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Hello, my name is Kelly Robertson.  I’m an agronomist and will be serving as the Illinois Soybean Association Double Crop Specialist.  I was raised on the family farm in Benton, Illinois, where we grew corn, soybeans, wheat and double-crop soybeans.  I received my Master of Science in Plant and Soil Science, specializing in Soil Fertility, from SIU-Carbondale.  In addition to operating the family farm since 1985, I have spent 26 years as a soil fertility agronomist and precision agriculture consultant in southern Illinois.  I am a Certified Professional Agronomist, Certified Crop Advisor and an Encirca™ Certified Services Agent for DuPont Pioneer. 

My wife, Lori, and I started Precision Crop Services in 2012, a soil fertility and precision ag management company in Benton where we provide agronomic services for customers including soil testing, crop scouting, data analysis and GPS/GIS services. 

During the last eighteen years I have been involved with on-farm precision ag research dealing with the use of historical yield maps as predictors for variable rate corn populations, variable rate nitrogen, variable rate phosphate and potash, and tile drainage.  I also have experience working with RTK elevation data to create within-field watersheds and wetness indexes to determine relationships between crop inputs, drainage and yield.

Through consulting, farming and precision ag services, I have learned that we have to take a systems approach to agriculture production and producing high yields.  And the one area that is lacking a systems approach is our double-crop soybean system in Illinois.  Double-crop soybeans are the forgotten crop and many growers treat them as an afterthought.  We spend a lot of time and money trying to better our corn and soybeans yields.  We hire scouts and services to help us increase our wheat yields.  We talk about treatments and timing of treatments on corn, beans and wheat, then in many instances we just plant and forget about double-crop soybeans.

In many years in southern Illinois a good wheat/double-crop soybean crop will create more net revenue than an above average corn crop.  I have been on a quest to find and develop that systems approach to double-crop soybeans.  To be honest, I haven’t perfected it yet.  A lot of the yield of double-crop soybeans results from the one thing growers have no control over—weather. Regardless of the weather, there are so many things we can do to help ourselves and so many things we can control to set ourselves up for higher soybean yields in this double-crop rotation.  I am excited to help others on this road to realizing that there is more to double-crop beans than just plant and forget. 

Kelly was raised on the family farm in Benton, Illinois.  He graduated from Southern Illinois University (SIU)-Carbondale with a BS in Agriculture Education and Mechanization, and a Masters of Science (MS) in Plant and Soil Science.  During the last thirteen years he has been involved with on-farm precision ag research dealing with the use of historical yield maps as predictors for variable rate corn populations, variable rate nitrogen, variable rate phosphate and potash and tile drainage.  He has experience working with RTK elevation data to create within field watersheds and wetness indexes to determine relationships between crop inputs, drainage and yield. Kelly has spent 25 years as a soil fertility agronomist and precision agriculture consultant in southern Illinois while also spending 4 years as a Farm/Agronomy Manager and GIS Coordinator for a large farm in southeastern Illinois. In 2012 Kelly and his wife Lori started Precision Crop Services in Benton where they provide agronomic services for their customers including soil testing, crop scouting, data analysis and GPS/GIS services. He is a Certified Professional Agronomist and a Certified Crop Advisor.