Observations in Agriculture

Read the fine print on the research

2012-02-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

I ran across this research study on potassium and tillage. The 2 year study concluded that tillage did not affect the corn yields. They did have a double variable in that they as tested timing and application of potassium. There was a yield response to potassium. Does this mean you should always apply potassium? By no means. Look At he soil test levels. Potassium was low in this study to start with. I would expect a response to the fertilizer. This is a simple test. There are far more complex issues. Soil amendments are not one size fits all. The first step in making decisions related to your soil is to get it tested. Then you can decide if you need sulfur, gypsum,micro-nutrients, or any of the other amendments that are popular at the time.

Timber Sale

2012-02-13T14:31:00.000-08:00

Today I drove past these logs by the side of the road and decide I have not done a blog on timber sales. I some parts of Illinois, timber is an afterthought. When Europeans arrived in Illinois, they settled in the part of the state that had trees. At that time, something like 20% of the state was prairie and trees were scarce. The early settles wanted trees for construction material.

These logs are being sold for some sort of lumber. Lots of timber in Illinois is turned into pallet lumber. Higher value timber in Illinois consists of Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Red Oak and White Oak. The value each depends somewhat on the popularity of furniture styles. There was a time when walnut was the most popular. Right now Red Oak is more popular.

Land owners who are considering a timber sale would be wise to bring in a forester to tell them what they have and mark trees for sale. Sellers who use a consulting forester are more likely to get high dollar for their resource. A consulting forester can also enhance the value of you timber by suggesting pruning and thinning needs to maximize production. They can also tell you if your trees are ready to sell or if you might make more by letting them grow for now. Large healthy trees will add more board feet per year than small trees. Large unhealthy trees should be harvested to prevent deterioration.

Why do we grow so much corn in Illinois?

2012-02-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

I think most farmers know this, so I guess this blog is mainly for my non-ag friends. The Midwest and Illinois in particular is blessed with the right soils and the right climate to grow corn. Hot days that cool off at night is just what the corn plant needs. Most of our soils do not need irrigation in most years to produce abundantly. Soybeans are a perfect crop for alternate years. This gives Illinois a competitive advantage in corn production.

Strides in technology and mechanization have made corn production nothing short of miraculous. Corn is a photosynthesis giant in terms of capturing the sun's energy and converting it to calories and nutrients that humans and animals can both utilize. Because corn has separate male and female parts we can select particular genetic traits relatively easily in comparison to many other crops. While a good bit of the corn is the yellow varieties that are used for feed, fuel, sugar production and other general purposes, there is enough diversity to support corn for many other purposes as well. Illinois produces lots of sweetcorn. Sweetcorn is one of the most popular vegetables sold. Popcorn is another variation that even Native Americans ate. It is a good high fiber product. High oil corn is just what it says it is. Corn oil is one of our healthy oils. White corn and blue corn are processed into corn chips, corn tortillas, massa, hominy and other food products.

Corn is harvested dry so it can be stored and sold all year around. Most of us like having at least some fresh vegetables in the winter, so places like Florida, California, and South Texas grow many of our fresh vegetables. The area south of the Mason Dixon Line has the perfect climate for cotton, so they produce a lot of our natural fiber. Cattle herds in the west take advantage of the vast rangeland on the great plains to take advantage of that resource. There was a time in our history when cattle were shipped to Illinois and Iowa to be fed out before processing. Over time, we have come to realize that the dryer climate in the west makes it easier to deal with livestock waste out there. That means we ship our corn west instead of bringing the cattle east. That is probably a health advantage to the cattle too.

This blog is getting long so I will try to summarize a bit. First let me say that I am all for locally grown foods, but we need to realize that crops have become more specialized because there are advantages to that specialization. Yes there was a time when our farming practices were much more diverse and more diversity would be a good thing; but we need to consider the efficiency of crops to photosynthesize and grow. I look forward to the day when midwestern farmers produce more specialty crops, but I don't expect that corn will cease to be the king of midwestern production.

Old Windmill

2012-02-11T13:45:00.000-08:00

This windmill in Golden, IL was constructed to grind grain. It is now a tourist attraction.

Land Use in the United States

2012-02-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

My friend Denise Maxwell sent me this link to Land use in the United States statistics. One thing that caught my eye is that 18% of our cropland is used for something other than field or vegetable crops. Some is in CRP, some is in pasture, some is failed crops. Have we maxxed out on acreage available for corn production? I don't think so.

Another thing is see in the statistics, is the amount of range land in the country. How can we quit eating meat when we have so much land available for livestock production that is not good for anything else. Release of greenhouse grasses by ruminants? I say no net change in historic levels because wildlife such as deer, elk, and Bison have always been releasing greenhouse gasses in North America.

Forest is the leading land use in our country. The demand for forest products is always there. I am curious about how much of the forest land is available for harvest under current government policy. How much of the forest land is un-harvestable because of terrain?

St. Louis Area Tourism

2012-02-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

One of my on-line tweeps, @JPlovescotton posted a tweet and blog about her desire to get to know her new home area of St, Louis a little better. I made a few suggestions and she asked if I could turn it into a blog. Because I try to keep my blog related to agriculture, I will put an agricultural spin on my suggestions.

I first suggested a float trip on an Ozark stream. Current River is my favorite. In addition to enjoying the outdoor relaxation with a few friends, she will find she is in the heart of Missouri cattle country. There is very little cropland, but some of the hills support grass instead of timber, in fact a flyover this summer showed more open land than I expected.

The Ozarks also support one of the ultimate locally grown products in Missouri. There is a nice collection of wineries in the St. James area and some of the growers sell fresh grapes in season as well. Ste. Genevieve is another area to enjoy winery visits, tours and French heritage. In addition, in Ste Genevieve you can cross that great highway of agriculture products, the Mississippi River on a ferry. It is a great experience seeing the river up close and personal.

One of the things she could explore at the Cahokia Mounds World Heritage site in the Collinsville, IL area is what foods were grown and eaten by these Native Americans. The site was a great pre-Columbian center of agriculture in the Mississippi River Valley, Yes the Indians transported their products by water as well. If she takes a little sidetrip trip up Route 157 and goes left on 162 back toward Highway 255 she should be able to spot a horseradish field somewhere in the area. In addition, there are a few remaining roadside vegetable stands.

I also suggested a day trip to downtown St. Charles, Missouri, the first state capitol of Missouri. The quaint shops and restaurants are pleasant way to spend a warm spring day. To put an agricultural spin on the trip, drive toward Alton on Highway 94 past corn and soybeans growing in the rich bottomlands of the combined Missouri and Mississippi Valley.

Another must see is the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, IL. We all understand Lincoln's place in history as a wartime president, but he also supported canals, railroads and river navigation to help farmers market their products. In addition, Lincoln is considered the founder of the United States Department of Agriculture. Other Lincoln Heritage sites to see are his home, his law office, his church, and his tomb. New Salem State park is also worth a look. Most of the trip from St. Louis to Springfield on I-55 will give you at least a flavor of Illinois corn country. Take a long weekend or a short week for this one or divide it up doing the Presidential Museum one day, the other Lincoln sites one day, and New Salem one day. Enjoy a Horseshoe or a Cozy Dog in Springfield.

I meant to write a separate blog on this subject. Over Christmas we took my son and daughter-in-law to the Schlafly Bottle Works for a birthday dinner. Their menu featured a number of local producers and processors from the St. Louis area in support of the locally grown foods movement. It was cool to see a former customer of ours listed as a local supplier of pork. All the food was delicious. I recommend starting with a sampler of the beers.

State Fairs in Sedalia, MO and Springfield, IL both feature their states agricultural products and are just good fun.

I hope this gets you a good start Janice.

Sustainable Agriculture

2012-02-08T16:49:00.000-08:00

I attended a breakfast for agricultural leaders this morning at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, IL. The program was sponsored by their Green Initiatives Sustainability Program. I was mildly surprised that I knew so many of the participants.

The program was an open discussion on sustainable agriculture issues and how the college can support sustainable agriculture within their sphere of influence. To their credit they did not get into any discussion to speak of to define sustainability. It was interesting that there were no organic farmers in the group. L&CC would like to provide some kind of education program for farmers that relate to sustainability. There was no clear direction from the group as to what programs might attract and audience. I would like feedback from my readers if possible on that issue.

Some of the things that came up in the conversation were:

Nutrient Management
Regulatory Pressures
Cost of Implementing "Sustainable" Initiatives
Economic Issues
Social Media Usage
Precision Agriculture
Educating the Public
Promotion of Locally Grown Products
4R's Nutrient Management initiatives
Nitrogen Management
Soil Drainage
Why do we grow so much corn in Illinois (potential future blog)
Ag in the Classroom
Cellulistic Ethanol
Other biofuels
Unforeseen Consequences
Need to Educate Politicians

I am looking forward to seeing where this program goes. If the college can stick with offering solid information and steering away from telling farmers what to do it has potential.

Weather Spotter Class

2012-02-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

Last night I took the National Weather Service weather spotter class for the second time. I first took it because I spend so much time outdoors in the spring and wanted to have my reports accepted as factual. Yesterday's class was a refresher, but material cover was much more thorough than my past experience. Another difference was that a good bit of time was spent on safety. This brings me to the relationship with agriculture.

Most farmers are in the same place I am in the spring during prime tornado season. You are in the field when weather is threatening. You might not care to take the time to actually report what you see, but it would be good to know what you are seeing for your own safety. What does that dark cloud mean? Are those low hanging ragged looking clouds going to bring a tornado? The class was excellent.

In addition to reading the clouds, I justify my smartphone because of it's weather capabilities. On my phone, the accuweather mobile app seems to work the best. National Weather Service has lots more information than most other weather sites. I am looking forward to having them set up for mobile phones some day. I often look at radar to decide if I have time to finish the next field. I could go on and on about this topic, but you get the idea.

Measuring Pesticides

2012-02-06T10:08:00.000-08:00

Tom Bechman wrote a recent article on accurately measuring pesticides. For environmental and economical reasons, producers should make sure that pesticides are properly measured. Rates that are too low can contribute to pest resistance. Too high rates may contaminate the environment.

American Bison

2012-02-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

American Bison on Pasture North of Hillsboro

Agriculture lost a friend

2012-02-03T14:12:00.000-08:00

Today I must recognize the passing a personal friend and a friend of agriculture. Chuck Ellis died suddenly in his home on Wednesday afternoon. His obituary mentions his long years of service to agriculture as the manager of our local Farm Bureau Manager. Because he knew almost every farmer in Montgomery County, for many years he was called on to chair the nominating committee for the Montgomery County Soil and Water Conservation District. He was a good cook and his Bar B Q skills were well known.

He was a fine mentor to me as a young District Conservationist for Soil Conservation Service. He provided me with a confidential and non-judgmental sounding board. That is something difficult to find in this world.

It should go without saying that a man loves his family, but Chuck always spoke warmly of his children and grandchildren. His years of service to his community should tell you he loved humankind as well. Rest in Peace Chuck.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Composting Manure

2012-02-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

Why compost manure? Manure is nutrient rich as it is, but must be applied to organic fields at least 120 days before planting. Other reasons to compost manure are below.

Advantages

Concentrates Nutrients
Easier to transport
Composting Kills Parasites
Usable in organic systems.
Usable on land where food is grown for direct human consumption
Kills weed seeds
No odor when spread

Disadvantages

Loses about half the available nitrogen
Releases greenhouse gases
Need to have a composting area
Need to control rainfall runoff from the composting area
Difficult to do with liquid manure
Some manures might need a carbon source

University of Minnesota gives some good information on using compost and manure. It is a good idea to test manure or compost before applying so that you know what nutrients you have.

Coshocton Laboratory Closing

2012-02-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

Included in Secretary Vilsack's announcement of USDA closings was the closing of the Coshocton research laboratory in Ohio. I suspect that the decision may have been based on the number of employees displaced instead of logical reasoning. The laboratory has been a leader in soil erosion research and education since the 1930's. Key information was gathered at Coshocton concerning No-till farming, and the effectiveness of contour strips, nutrient management and cover crops. I hope the functions of the laboratory have been assigned to other facilities. The Coshocton Laboratory's contribution to sustainability in agriculture cannot be overestimated.

Narrow Row Corn

2012-01-31T16:12:00.000-08:00

Is narrow row corn the wave of the future. The reasoning behind narrow row corn is that we need to find a way to put more corn plants in an acre in order to push yields to higher levels needed to provide food, feed, and fuel to a growing population. Many think that this cannot be done with corn in the "standard" 30 inch rows. We have a number of customers who have experimented with some sort of narrower row system. 15 inch rows, 20 inch rows, and twin rows have all been used. No particular advantage or disadvantage has come to light, but the idea cannot be easily dismissed. Greg Sauder and Marion Calmer are both advocates of narrow row technology. No-Till Farmer recently published and interesting article on narrow rows.

River Transportation

2012-01-30T06:29:00.000-08:00

River transportation is an extremely important cog in the agricultural export system. getting the bounty of the land to market has been an issue since European Settlers began farming in the Midwest. Texas A&M University completed a study for the United Soybean Board documenting the condition of our river transportation system. The aging system seems to be causing more delays in shipping. There are no detours on the river. If something does not work there is no way around it. Truck and rail are not a substitute for river transportation because their capacity is so much less.

Winter in Tazwell County

2012-01-28T14:18:00.000-08:00

Staunton Wheat

2012-01-27T17:17:00.000-08:00

Wheat near Staunton looks good except for a few wet spots. We have more than enough moisture for now.

Crop Sensors for Nitrogen Management

2012-01-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

This article says that crop sensors can help in making nitrogen application decision on growing crops. There is no mention of using PSNT testing to calibrate the sensors, but it seems like a good way to go. Sensors have been used successfully often enough that they should be considered. The sensors in his article are chlorophyll sensors. Soil color sensors have also been experimented with. The theory on soil color sensors is that they will sense darker and lighter colored soils. Dark soils tend to be higher in nitrogen and therefor have more potential to release nitrogen.

Soil Organic Matter

2012-01-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

When we talk about soil health, we look at things like tilth, compaction, erosion, microbes, and etc. One easy indicator of soil health is organic matter levels. Check your soil test reports and see if organic matter levels are going up or down. Declining organic matter levels could indicate that you are doing too much tillage or removing too much residue. High yielding crops will help maintain organic matter and tilth.

For additional information check out this Crops and Soils magazine article. It covers many aspects of soil organic matter. One of the concerns in the magazine and one I have seen in other venues as well is the concern that removing crop residues for biofuels will lower soil organic matter. Some long term research is needed on the subject. It is possible that removing residue, but continuing to use no-till could maintain or reduce the amount of soil organic matter lost. Why? A good bit of the organic matter produced by the crop is in the roots. Not tilling the soil would reduce exposure to oxygen and slow down oxidation of organic matter. I am speculating here. That is why I am suggesting research.

Modern Marvels

2012-01-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

Modern Marvels is a documentary type program on the History Channel that covers much of the modern technology in our world. Today History Channel was running one hour episodes on wheat, rice, supermarkets, and agri-tech and genetic engineering behind nuts. I caught most of the wheat episode and some of the other 3. These episodes are well done and fairly well balanced. It is nice to such programming in the mainstream media. Episodes are available for download on Itunes.

Agricultural Drainage and the Environment

2012-01-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

Agricultural drainage often bears the blame for high nitrates in surface water and Gulf Hypoxia issues. These concerns are at least somewhat legitimate, but farmers are capable of addressing them. I am an advocate of drainage as a yield boosting production practice. I am also and advocate of proper nitrogen management. I recently ran across some estimates that as much as 20 of the nitrogen in surface water is from fall applied nitrogen. I our area, fall applied nitrogen has not been a great practice, but it is done. If you must, be careful not to over apply, and be sure that soil temperatures are cool enough. Use nitrification inhibitors. Cut rates and sidedress is the best way to go, but it leaves producers with a lot to do in a short time.

Another nitrogen management technique that is proven, but not widely implemented is the use of Bio-reactors. Tile lines are designed to release water into a bio-reactor. The bio-reactor consists of a carbon source such as wood chips. The wood chips help to filter out the excess nitrates before the water is released into the surface drainage system. For more information check out this link. Another practice that can remove nitrates from field runoff is filter strips.

Soil Web

2012-01-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

The SoilWeb App for smartphones has been around for a at least 2 years. It takes advantage of the GPS capabilities of the smartphone to give you an almost instant idea of what soil type you are standing on or driving over. It is only as accurate as the soil survey, but it might useful to help you recognize possible soil problems or issues.

The SoilWeb Data is also available for Google Earth on your desktop or laptop computer. The cool thing about having the data on google earth is that it is easy to use by panning across the landscape. When you stop, give it a minute catch up. Clicking on the labels will give you additional information about the soil types you are interested in. Another great feature is that you can overlay the soils on aerial photographs taken on different dates to see how the soil lines match up with photographic tones. The website link above also has additional information about this application that you might find interesting.

These applications do require an internet connection to be fully functional.

High Tunnel

2012-01-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Vegetable growers in the Midwest can capture early spring vegetable markets with High Tunnel Structures.

Agricultural Careers

2012-01-20T10:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday an article posted by Terence Loose on Useless Agriculture Careers gained a good deal of notoriety on twitter and maybe a number of other places. It seemed that some of us in agriculture took offense that he was singling out our careers as worthless. Maybe he was but I don't think so. He was just looking at some job growth projections that were negative. I think the projections were based on flawed logic rather than on any real notion of what is going on in the world.

Farming is getting more complex by the day. New technology comes out that looks promising, but we can't even find vendors who understand the equipment. Precision ag vendors just don't have enough competent and technically savvy people to provide needed service. Regulation seems to increase every time the Congress or state legislature is in session. Often production agriculture people need extra help to comply with new regulations.

The logic that farmers need less help as they grow bigger is very flawed. The new mega-farmers need more competent and well educated employees and consultants than ever. The above photo is a picture of the office of The Maschoff's a huge hog production farm about 50 miles south of me. Be sure to check out their careers tab. When I looked, they had 80 items available not including internship opportunities. Another bit of evidence concerning jobs in the ag sector was the fact that recent extension service meetings have been starting with a University of Illinois recruiting presentation. They are recruiting students because they have more companies looking for competent students than they have students to fill the jobs.

Many others have posted compelling figures about the availability and viability of agricultural careers so I do not need to redo their work. I respond to this article not because I am insulted, but because I want the United States to continue to have well educated agricultural researchers, consultants, and vendors so that we can continue to grow the least expensive food in the world.

What about developing countries? As the world population continues to grow, we need to be able to give developing countries the best production techniques possible. It is possible to implement modern practices even when using animals as the primary power source. I am also located near Illinois Amish Country. When I drive through that I area I am hard pressed to distinguish Amish farmed fields from others. I know I could learn something from them. I feel like I have much more to say, but I will leave it to some of the others who have also made well thought out responses to Mr. Loose.

Common Sense Agriculture tells us how to respond in a positive way.

Brandi Buzzard a Kansas State Student has written a good article that contains contact information for Mr. Loose.

Allen S. Levine does a good job refuting the information about the specific targeted jobs.

Ryan Goodman admits that the article struck his emotions, but he goes on to share lots of facts.

Jeremy Fair of the Farmer's Perspective makes some good points.

Southern Illinois No-Till Association

2012-01-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

Today I attended a seminar put on by the Southern Illinois No-Till Association in Pinkneyville. Expectations were exceeded by the valuable information presented. I also got to visit with some old friends. Steve Ebelhar discussed two topics of interest. First on the list was urease inhibitors. His research shows they work and pay for themselves. Some work better than others, so do a little research yourself. His presentation on nitrogen in wheat was very timely. His research shows that nitrogen applied in March is more effective than if it is applied in February.

Mike Plumer discussed Vertical Tillage. As I have pointed out before, some people are using one pass vertical tillage tools much to aggressively. He also pointed out that on Highly Erodible fields, Vertical Tillage may not control erosion as well as No-Till, so check with NRCS before you commit on those fields. He also had a general discussion on cover crops. I did not realize that Tillage Radish and Hairy vetch are being used in tandem.

Bryan Young discussed chemicals and Glyphosate resistance. A word of caution on Ignite/Liberty that I did not know. It is not as effective on Palmer Amaranth as we might like. I have seen some fields treated with Ignite that looked very clean, but I do not know their weed pressures. This is a little less positive than I have been. Soil applied residuals with different modes of action are definitely a part of the picture. He says to apply chemicals at full rates even if tank mixing or applying something else later.

Chris Evans made and excellent presentation on invasive species. I think I will write a separate blog on the topic.

Erosion Control with Native Vegetation

2012-01-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

Why not just plant tall fescue and be done with it. It meets my goal of establishing a persistent grass that keeps my soil covered at all times.

Native vegetation has the advantage of "fitting" in to the local ecosystem. We know our soils and climate are adapted to the native species. One of the problems we have in Illinois is that sometimes native species are slow to establish. We need to use temporary covers, mulches or mats to keep the soil in place on some steeper areas. We need to plant at the right time, and it pays to use native grass no-till drills or in extreme cases, hydroseeding. If possible, by local produced seed. If you are in Illinois, you are more likely to be sucessful with Illinioos grown seed. Retaining the original topsoil and top dressing could also help. Retaining topsoil preserves the microbes which can be critical for good nutrient extraction.

Native vegetatiioin is also generally better adapted to support wildlife than some of our traditional cool season grasses. If you want to enhance the land for specific species check for species and varieties to support the quail, pheasant or dove that you wish to have.

The July-August Issue of Erosion Control Magazine goes into great detail on establishing native vegetation.

Corn Usage

2012-01-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

So the information in this blog was far more difficult to find than I expected. I was hoping that USDA would have some data or charts that I could use to make my point. Lots of people seem to be concerned about the amount of corn that goes to non-food uses. Especially of concern is the amount of corn that goes to ethanol production. My contention would be that the demand dictates what farmers choose to produce. Somehow, economics seems to balance it all out. Right now the experts I listen to say that demand for corn will be strong. Since we have developed new uses for the crops we produce, world commodity prices have gone up. Looking at the charts above, it looks like the increase in ethanol production decreased our direct payment subsidies to farmers. Farmers and the public both say they want this. I also found it interesting that world soybean production has increased 5 fold since the 1970's, but not at the expense of corn production.

These charts are from Earth Policy Institute and they have lots of other interesting stuff to look at as well. I also found interesting information at an FAO site called FAOSTAT. EPA also had some good agricultural statistics which surprised me. I did find the raw data in some form or another, but it was hard to extract. Thanks to the organizations that did all the work compiling data. This current World Supply and Demand report contains some interesting data compiled by USDA. This report is blamed for recent drops in commodity prices, but I would blame traders that just read the headlines instead of really studying the report. While the accuracy of estimates could be questioned, the past data should be correct.

University Research

2012-01-16T14:37:00.000-08:00

Looking through my reading material today I found a publication on University of Illinois agricultural Research Centers. It is easy to complain about university research not being cutting edge, but I hope our politicians don't get the idea that we don't need it. All of our agricultural schools in Illinois are involved in research to some extent or another. You may recall I wrote recently about Dr. Joel Gruver's research on cover Crops at Western Illinois University. Illinois State University has a research center North of Bloomington. Southern Illinois University has research fields near campus and also participates in Research in Belleville and Dixon Springs.

University of Illinois has the South Farms and the Morrow plots in Urbana, but there are a number of other Centers around the state, St. Charles Horticultural Research Center looks at Vegetable crops and grape production. Northwestern Illinois Research Center at Monmouth has research being conducted in Soil Chemistry, Crop Production, and Weed Science among other things. Orr Center near Perry Has many crop science projects related to crop production Dudley Smith Farm is researching biofuels in Christian County. Brownstown Research Center has crop production research on 160 acres. I try to visit Brownstown regularly because the soils there are similar to the ones we work with. Dixon Springs is one of the largest research Centers (over 5000 acres) east of the Mississippi River. It is the home of much of the early work done with No-Till Farming in Illinois. There research on grazing is cutting edge. Many specialty crops are researched at Dixon Springs. It is a very impressive center. For more information.

Why do we need so many research centers? Illinois is variable in climate and soils. Crop Conditions are very different from Monmouth to Dixon Springs. Farmers need relevant and reliable research results from near the area where they farm. If you are a non-farm reader, please let your legislators know that you appreciate all their support for research into food production. We need to keep all these centers open.

Natural Snow Fence

2012-01-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

Notice how much snow this Eastern Gamma Grass has caught in front of the office in Shipman. This is a good demonstration of how well tall, warm season grasses will work as snow fence. Big Bluestem, Indian Grass, and switchgrass would perform just as well. It also provides some bit of shelter for wildlife.

Looking NW, South of the Butler T

2012-01-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

This is the new location for my "monthly" or as close as I can get to monthly crop progress photo. I am looking north from a hillside toward Illinois Route 16 between Hillsboro and Lichfield. A snowy day looked like a good way to begin the year. There are a large number of soils shown on the soil survey map. Douglas and Oconee are in the foreground. Herrick, Piasa, Virden, and Cowden are in the flat areas,

Pittsfield

2012-01-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

Took a trip to Pittsfield for a customer appreciation dinner last night. Snow was blowing like crazy. We had a good discussion with new clients and old. We had lots questions about Gypsum and Sulfur. Things we have been talking about for years are becoming hot topics. The main farming activity we observed was a number of people were filling trucks out of grain bins. Time to deliver on January contracts, or maybe just time to pay some bills.

The other ag related item of interest was the USDA grain report. It seemed to me that reactions to reports of "larger" supply were over the top. When you look at the numbers, it does not amount to much. I am always amazed at how fragile the market can be.

Palmer Amaranth

2012-01-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

Aaron Hager, weed scientist, is spending a lot of time at his winter presentations discussing Palmer Amaranth. Palmer Amaranth is the Osama Bin Laden of weeds. It seems to embody adaptability and aggressiveness in its growth patterns. This article is a good one to distinguish among Amaranth Species. Alan York, a South Carolina weed scientist says that if you were trying to design the perfect weed Palmer Amaranth would be what you would come up with. Of course with so many acres of crops relying only on glyphosate for weed control, the issue is glyphosate resistance. It should come as no surprise that a weed as closely related as it is to Water Hemp could develop glyphosate resistance. Monsanto's recommendations call for early control. Hager agrees saying that you might get a kill at three inches tall but not at six inches tall. The problem is that the weed can go from 3 to six inches in one day. He says a better plan is to use a soil applied residual herbicide early and follow-up with post emergents to clean up escapes. University of Arkansas is saying that we should have a Zero Tolerance Policy for Palmer Amaranth.

As with other resistant pests, rotating chemical families and modes of action should be helpful. It could certainly end up with resistance as well, but Bayer's Glufosinate-ammonium* previously sold as Ignite could be helpful. Remember that you need to have the genetics in your crop to use this product. I understand that this year Glufosinate-ammonium* may be sold as Liberty in the United States. It is still listed as Ignite on their web site. Ignite/Liberty is rated a 6 out of 10 on Palmer Amaranth. The good news is that Google will take you to lots of information on Palmer Amaranth.

It is interesting that Native Americans ate Amaranth as a one of their major food products. It is a high protein palatable product. If we were to decide to go this route, what kind of yields could we expect? How would we control it when we wanted to rotate to other crops? How would we handle this very tiny seed with our grain handling systems? It looks like we are a long way from eating this stuff in the near future.

Corn Soybean Classic

2012-01-11T15:03:00.000-08:00

They University of Illinois Agronomy and specialists used to do a county by county circuit to impart their wisdom during the winter. Some years ago, county attendance was dropping off and University Resources became short, so they went to regional meetings. Yesterday I attended the southern Illinois meeting in Mt. Vernon. Some of the links below are to blogs that I have previously written on the topic.

The day started with a discussion of farm drainage. Richard Cooke discussed Drainage Water Management and bio-filters. The Illinois Drainage Guide on line had a lot of information needed to make decisions about drainage including an economic analysis calculator. Click on Economics on the left and you should see a tab below that for the calculator. You may need to install some Visual Basic information to run it.

Gary Schnitkey discussed the relationship between corn and soybean prices and how that should affect decisions about what to grow. He said that prices currently lead us to grow more corn. I am not sure I would make that decision because of disease pressure and general issues related to yield reductions with corn on corn.

Aaron Hager discussed Palmer Amaranth. Look for a whole posting on that topic.

Carl Bradley discussed diseases. He spent a lot of time on Goss's Wilt which reared its ugly head this year. In general discussions about diseases would lead you to clean tillage and crop rotations. Right now the demand for corn leads you away from rotations. I would hate to see us return to clean fall tillage that puts soil in the air and fills our road ditches. There has to be a better way. Goss's Wilt is bacterial, so if you had Goss's Wilt in a field that would be a place to plant soybeans to break they cycle.

Mike Gray made a presentation on insect surveys completed during the growing season. He said Insect pressures seemed to be lower this year, but some new concerns have arisen, Everyone is concerned about the Bt resistance that has emerged. He suggested hybrids with more different resistance genes. Lots of people are pointing out the need for refuges. He is also concerned about three "new" insects. Two of which I have written about. Red Banded Stinkbugs and Brown Marmorated Stinkbugs ave been discussed in previous blogs. Red Shouldered Stinkbugs are also a concern. U of I would like to know if you find any of these. They have all been found in Illinois.

Fabian Fernandez discussed soil sampling and fertility. I have blogged on those topics a lot so I will not provide specific links. He even offered some explanation of zone sampling. A lot of what he showed us would lead you away from grid sampling, but he did not come right out and say that.

Emerson Nafziger discussed the yield lag in corn on corn. He said he thought that water and compaction were both culprits. I pointed out my evidence to that effect on July 18 . Disease pressure may also have been a factor.

They program seemed more of a look back than a look forward. I know that in farming we base our decisions on past experience. In addition, it is difficult to determine what will be the hot issues of 2012. Current information is important.

Mt Vernon

2012-01-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

I attended the extension service Corn-Soybean Classic in Mt Vernon today. The trip goes past lots of cropland and I was expecting to see some field work under way somewhere. We have heard about tillage, fertilizer application, spraying and other activities under way to take advantage of the warm weather. I did not see any of that. The program was fine. I will report on it later in the week. We did see some nice looking wheat.

Gypsum as a soil amendment

2012-01-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

Gypsum has been around as a soil amendment since the 18th century. It comes and goes in popularity. Right now we are getting a lot of questions about adding gypsum to soils. Is this a good idea? As with most things related to soil chemistry, it depends on what is already there. Gypsum is a good source of sulfur and calcium. It is NOT a liming material. Gypsum will not move soil pH at all.

So how do you decide whether or not you can benefit from using gypsum? What is your soil balance between calcium and magnesium? If you are high in magnesium, your soil could benefit from additional calcium to improve soil tilth, water infiltration and air movement. It does this by helping the clays to clump up (floculate). Water moves more easily through floculated clays. It is especially useful if your soils are high in clay.

In addition there is mounting evidence that gypsum can reduce soil erosion. If it improves water infiltration, it is bound to reduce soil erosion.

Soil sulfur levels seem to drop a bit each year. Sulfur is one of the essential nutrients for plant growth. If you are on sandy soils, if your sulfur test is low, or if you are seeing sulfur deficiency, you should be looking to add sulfur. Gypsom can be a good source of sulfur.

For additional information check out this article in Crops and Soils It is well done.

Farm Futures Summit Day 2

2012-01-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

Farm Futures Summit Day 2 offered two business tracks and one technical track. I stuck with the technical track. Kelly Robertson opened the day with a discussion about the pitfalls of precision agriculture. He spent much of his time talking about problems with yield. I have previously discussed the need for careful calibration in order to collect valid data. In addition, randomized plots are much better to collect research data than strip trials. Another common pitfall is ending up with more than one variable. One variable means that you will find out what you want to know. Kelly says also be sure to push the limits on your variable.

John Mcguire got into the nuts and bolts of what can be done to analyze your data. John suggests that the most important thing to look at in site specific farming is profitability. Any variable rate technology used should be used to fix a problem. If variability in fertility is not a problem in your fields, then there is no use applying fertilizer with variable rate.

Bruce Erickson's presentation went more along the lines of where we are headed. Some time was spent on ideal sizes for management zones. Erickson says that the size of effective management zones is limited by the spacial density of measurement or application whichever is greater. In other words, you cannot manage more closely than you can measure, and there is no need to measure any more closely than you can apply the technology.

All three speakers had a panel discussion. They suggested that the order of preference for implementation is, guidance systems, nozzle shutoffs and planter shutoffs, and lastly, yield monitors. They seemed to think that variable rate fertilizer fits in with the shutoff technology. Variable rate seeding and variable rate nitrogen may be difficult to implement at this time.

Moe Russell presented in the afternoon and shared some tools to look at areas to improve in management styles. Self analysis can be very difficult.

Old Planter

2012-01-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

This horse drawn 2 row corn planter caught my eye. Really looks nice. Silent Saturday

Farm Futures Summit Day One

2012-01-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

I spent the last 2 days in St. Louis attending the Farm Futures Summit put on by Farm Progress Publications. Why do I attend? You may have gathered that most of the meetings I attend are related to the technical aspects of production agriculture. This program concentrates more on the business aspects of agriculture. We had the opportunity to listen to some of the great thinkers.

One of the highlights was getting to meet some of my twitter friends. My favorite speaker was Dr. David Kohl of Virginia Tech. Dr. Kohl brings energy to any room he enters. His message was about the Trends and Issues that might affect agriculture in the coming years. He looked at the United States economy in comparison to some of the other economies in the world. We are stronger than many. Not as strong as some. He sees housing starts and Unemployment as the biggest negatives in the economy. He pointed out that many of the leading index's are pointed in the right direction.

Danny Klinefelter of Texas A&M discussed peer advisory groups.

Dick Wittman discussed ways of passing the farm business on to a new generation. He said that Ownership of land is a separate issue from management and labor needed to run the farm business.

The highlight of the conference is the Bear Pit panel after dinner. All the speakers field questions from the audience in the style of a townhall meeting. MC for the event was Max Armstrong. Land prices and the debate over a land bubble was a highlight of the bear pit. One of the speakers said " just because everyone is messing up does not mean they are not all wrong."

I hope to see more of you at this program next year.

Willie Vogt did a good job putting together a precision ag program. More on that Monday.

Prairie Burn

2012-01-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

I participated today in a Prairie Burn. Burning maintains and improves the warm season grasses. The weather was beautiful for the work, but we were in kind of a sheltered area and combined with plenty of soil moisture and not too much fuel, some areas did not burn as well as we would have liked. Grass roots will survive and hold the soil in place until it greens up in the spring. Fall and winter burns tend to help the wildflowers as well.

Treat Your Soybean Seed?

2012-01-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

I read an article today about soybean seed treatment. Soybean seed treatment has been encouraged by seed dealer, but some are still skeptical. The article in Prairie Farmer said that Purdue University researchers have 11 years of yield data that show about a one bushel increase in yield for treated seed. They point out that the yield increase will pay for the treatment. It would be nice to do better than that, but it may be one of those things where the insurance may not help every year, but in the year that is is needed it could pay off well.

I have an anecdote from a customer who had a field where soybean yield were over 10 bushels per acre different from one side of the field to the other. He thought on the issue for a long time to figure out what caused the difference. His conclusion was that the better soybeans had seed treatment that the rest of the field did not get. It was a poorly drained field where water stood for a week after planting. Seed treatment results seem to show an advantage in poorly drained soils.

Happy 2012

2012-01-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

Cover Crops seem to be a hot topic for 2012. I was going to give you a link to January Prairie Farmer but it is not posted. The good news in the article is that NRCS is helping cost share on an annual commitment.

I hope you get a chance to read more. Dan Towery is one of the best agronomists I know. He is a big believer especially in Annual Ryegrass.

Using legume cover crops is a great way to protect your soil and get some "free" nitrogen as well. Keep in mind that in order to maximize nitrogen recovered from legumes, no-till is the way to go. Tilling adds oxygen to the soil and speeds up nitrification and de-nitrification.

Grass cover crops my have advantages to your operation. Here is a link to using Annual Ryegrass cover crops. Tillage radishes are great in No-till situations. Penn State has some great results with Tillage Radishes.

My choice for blogs to look at again.

2011-12-31T13:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my blogs that I consider well written, but did not have huge readership. If you missed them check them out. Have a great Holiday. New Blog Monday.

Soil Surveys and Precision Agriculture

Soil Surveys and Precision Agriculture - 2

Midwest Fruit IPM final Report

Postal Service in Rural America

Soybean Inoculation

Top Five Photographs this Year

2011-12-30T16:58:00.000-08:00

Door County Cherries

Farm Progress show

Difference that soil type makes

Winter in Montgomery County

Mississippi River From Danzinger's Vinyard and Winery, Alma, WI

Correction of Imagery for soil mapping

2011-12-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

I just read an article entitled "Considerations for atmospheric correction of Surface Reflectance for Soil Survey Application" by Matthew Levi and Craig Rasmussen. It was published in Soil Survey Horizons. Methodology is available to adjust photo tones that may be "off" because of camera angle, sun angle, and clouds. The authors had trouble getting the whole system to work because their images did not meet all the parameters required for correction.

My take on this issue is that it is possible on many circumstances to use a number of images to make decisions about soil line placement and soil boundaries. How is this done? The miracle of Google Earth. Google Earth has a large number of images available. Not all significant features show up in images every year. I have been successful in identification of significant soil features by examining a number of different images. The miracle of this is that Google Earth is available at no charge. Features can be digitized and saved as KML or KMZ files. A good GIS such as Global Mapper can import the KML or KMZ files so you can make them a part of soil management zones.

Relying on only one image for designation of management zones can be misleading. Multiple images can be useful in identifying problem areas. Camera angle, crop cover, time of day and time of year can all affect the usefulness of remote sensing data. In addition, some data is only useful on the day it was recorded. Infrared comes to mind. Timing is everything in Infrared for ag interpretations.

Top Blogs in 2011

2011-12-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

These are my top blogs in terms of page views. A lot of the traffic is based on links and Re-tweets. Thanks to my readers for helping me out.

July 17 Toughbook Update
February 12 Silos
March 8 Wheel Trencher
August 31 Vertical Tillage at Farm Progress Show and September 1 Vertical Tillage at the Farm Progress Show 2
March 21 Contrasting Soils

Corn on Corn

2011-12-27T14:03:00.000-08:00

I just read some articles about the poor performance of corn following corn in some areas this year. This should come as no huge surprise. One of the things that researchers track long term is continuous corn and corn on corn rotations. Results usually indicate something like a 10% yield hit. I have heard lots of people say they do not have that problem, but 6 years in a row with even performance and then a year with a 60 or 70 bushel hit would certainly set your average back at any yield level. Does this mean you should not grow long term corn. Certainly you should consider the consequences. We have one customer who has grown corn continuously since 1954. Am I going to tell him to switch off? I don't think so. I look at what he is doing. He maintains high soil test levels. He has well tiled fields. I bet he watches which hybrids work best in continuous corn. If you decide to go for it, do so with realistic expectations. If you can't stand the risk, then switch to a corn soybean rotation.

Litchfield Overpass in Review

2011-12-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

January 15

February 18

March 29

May 5

May 30

June 16

July 8

September 2

October 6

November 9 I am more proud of this series in retrospect that I was as I did it. The photos were taken through the year from the first I-55 overpass North of Litchfield, Illinois. As I look in review, I am thinking I need to find another place to give an overview of the passing of the seasons in farming. I actually started the series in December of 2010, but left that one out as it is the wrong year. You can still find it in the archive. I do wish that I had a good mid-August picture, but I was in Missouri most of August.

Meramec Caverns Barn

2011-12-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

These barns used to be more common, but there are still farmers willing to to use the Barn or Barn roof as a billboard This one is along I-55 North of Edwardsville. Have a Wonderful Christmas. Probably no new posts till Monday morning. Looking at some kind of year in review next week.

Nutrient Management

2011-12-22T14:07:00.000-08:00

Illinois Soybean Association posted this information about updated nutrient management standards by NRCS. I cannot improve on the information, so just check it out.

Irrigation water management

2011-12-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

I found the Link to this video on Agriculture.com. Most places in the Midwest, we are blessed that we can grow wonderful crops without irrigation. Some sandier soils can benefit from irrigation, but we do not really have issues with supply in the groundwater. Some parts of Illinois do not have any reliable aquifer, but in the major river bottoms water is plentiful.

Weather Extremes

2011-12-20T14:33:00.000-08:00

This year brought us the unfortunate experience of extreme wet and extreme dry and hot. An article in Scientific American says we can expect more of the same. It is interesting to see what "experts" think about our weather and climate.

Deep Banded Fertilizer

2011-12-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

Lots of people are using various methods in applying fertilizer in bands. People we are in touch with have found that it offers no real advantage in yields. University of Illinois researchers have found the same thing. Prairie Farmer has published the results recently. Environmental benefits may go to the banding in strip tilled fields. As Phosphorous levels increase in the soil surface, so do the chances that dissolved phosphorous will get into surface water.

What happens when corn residue is harvested

2011-12-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

When crop residue is removed from fields, what happens to fertility levels. Residue removal certainly has a number of implications. Harvesting silage, baling stalks, and removing residue for biofuels, all have implications for soil quality and fertility. Crop residue partially replaces nutrients removed from the soil. Properly managed, the residue can also contribute to the maintenance of soil organic matter. Both are important to maintain soil health. Organic matter provides a slow release nutrient bank and helps maintain the tilth of our soil. While I continue to stand by the need for soil testing, it is important to consider how much is lost by harvesting stover along with grain in the corn crop. This article from Iowa State give you some ideas to consider about what is lost when corn residue is removed. Don't rely just on nutrient removal charts to make your fertilizer decisions. A strong soil testing program is a necessity in all fertility decisions.

Livingston County Courthouse

2011-12-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

Livingston County Courthouse in Pontiac, IL has a beautiful Civil War Memorial.

Low yields and fertility

2011-12-16T18:29:00.000-08:00

I recently read and article on soil fertility and drought. It really applies to any low yield situation. Generally, nutrients applied and not used by the crop, should be available nest year. I would urge caution in counting on unused nitrogen being available. If you think nitrogen might be available you should use a presidedress nitrate test to determine how much additional nitrogen to apply. In our program we encourage annual testing for other nutrients. With close monitoring, you will have confidence in your nutrient levels.

Sidney OH

2011-12-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

We travelled from Hillsboro to Sidney, OH today. Soils looked very wet as we road across Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Driving around a bit in Ohio. IT has been very wet fall and we saw corn still in the field and full wagons waiting to be unloaded. It makes me grateful that we have been able to finish harvest for the most part in Illinois. Creeks are running bank full and in some cases flooding for the whole trip.

Charting soil fertility

2011-12-14T14:12:00.000-08:00

Today I am working on fertility charts for one of our customers who likes to keep close track of the trends in his fields. It is a bit time consuming because the data has to be lined up correctly in a separate spread sheet before I copy and paste it into the spread sheet that makes the charts. If you soil test less than yearly, I am not sure how useful the charting would be.

Bio-tech yields

2011-12-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

A study on biotech yields suggests that yields with biotech are not much better than yields without biotech. This is somewhat surprising, but it is interesting that our hybrids have huge yield potential even without bio-tech. The real importance of biotech is, how much did it save us on insecticide use? How much fuel did it save? How much soil did it save? The soil savings especially as a result of roundup ready must be large. Roundup ready allowed the producers to no-till much easier and at lower cost than past products. It is too bad that the product is no longer effective in all situations. It is time to move on to Liberty link genes or go back to residual chemicals where resistance is a problem.

Variable Rate Lime

2011-12-11T15:19:00.000-08:00

I read an article about variable rate lime today. One of the first uses of variable rate technology that you might want to consider is variable rate liming. Soil pH controls the availability of all the essential nutrients to one extent or another. I sometimes use maps like the one about to illustrate the need for variable rate lime. In general what happens on full coverage applications is that some areas get too much lime and some the right amount, or some areas get the right amount and some areas not enough. The map above shows that in general, the slopes have not gotten enough lime because they have higher clay content which in turn gives them a higher exchange capacity. Higher exchange soils need more lime to move the pH. Over time, a situation as shown above can develop.

Even if you do not have the equipment yourself, hiring someone to spread your lime by variable rate should pay off in savings on materials and in better crops through more favorable soil conditions.

Barns

2011-12-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

As a rule, I do not take barn photos. Everyone does barn photos and I cannot improve on that body of work. Today's photos come from Macoupin and Dekalb County. I photograph falling down barns because they pique my interests and thoughts. Barns were the center of the American farmstead until maybe the 1960's. They were built for their versatility and to support the diversity of animals and crops that were a part of farming. When I see a barn that has fallen down or is in terrible disrepair I am curious as to what happened. Especially when I see large barns like these. These barns look to have been part of a once prosperous operation. What happened?

Dekalb Trip

2011-12-09T14:42:00.000-08:00

I took a trip north to deliver a Christmas Gift to my son and daughter-in-law. Because I had some time to knock around, I visited Eureka on the way north. I ended up wishing I had time to take pictures on the way north because there were some great potential shots along Route 117. My ride home I took another sidetrip of sorts down route 23 out of Dekalb. The overnight dusting of snow allowed me to take this contrasting photo near the Dekalb-Lasalle County line. I had the time and inclination to take lots of corn crib pictures along the way. I traveled on to Ottawa, Streator and Pontiac to the end of Route 23. It could certainly compete for the title of the "Heart of Illinois Corn Country Route."

Postal Service in Rural America

2011-12-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

Rural America is facing something of a crisis in reduced services and close post offices. There is nothing new in history concerning the closing of post offices. A familiar history of Monroe County, Illinois called Arrowheads to Aerojets documents the opening and closing of post offices in that little county. Recently a small community in our county had their post office closed. I had used that little post office in the past and the service was excellent. After January 1 a number of other post offices face closure.

I continue to use the postal service to ship soil samples because of the convenience of having shipping points all over and also because of the competetive rates offered by flat rate boxes. Yes UPS and FEDX provide excellent service as well, but I hate to have to call for pickup and face an extra charge. It seems to me that postal service needs someone to look closely at how to continue to provide its service in a business like manner. The Citizens of the United States are it's stockholders. Just like any other business, the Postal Service needs to find a way to keep our shipping and first class mail moving. It is an amazing bargain to think that you can put an envelop in a mailbox and have it shipped all over the country for $.44. It would be a bargain at twice the price. Maybe we will be paying twice the price if the Postal Service is privatized. What would Ben Franklin think?

Nutrient Removal App

2011-12-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

A nutrient removal app was recently introduced. The app is free, and free sums up what it is worth. What good is it to know how much was removed from your soil if you do not know what was there to start with? Removal charts are based on averages. They are not based on the reality of what happens in your field and in your soil. So load up the app if you want to play with it, but don't forget the soil test is still the most important part of your fertility program. When you can get an accurate soil testing app, then you might have something.

Winter Meetings

2011-12-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

Today seemed like the first day of winter for a lot of reasons. One is that I was reviewing my continuing education for my certifications. In the past year I have accumulated a lot of hours because of the Midwest Fruit IPM class I took. In addition, I went to a number of other classes that are continueing education. Some count and some do not. I am looking ahead to this winter and what opportunities are out there. I am sure one of the highlights of the winter meeting grind will be Farm Futures Summit in St. Louis. I just got my notice of Illinois CCA meeting coming up. I went last year and it was not too bad. It is open to the public too. Illinois Corn Soybean Classics are coming in January. Topics have some appeal to me. I need to register soon if I am going. Illinois Soil Management Seminar is one I went to last year. If you are a Livestock Manager with over 300 animal units, you need to attend one of these seminars around the state once in 3 years. I am interested in the 2012 Specialty Growers Conference on January 11-13, but can't find a full agenda.
Illinois Grape Growers is also coming up. I hope to see some of you at some of these meetings. I will probably attend a few vendor meetings as well.

Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan

2011-12-05T15:04:00.000-08:00

I just finished my final exam for a class I took in Comprehensive Nutrient Management Planning (CNMP). The final exam was a plan that covered a dairy farm and 2 fields totaling 48 acres or so. The CNMP's are written to help livestock farmers make decisions about facilities management and manure management. They are required to be in writing for CAFO's (Confined Animal Feeding Operations with over 1000 animal units. Smaller producers must still follow all the rules, but the pans do not need to be in writing unless they want USDA cost sharing to make improvements to the operation.

The plan I wrote was 40 pages long. Who reads this stuff? NRCS has invented a Producer Activity Document that is only 13 pages long. It is supposed to be for the producer. 13 pages? Still too long in my mind. I have condensed it down to 2 pages for my customers in the past. One sheet shows how much manure to apply to which fields and when. The other sheet shows how much fertilizer to apply to which fields and when. To me the most important part of the plan is keeping soil test p to date to make sure that nutrients are not over applied. Controlling soil loss is also an important part of nutrient management.

In addition to the effort required to produce the long document, I am concerned that a producer could hold me liable if he thinks he is doing what I told him to do and he creates some sort of spill or other environmental disaster. I am not sure that I will ever do another plan like this as a consultant.

Nitrogen Management

2011-12-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite topics is on tonight. No-till Farmer talks about growing a corn crop without nitrogen. The title is misleading because the producer used cover crops as his nitrogen source instead of fertilizer nitrogen. The fact that he grew 190 bushel corn using cover crops is certainly remarkable. There is no listing of yields where nitrogen was added. There is no mention of soil N tests or stalk N tests. I would like to see data when something like this is published.

My friend Kelly Robertson also discussed the cropping season as relates to nitrogen on his Blog. Kelly got his best results on sidedressing. Kelly does a simple cost analysis that shows the value of using the correct nitrogen management.

No system will work perfectly in any given year, but some N testing, some tissue testing, and taking some time to look at the results would be worth the time spent. All this proves is that nitrogen management is not as easy as it looks, and that there is not a one size fits all plan that is foolproof.

Year to Date Rainfall

2011-12-03T16:08:00.000-08:00

Springfield has been reporting below average rainfall for the year. It did not seem possible to me so I checked out NOAA records. The above map from NOAA shows above average precipitation in our area although Springfield is certainly blow average. South and east of us is even more above average. The gray areas are average. Does any of this correlate well with crop yields? I think our southern neighbors took a pretty big yield hit in corn because of the high rainfall. I am not sure how the dry weather to the north affected crop yields.

Brush Cleanup

2011-12-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

It was kind of a mundane sounding thing today but my brothers and I along with my son cleaned up parts of trees that had fallen into fields. Many of our fields are surrounded by trees. If we don't clean them up, we lose acreage. I know it does not sound like much, but it is a continuous encroachment if we let it go. We worked hard, but it was also an enjoyable family get together. I am not sure I have ever cleaned up brush with my youngest brother. This is just one of those winter time jobs on the farm.

December Weather and Crop Report

2011-12-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

Crops must be 100% done. I know even our local laggards are done. There are still a significant number of reports of topsoil moisture being short. That is really hard to believe now. When I sampled on Monday, topsoil was saturated in my area.

Wheat condition is over 80% good and excellent. It also looks like everyone planted all the wheat they wanted to. It will be interesting to see how this works out. I have not seen any bad looking wheat.

Don't you hate when this happens?

2011-11-30T14:39:00.000-08:00

Thankfulness

2011-11-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

By Randy Darr - President - Soil-Right Consulting Services, Inc.

October first of this year Soil-Right celebrated its 25^th year in business. My goodness that makes me feel old. Over the last couple of months on the days when things were going well, I have had the chance to think back on the struggles of starting a business fresh out of college, the joys of success, the disappointments of failures, raising a family along with all of the other activities of living. This evening I had the unfortunate task of attending the visitation for a long time client. It wasn’t one of those tear jerking events of a person passing to the next life too soon. It was a client in his 80’s who had lived a good life, raised a large family of good people. He took a chance many years ago and started a machinery company. Now it is one of the largest dealerships in the area. His sons and grandsons are running the operation now along with their farm.

The reason I mention this is because 25 years ago Walt was the first client that I began working with that called me first. I was green and hardly knew what a crop consultant was, but, he trusted me to help him. I will always have a special appreciation for him and his family. I am so thankful for the friendships that I have been able to make through this adventure of helping people get and keep their soil right. I am most thankful for being in an industry where more often than not people care about each other. Agriculture is the greatest industry in the world, where people care and friendships are long lasting.

Carpe Diem,

Randy Darr, CPCC-I, TSP

Staunton and Sorrento

2011-11-28T14:07:00.000-08:00

I had 2 small patches to finish sampling in the Staunton and Sorrento area today. The ground was firm enough because it was not tilled, but it was very wet. The soil wetness made it seem like spring sampling. One field I sampled was where a client tried some narrow row corn. I think he had to wait on someone to harvest it. The other client, I talked to a bit. He was pleased with yields over all, but they did not sound great. He did have some wheat that made 50 bushel in June and then he double cropped with soybeans and had 37 bushel soybeans. He should have made some money there.

Forms of nitrogen fertilizer

2011-11-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

We sometimes are asked to name our favorite form of nitrogen fertilizer. I don't have a particular favorite, because each form has its advantages and disadvantages. Will a particular form guarantee higher yields? I probably cannot guarantee that. Some forms have distinct advantages for certain uses or methods of application. AY-204 is a 1986 Bulletin from Purdue University that is still relevant. It does a good job of covering the various forms. It does not discuss manure or compost as a nitrogen source. Organic forms such as manure and compost, add microbes and other nutrients that can make them a superior nitrogen source, but the nitrogen is the same no matter what source. The nitrogen is the most available for plant growth in the nitrate form. Microbes get the nitrogen to the nitrate form.

Farm Sale

2011-11-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

I attended a farm sale in Monroe County today. 717 acres sold at auction. 619 acres of it, about 580 tillable,brought over $6500 per acre and all sold to one bidder. about 340 acres of it was pretty good farmland for the Mississippi River bottoms in that area. The rest of it was very wet. Crops have been limited in that wet ground in the last 4 years. 98 acres unprotected by levees sold for a little over $2100 per acre. Compared to $10,000 per acre land in the Illinois Prairie, this sale was probably about comparable. There were over 200 in attendance, but only about 40 had bid numbers. A very limited number of people were bidding. One or 2 more serious bidders could have driven the price up a bit by putting in higher bids on the better ground. The farmland part of it was bought by local people. I am not sure about the hunting land. The seller's agent seemed happy with the price.

Precision Conservation

2011-11-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

I just got my latest edition of Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. The issue features "Recent Advances in Precision Conservation." The idea of precision conservation is not a new one. The father of soil conservation, Hugh Hammond Bennett invented the Land Capability Classification System in order to show how each acre of land has a limitations for particular uses. Precision Conservation follows in the footsteps of Dr. Bennett's work. He would be proud to see that his ideas live on and are still being refined by modern ideas and technology.

Monroe County, Illinois

2011-11-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

This is a view of the Fountain Creek Bluff Near Fountain Gap in Monroe County, IL. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. See You Late Friday.

Farming the Averages

2011-11-22T13:55:00.000-08:00

Since I began consulting, I have become more aware that we farm the averages. What do I mean? Corn after corn has a 5 to 10% yield drag over corn after soybeans. That is on average. Some growers are successful in maintaining good yields on those conditions. No-till corn seems to take a bit of a yield hit, but good no-tillers don't take the hit. 30 inch row soybeans take a 10% yield hit over narrow row soybeans. Why are there so many 30 inch rows? If you look at most research results you will see a scatter to some extent on the raw data. What might all this tell you? If you are looking at a certain practice, you might be able to make it work on your farm even if research shows it is not the best on average. One use for your yield monitor might be to do some on farm strip trials. Be sure to calibrate them well. You may need to do some manipulation to get the results to display properly.

Greatest Tractor of all time?

2011-11-21T19:28:00.000-08:00

Agriculture.com is running a greatest tractor of all time contest. Click here to check it out.

Small Machinery

2011-11-20T14:45:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we think that only large farmers can use the latest in farming methods. The inline ripper below has 3 shanks so that it can be pulled by a smaller tractor. It is not exactly new, but it is modern.

Horseradish

2011-11-19T14:23:00.000-08:00

I know I have mentioned horseradish before. Collinsville, IL bills itself as the horseradish capital of the world. There was a time when 80% of the United States Horseradish was produced within a few miles of Collinsville. The production has been reduced a bit. The production area has also expanded a bit, but still most horseradish produced in the United States is grown within 50 miles of Collinsville. The part we eat on our prime rib and in our shrimp cocktail is a large root below the ground. It is ground up for the tangy condiment. You can celebrate horseradish at the International Horseradish Festival.

Increase soybean yields

2011-11-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for improvements to make to your farm for next year? One of the things you should consider is narrow row soybeans. No-till Farmer has compiled recent research data that shows a yield advantage to soybeans in rows of 15 inches or less. This confirms past research showing similar results. I know that some people don't like the uneven spacing in drilled beans, but soybeans are much more adaptable to uneven spacing than corn.

Silage Blower 2

2011-11-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

Contrast this with the Blizzard I loaded a few days ago. It uses a power takeoff to run the fan that pushes the silage into the silo. It is also on rubber tires instead of steel.

Longhorns in Illinois

2011-11-16T16:35:00.000-08:00

I ran across some Texas Longhorns today near Brighton, IL. They are located on a small ranchette that also has alpaca and goats.

Irving-Witt-Nokomis

2011-11-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

I finished up mapping and sampling a new customer today close to home. Lots of anhydrous ammonia is being applied. Temperature and moisture are good for now. A wet spring plays havoc with fall applied nitrogen. Wheat is looking good in the area, but that is not unusual. Spring is the critical time for wheat. Disease control is critical.

The Birds!

2011-11-14T20:01:00.000-08:00

Much like the Alfred Hitchcock movie, the birds were thick on this field. We pulled in to our customer near Freeburg and there were blackbirds everywhere. It looked like most were grackles, but we could see a few redwing blackbirds and undoubtedly, there were some starlings. As we rode across the field on the 4 wheelers, they seemed to stay about 75 yards away. In the corn fields, it was not so obvious just how many there were. On the more bare soybean stubble as below, they were easy to see. In some of the bare trees, the blackbirds made it look like the trees had leaves.

Old Silage Blower

2011-11-13T16:04:00.000-08:00

Check out this old silage blower I noticed today. I am curious as to how long it has been there. I have been coming to this farm for 5 years, several times a year, and i just noticed it. It has steel wheels and was driven by a belt pulley on a tractor. I love the name. Blizzard.

Ed Scholz, @scsfs , provided the following information via Twitter. 4 those who may not know-the corn was brought to the "Blizzard" whole-the "Blizzard" then chopped it and blew it into silo! neat!

Night Sampling

2011-11-12T15:27:00.000-08:00

With Standard time in order and shorter days, I recently ran out of daylight trying to finish sampling a customer. The headlights showed the way across the field and the GPS kept good track of my location. Still seemed a little dangerous with ruts and rills in my path. A curious neighbor came out to see what was going on too.

Turnips

2011-11-11T15:16:00.000-08:00

I ran across this small field of turnips today. They will be used for winter grazing after the cattle ore done grazing corn stalks. Turnips are planted after corn or in the corn as early in the fall as possible. Note also, the solar panel being used to electrify the fence.

Chambersburg

2011-11-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

I went north today. Harvest is virtually done. Wheat is sowed. Nitrogen is being applied, in fact that was the main farming activity observed. Keep in mind that only 2 forms of nitrogen should be used in the fall. Ammonium Sulfate and Anhydrous Ammonia are the only forms that are safe to apply in the fall north of Illinois Route 16. All others contain nitrates which are subject to leaching. Di-ammonium Phosphate is also used in the fall mainly as a Phosphate source, but the nitrogen content should be considered in the overall amount of nitrogen applied.

November at the overpass north of Litchfield

2011-11-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

This completes a year of Litchfield overpass photos. They demonstrate the cycle of farming in south central Illinois. They were taken all in the same general direction off of the first overpass north of the Litchfield exit on I-55. This photo shows that tillage is fairly typically done on half or more of the land in our area in the fall. You may also be able to see the ditch cleanout work along the dark line in the middle of the picture. Drainage is much needed to produce our bounteous crops in this area.

Farm Bill

2011-11-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

Work on the new farm bill is well underway. I hope the farmers in my audience are tracking it better than I am. We like to think that our commodity groups and farm organizations are looking out for us. There is power in groups representing large constituencies, but there is also power in the individual. I am not sure what kind of ratio congressmen use, but I have heard from several that letters, emails, and phone calls from individuals weigh much more heavily than contacts from groups. Congresspersons expect to hear from groups, but when individuals get involved, that adds more weight to opinions. Learn what is going on in the debate and then get a hold of the guys who will be voting for you. Keep in mind that many of them will be home for Thanksgiving and will have office hours. Meantime, here is an update from one source. Check it out and track down more information. Also, do not hesitate to call on your farm and commodity groups for updates. I am sure there are many who blog on farm policy. One good one listed to the right is Farm and Ranch Country by Bill Graff. See what Bill and others are saying.

Deer Track

2011-11-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

The owners of this farm are managing it for trophy. Judging from the deer track below, they are having some success.

Nitrogen Management 2011

2011-11-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

With many people using fall applied anhydrous ammonia, now is a time of year to stop and ask what you are doing and why. This article on 20 ways to save on nitrogen is interesting. Some of the 20 items are contradictory, but it just shows there are different ways to manage nitrogen. One thing they do not mention is nitrogen testing. I believe you should do at least some testing to at least learn what is happening with nitrogen in your soils.

Field Fire

2011-11-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

I spotted this field fire on Wednesday. It was contained by tillage. You can see one of the tractors on the right.

Eldred

2011-11-04T17:25:00.000-07:00

I worked near Eldred today. Harvest seemed pretty much over in the Illinois River bottoms. I saw fields with nitrogen applied and a few nurse wagons on the road. It seems a bit early, but soil temperatures have been holding at 50. Use nitrification inhibitors. We see lots of nitrogen loss when we test in the spring, so really do not like fall applied nitrogen.

Old Stuff

2011-11-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

This is a wagon lift that was used to lift the front wheels of a wagon to dump corn into an elevator that conveyed it into the corn crib. It had a pulley drive that attached by a long wide belt to the belt drive on a tractor. Often the tractor was one that had to be started by hand by turning the exposed flywheel. you can see grape vines growing up the cables that lifted the wagon.

Wheat condition

2011-11-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

Wheat is looking good this fall. The picture below is in the American Bottoms between Valmeyer and Columbia.

Big Red Tractor

2011-11-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

This tractor with chisel plow was stopped by the side of the road. Lighting was good and it was not moving, so an easy shot.

Weather and Crop Report

2011-10-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today's weather and crop report says 89% of corn is harvested and 94% of soybeans. This seems pretty close to what I have seen. The farm I was on today had double crop soybeans done, but 50 acres of full season soybeans and 30 acres of corn left to harvest. Temperature and precipitation are below average. Today's soil temperature was 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so Nitrogen is a go for those who cannot wait. It is still early, so go with nitrification inhibitors for sure.

Nutrient Removal.

2011-10-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

I recently received an article about using nutrient removal rates to calculate fertilizer needs. It is an old concept that should be put to rest. We find that a better concept is "what is the fertility of the soil, and is it enough to get through seasonal variations and produce a top yielding crop?" Nutrient removal also does not necessarily take into account variations within the field, although some people are looking at yield maps to determine fertility needs. Looking at yield maps does no good unless you already know where your fertility levels are. Also, keep in mind that the soil does not always do what the book says it will. The best way to determine fertilizer needs is a good soil testing program.