In this issue

New Seed Options P.2 Plant. Feed. Protect. P.3

Manure Updates P.4 New Grain Opportunities P.5

Bambauer Smartphone App P.6

Annual 2019

Focus on Nutrient Efficiency

Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE) is a term that

we haven’t used much in the past, but is

something to start paying attention to. When

we apply nutrients, especially Phosphorous

and Nitrogen, we need to be aware of the

impact they have on our soils, our water, and

the amount of uptake that we get into the

plants.

Our goal in applying nutrients is to get as

much up into the plant as we can to create

bushels. Leaving nutrients in the soil, with the

potential to be fixed or lost, doesn’t maximize

the nutrient. It doesn’t get it into our plant, it

doesn’t create more yield, which doesn’t

create more income.

In this newsletter we showcase those nutrients

and the challenges that surround making them

efficient. Bottom line: we need to protect

these nutrients and make sure that we get

optimal uptake, less waste, and more yield and

profit in the end.

For 12 years, we have been promoting systems

that we prove provide Nutrient Use Efficiency,

and economic yield. We want to be good

stewards of the land, respect our neighbors,

and at the same time give our customers a

way to benefit from lower use rates with more

efficient nutrients. The research and results in

the field show the benefit of maximizing your

nutrients.

This spring, we urge you to think about what

nutrients you are applying and if you are truly

being efficient with them. If you are not

already, ask us to help you try a NUE

approach. It’s not just “adding a stabilizer” but

taking the entire system approach to feeding

and keeping your plants healthy throughout

the season. Try a field or part of a farm.

Utilizing the entire system builds consistency

and profit.

Steppin’ Up

- BFS Team

2017 Grain Policies2017 Grain Policies Get to Know Your Nutrients The first step in creating Nutrient Use Efficiency

is understanding the dynamics of the nutrients

you are applying to feed your crop. This

newsletter will focus on Phosphorous and

Nitrogen, arguably the most important

nutrients for Corn growth and yield.

Phosphorous Phosphorous (P) is a negatively charged

molecule and is attracted to positive cations

in the soil. Once the P is attracted to those

positive cations, it can become fixated in the

soil and unavailable to the plant with a very

slow release over a long period of time.

Studies show up to 85% of Phosphorous can

be fixated to the soil after application. For

every 100 lbs of phosphorous that you apply,

the plant may have as little as 15 lbs of that

application available to it during the growing

cycle. Better placement and concentration

helps to extend the availability for a short

period of time, increasing the chance for root

interception, but does not fix the issue of P

fixating to the soil. Why would we want to

apply phosphorous in such an inefficient

manner?

Fortunately, we have been utilizing technology

that helps this issue of inefficiency. AVAIL

technology protects the phosphorous

molecule with an extremely high negative

charge, allowing the phosphorous to remain

available to the plant and not be fixated by

the powerful positive cation bonds.

We recommend AVAIL technology on all

phosphorous applications. We consistently

see the improved Phosphorous uptake, larger

roots, more vigor, and overall healthier plants

where AVAIL is used. AVAIL technology works,

with a long-term average of 9.6 bushels in

more than 80 in-furrow starter trails over 12 yrs.

Nitrogen It is no secret that Nitrogen is essential to corn

yield. Shorting your plant of nitrogen, will result

in yellow, sick, and an early death, reducing

yields dramatically. We want to ensure that

we have nitrogen throughout the season for

the crop, but N comes with its own challenges!

Nitrogen is likely one of the most unpredictable

nutrients to apply! Weather dictates the uptake

as well as potential loss of nitrogen, and its

efficiency is hard to predict. Some years, with

good incorporation, continuous smaller rain

events, and moderate temperatures, we see

a minimal benefit in protecting nitrogen. Last

year, until late in the season, much of our area

saw this type of weather. If the plant was

healthy, we realized the ability to raise

incredible yields on much less than 1 lb of

Nitrogen per bushel.

Most years, however, this is not the case.

Nitrogen can be lost because of weather

events, and has been proven that 50% or

more of nitrogen could be lost throughout the

growing season. Let’s take a look at the ways

nitrogen can be lost.

Leaching occurs when stable ammonium

nitrogen has converted to the nitrate form. In

the nitrate form, nitrogen becomes water

soluble, and is easily moved down through

the soil profile as excessive moisture occurs.

Losses from leaching can occur when

excessive moisture brings the nitrogen quickly

down through the soil profile, especially in

lower water holding capacity soils.

Denitrification occurs when the soils are satu-

rated and warm. After the stable ammonium

nitrogen has been broken down into nitrate

nitrogen, the soil bacteria use the nitrate for

2017 Grain Policies2017 Grain Policies

gen molecule. The extreme charge of the

long chain polymer surrounds the nitrogen

molecule when applied to liquid 28, or on dry

Urea. It then sequesters the positive cations in

the soil that would break down the nitrogen,

allowing it to stay in the ammonium form. The

ammonium form of nitrogen is the most stable

form, so it will remain available for the plant

whenever the plant wants to eat! Ultimately,

Nutrisphere-N protects nitrogen season-long

from ALL THREE forms of loss. This allows the

consistency to shine in dry years, wet years,

and moderate years, all season where more

Nitrogen in the plant equates to more yield.

This technology has advanced even farther

when treating urea. In 2018, we tested an up-

dated polymer called NUE Charge G, which

built on the success we had seen with Nutri-

sphere-N. The new polymer is even stronger

than before, providing more advanced pro-

tection, with a distinct purple color that

makes it easy to identify. The trial below

shows the success we saw with the NUE

CHARGE G this past season, and we look for-

ward to continuing success with this technolo-

gy in 2019.

their respiration in the place of oxygen in the

air. This causes the loss of nitrate nitrogen into

the air, and loss from your soil.

Volatilization occurs when nitrogen is broken

down from stable ammonium into an ammo-

nia form, which will leave as a gas into the air.

This form of loss usually occurs when it is warm

and wet, and the nitrogen is near the surface.

Often you can smell the ammonia coming off

the fertilizer or manure when volatilization is

occurring.

How do I protect my Nitrogen?

Many products exist to help control the loss of

nitrogen. One product has proven to not only

protect nitrogen, but to do it consistently, with

easy use, and safe to bacteria and enzymes in

the soil. After 12 years of testing, Nutrisphere-N

has been the most consistent. It has proven to

be the most cost-effective solution to protect

against all 3 major forms of loss, giving us an

average of 10.4 bushels of yield gain over

nearly 200 of our Third-Party trials by Buckeye

Ag Testing.

Much like the proven activity of Avail, Nutri-

sphere-N is a product that protects the nitro-

Get to Know Continued

2018 was a great year for yields, maybe the

best ever in our area. Much of that crop is still

in the bin, waiting on a certain price level or

weather conditions suitable for transporting it.

While it can be easy to wait out the winter,

now is the time to think about marketing

your 2019 crop. We have some great

marketing programs to consider!

Target Offers One of the easiest and simplest solutions to

marketing is setting some sell targets. The

current grain market is open 17.5 hours per day.

Many times the market can move up and down

quickly. Overnight trade can be a place to get

orders covered if you have that target in place.

At Bambauer’s, we can handle targets of any size,

however if you’d like to have your target

automatically covered at any point in the trading

day, it must be in 1,000 bushel increments.

Targets can be placed at the New Knoxville and

Pemberton locations during business hours.

Targets will remain on the books until you, as a

producer, cancels or revises them. There is no

charge for a target contract offer.

Averager Contracts Last year was the first year for our Averager

Contract. This contract allows producers to sell a

pre-determined number of bushels, for harvest

delivery, over the historically higher priced months

of summer. CORN

Year Averager

Price Avg. Fall

Price

Advantage

2014 $4.21 $3.10 $1.11

2015 $3.71 $3.89 -$0.18

2016 $3.71 $3.34 $0.37

2017 $3.67 $3.24 $0.43

2018 $3.71 $3.18 $0.53

5 yr. avg. $3.80 $3.35 $0.45

SOYBEANS

Year Averager

Price Avg. Fall

Price

Advantage

2014 $13.31 $9.96 $3.35

2015 $10.15 $8.53 $1.62

2016 $10.15 $9.68 $0.47

2017 $9.37 $9.04 $0.33

2018 $8.57 $7.57 $1.00

5 yr. avg. $10.31 $8.96 $1.35

Marketing Grain In 2018, the customers who took

advantage of the Averager Contracts

experienced these benefits.

Corn:

Averager—$3.71/bushel

Harvest average price—$3.18/bushel

Soybeans:

Averager—$8.57/bushel

Harvest average price—$7.57/bushel

We strongly believe that selling some

bushels during the summer is a beneficial

advantage. Give us a call to give it a

try!

Seed Options In an effort to provide more trait and

genetic options to our producers, we

have become regional owners of

ProHarvest Seeds.

ProHarvest is a

family-owned,

independent

seed company based out of Eastern

Illinois, and has been providing quality

seed products for over 50 years.

The ProHarvest strategy, and our partnership

as regional owners, allows us to explore

future traits and genetics that fit our

region specifically. Access to options on

traits, industry leading genetics, and

controlling production of corn and

soybeans ourselves will keep us on the

leading edge of new technologies.

For 2018, ProHarvest LibertyLink soybeans

are a part of our lineup to address some

tough-to-control weed challenges in-crop.

Glyphosate tolerant giant ragweed,

marestail, and waterhemp are all

controllable with Liberty in a growing

crop. This allows application without

volatilization and herbicide damage to

neighboring fields that we have seen with

the limited application windows for

RR2Xtend soybeans.

ProHarvest RR2Xtend soybeans are also an

option in our 2018 lineup. We recommend

focusing dicamba applications in the

burndown portion of the herbicide

applications.

Seed Treatments All soybean varieties from

Brodbeck Seeds and

ProHarvest, no matter the

trait, will be available with

Momentum Seed Treatment. All seed treated

with Momentum will have a 100% Replant

Policy. Momentum is a blend of industry

leading fungicides and insecticides, with

the most powerful inoculant, as well as

“Take Off” technology. It’s unlike any other

seed treatment, providing protection and

improving nutrient uptake and vigor in

young plants!

Additional Corn Plots in 2018 In addition to our existing research, we will be

significantly increasing our local seed research

in 2018. We plan to have 20 corn testing strip

plots throughout Auglaize, Shelby, Logan,

Champaign and Mercer counties. All plots will

have consistent hybrid lineups and planting

order for testing. We will be planting and

side-dressing the plots to ensure consistent

planting, starter fertilizer, and nitrogen

applications.

AgriGold, Brodbeck Seeds, ProHarvest, as

well as competitive hybrids from other top tier

companies will be included. Our goal is to

build exposure of the great products we have

to offer, test new potential hybrids, and

provide relevant local data to share with you

in the fall! If you are interested in hosting one of

these plots on your farm, give us a call. We

want to EARN more of your business.

www.proharvestseeds.com www.proharvestseeds.com

PLANT FEED PROTECT We are always exploring new ways to break

yield barriers. For 10 years we have been

testing new products and ideas on our

research farm. Countless products and ideas

have been tested over the years, but the

main yield response always seems to fall into

a few categories: Stand

Establishment, Crop

Nutrition, and Plant

Health. It’s a simple

and effective plan

of action: get a

great stand established,

feed that crop, and lastly,

once you have built it, protect it!

Product Highlights

Tepera-Plus ads in-furrow insecticide to help

prevent early season damage from insect

and disease when added to pop-up starters.

It dramatically helps stand establishment

under

challenging

weather

conditions.

Connector-O is a high purity organic Fulvic

acid product that can be added to corn

starters, pop-up and 2x2’s, as well as foliars. It

will provide the “connection” between the

nutrients you provide and your plants. It

enhances efficiency of uptake and

translocation of soil and foliar applied nutri-

ents. Connector-O is an excellent low-cost ad-

dition to any starter or foliar program and

gives a good ROI.

Affiance

fungicide

has proven

to be an

excellent product on both soybeans and

corn in the last two years. It is a dual-mode

fungicide that provides excellent knockdown

and residual control of many diseases like

Gray Leaf Spot and Northern Corn Leaf Blight

in corn, as well as Frogeye in beans.

Key features of Affiance

Truly Systemic Movement for disease

protection of developing plant

reproductive parts.

Provides real plant health benefits to

reduce plant stress during reproduction

and grain fill

Improves standability and harvestability by

reducing lodging and green stems

Convenient micro-emulsion formulation for

increased leaf penetration, thermal

stability and mixing, and reduced washoff

Below is some of our 2018 data on soybeans.

Aerial Application The past few years many growers in our area

have protected their crops with late season

foliar applications. These applications have

grown in popularity, and the benefits are

becoming easier to see.

Thank you

The articles in this

newsletter are always topics

that we feel are important

and relevant to you.

We welcome the ideas and

concerns you would like to

be addressed in upcoming

issues.

As always, we appreciate

your business and the

opportunity to serve you!

Be safe!

Title New Knoxville Location

419-753-2274

Jackson Center Location

937-596-5432

Pemberton Location

937-492-2827

Bambauer Fertilizer & Seed, Inc.

10573 Kettlersville Rd.

New Knoxville, Ohio 45871

PRSRT STD

U.S. Postage

PAID

PERMIT #18

NEW KNOXVILLE, OH

Address Line 1

Address Line 2

City, State, Zip

Basic Management

150#/ac 21-0-0-24S Pre-Emerge

Weed Control Average Yield

60 gallon 28% Side-dress 237.4 Bu/Ac

Mid Management

150#/ ac 21-0-0-24S Pre-emerge Average Yield

5 GPA Full Throttle Pop-up Starter 250.1 Bu/Ac

60 gallon 28% Side dress w/

Nutrisphere N +12.7 Bu/Ac

over Basic Affiance

Fungicide

At V5 w/ zinc &

boron

High Management

150#/ ac 21-0-0-24S Pre-emerge Average Yield

5 GPA Full Throttle Pop-Up Starter 264.2 Bu/Ac

60 gallon 28% Side dress w/

Nutrisphere N

Stabilizer

+26.8 Bu/Ac over

Basic

Affiance At V5 w/ zinc &

10.5 oz/ Quilt Excel Insecticide

Zinc & Bo-

ron w/ Con-

Applied at VT