The wheat harvest hustle is almost over!

We've been busy on the farm with summer harvest activity.  The recent rain has delayed us from finishing the last few acres of our wheat crop.  Yield and quality have both been excellent.  All the little things done over the growing season pay off when the weather cooperates and we have the blessing of a good yield.  The wheat has had great milling characteristics with high test weight.  Heavy grains make better flour and better cookies! 

 

Our team has worked long days and into the night getting the job done right.  With the weather, we have had to do the harvest hustle when we could!  I hope you enjoy the everyday harvest shots as much as I enjoy taking them.  If you have a question about what you see or read please ask.  We have had a lot of positive feed back about our crop updates.  If you have a suggestion for a post let me know.  We take for granted the scenes and work we get to do everyday.  We enjoy what we do and hope you have a better understanding of how we do our job of growing safe and affordable food through our blog posts.

Chris Marklin running one of the combines day and night in Robertson County, TN.  Soft Red Winter Wheat is used in many food products derived from wheat flour.  Wheat flour is also one of the main ingredients used to bond plywood and particle board together.  Your house probably has flour in the kitchen, literally!

The weather has slowed field work but has also given us some magnificent sunsets too.  This picture was taken in the Prices Mill community of Simpson County, KY.

We had a friend stop by with his drone a few days ago and took these shots of the combines and the planter in between rain showers.  Dad and Sherman dumping the combine on the go Chris Marklin in a combine and Jake Mitchell planting below.

A panoramic view of the field office.  It's nice harvesting a good crop, when everything is working right.  Automated steering makes it easy to take a nice picture too!

The field captain keeping everyone in line!

David Jepson and Sherman Marklin assisting Guy Reeder with Agriserve Crop Management calibrate yield monitors in the combines.  The monitors in the cabs of the combines keep up with the yield for each field and farm.  It takes a measurement every few seconds and records it and the GPS location of each data point.  It is important to keep the monitors calibrated for weight and moisture.  We use this data collected from every field and farm to make fertility and seeding prescriptions for our crops.  Precision agriculture lets us turn our data into decisions.  The better the data the more accurate picture we have of the  situation in each field.  This information helps us make smarter agronomic decisions that affect our bottom line and the environment.  

Ricky Massey waiting on a load for the cart.  There hasn't been much time to stand around during harvest.  Thanks for reading and be on the lookout for a crop update for soybeans, corn and tobacco in a couple of weeks!