NNTC

It's time for annual National Notillage Conference again. 1000 farmers will be heading for Des Moines Iowa this week. I know most will be thankful for the improved temperatures.


LuAnn is. The last two years I was gone, she had to work overtime to keep the stoves going to keep the house livable, not warm, but livable.


They always ask us who we want to hear speak and I nominated my farmer friend from Stockton Iowa, Keith Schlapkohl. He thinks outside the box like me. Some of the best crops I have ever put my hands on were his.


I have seen honest 300 bu corn and 100 bu soybeans under his control. Go back a week and read my article on FGD and you will get a clue to his success.

The hard thing for me is helping these innovative farmers with limited speaking experience get their point across. I know they know the points but teaching it is a wholly different process.

He has a little experience now so I think he will be OK. He might be better than me and I hope he is. There is lots of enthusiasm for the conference again this year, I think the 18th one?

Sure, it is a money making deal for Lessiter Publications but he has the best notill conference out there. I know they aren't getting rich, just like farmers and they worked very hard to get here.

If your head isn't hurting after you spend the long weekend there, you are brain dead or its your own fault for not fully participating. I have never attended a bad one, some are just better than others.

I have helped many learn how to get their point across, and even how to develop one. I just got a Facebook request from a young lady I helped 10 years ago. At our FFA Banquet, she gave one of the most moving speeches I ever heard a student give.

So, it can be done. Some days I communicate fairly well on this blog. Other days, I fall short.

It's just like life. It's not always what you say but how you say it.

I bet that will happen this week in Des Moines.

Ed Winkle