Field Day Frenzy

Today was fantastic, unbelieveable, I just can't explain all that it was.  Dr. Huber gave one of the best talks I've ever heard him give.  It was complicated yet simple, replicated many times but right on target.  He talked about the 20 minerals plants need and why they are or are not getting them.  You really had to be there to understand but I warned you, didn't I?  After three talks I wondered if anyone appreciated them anymore than I did.  It was like the summary of my search for truth in agriculture the past 40 years.

Every field in 440 miles of my travel to Field Day Frenzy was dead or dying but these fields were near maturity also but not dead and dying.  They were green from top to bottom.  Don't get me wrong, there is Goss's Wilt in the corn and Keith can't hide it.  No one can, it is everywhere in the industry.  But his "bandaids," yes Jerry I said bandaids have increased his yield and crop health in a profitable way.

Then my friend Dr. Richard Cooper gave his presentation on semi dwarf soybeans.  That man did something in th 70's no one else ever had, cross the best soybeans from the north from the best soybeans from the south.  The result was he broke 100 bushel soybeans many times in the last 40 years.  That is something I don't anyone else did.

His reward?  Nice job Dick Cooper but we think it's time for you to retire now.  I know the extreme rejection and disappointment.  It is like correlating soybean yields to calcium levels for seven years and having your work rejected.  Then, 40 years later it turns out you were on to something that agriculture is really talking about today!  Or worse, finding cures for major human disease and be shunned by big money.

Dr. Cooper reminded me we were farther ahead in soybean research 40 years ago than we are today!  It was melancholy but fit right in the days teaching.  What is best for your farm?  What is the next thing you need to work on?  Non GMO?  Weed Control?  Calcium?  Balance of the 20 minerals needed by plants?  We have much work to do!

You know it as soon as you turn onto the field day site.  Here is green corn with erect ears planted early May right across the road from brand name corn that is almost ready to shell.  It won't make half as much corn as the corn in Keith's field and I watched three fellows study Keith's corn and walk across the road and look at the neighbor's.  The whole deal took almost an hour.  It is fun to watch farmers truly discover.

Dr. Cooper did great considering a TV crew was setting up lights for Dr. Kindness talk.  It turned out to be a PBS crew because they were taping his presentation!  I thought you little Scottsman, I didn't know you were an Internation speaker.  He truly gave an International presentation.  It alone was worth driving 440 miles but so were Dr. Huber and Dr. Cooper.

Amy Bandy gave the best presentation I ever heard a crop scout give.  I am not exaggerating, these presentations proved Field Day Frenzy is the very top of the nation for agricultural advancement.  I admit I had conversation with all the speakers more than one time this past year so you might consider me biased.  I feel I am not.

I just wanted to give you a feel for this once in a lifetime field day before my battery runs out.

More soon....

Ed Winkle

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Iowa

We are back to our favorite state of Iowa.  Why don't we live in our favorite state?  It's because we rooted too deeply in Ohio.  With six children and twelve grand children in Ohio, Ohio is our home.

As soon as I pulled into the field day site last night, there were only four hybrids signed.  Those were four I brought last spring!  They look awesome, green from top to bottom but the whole plot does.  The ears are still all upright but are all dented, too.  I wonder what in the world the are going to say about them?

I will plant all four and two more next spring unless I find something better.  They mid to full season hybrids that always perform well on my farm and in my region.  I don't have near the soil or soil fertility as this old Mississippi river ground does but I am getting closer.  Funny to have that kind of soil on top of a hill!

I hope the talks are all written down because I know I can't write fast enough today.

I wish you could be here too and I hope some of you are.

Ed Winkle

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Ag Research?

"Investments in agricultural research has a high return on investment and is necessary for a solution to feeding a growing world population on limited resources, so why is Farm Bill funding for R&D shrinking?

Julian Alston, agricultural and resource economics professor at the University of California-Davis, spoke about the challenge to provide safe, affordable food for a world population expected to reach 8.9 billion by 2050 during the 2013 Congressional Assistants Tour, hosted by K-State Research and Extension Aug. 29-30.

While the growing population expectation is a primary concern for producers, Alston raised additional concerns of competing demands for land and water, competing demands with biofuels, a changing climate, and co-evolving pests and diseases.

The good news is agriculture has been profitable enough the last ten years that research has perked up a bit again.  I saw that yesterday at Farm Science Review but there has been a shift from public research to private research.

The first big knock in ag research in Ohio was the closing of the corn breeding program.  Ohio had inbreds no one else had.  The second big knock was when the REAL soil testing lab was closed down and let go to private competition.

How is your state or country doing in agricultural research?  Or should I ask what at all are they doing?  It isn't much in many states and countries.

Who is number one in public agricultural investment?

Ed Winkle

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What Man Can Do

This video about agriculture in Israel makes me want to visit.  Isn't it amazing what man can accomplish?

We have really been given a land of plenty here in the states.  Many think we don't take good care of it.  I beg to differ but I am only one person, doing what little I can.

I received an interesting email from a foreign land to me in South America thanks to Brad Law, and maybe myself a little because of our postings on Crop Talk.

"The watermelon get irrigated with a driptape so after the melon crop we seed two rows of corn ,so corn is seeded on 36 inch because the melons grow on 6 feet

The plant looks good when young but it premature dies off

We seeded about 10 acres every week and like to do this year round every week now is rainy season but also in the dry season because we water and fertilize thru the dripline  The plan is two corn crops and two watermelon crops in one year

We have a high clearings sprayer of 80 feet behind the tractor ,so were the tractor drives is no corn 

The corn right now prematurely dies off before the cob is done so you end up with small kernels.

In the top of the plant there are some purple showing  and now it is also showing short on N

The plant on all other lots look good , i have from 4 inch high to harvest and everything in between  but the problem shows after pollination.

What is the problem

This is a soil analisis   i am doing a plant analisis but take takes a long time here like everything els.

So that do me no good

Pioneer  P4082W  and  30F35

         PH   8

Org  Mat  %      2.1                    We applied   N    228  kg of product  46-0-0

N             %      0.11                                     P      62  kg     12-40-0-10s-1zk   

P           ppm     70.1                                     K      60  kg      0-0-60

K      meq/100g  1.8                           zinc  sulfate   12  kg

Calcio  meq/100g  18.6

Magnesio meg/100g  12.5

Iron          ppm     128.6

copper     ppm      17.2

zinc         ppm       2.4

Manganeso  ppm   1.5

Boron    ppm         1

Sulfer    ppm        15

bulk  density  g/ml   1.2

clay      %    6.8

silt       %     30

sand     %    63

Texture   sandy loam

Ca + Mg/k     23.5

Ca/Mg          1.83

Ca/K         15.19

Mg/K         8.31

Ed  I come just out of the blue to you but i hope you can give me some advise

Also if you need a holyday this winter ,it is alway 85 + here ,we are not too far south from you,

I can show you around."

I think I might take him up on his invite to me but here is the question.  What would you expect to see if you visited and what would you recommend to this young guy in a land you know little about?

He wants to grow corn and I think he can grow corn there but where do you start?

A big clue is the soil pH and the calcium and magnesium content.  Another clue is a lot of sand needs a lot of water but the people in Israel "fixed" this problem.

What do you think, good readers?  There are many of you out there smarter than I am.  I asked him a lot of questions so more will be forthcoming.

Just think, an email like this has taken me to New Zealand twice now!

Ed Winkle

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Eight Foods

Maybe eight food additives or processes is a better way to describe this, but I found this very interesting.

"4. Potassium bromate (or bromated flour): Great for impatient bakers, bad for your kidneys and nervous system.  Found in: Wraps, rolls, bread crumbs, bagel chips, flat breads.

Why it’s dangerous: Derived from the same harmful chemical as brominated vegetable oil, brominated flour is used to decrease baking time and reduce costs. Only problem is, it’s linked to kidney damage, cancer, and nervous system damage.
Where it’s banned: Europe, Canada, and China."

We have become pretty cautious shoppers over the years.  Healthy, nutrient dense food is too rare to try and find and pretty expensive!  What we grow in the garden can rarely be topped in the Kroger Garden we normally shop at.

Take a look at the list.  Do you use those food additives?  It's about impossible not to in the states unless you have a very individualized program going.  I don't know anyone who really does except for avoidance of most of this "bad list" which is very difficult to do.  Do you think it's important to avoid them?

LuAnn froze another batch of our big tomato crop yesterday.  I sprayed Crossbow on a few noxious weeds I have left, is this a conflict of interest?

It is not a conflict of interest on a modern day farm or about any property out here in the country.  Residents will have a chance to discuss these things at the Farm Science Review near London, Ohio starting early tomorrow morning.  I might sneak up for a day but the main priority this week is to be at Keith Schlapkohl's farm at Stockton, Iowa for his field day Thursday come rain or shine.  Some of the speakers there are very knowledgeable about healthy nutrient dense food and crops.

I am having computer problems again probably thanks to the huge volume of material I run through each day and not enough time managing it.  I am old school and I store too much stuff.  One good reader prints it out and puts it in a notebook.  I also have notebooks full of these topics.

Hope to see some of you at Farm Science Review or Stockton Iowa Thursday.

Ed Winkle

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The Scarecrow

I've heard Rain on the Scarecrow by John Mellencamp in the height of the Farm Crisis in the 80's but Chipolte has hired some outfit to take a whole new twist on it in this new YouTube Video.    It may  surpass 2 million views in a very short time(24 hours?) since it was just released.  LuAnn found it in her daily Google marketing links when it had 25,000 views.

What do you think of it?  I think I know most of you think it is a sad disconnect from the way most US farmers farm and what the liberals say they want farming to be.

I think it is so far out there, futuristic and produced in such a way I wonder how some people on this earth really think.  LuAnn shared it in her Marketing Class this week and even the younger local folks attending community college didn't know what to think of it, either.  She said it is a low cost marketing ploy to see if Millenials will help them use it to help their "marketing war" of fresh home grown restaurant food versus the factory farm fast food that has made a few companies billions.  She said it is very notable that Chipotle was started by McDonald's Corporation and spun them off a few years ago.

So why did Chipotle have this video made?

"Way to pull on our heartstrings, Chipotle. We know we should all be making better food choices, but now we're feeling an overwhelming amount of sadness and guilt after watching this new short film.

Today, the burrito chain has announced a new mobile game, titled The Scarecrow, for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The game aims to educate and engage the public about food issues. The above film, which coincides with the game's launch, features Fiona Apple singing "Pure Imagination," originally from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

LuAnn says it's all a big marketing ploy.  She's usually right and this just fits into her new college marketing class.

Ed

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Ship Soybeans By Air?

Really?  How could this be cost competitive???

"Turkish farms grow wheat, peaches, pomegranate, figs, chick peas, lentils, nectarines, olives, cucumbers and onions, among other items. It's possible that one day, Turkish olive oil - which is often traded to Italy, packed there as Italian Olive Oil and sold in U.S. stores that way - could be imported through Wilmington. While Turkey is interested in exporting items, leaders and farmers also need to export items such as soybeans - a crop Cinton County and Ohio have in abundance. But Turkish businesses want beans that are not genetically modified (often referred to as non-GMO). Clinton County and Ohio are able to provide non-GMO products, but Turkish government leaders are concerned non-GMO products could be contaminated by GMO crops. On this, issue, Curry played the lead. A farmer himself, Curry worked to explain to officials how containerized beans can be sealed up at a Clinton County farm, and not unsealed until the container hits its final location. And, of course, all of that can be shipped at the Wilmington Air Park. Containerized shipments of beans is already happening in Fayette County, Curry said, so he knows it can be done. There, beans are being shipped to Japan for tofu. "The Minister of Agriculture is concerned that even if two containers are side-by-side, the dust can get into it from another - that's how nervous he is," Curry said. "We need to work with the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture and see if we can get some people over there to discuss that." Dixon said Curry is on the verge of a break-through. "What he knows right now can probably open the door for the whole country if he can get this solved," Dixon said. "It's not a big thing to get solved, but it takes knowing the right people and he knows them." With much of these ideas, it may be just a matter of time before they take off, Dixon said. Clinton County has a lot to offer in the industry of global trade. "We have companies saying they're ready and we have vast resources," he said. "It's amazing how proud you can be from a county in Ohio. You can be 7,000 miles away and so proud of all the things we can do." Can anyone please explain this to me?  I would think it would be so specialized we aren't talking about much trade? Officials still wrestle with our empty, huge, modern airport. Thanks, Ed Winkle

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