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Pearl City 800-851-8584 | McConnell 815-868-2258 | Dakota/Harrison 815-449-2254 | Warren 815-745-2056 Baileyville 815-362-2667 | Alliance Nutrition 815-369-9014 | Alliance Commodities 815-809-2667 | Lena 815-369-2333

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Pearl City - McConnell - Dakota - Harrison - Warren - Baileyville - Alliance Nutrition - Alliance Commodities - Lena

RESPONSE TO FUNGICIDE :

Would you leave an extra 16+ bushels per acre in the field? In 2019, the average yield response to fungicide was 16.1 bu/A, with some hybrids averaging over 40 bu/A in the Answer Plots. Testing in the Answer Plots during 2018 and 2019 revealed that 90% of hybrids had the potential for a positive ROI from a fungicide application paired with MasterLock®. Using insights such as Response to Fungicide (RTF) scores can help identify hybrids with the greatest response to fungicide. Hybrids can differ in their response to fungicide based on disease severity or other plant physiological effects. While fungicides are known to help protect plants from various diseases such as grey leaf spot, anthracnose, northern corn leaf blight, and tar spot, the advantages from some fungicides can occur even in low disease environments. When plants are under stress, they can release stress signaling compounds (Ethylene) that indicate to surrounding plants to start conserving yield. Strobilurin fungicides have been shown to decrease ethylene production and increase yields even in low diseased environments.

Fields that have higher probability for disease (e.g. corn on corn, high residue, no-till, wetter fields, etc) have higher potential for positive ROI from a fungicide applied prior to disease inoculating plants since most fungicides are preventative in nature. Once disease is observed, photosynthetic leaf area and energy is already being lost from going to the grain. Since many diseases work from the bottom of the canopy upward, ensuring the fungicide is adequately deposited into the lower canopy and having greater protection of the ear leaf is important. Multi-Year testing has showed over 5 bu/A yield increase from MasterLock® paired with fungicide applications compared to fungicide alone.

Using data such as RTF hybrid scores, knowledge of past disease pressure, identifying fields/environments with greater probability of disease all play a factor into decided which fields have the greatest ROI potential from a fungicide.

Estimated cost of fungicide + MasterLock + application = $35/acre. At $3.50/bu Corn, = 10bu/A breakeven.

Contact our sales agronomist today to find your fields greatest ROI potential from a fungicide. 800-851-8584

GRAIN UPDATE

Good News!! You can now check out our website and social media for a “how to video” about getting set up and utilizing our customer portal. The portal gives you access to all your information regarding tickets, contracts, settlements etc. We’re happy to help any customer get set up to learn how to navigate inside the portal. Give any member of our grain team a call on our grain hotline 84GETGRAIN (844-384-7246).

In the last month we’ve seen the grain markets rebound some from the lows established this spring. Crude oil is higher and gasoline usage is up, putting ethanol back in the black, and giving some hope to the corn market. We still need to see increased demand if we want higher prices, and right now that means exports. There are rumors that China is in the market for U.S. corn and ethanol which is exactly what we need, but the rumor only carries so much weight, we need the sales on the books. With the USDA currently forecasting a 15+ billion bushel corn crop, it appears any rally has a ceiling now. We’re encouraging customers to take advantage of strong basis levels and set price targets for pricing remaining old crop and storage bushels. Good till Cancel (GTC) orders have been very useful as markets rallies have been quick and short lived. GTC orders can be amended if your targets change, but they’re always working on your behalf until they are filled, cancelled, or the hedge month expires. It’s the time of year we start to put the 2019 crop behind us and starting looking for price targets on the new 2020 crop. Reminder: any bushels left in storage as of August 31, 2020 will be assessed a new drop charge.

Brad Auger | VP Grain| bauger@pce-coops.com | 815-809-2667 Ext 523 | 84-GET-GRAIN

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Building Bridges for Our Future Industries Leaders

Every year, PCE has the opportunity to build bridges and share our knowledge with a dynamic team of students with our internship program. This year is no exception as we are fortunate to have a great group of future agriculturalists. The opportunity to help develop future talent and in the process build a bridge for learning industry knowledge and personal development is a highlight of our year. This year we have expanded our internship program, now appropriately called AIM, Agriculturalists Involved in Mentoring, to include bi-weekly sessions about leadership development. This is an important addition to the program as we cover leadership skills, problem solving, high-level customer service, communication skills and personal development.

As a company, we believe firmly in building bridges. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work closely with the Boy Scout program and earned the Bridge Building award. There is an important message within this award and that is value of building bridges for the future generation. Building a bridge that you yourself might never cross, but someone in the future will. PCE shares that same commitment as we build bridges for our talented AIM teammates.

We are excited to announce our 2020 PCE Intern Team:

Danny Daly, Kirkwood College (from Pecatonica IL) Colleen Curtin, Iowa State (from Chicago IL) Austin Miller, Southwest Technical College (from Lanark IL) Addison Keltner, UW Platteville (from Pearl City IL) Katie Asche, UW Platteville (from Pecatonica IL) Lucas Boomgarden, UW Platteville (from Freeport IL) Ashley Knopp, Highland Community College (from Polo IL)

We are grateful to have the opportunity to work with this talented group of future agriculturalists. Our goal of the AIM program is that learning is a two-way bridge – we have the opportunity to learn from them as well as to teach them. Another addition to our AIM program is our Intern Blog that can be found on our webpage, click on the Resources tab, click on Community and then click on Intern Blog. Each week our intern teammates share about themselves, their backgrounds, career goals and their weekly activities. Check it out on our webpage at www.pce-coops.com. We want to welcome each of them, and we encourage you to share your knowledge and experiences with our interns if the opportunity presents itself.

We are also excited to announce our 4-H & FFA Video Essay program. This program is an opportunity for 4-H & FFA members to submit a video essay about themselves and their 4-H or FFA project. The video will include what their responsibilities are with the project, a fun fact about their project and what their dream job is. To learn more about this opportunity, please visit our webpage at www.pce-coops.com, click on the Resources tab, click on Community and then click on 4H & FFA Essay. PCE believes strongly in building the bridge for our future industry leaders. We look forward to seeing these videos and will make a donation to them for their efforts. Investing in our communities is a priority as we continue to build bridges for a strong future. I wish for you safe travels as we continue on the road of life with many more bridges to build.

Pennie Groezinger | VP HR & Communications | pgroezinger@pce-coops.com | 815-809-2667 Ext. 517

One last push to protect your yield:

Believe it or not we have hit part of the season where we have very limited opportunity to protect your crop’s yield potential.

Our interns have been hard at work collecting tissue samples to see if your corn, soybean and alfalfa plants are showing any deficiencies that could affect final yield. Currently Mn and Zn seem to be the most deficient in corn tissue samples. Talk with your salesperson to see if some Max In products would benefit your operation in the final passes.

Fungicide applications are also one last opportunity to protect your yield. The image below shows the top products purchased for the 2020 growing season. Review this chart and your hybrid selections to see if there is low, average or high response to fungicide. Our sales team has resources to review not only our product line up but others for their response to fungicide using the R7 tool from WinfieldUnited.

The Field Forecasting Tool from WinfieldUnited is also available to determine if conditions are profitable for application of more Nitrogen, Potassium and new this year Fungicide (in BETA testing). Contact me for more information on this exciting tool.

Rachel Barker | Lead Precision Agronomist rbarker@pce-coops.com | 815-809-2667 ext. 511

Tackling Heat Stress In The Lactating Herd:

Heat stress can be one of the hardest parts of the Summer when you are working with dairy animals. Cows naturally prefer the

weather to be low in humidity and a temperature that is not above 70 degrees. What are some good options to manage heat stress

when these thermogenic factors are not favorable for lactating cows? I would encourage producers to highly consider fans and

sprinkler systems if you do not already have these installed in your facilities. Keeping the air moving and misters on is a great way to

help cows become more comfortable and less likely to crowd in shadiest area of the barn or lot. The combination of the sprinklers

and fans has shown to have a positive impact on feed intakes and milk production as well. No sprinklers or fans? You may want to

consider shade options for your herd such as a shade cloth. It is important when putting these up that each animal has about 40 sq

ft so they do not become overheated or crowded too tightly. Have you cleaned your waterers lately? Many do not realize but by

cleaning waterers once a week, you are promoting cows to drink more and stay hydrated on a regular basis. Providing fresh clean

water is an essential key to keeping the cow healthy and comfortable during heat stress. Access to water particularly after milking

has shown that a cow will drink 50-60% of her daily intake and will more prepared as the outside temperatures increase rapidly.

Talk with your nutritionist about feed additives that can be utilized during Summer as well to create a better electrolyte balance

internally. Though these can be pricey, losing production, quality, and health of the animal is also very costly. Feeding diets that are

highly digestible, highly palatable, and energy dense promotes the cow to keep a more consistent dry matter intake with consistent

milk output as well. Mixing and feeding early in the mornings or later at night is also a great option as a cow will naturally consume

more when she is most comfortable either early in the morning or later in the evening. Taking appropriate action now prior to major

heat stress is key, keeping cows healthy, happy, and cool allows for each producer to be more profitable and successful even during

times of stress.

Mackenzie Torstenson | Animal Nutrition Sales | MTorstenson@pce-coops.com | 815-369-9014