Production

The seeding rate is a number you already hold. The plants that came up are a number you have to count, on the same day and by the same method each season.

Published tolerances for soybean harvest loss differ by a factor of two or more. A limit written before harvest, checked against a bean count in each field, shows which field went over and which part of the machine lost the grain.

Checking that the planned crop went into the field tells you the plan was followed, not whether it worked. For that, the plan has to say, field by field, which pest or disease the rotation is meant to hold back, when the result will be measured and what goes in if planting runs late.

A low harvest in the back field looks like the variety's fault. Often it was the year or the field, and only the field's own series, set against the farm average each season, tells them apart.

In a large-scale California study, a commission on the sale was not linked to more spraying; the clearest higher use, of insecticide and fungicide, came from advisers on a farm's own payroll. What you can settle is who decides, on a six-item page you sign with each agronomist.

A foliar product at an example $20 an acre costs $20,000 a season on 1,000 acres of corn. Before planting, write one page that fixes the question, the comparison, the measure, the spots and who reads the result.

The field was ripped because it was the third year, and the terrace was rebuilt after a wet one. With no reading taken first, nobody can say afterward whether either job changed the ground.

A soil test number belongs to the laboratory, the test, the unit, the depth and the month as much as to the field. With one page per field and every change marked, you can compare one year with the next.

The hours in the operator's manual hold only with the oil, filter and diesel the manufacturer specified. Before you buy, finance or put off a service, check the machine against its hour meter.