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Jake Drozd
Allegan, MIClose to Lake Michigan and spread out across three counties, Drozd Family Grain has extremely diverse soil that rarely freezes, which makes crop fertility an interesting challenge.
Operation overview :Acres:7,500Crops:soybeancornTillageMostly tilled; some no till
What Drives Jake?
A second-generation farmer, Jake is in the corn, soybean and milo fields alongside his dad and brother. They concentrate on crop production and fertility, knowing that their soil holds the most potential to push yields to new levels.
Fertility Program
With an eye on soil health, they take fertility to the next level by:
- Spreading potash after harvest and addressing pH issues with lime (sandy soils pose a challenge for holding calcium
- Placing N and P in a 2×2 run (2″ on side and 2″ below seed) and adding micronutrients and biologicals in-furrow
- Utilizing K-Mag® in the spring for the available K and Mg and adding MicroEssentials® SZ when the soil requires it
- Sidedressing N and K in-season and fertigating to meet immediate needs
Why Biologicals
“At some point, we’ll all figure out biologicals because we all want the same thing. It’s good for the industry. I want to be at the forefront and see how they do in the real world now.”
Follow Jake
Check out Jake’s social channels for more firsthand information about him and Drozd Family Grain.
THE LATEST ON DROZD FAMILY GRAIN
WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS
Challenges always pop up in farming, but Jake Drozd and his family are seeing their fair share this spring with lots of rain and some equipment issues that slowed their planting way down. By the first week of May, Jake had only planted 80-90 acres, which is not typical.
“We couldn’t even get everything plowed. We usually try to field cultivate 600 or 700 acres in front of the planter, that way we always have something to go to. But when it rains, it’s tough to get that done too, so we just do what we can.”
To add to this seasons’ planting obstacles, Jake said their bean tractor had to go to the dealer for repairs. “Even without the rain, we couldn’t have planted beans if we wanted to. I was hoping to have had 500-600 acres planted in early May, and we didn’t plant any.”
On the corn Jake has been able to plant, he was able to put in a side-by-side block of BioPath® in his early run and has other BioPath trials that won’t be too far behind.
Jake’s 2023 Trial Data
Crop:CornFertility Timing:Fall/spring/summer as neededOrganic Matter:1.5%Trial Objectives:Maximize yieldSoil Type Mix:SandYield Comparison:6.88bu/acBioPath Application:In-Furrow"I’m excited to see the corn come up. That’s what I call the end of the first quarter. You did your job, you came out of the gate strong, you got the corn up and got a good stand. But what I’m MOST excited for is for the weather to change and just be nice. It felt like it was a long and drawn-out spring and no fun for anybody."
Visit our Next Farmer:
Brooks ReidSoil science and biology are a passion for Brooks Reid, who is a trained agronomist, but he loves seeing how concepts actually work in practice. He’s learned the most by “doing” and wants to help pass that insight to other farmers.
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PREVIOUSLY: DROZD FAMILY GRAIN
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APRIL 2024
Jake is dialing in the right combination to increase his yields
Jake Drozd believes there’s a purpose for biologicals in the farming industry and has seen firsthand how BioPath improved his yields. This year, he hopes to spread his trial out and test on different soil types.
Join Jake as he tries to find the best approach to increasing his yields.
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March 2024
GETTING BACK ON “SOLID GROUND” AFTER HARVEST ’23
With his location about 15 miles from Lake Michigan, weather is always a wild card for Jake. This year, the result is a harvest that continued well into 2024.
“I like a challenge, but this past year really tested my patience. We had 2200 acres of crops that were still in the field at Christmas, so we dealt with a lot of snow and mud.”
So, in addition to finalizing his plans for his fields in 2024, he’s out in his fields right now, tilling them to repair the ruts made during harvest and to get them prepped and ready for planting. Given how far North his farm is and how cold the ground gets, he likely won’t start planting until the third or fourth week of May, so he has a little time to get them ready to go.
When Jake does plant, he will be testing BioPath in-furrow again across more acres.
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February 2024
Placement and Timing of Biologicals Key to 2024 Trial
As part of the Total Acre program, Jake trialed BioPath from Mosaic for the last two years on some of his corn acres. His first application in 2022 was side-dressed, which he saw had been successful for other farmers. Unfortunately for him, his bushels went down that year. But he was still intrigued when he looked at his plant tissue samples. So last year, Jake tried BioPath® in-furrow on the seed.
“We saw some pretty cool stuff. We saw more tillering in the corn with BioPath, and I thought it was more uniform. At the end of the day, we saw a 6.25 bu/A advantage with yields of 285-295 dry bushels. So for me to get a response like that is a big deal.”
This season Jake, his dad and brother are all excited to test BioPath on their farm on an even larger scale to see if he can replicate those results.
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MENTIONED ON THIS PAGE
Liquid fertilizer complement