The Stoller team took to the road and made a quick visit to Mack Marsh’s farm in Tallulah Louisiana on May 1st. Mack farms over 1300 acres most of which is corn.
Some say growing corn is growing corn no matter where you are.

Maybe…

But it’s always interesting to learn what challenges farmers face in their specific region.

Talking to Mack his biggest concerns are keeping crops watered and managing the high heat. To get a jump on both of these issues Mack starts by planting early. This spring he was planting in February. And—at the time of our visit—pollination was only 3 to 5 days away. He anticipates a late July harvest.

His soils vary from sandy loam to buckshot…so he watches his crops close. The key to his impressive yields are keeping the crops happy… or at least as stress free as possible.
While some neighbors think he waters too much…Mack is a big believer in keeping the soil moist.

According to recent LSU Ag Center data a two year high yield corn average is around 159 to 172 bu/acre. Compare that to Mack’s average yield of 216 bu/acre and you know he is doing something right!

Last year Mack gave Stoller’s Bio-Forge a try after learning how other farmers used it to managed crop stress and maximized yields. He applied it to both corn and soybean acres.
While Mack admits he had no clean control and test plots…he did note that “we got 50 bu/acre soybeans in buckshot soil…that came out of nowhere.” It was enough to convince Mack to try Bio-Forge ST, seed treatment in 2012.

Bio-Forge is just one of the products Mack is testing in an effort to push his yields to the next level. Mack considers himself a calculated risk taker…always asking what a product can “make” rather than what it will cost.

We’ll be excited to learn his results. Thanks for your time Mack. It was great getting a quick tour of your corn field.

Maybe next visit the alligator in your nearby swamp will make an appearance!