Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Why do farmers use chemical pesticides on their crops?


"Cleanse" is a popular buzzword these days.  Everybody wants to sell you on the "clean" life.  All over social media there are folks selling products claiming to "detox" your body and "cleanse" your system.   Farmers like to be clean too.  We like to have clean equipment and a tidy farmstead and shop.  Most importantly we like to have"clean" crops.  Clean from weeds and disease.  That's where agro- chemicals come into play.  We apply small amounts (ounces per acre) of pesticides for many different problems.  Herbicides are used to kill weeds, insecticides to kill insects and fungicides to control leaf diseases and improve over all plant health.  Many of the insecticide products we use are natural plant based products.  We actually use some of the same insecticides on our farm that organic farmers use.  Modern Agro Pesticides have very short persistence.  This simply means the interval between application and harvest is short because the chemicals do not stay and accumulate in the plant.  They do their job and wear off.  If we did not control pests such as weeds, insects and disease our yields would be drastically reduced.  This is why organic food has such a high price tag.  Organics are expensive to raise and usually produce about half the yield.  So if all farmers decided to become organic farmers we would need millions of more acres of land to be in production to produce enough food for the world.    Big Organic would have you believe to live "clean" one must begin by eating "clean" food.  I was looking at a field of our wheat the other day. (Which by the way is Non-GMO because there is no such thing as commercially available GMO wheat.)  I noticed around the edge where the sprayer missed a few rows we had a bad
outbreak of "downey mildew" or powdery Mildew as some call it.  The crop in this area was not "clean" at all!  These 2 pictures show the diseased leaves on the plants.  This mildew eats up the lamina of the leaves and prevent them from absorbing sunlight to make sugar to feed the plants that will ultimately make a head of grain.  (Remember science class and the photosynthesis process, the teacher was right it actually matters and we need to understand it's importance!)  We had added some fungicide to the tank mix when spraying herbicide for weeds in the wheat.  And if we were wondering if the money we spent for some fungicide paid off all we had to look at was an area that was missed to see what might have been.  The next picture below shows the healthy wheat a few rows over that received the fungicide treatment.  This infestation of disease in this amount could be devastating to our crop and therefore it must be managed and controlled.  Fungal diseases love warm humid weather just like we have been having lately.  We are currently making another application of fungicide and insecticide to our wheat fields to protect the heads of grain as they are pollinating.  The fungicide has kept the crop "clean" up until this point and now we have a chance to harvest milling quality grain for flour.


These two pictures show the wheat pollinating in the field.  Wheat is wind pollinated.  Pollen is produced and spread across the field from the wheat plants by the wind.  Each grain is pollinated separately.



We are currently making a fungicide application to the pollinating heads to protect the grains from disease as they fill.  We have applied fungicide earlier in the season to prevent leaf diseases from adversely affecting the plants.  The product we are currently applying will continue to protect the health of the flag leaves but will also help to prevent septoria or glume blotch from attacking the grain seed itself.  A healthy grain seed will have be heavier and make milling quality grain for flour.  A diseased seed of grain will be lighter and not be suitable for milling.  Diseased wheat with lower test weight will be discounted when we sell it compared to quality wheat.    



                               A nice field view from the cab of the sprayer in a wheat field.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

March Madness On The Farm!



 Spring work is in full swing in the area.  We've been busy applying lime and dry fertilizer to corn fields in preparation for planting season.  We spent the winter months taking soil samples for each yield zone in our fields and created zone specific prescriptions for each field.  Lime balances the pH in the soil so the fertilizer can break down into the soil and be available to feed the crop it's nutritional requirements.
 We've been busy in the shop doing preventative maintenance on our equipment so it will be ready to hit the field for work when it's time.  An ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure.  Dalton and Jake are pictured changing gear oil in a front wheel drive hub on a tractor.





We've been scouting cover crops for biomass and performance in recent days.  Cereal Rye and winter wheat have been growing rapidly during the warm days we've had.  Winter peas and crimson clover have been doing their job fixing nitrogen that will stay behind once the cover crop is terminated to feed the corn crop. 








We've gotten nice growth from our covers.  The roots give the soil structure and more water holding capacity.  The worms are doing their job eating up organic matter and turning it into valuable nutrients for the crops to use during the growing season.  Healthy soil is alive with micro organisms.


A view from the cab of the tractor applying anhydrous ammonia nitrogen for corn.  The real time data we generate and monitor while making field passes is amazing.  Injecting the nitrogen into the ground helps keep it from moving away with water and into the air.  This helps keep nitrates out of surface and groundwater.



 Chris and Sherman have been busy spraying wheat with herbicide to kill the winter annual weeds.  If we don't kill the weeds like wild garlic the grain won't make grade for flour.  Nobody wants their bread and cookies to taste like onions!

                         Ricky working on the anhydrous applicator before heading to the field.



We've been working on the corn planter replacing wear items like no-till coulter blades, double disk openers, seed firmers and seed tubes and guards.  Planter performance is one of the most important steps in producing a crop.  It is imperative to get an even stand to have top yield potential.  If your stand is not good and uniform you are playing catch up the whole season.  


Monday, January 16, 2017

New Year and New Crop Preparations


As the calendar year changed to 2017 so did our focus on crop years.  We've been busy making crop plans, budgets and marketing plans in the office for 2017 crops.  The guys have been working hard in the shop doing preventative maintenance on our equipment in preparation of spring work.  Cold, wet winter days are a good time to check out our equipment to make sure everything is top working condition.   Ricky Massey and Jake Mitchell are pictured above making adjustments to a fifth wheel on a truck.  They've also been known to put a little shine on the shiny parts too.
 

 Our crop planning includes taking soil samples in our fields to determine the best fertility program for our crops.  We use historic yield data to create management zones with different yield goals and have the soil analyzed from those zones to tell us how to better manage our nutrients for our crops.  This is good for the bottom line and the environment.  We try to put enough "plant food" through nitrogen, phosphorous and potash to "feed" our crops without over "feeding" them.  Over fertilization costs us money and creates the potential for nutrient runoff or leaching into surface and ground water.  These practices help us be more sustainable and better stewards of the land.



Chris Marklin and Dalton Crumley replacing no-till coulters on a wheat drill above and Ricky Massey replacing some bolts for a product performance update below.  The no-till coulters work the ground in front of the double disc openers to plant the wheat in the row.  This row unit technology allows us to direct seed into standing corn residue without tilling the ground.  No-Till planting prevents erosion and helps keep the soil healthy.



Jake Mitchell replacing wear point bushings on row units from a wheat drill.  It's important to keep wear items like these bushings replaced to keep the drill in top condition for best performance.  Ignoring wear items can lead to more costly repairs later on down the road.  


Dalton Crumley and Chris Marklin inspecting knives and guards on the cutter bar on a Draper head before putting it into storage until summer harvest season.


 Mac and Jack getting a trailer break clinic from Ricky Massey and Jake Mitchell.  Each truck and trailer have to be DOT inspected each year to maintain safety and road worthiness.  Safety for our operators and those we share the road with are at the top of our list on the farm!


 Tires, lug nuts, brake drums, discs, and hub oil are part of the truck and trailer's yearly inspection.


Page Barker from Tri-Green Equipment delivering parts to our shop.  A new crate of parts means plenty of shop work for our crew on the farm!  An ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure!




All of the equipment will get a bath and fresh coat of wax this winter too.  Washing combines is a BIG job!


Loading trucks with grain for delivery keeps us busy during the winter too.  We have been delivering corn to local feed mills for livestock feed rations, wheat to a local flour mill and seed soybeans to the seed cleaning facility.



I hope you enjoyed a look into what we've been up to so far this winter on the farm.  Here's to a safe, healthy and prosperous growing season in 2017!