Dr. Jerry Hatfield

After all these years and all the emails, I can see why my friend Paul Reed and Jerry are friends.  They are both very smart people of the same mindset.  I can learn from them both.

Jerry gave a presentation tonight, the title is so long I don't remember how it goes but it was about the varied heavy but seldom rainfall we are receiving in the midwest.  And, it is how farming interacts with those events.

Is your soil farmed in a way to receive sudden cloudbursts that are infrequent?  I can answer NO but I know many are worse off than I am.  I must get better and let my soils and my fields speak for themselves.

He had one slide that was scary to me and one I must corner him on.  It was a long range prediction from his government body, the former National Soil Tilth Laboratory, that predicts this will continue and that 2080-2090 could be very tough years.  Nothing like what we saw in America this year!  This will impact my grandchildren or great grandchildren.

I congratulate two friends for receiving the coveted NoTill Innovator Award last night, Darryl Starr and Dan DeSutter.  They are better men than I but God used me to help them a tiny bit on their path to success.

I am reminded that I must keep limited soil disturbance and plant a crop the day I harvest at all cost.  This is key to biological improvement.  I must add a half ton of gypsum to my soil each year to add calcium and sulfur to enhance my chemical and biological activity.  Others don't see the need for gypsum every year.  I must continue to secure the best seed I can find and enhance the seed with chemical and biological protection and plant it correctly on the best days I am able.  This is after a rain event and before a major predicted rain event.

I must scout fields with diligence and Live In My Fields(copywrite HyMark Consulting LLC 2013).  That could be fun and life changing with the grandkids and my network of friends.  I want to see the autocopter fly my fields and learn what the 4 images tell me about them.

Most of all I must turn it over to God and follow his will, not mine.  That is the most challenging goal because my mind gets wrapped up in details and lofty goals in a hurry.  It really works for me though and has made for a great life.

Say a little prayer for me at 9 AM that I might share his words.

Ed