We saw every kind of field imaginable, fall tilled to spring tilled to no-tilled to strip tilled. Most had weeds, some had been burned down, but a lot had been tilled last fall or this spring or both. We saw Mother Nature's cover crops to them being burned down to man's cover crops and those being burned downed. My overall opinion is that most farmers think it is still too cool and too damp to work ground or plant it, even though it is May 5.
We did get to visit with Scott Apple near Portage, Ohio. I saw his new water tower inside his barn and most of his equipment. He is structuring and reversing osmosis for water for sprays. He is an innovator with his broadcast soybean seeder that sits on the front of his Cat track tractor and gets covered with a soil finisher. It was dark in his barn and I didn't even try to get any pictures but maybe I can link some here.
We talked about these new ideas of handling spray water, chemicals and fertilizers. Lots of these ideas can be found on the FHR Farms website. We have both seen good results and now more farmers want to learn what we are doing.
He and I are planting Dr. Richard Cooper's Apex soybeans that Dr. Cooper bred 40 years ago. Dr. Cooper called us both up this week to give us his opinion how to handle them. Scott and I agreed they didn't know how to feed them then and now thanks to Keith and FHR Farms and others we make that semi-dwarf bean a whole different bean.
You have seen this picture before. I keep showing it over and over again. It is worth staring at. It's the reason I drove 3 hours to Scott's house today. We have got to share this message with each other.
I had to kill 2 hours with the Mrs. since she was good enough to come along with me at a nice antique mall and shops at Findlay. Someone made a Heritage Collection Shops out of an old farmstead right along I-75. They did a really good job.
That's about it for today, it was a good day. I hope yours was also.
Ed Winkle
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