag Services Record Books.
Mar 15, 2024 | West Central Ag Services
West Central Ag Services is finalizing our analysis for the 2023 Fiscal year, and planning for another successful year in 2024.

Corn Rootworm Concerns
Mar 13, 2024 | West Central Ag Services
Corn rootworm is a pest that has often been overlooked in our trade area and is something that needs to be addressed going forward.

2023 – The Year Without a Spring
Mar 12, 2024 | West Central Ag Services
People are calling this year, “The year without winter”. 

All Your Finance Questions, Answered.
Mar 05, 2024 | West Central Ag Services
Running a successful farming operation means getting the most out of every acre, plus the most value for your investment. West Central Ag Services is committed to offering its producers as many options as possible when it comes to the success of your operation. Our finance divisi...

Grain Update 2023
Feb 28, 2024 | West Central Ag Services
Foremost, without unbelievable support from you and a top-notch operations staff, it would not be possible to load 133 shuttles and dump over 62.4 million bushels over the 2023 calendar year. We were fortunate to have an early start to harvest which enabled us to fill some of the...

Mahnomen Fertilizer Addition Project

Feb 28, 2024 | West Central Ag Services
In September of 2023 WCAS in Mahnomen started breaking ground for a 7,000-ton addition onto our existing 11,000-ton fertilizer facility.

4 Strategies for Storing Grain
Oct 09, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
As harvest approaches, it’s important to review basic grain storage strategies to maintain the quality of stored grain. Here, we outline four strategies to help maintain post-harvest quality, help protect stored grains from insects, and what to look for when ...

The Yield Equation: Where Do Seed Treatments Fit?
Sep 06, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
This year’s challenging planting season showed the value that seed treatments have in protecting yield potential. As corn began to tassel this summer, you could really start to see how differences in plant emergence and early-season vigor affected the development of the cro...

Improve Fungicide Response on Corn
Jul 19, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
A fungicide application represents a considerable investment. Be sure you get the most from it by answering these three questions before applying: What is the hybrid to be sprayed? What is the weather outlook for application day? What is the disease that’s being treated?

Can You Spot a Micronutrient Deficiency?
Jul 16, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
Generally, it’s pretty easy to see when stress has taken a toll on crops. But determining what’s causing unhealthy plants sometimes requires extra detective work. Micronutrient deficiencies, for example, are hard to diagnose based on visual symptoms alone. Here are so...

Get Technical About Nitrogen Management
Jun 13, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
Nitrogen management in corn crops is challenging for a number of reasons, one of which is nitrogen’s chemical properties: When in nitrate form, nitrogen is water-soluble, meaning it moves easily with water. If a field receives moderate to heavy rainfall and an abundanc...

Calibrate Your Nutrient Management

May 23, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
Have you ever received results of an early-season tissue test that indicated your corn was low on nitrogen? If so, did you wonder if it was because you didn’t apply enough or because the plant roots weren’t big enough to take up the nitrogen that you applied?

Zone Soil Sampling Provides Another Layer of Data
May 16, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
Variable-rate application is now common practice in agriculture. Farmers are identifying and treating areas of their fields differently based on productivity, targeting input applications to higher-producing areas and potentially reducing them in lower-producing spots. This helps...

Understanding Tissue Sampling
May 10, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
Plants have nutritional needs in order to grow and be healthy. In order to find out if your plant is getting fed the proper amount of nutrients, plant tissue sampling can help you identify nutrient deficiencies in the crop.

Don't Skimp on Zinc
Apr 30, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
When it comes to plant nutrition, it seems that N, P and K are often in the limelight. But zinc is an unsung nutrient hero that helps maintain some of a plant’s most important physiological processes. Here are some reasons it’s time to rethink the power of zinc.

Mitigate Early-Season Plant Stress
Apr 05, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
We're gearing up for another unpredictable growing season. While we never know exactly how things will shake out at this point in the year, good management from day one is key to crop success. Here are four tips to help mitigate early-season plant stress: 

Your Seed Treatment Options
Mar 28, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
For most, seed treatments have become standard to get seedlings off to a healthy start. They provide good early-season control, especially when you're planting into cold, wet soil. Which is most guaranteed when you live where we do, especially this year. Using a quality ...

Are My Crops Hungry?
Mar 26, 2019 | West Central Ag Services
Your seed has the greatest yield potential the day it is planted. From then on, it takes intensive management to get the most of your genetics. Chances are you have a routine in place for managing crops- fertilizing, pest management, and choosing the right hybrid for your ac...

Industry News

4 Adjuvant Classes Proven to Help Improve Weed Control
Apr 09, 2024 | Answer Plot
Weed competition can be one of the costliest threats to your crop’s performance. Adding adjuvants to your herbicide tank mix is an effective way to help enhance the performance of your spray application and improve weed control. Every product in your budget has to work hard...

Are Plant Growth Regulators Worth the Investment?
Apr 09, 2024 | Answer Plot
Plant growth regulators have been getting more attention from the agricultural community in recent years, but you may be wondering if they live up to the hype. The Answer Plot® program has generated solid research supporting the benefits of applying plant growth regulators (P...

Take Care of Early Spring Weeds Before Planting
Jan 24, 2024 | Answer Plot
If you deal with winter or spring annual weeds in your fields, it's important to consider including a spring burndown herbicide application. Winter annuals, including marestail, resume growing as soon as temperatures get warm. Not only do they steal water and nutrients from t...

3 Tips to Optimize Pre-emergence Weed Control
Jan 03, 2024 | Answer Plot
Drought conditions, expanding herbicide resistance and limited herbicide availability mean you may not have achieved the weed control you expected last season. That could create more challenges for management this year, requiring a proactive plan to limit yield loss. Use these ti...

Use Response-To Fungicide Scores to Make Data-Based Decisions
Nov 28, 2023 | Answer Plot
Whether selecting which hybrids to plant or determining which fields to spray with fungicide, use response-to fungicide (RTF) scores to help inform your decisions. RTF scores can help you make tailored, hybrid-specific choices based on years of reliable yield data.  The V...

3 Tips for Choosing the Right Wheat Seed Treatment
Aug 11, 2023 | Answer Plot
When choosing wheat seed, making sure you have a high-quality seed treatment to protect your investment is an important step in the process. Here are three questions to consider when mapping out your wheat strategy.  1. Who’s Applying The Seed Treatment?  Th...

3 Tips for More Economical Fungicide Applications
Jul 10, 2023 | Answer Plot
When weighing purchase decisions, there are many factors to consider, but when push comes to shove, it’s all about the ROI potential. Here are three steps you can take to make more economical fungicide decisions, regardless of what the season brings.   1. Identify ...

5 Ways to Find Success With Fungicides

Jun 08, 2023 | Answer Plot
It’s time to bust the myth once and for all that fungicides aren’t worth investing in. Research has continually shown yield advantages when a fungicide application is made. In fact, our Answer Plot® trials have consistently shown an average of more than 10 bushel ...

6 Disease Management Tips for Corn and Soybeans
Jun 08, 2023 | Answer Plot
Diseases may already be showing up in your corn and soybean fields, so it’s a good time to be scouting your fields for early signs of trouble. With plenty of the season still left, your crop will benefit from a proactive approach to disease management. Here are six tips to ...

Prevent and Control Herbicide-Resistant Weeds
May 30, 2023 | Answer Plot
If you find your herbicides aren’t performing as well as they used to, you may be battling herbicide-resistant weeds. Once you have resistant weeds, it becomes much more challenging and costly to keep fields clean. With a diversified weed control program, you can level up y...

Why You Should Consider a Pre-Tassel Fungicide Application
May 08, 2023 | Answer Plot
Research shows that fungicide application timing can significantly impact return on investment and, in some situations, two applications can be more profitable than one. So, when should you plan to target your applications, and does a multi-pass fungicide program make economic se...

Maximize Plant Health at Key Growth Stages
Apr 25, 2023 | Answer Plot
Plant health is a lofty term that gets tossed around a lot in agronomic conversations. However, when you have a clear definition and actionable strategies, maximizing plant health becomes a very real and important way to help your crops reach closer to their genetic potential and...

Get a Grip on Crop Protection

Apr 25, 2023 | Answer Plot
Don't let growers cut corners when it comes to their yields.    Even if commodity prices dip, skimping on crop protection investments isn't the way to go. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to help farmers get the most out of every acre. Don't risk th...

4 Tips for Successful Weed Control

Apr 02, 2023 | Answer Plot
Spring means planting. But it also means troublesome weeds will be popping up soon. If you haven’t done so already, talk with your local trusted advisor about your weed control strategy for this season. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you formulate a plan to tackle w...

5 Tips for Managing Early-Season Plant Stress
Mar 07, 2023 | Answer Plot
Planting is just around the corner. Every decision you make, including your seed purchase and the ground conditions you place it in, can affect the number on the yield monitor at harvest. When seeds start in cold, wet soils, it can lead to early-season plant stress that can impac...