Starting Farming

Once again my friends are wondering how it might be possible for anyone to start farming today.

I really liked this response:

"It's not impossible to start farming, but you won't be doing it full time for quite a while.

I am in the "starting" years myself. My family has an agricultural background (tobacco and small herd of cattle), but we didn't have any land or equipment that was relevant to grain farming.

Everyone else said it was impossible. You can't farm without being born into it. Not even worth trying. I had been told that for YEARS before I decided that I would succeed, or prove those people correct.

Didn't borrow money to start either. Just scrapped by, using personal cash to buy super cheap equipment. I work part-time and commute to college (lucky enough to go on a good scholarship), so every single cent I have made has went into the farm venture.

My first year, I didn't own anything. Borrowed a 1206 and 10ft. no-till drill to plant 7 acres of soybeans. Hired the spraying and harvest from a local friend. Used that income to pay for inputs for this year, when I expanded to 40 acres. Over last winter, I purchased a 7-row/18" no-till planter ($300), 12ft. Oliver disc ($400), 16ft. harrowgator ($350), White 7300 combine/13ft. grain platform ($Free), and 1973 IH Loadstar 1700 grain truck ($1,300). Overall, less invested than most guys have in a pair of tires. I had my Ford 6000 tractor to begin with, but I borrowed a 5520 JD too. Hired my spraying, but a sprayer will ABSOLUTELY be purchased this fall. Need to control resistant weeds better than my custom guy does.

Ground I am farming is all low quality small fields. Nothing bigger than 25 acres and most is too wet for anything until late May. Odd shaped and hard to access, so none of the local operators will screw with them. Old pastures, meadows, junk hay fields, etc. Nothing gets passed up. Guys kept claiming I would never make any yield on that junk clay, but I am doing just fine thanks to help from Ed Winkle and cheap access to gypsum.

Even with low prices, I am doing fine. No ground will be idled, I don't plan to cut back on my fertilizer either. My ground is all rented, so I keep a very good relationship with my landlords. Even though I don't pay the highest rent around, I keep everything mowed, entrances graveled, disc their gardens, keep tree lines under control, etc. I like to think my value comes from that, over the dollar paid.

Yes, my equipment is rusty and small, but I am growing and doing what I love. Evening/weekend farming is how I have to start. One day I might be able to farm full-time, but it will be a while. I have always enjoyed running cattle with Dad, so I plan to go that direction in a few years. Purchasing land is a my major goal right now, larger equipment can wait. What I have right now is just fine. I can't compete with others high rent, so I might as well own the land and have 100% security.

If somebody really wants to start, they can do it. Set your heart to it, think about nothing else, and be handy with a wrench. Never let anyone tell you that you cannot do something.

One day you will be used as an example, whether for success or failure. Your efforts decide which."

I was told the same and think most budding farmers are.  I really admire those who don't listen!

How did you start farming or did you ever want to farm?

Ed Winkle

What Has Worked For Me

It is good to review what has worked for me the past 20 years.

1. Set Your Planter Right. Your no-till planter setup can depend on your conditions and equipment. Talk to others who are no-tilling successfully and do your homework, including research on the Internet.
We take the coulter out of the row area to lift the soil lightly beside and above the seed. Our goal is to end up with the same soil density above every seed. And we want that coulter to be 2 to 3 inches off the side of the row to properly place nitrogen and sulfur.  A key part of the no-till planter setup is the gauge wheel. I recommend the Case IH gauge wheel.
2. Test Soil And Plant Tissue. Don’t guess at soil tests; make sure you’re meeting the crop’s nutrient needs. It’s extremely valuable for me to pull my own samples, so I see the soil quality as I’m probing. You can see the difference from field to field, and soil type to soil type. Also, sample 1 to 2 inches deep wherever you sample at 8 inches.
It takes a lot less phosphorus than we thought we needed in the past. We have a potassium problem in Ohio and across the Midwest that we’re trying to explore. We’ve got potassium tied up 1 or 2 inches deep in no-till. How do you fix it? The first question is, are you using sulfur?
Tissue tests really help you see what nutrients are getting into the plant. Probably half the corn tissue tests I pulled last year showed potassium deficiencies. We also found a lot of boron deficiencies, but never a calcium deficiency.
3. Monitor Calcium-Magnesium Ratios. The advantage of calcium is the soil aggregation it creates, not its value as a soil nutrient. Our best no-till yields are coming with 70% calcium, 15% magnesium and 3.5% potassium. That varies with the soil’s cation exchange. The soils I work with are usually in the 10 to 20 cation-exchange range. You can improve those over time.
We’ve switched many farmers from dolomitic lime to high-calcium lime, and they are seeing improved soil conditions. Their no-till soybean yields are coming up. We’re probably addressing pH more than we are calcium.
A neighbor of mine had terrible soybean yields in 2003 — just  28 bushels an acre. So we pulled a soil test and made a few recommendations. We added 3 tons of high-calcium lime, 200 pounds of 18-46-0 fertilizer, 300 pounds of 0-0-60, 200 pounds of pell lime and 1 pound of boron per acre. We changed varieties and his tillage practice. We went from 28 bushels to 72 bushels an acre.
But that year, 2004, was one of the best growing years we’ve ever had in southern Ohio. So, we can take credit for 10 or 15 bushels of increased yield, but the rest goes to Mother Nature.
4. Use Gypsum As A Basic Part of Your Soil Program. Most soils I sample are low in calcium and sulfur.  Gypsum is calcium sulfate and has been the answer to the problem for a lot of poorly drained to well drained farms. The National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory found that 35 pounds of gypsum per inch of rainfall increases soil, air and water movement 300%. Gypsum is critical for easing compaction in the top 20 inches of soil.
5. Know Your Seed Dealer. I want an excellent relationship with seed dealers so I know what they really think and I can have them help me. Both the seed lot and seed quality will affect your results. But remember that the highest germination rate doesn’t necessarily equal the best seed, and the lowest rate doesn’t necessarily equal the worst seed.

One thing to look for is phosphorus content. They test the seed for phosphorus content in Australia, but we don’t do it in America. In my test-plot results, the seed with the highest phosphorus content did not have the highest germination rate, but it had the highest yield.

There’s an old USDA study that shows that the seed lots of one pedigree of corn can vary more than 30 bushels an acre. We have seen that time after time in corn plot trials. Seed companies used to publish the ear height, the silking date and the plant height so we could closely compare pedigrees. But some of the major seed companies took that out of their data, so we can’t compare that anymore. Ask your seed dealer about these things.
6. Pay Attention To Seed Treatments. We no-tilled 110-day white corn with different seed treatments to compare results. Our standard Captan-Apron treatment yielded 218 bushels; with Poncho, it made 222; with Cruiser, 226; with Gaucho, 227; and with biologicals and an inoculant, without any of the seed treatments, it made 230 bushels per acre. We’re going to use Cruiser and Gaucho on most of our plots.
7. Use Hybrid Striping. Some farmers like to stripe their fields, while others no-till the same hybrid across the field. But there is an advantage to hybrid striping.
There’s an old UDSA study that says when you plant dissimilar hybrids about 4 days apart, you get a 7% yield advantage. On our 40-acre plot, striping gained 14 to 20 bushels over the same seed lot planted by itself at the other end of the field.
8. No-till Cover Crops. We’re seeing great results with annual ryegrass as a cover crop. We let it grow about 4 inches high, and it has 10-inch roots by that time. It’s giving us better weed control and more carbon deeper in the soil. I’m not worried about glyphosate interaction, because it doesn’t go to seed.
9. Always Inoculate Your Legumes. Inoculation gives you a healthier crop with more immunity to infestations. I know a no-tiller putting America’s Best and T-22 on his seed in a concrete mixer, and he’s seeing a 7- to 8-bushel increase in soybean yields. Now he won’t plant without it.
Inoculating the seed is very important. There are some excellent strains out there. About 1995, the USDA came up with new strains that compete with the rhizobia in the soil, so it pays to inoculate soybeans every year.

You can gain 2 to 3 bushels an acre; we’re getting as much as 8 bushels more.

We are still doing this. This year we have lots of lime to spread as we need about 1 ton of high calcium lime on our soil every three years. The striping results will be interesting with the huge variation of hybrid or variety to extremem growing conditions this year. T-22 has been replaced with new strains and labeled as SabrEx.  These new strains made 14 more bu of wheat for me this year.

The newest strain of America's best was almost 7 bu better than the control last year and looks good this year.  You folks are telling me you are yielding 2-3 bushels more soybeans with GraphEx SA and other America's Best products.  Getting it all done takes a lot of study and planning.

What has worked best for you this year?

Thank you for your interest!

Ed Winkle

Those Amazing Big Combines

It is fun watching those amazing big combines.  They finally got a chance to show their stuff this week in southern Ohio and man have they ever been busy!

If you are not a farmer and have been stuck behind one at 20 MPH, you probably will miss my point.  "Don't complain about farmers with your mouth full."

Crops are disappearing field by field.  It feels really good to see the crop come and it is coming in fast.

I was surprised to hear Darren Hefty tell me they were finishing up in South Dakota.  We just got a good start but it is amazing what these very expensive modern combines can do.

$400,000 will get you several acres per hour but you have to have somewhere to put it.  It takes at least one tractor and big grain cart to unload one of these amazing combines and a few semi trucks and trailers to haul that away.  A person could be using up to a million dollars worth of equipment to get that job done.  Five good operators are needed and of course they need support.

Most of my friends do it on a third to half that amount but you get the picture.  Farming today takes a bank roll(loan) to operate and its not for everybody.

A lot of crop is still in the field around here but it is pleasing to see harvest take an amazing leap in just a few days.

I wish I had time to visit the Stahl's southwest of me.  When they get rolling, its all hands on deck.  This favorite video of mine represents what they were doing today, no doubt.  Multiply my numbers by five or more and you have an idea of how serious they are about farming.

To every season, there is a season to plant and a season to reap.

These very expensive, over or under rated combines can really reap!

Ed Winkle

Horrible, Terrible, Really Bad Night

We took two grand daughters to see Alexander's Horrible, Terrible, Really Bad Day.  It is a humorous look at a young boy trying to get his family to see what he is going through.  It made us all laugh but I think it reminded us how important it is to help each other.

I asked LuAnn if she slept well last night, she has for a week.  Oh no, she said, she had a horrible, terrible, really bad night!   Don't you hate it when you can't sleep?

I think I slept poorly for 60 years until my body finally wore out or I learned how to try and turn my troubles over to God.  It's not perfect, but I have slept better the last five years than I did the 60 years before it. 

I was always trying to figure out how to make things turn out the way I thought they should.  It turns out the best way I can do that is to understand how little control I really have.  I need to just do what I can do and not worry about the outcome.  I need to accept things as they are and give thanks for how great things really are compared to so many other people.

The world is a beautiful but scary place.  In grandpa's day it was WW I and the Great Depression, in Dad's day it was WW II.  Now it's ISIS and Ebola.  There is always some bad thing out of control.

Until it affects me, there is little I can do but keep doing the next right thing.  That takes some effort on my part but it is well rewarded when I do.

Here is hoping for a wonderful, beautiful really good night.

Ed

Continuous Soybeans

"Greg Anderson follows a soybean production practice that might, in some people's view, fall into the category of, “Don't try this at home.”

He will be planting his 19th continuous soybean crop this spring on his dryland farm near Newman Grove in northeast Nebraska. Ninety-five percent of his row-crop acres are in continuous soybeans.

“I'll be the first to say that it's not for everybody,” says Anderson, immediate-past chairman of the United Soybean Board and dedicated promoter of the crop.

But it's economic rationale, not unchecked enthusiasm for soybeans, that keeps him planting them year after year. “If we get 45 bu./acre or better, we're competing with anything I could do with corn — and certainly this season with high fertilizer and diesel fuel costs,” he says.

He lists several other economic factors that favor continuous soybeans over a corn-soybean rotation on his farm:

• No dryer and drying costs, which corn requires most years.
• Less trucking volume vs. corn.
• No corn head to own.
• No special planting equipment"

 

My area is known for continuous soybeans.  I know many farmers who have made a livelihood growing soybeans every year.

Soybean Cyst Nematode is the biggest threat to reducing profitability and Phytopthora root rot is not far behind.

Like the article says, it is not for everyone but many farmers make it work.

Until these fertilizer prices compared to corn and wheat prices adjust, I expect to see more continuous soybeans.

Weed control is my concern.

How about your area?

Ed

 

I need a real good Sunday Blog

I need a real good Sunday blog today but I don't have one.  It's been a rough month with little harvest, illness in the family and things just piling up.  I am farther behind this fall than I have been since we move here Memorial Day 2004.  My that was a wonderful year.

It is beautiful again today and I just give thanks.  I hope I can appreciate this day as it was intended.  I wish I could wave a magic wand a fix a bunch of things but I can't.  I just give thanks.

I am thankful for my wife and my huge family who are always there when you need them.  I give thanks for all my good friends who are here to help and listen and those who have passed.  I give thanks to the saints and angels and my guardian angel.

A troubled young man walked into Mass last night, LuAnn said he was sweating bullets.  I saw Father Hank look up very concerned and stopped his reading.  He firmly asked, "may I help you?"  The young man said he was finding a seat and found one near the front.  Father said "take a seat and please take off your hat."  He did.

It was very disconcerting to my wife and so many parishoners but I really felt for the young man and started praying for him.  He left before the Mass was over.

We have a lot of troubled people in this world and if we can see our blessings over our troubles I think that is a great blessing in itself.

I didn't have a good Sunday blog a minute ago but in the proper spirit, here it is!

Thank you Lord for your blessings today and help me be a positive force in the will to do good.

Ed Winkle

Ten Air Conditioners

"One healthy full grown tree has the cooling effect of ten air conditioners."  It doesn't say what size air conditioners but you get the point.  I am guessing 10,000 BTU units.

 

Carbon sequestration, air quality, and climate change

• A tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, and can sequester one ton of carbon dioxide by the time it reaches 40 years old. [1]
• One large tree can provide a supply of oxygen for two people. [2]

Energy

• According to the USDA Forest Service, “Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and save 20-50 percent in energy used for heating.” [3]

• The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day. [4]

Water

• In one day, one large tree can lift up to 100 gallons of water out of the ground and discharge it into the air. [5]
• For every five percent of tree cover added to a community, stormwater runoff is reduced by approximately two percent. [6]

Recreation and Wildlife

• Healthy trees provide wildlife habitat and contribute to the social and economic well-being of landowners and community residents. [7]

Plant A Tree For Education Fifth grade students from DC's Amidon Elementary School attended the planting and received free t-shirts and seedlings to plant at home.

EPA Urban Heat Island Effects [8]

• Reduced energy use: Trees and vegetation that directly shade buildings decrease demand for air conditioning.
• Improved air quality and lower greenhouse gas emissions: By reducing energy demand, trees and vegetation decrease the production of associated air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. They also remove air pollutants and store and sequester carbon dioxide.
• Enhanced storm water management and water quality: Vegetation reduces runoff and improves water quality by absorbing and filtering rainwater.
• Reduced pavement maintenance: Tree shade can slow deterioration of street pavement, decreasing the amount of maintenance needed.
• Improved quality of life: Trees and vegetation provide aesthetic value, habitat for many species, and can reduce noise

Tree Lifespan

• A reasonable estimate of the lifetime of trees is 100-150 years. Based on information from the USDA Forest Service [9], the lifetime of trees varies by region and species, but generally ranges from 50 years to 300 years of age. An average lifetime of trees planted in forests for long-term restoration purposes might be 100-150 years. Here are a few examples by region
  • In the Southeast, conifers may live 100-150 years, while hardwoods may live 150-200 years.
  • In the northeast and lake states, some conifers (e.g. white pine and red pine) may live 100-150 years, while Jack pine lives 80-100 years; mixed hardwoods (e.g. maples and oaks) might live beyond 150 years, while aspen and birch might only live 50-70 years.
  • In the Pacific Northwest, conifers may live 200-300 years and longer.

Help Us Restore and Protect Forests.

 

Jeep Jam

Yesterday we were talking to our family surgeon and he told the story of how a friend convinced his wife they needed to buy a Jeep and go to a Jeep Jam.  I kind of knew what he was talking about but I had no idea how popular they are.

"The majestic Cumberland Mountains are a fitting backdrop for this Jamboree. Located on the bend of the Cumberland River, the Williamsburg area is known for its charming homes, picturesque landscapes, vast outdoor recreational activities, and the second-largest waterfall east of the Rockies. The area offers numerous trails of varying difficulty that will lure you into the scenic woods. You'll discover steep forested ridges, magnificent natural arches, and lush vegetation. Swimming, fishing, boating, golf, tennis, hunting, and horseback riding are popular activities in the area.

Tow points required. CB Radios Mandatory."

 

Jeep Jam is short for Jeep Jamboree.  Jeep Jamborees are off-road adventure weekends that bring together the outdoors, down-to-earth people, and their Jeep 4x4s. http://www.jeepjamboreeusa.com/

 

These seem to be casual to serious off road loving people who drive Jeeps.  Around here the mud bogs and 4 wheel trucks became popular in the 80's as tractor and truck pulling became too expensive for the average truck owner.  There is a popular bog just west of Blanchester.

 

Driving through scenic off road territory sounds enjoyable to me but making a Jeep climb over rocks and welding all night after you break it doesn't.

 

I see the Cumberland Jeep Jam is coming up soon so I will have to say an extra prayer for our family surgeon!

 

Ed Winkle

 

Jim Johnson

I am blessed to know or have known a lot of Jim Johnson's over my lifetime.  One of them passed a few years ago and another one passed this weekend.

I met Jim at a tractor pull when I was a young ag teacher at Blanchester.  No, I met him and his brother Herb when I was a teen ager showing livestock at the Brown County Fair in the 60's.  They had a Super 88 Diesel they campaigned and they beat a lot of big tractors even though a Super 88 was a big tractor to me in those days.

Jim had a 460 International he campaigned in the Ohio State Tractor Pullers Super Stock division.  I saw him try and try and got to know him better.  He bought an 806 and put a P pump and big injectors and lines on it and needed more turbocharger.  I studied turbochargers and got a dealership just so I could buy one of the first 3LM Schwitzer turbochargers to mount on the 806.

We could pin the M&W dynamometer at 325 HP in the early 70's.  That was big HP out of a farm tractor.  He let me drive it in the 9000 lb class and we both drove it where they allowed two drivers.

I remember one night at Owensville and one night at Lynchburg we won the 5, 7, 9, 12 and 13,500 pound classes between my 88 and his 806.  We might have done it at Hillsboro and we almost pulled it off at Georgetown.  We could always compete with the shiny tractors with our old paid for equipment.  I won the state points race one year and he did too.

We drifted away over the years but always stayed in touch.  No matter what we were doing, we could find each other at Bowling Green.  His son Jimmy Junior stopped by the other day to say Hi and now today he had to stop again to tell me the bad news.  I asked him how he was doing and we talked about the grieving process.  We all grieve differently but we all must go through it to have any kind of healing.

RIP, Jim Johnson, and thank you for the great ride full of interesting stories.

Ed Winkle

The Death Of The Gall Bladder

So many friends and family have had their gall bladder removed, I wondered if the incidence is increasing?  Our surgeon friend who removes them says not but it seems like I meet more and more people who have had the operation to remove it.

One doctor said if you are female, over 40 and have had children, your chances are increased.   Another doctor noticed that fatty diets in colder climates seem to have some correlation.  Is fast food a culprit?  One dietician friend says that many people on a NutriSystem diet seem to have a lot of problems with their gall bladder.

Contributing factors include:

• Heredity. Gallstones occur slightly more frequently in Mexican Americans and Native Americans but also are common in people of northern European stock.
• Age. Gallbladder disease often strikes people older than 60 years of age.
• Gender. In medical school, the “five F’s” help doctors to remember the usual patient with gallbladder disease: “fair, fat, forty, fertile and female.” Sexist as it sounds, it describes the group most frequently affected by gallbladder disease: overweight middle-aged white women with a history of several pregnancies. Excess estrogen may be implicated, since hormone replacement after menopause increases the likelihood of stones.
• Diet. The propensity of Western diet to predispose one to gallbladder disease was commemorated by journalists during the Persian Gulf War—the prevalence of gallbladder disease among Saudis had gone up 600 percent since the 1940s, when they began “enjoying” more and more Western foods! Most people know that there is an established link between fat intake and gallbladder disease, but many don’t realize that there also is a significant correlation with high sugar intake as well.

In my limited research and talking to doctors the past month, these seem to be the most contributing factors to gall bladder failure.

Diets rich in sweet potatoes and soy seem to have less problems.

Do you still have your gall bladder?

Ed

Last Fruits Of The Season

I picked the last of the peppers yesterday and was thinking about another year over.  Between them, our apples and our pears, they are the last fruits of this season.

Where did this year go?  It's been a tough year here with too much rain in May and now too much in October.  Very little has been harvested and we got another big rain yesterday we surely didn't need.  We are not as wet as southern Illinois from what I hear but we have our own problems.

Our main fruits, our corn and soybeans are still in the field.  This is what we work for and this is what pays the bills.  It will be good to ever get this crop in the bin.  I know many have more anxiety than I do because they have more on the line.

Ag PhD just called and asked if I would join in the discussion on continuous soybeans tomorrow at 3 pm EST on Sirius channel 80.  I haven't talked to Brian and Darren for awhile so I look forward to the discussion.

Many of my neighbors have done really well with continuous soybeans.  Several near by don't even own a corn head.  They plant beans year after year and do really well.  It may not be the number recommended practice but it sure works for lots of people in southern Ohio.

No matter what you produce, this year is over except for gathering, counting and distributing the harvest!  Therefore farming goes on every day from the last crop to next years.

We always look forward to next year in the hopes it will be better!

This one was really good if we can just get it harvested.

Ed Winkle

My Neighbors Weeds

I have one good neighbor who has a terrible weed problem.  I don't know him well enough yet to offer him any advice but I sure wish he would take some from somebody.

He is a kind old gent, probably a better man than I'd ever hope to be but his weed problem reminds me of what dad said they fought when he was a kid.  They are clear out of control and costing him big money and me a little.

If it were mine, the whole thing would be planted to cereal rye or at least sprayed with 2,4-D and Banvel this fall.  That would get us started.  He only raises soybeans so other crops are not an option and I am sure he wouldn't want to pay for planting cereal rye or a fall spray.

You read all of this great advice on Crop Talk but when it really comes down to applying them to your local situation, sometimes there just isn't a good answer.  I would love to rent the farm just to clean up the weeds but that isn't going to happen.  I would really like to own it but that is just as far a shot, too.

I am not whining but I am complaining.  These resistant weeds are going to eat our lunch unless we stay on top of them.

This is what happens when you farm in 2014 like you did in 2004.

Farming doesn't change much but it is continually changing.

Ed Winkle

Kona Joe Coffee

This year Linda, Fred, LuAnn and most of us on the Roach Ag Tour of Hawaii got to visit Kona Joe Coffee.  Kona Joe developed the idea of planting coffee trees on trellises like is done for some fruit production.

I was watching America's Heartland, a program I record weekly and there was a tour of Kona Joe's just like we took.

"Deepa Alban and her husband Joe were planning to retire on a lovely piece of paradise on the Big Island of Hawaii. That is until they began sharing the coffee beans that were growing on the tropical landscape. Friends and family raved about the coffee and a family farming operation quickly got underway.

The Alban farm sits on a swatch of ocean front soil known as the “gold belt” of the Kona coffee district, one of the richest coffee growing regions in the world. The Albans planted a few coffee trees and began enjoying their home brewed beverage. To improve their crops and get better yields, the Albans began planting coffee plants on trellises, just as you would for grape fines. The results provided a 30% jump in productivity, just by treating coffee like wine. Soon they had a business that they named, “Kona Joe” coffee.

Many farmers have been enjoying trips to Hawaii to break up the winter and get some summer sunshine in the dead of winter.  If you go, I would recommend a trip to Kona Joe Coffee, even if you don't like the drink!

Ed Winkle

Clermont Soybeans

First call for the Clermont soybean variety.  I think they will sell out fast.  I am very impressed with them after 2 years of watching them develop.  I planted my first Clermont soybeans and encouraged my friends to do the same.  I've heard good things so far from Kentucky to Michigan.  Southern Ohio and Indiana growers are very interested in them.

Today I found many 4 bean pods in the June 28 planting so that tells me they have really good reproduction properties.  I saw that last year when the foundation seed made 85 bushels per acre in a Ohio State University Southern Region plot.  I certified seed locally through my inspection scouting and I have watched them grow since June, 2013.

Clermont non GMO soybeans were developed by Ohio State University soybean breeders.  They are 3.9 maturity with white flowers, light tawny pubescence, brown pods and the key thing to buyers, it is a black hilum soybean.  I wouldn't say its especially pretty but not as ugly as some beans are.  The beautiful thing is watching them grown and put on and fill all those pods.  They look similar to Dennison, a recent 3.5 maturity variety released by Ohio State.

I highly recommend the Ohio Public Soybean Releases.  They always perform well in the University testing program but more importantly, on the farm.  From 2.6 to 3.9 maturity, they've got your soybean needs covered.

Clermont is named after Clermont County Ohio and means clear mountains and hills, though the county is not mountainous.

Ed Winkle

Less Wheat This Year

With the late crops and cool summer there is going to be less soft red winter wheat planted around here.  I can think of one farm near Dayton who has a couple of hundred acres of soft red winter wheat planted and one farm with about the same 40 miles south of here.  The 80 miles in-between which would normally have several acres of wheat planted basically has none.  I don't think I will get any planted this year.

There is going to be less planted wheat here this year and that is mainly due to weather.  If we had any kind of a year to plant wheat, the few of us who like to plant wheat would.  It is not here this year.  I would not be surprised if acreage is way down with the wet September and October we have experienced.  It is far reaching across the soft red winter wheat belt.  It's basically anywhere east of the Mississippi on this map.

That puts more pressure on soybean planting next year and reduces the amount of potential double crop soybean acres.  Double crop soybeans has been a real winner for us with our principle of load the drill when the combine starts up.  It looks like we won't have any next year unless we have to plant as late as we do double crop soybeans!

Wheat hasn't been a great profit for me but it is a great way to keep my soil covered all winter.  I have built a little organic matter in my soil from the residue rather than letting it wash all winter.

One little impact on the markets next year is going to be soft red winter wheat in my opinion.

Ed Winkle

I'll Grow My Own

My young friend David Groff in southeast Pennsylvania put together a nice harvest video called "I'll grow my own."  It shows the harvesting of corn and soybeans by a smaller, young farmer.  That reminds me of my own life.  Since bigger isn't always better, it brings a smile to my face.  I applaud the few smaller farmers, especially the very young ones.  They are both a rare commodity in the face of huge piles of corn, soybeans and other crops this year.

I met David's dad, Steve at a National NoTillage Conference 15 years ago or so.  I think we've both influenced each other in a positive way.  Steve was trying to improve no-till with cover crops and I was trying to improve the process of no-till farming with planter modifications, soil chemistry and soil biology.  Our ideas work together so well.

I've always enjoyed growing things and farming has always been in my blood.  Thanks to the Good Lord and LuAnn we were able to increase our farming operation to 1125 acres harvested in 2010.  Our timing was perfect with the resources available.  We have enjoyed a really good ten years since we bought this farm in 2004.

None of this would have been possible without my early recognition that no-till was the only way to go for me, that crop rotation was very important, and that we as farmers don't use enough lime and fertilizer to produce a maximum economic crop.  Economics change but the need for soil improvement and fertilization never does.  We farm plowed to death soil that had a poor crop rotation.  How do you change that direction?

Like David has been blessed to learn at a very young age, tillage is not necessarily the best answer to raise any crop.  Soil was meant to be covered and when we learn how to accomplish that in a good crop rotation, that worn out soil starts to turn around and our mistakes of tillage are less noticeable.

I encourage all farmers to answer the question I've proposed the last 20 years on the speaking circuit:  What change really needs to be made on your farm?  This is a very open question that the operator really needs to search and assess.  I have seen enough in my lifetime I can give a pretty good recommendation.  I need the same assessment of my own life and farm.  A second and third opinion can really help answer what we need to do and so many of us don't do that.

Someone is going to make a living from growing our food.  Who can do it better than myself?

Am I willing to grow my own?

Ed Winkle

We Want Your Non GMO Corn

A friend in Illinois contacted me to see how much non GMO corn we could come up with in our area.

"We are establishing markets for 2014 and 2015.  Your corn must be 98.5% purity.  How do we establish that?

Send your grain(a pint of corn) samples to:
Mosaic
N27 BioAg Sciences
209 West Jessup Street
Rushford, Minnesota 55971

The cost is $150 per sample, this is not an inexpensive test to ensure buyers are getting a pure product.  Seed can be tested, too.  If you start out with 95% purity, it isn't going to improve in the field.

I am sending them a sample tomorrow.  There is nothing else I can do right now with the wet weather and I want to see what they say my purity is.

I've seen "non GMO" seed samples test positive for GMO.  I want to see how mine tests.

A 50 cent premium would be very handy right now to many local farmers who plant non-GMO corn.

On another note, I did get the Walmart Nitrogen link to work.  Click on Global Sustainability if you are interested, its a well designed video.  Tim Richter from Iowa and also farms in Missouri gives a plug for Adapt-N about 31 minutes into the video.  It is interesting to see how Walmart is taking interest in this, whether it is nitrogen, GMO or non GMO.

Ed Winkle

Best Presidents For The Economy

Presidents get too much credit for the economy when things are good and too much blame when things are poor.

We tend to imagine every blip in the stock market and every unemployment report as a direct reflection of a president's policies -- particularly during election years. In reality, Congress and the Federal Reserve probably have just as much, if not more, sway over the economy than any president. And one president's policies can spill over into the next administration, making it difficult to sort out who is liable for what. We have a hard enough time accurately measuring what the economy is doing, let along assigning responsibility for its moves.

Still, everyone should know a little economic history. And the cleanest way to get a feel for how the economy has done under past presidents is to just lay the numbers bare.
Here are five economic variables going back to 1900, covering every president from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama.

1. Stock market performance

This is the inflation-adjusted, dividend-adjusted, performance of the S&P 500:

This is from The Motley Fool.  It is interesting but is the Standard and Poor the best way to measure the health of the economy?  It is just a tiny part of measuring the health of the economy.

What did that president do to affect it?  Probably not much at all although some did.  Most were in office at just the right time or if they are on the bottom of this list, they happened to be president at a very bad time.

The thing I think we need most right now is leadership.  I just don't see any leadership today.  It seems we have done everything possible to limit economic growth and now no one trusts anyone else.

I really think we need leadership.  What do you think?

Ed Winkle

Your Combine Is A Weed Seed Spreader

We do a poor job of spreading residue from combines from coast to coast.  Combines are so large that they cannot mechanically spread residue past the width of the headers.  This is a problem I see on almost every farm in my travels across the country.

We basically band the nutrients that will eventually rot from the residue.  It's just like doing a poor job of spreading manure or commercial fertilizer.  We do that poorly enough already.

This article points out a real important topic today.  Combines are a weed seed spreader.  Resistant weeds are so prominent across the country that we are making the problem worse with the combine.  There is no way around it unless we control the weeds so they aren't harvested and spread.

We can set the combine so it can spread as far as possible but I haven't seen a one that does a perfect job.  There are modifications available that do a better job but few see the need of them.  Most farmers just accept combines for what they are and the job they do.  I think the poor job of spreading encourages unnecessary tillage but really tillage only hides the problem, its still there.

I hope more farmers see these problems and really attack them next spring but in this poor economy, I expect to see as many resistant weed problems as this year, if not worse.

No one wants to pay the chemical bill to kill weeds at these prices.

Ed Winkle

Cool And Wet

2014 has went back to where it started in spring, cool and wet.  This wasn't a great year to get things planted on time around Martinsville and there is hardly any crop off today.  It's going to be a long haul to get these fields off.

We have had a couple of inches of rain this week, just when we didn't need it.  Our closest ethanol plant had an explosion and fire and that is going to back this crop even more, just when we needed it.  Bloomingburg grinds 100,000 bushels of corn or so a day and that has been down for a week.

Farmers are scrambling to get a place to store this crop and can't even deliver on contracts they if they wanted to deliver grain.  It's not a good place to be but that's where we are.  Much of the crop is not priced and we sure don't want to deliver corn at half the price we have in it.  It is not going to be a good year financially if we can even get all of the crop out.  We need a November like our September and the odds of that happening is less than 50-50 at this late date.

Farming is one thing but it is a way of life.  Few of us have been granted the opportunity to farm.  It is a great responsibility to feed and fuel and clothe and shelter the world.

We pray for our friends and family who are challenged today.  Many are going through serious illness and troubling times.  I ask the Lord to give them comfort and use me and you to bring a note of happiness to their lives.

God has granted us such grace to be in America and be who we are today.  Let me take the time to give thanks for my gratitude's and the strength to do the work ahead.  I grant my blessings today to those who need it even more than I do, there are so many in need and on our prayer list.

What can I do to make someone's day a little better today?

Ed Winkle

Latinos Saving Iowa

Thanks to an old friend, we have had Mexican food in Columbus Junction, Iowa.  It was really good food and we saw some of things this interesting article points out.  I never would have thought it could be put this way, but here it is!

"People who came to work in construction now want to open a business, and they need more information," he says in his insurance office on East Grand Avenue, a few blocks from the State Capitol. "I use my resources to invest in the community."

The community has revitalized many of the neighborhoods in the east and south parts of Des Moines through purchasing and rehabilitating homes, and launching small businesses along Southeast 14th Street, East Grand Avenue, Indianola Avenue, and Army Post Road. Many Latino newcomers moved into areas already abandoned by white residents.

They took over empty commercial shops and buildings, spared bankers who were trying to sell those buildings, and opened supermarkets, restaurants, and clothing stores where Latinos could go and speak their native tongue. It's not too different from what's happening in the rest of the state.

In many ways, Latinos saved Iowa. For years, young people left small towns to find education and employment opportunities in bigger cities. As the remaining residents of those small towns aged, tax bases deteriorated and infrastructures crumbled. Add the farm crisis of the 1980s, and the death of Small Town Iowa seemed imminent. That is, until the Latino revolution hit the state.

Latinos moved to these small towns for jobs in manufacturing or meatpacking plants. They stayed to raise families, open small businesses, and become part of the community. Now there are places like West Liberty (pop. 3,730) that are majority Latino, and other small towns like Columbus Junction, Denison, and Storm Lake that are approaching that 50-percent mark.

Have any of you readers noticed what this article points out?

It sounds like an interesting discussion to me.

Ed Winkle

Happy Anniversary!

We all celebrate anniversaries of sorts, events, birthdays, what happened on this day, you name it.  15 years ago today I had my first date with LuAnn.

We decided on Geneva on the Lake at Lake Erie.  It was a beautiful fall Sunday and I drove the old 1990 Dakota.  Little did I know I would be driving that direction a whole lot more in the next 15 years!  I had an inkling though or we wouldn't have even decided to meet.  We had too much in common.

I remember sitting on the tailgate just kicking my legs back and forth  in anticipation when she pulled up in her shiny blue 1998 Expedition.  She pulled up  right behind me and my eyes focused on her license plates, SOIL H2O!

She hopped out and we gave each other a big hug and neither one of us had ANY trouble about what to say.  She brought pictures of her kids and I brought mine and we hadn't even mentioned it to each other before our date.  Those kids had no idea what their parents were getting them into but after 15 years I can say it was mighty good for all of us.

She prepared a picnic lunch and we enjoyed on a sunny picnic table.  She will always enjoy eating outdoors and that is something we do quite often.  I can still remember the homemade deli sandwiches and food to go with it.  We talked and talked and made plans for our next date a month later.

By Christmas we couldn't stand to be apart and shared everything.  I remember the awful feeling going home when I just wanted to be together.  Now I don't have any bad feelings going home and am thankful for it.

I was in such a daze on the way home October 10, 1999 that I ran out of gas on Interstate 71 and SR 38.  It was that long barren stretch and I watched hundreds of cars go by and me with no cell phone.  Now I seem to live on the darn thing.

Things have changed and time has flown but I remember 15 years ago as if it were yesterday.

Happy Anniversary, honey and here is to many more!

Ed

WalMart And Nitrogen

Food companies like Walmart have become more active in the environmental impact of agricultural practices.  "On Monday, Walmart held its Global Sustainability Event at its Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas. The webcast of this event was held online.

This seminal event focused on food sustainability, and Walmart’s extensive efforts to manage its supply chain. Many regard this as a promising approach to attaining sustainability, through corporate initiatives rather than government policies. Walmart, the world’s largest employer with revenues equivalent to the GDP of Belgium, is taking advantage of its unique place in the global economy to achieve sustainability goals.  Walmart estimates that about 45% of its supply-chain greenhouse gas impact is associated with nitrous oxide emissions from nitrogen fertilizer use.

We were very pleased with two important references to our Adapt-N tool during the event.  If you view the webcast, you will see at 23:25 minutes mention of the nitrogen fertilizer savings of "Donald", which refers to Robert and Rodney Donald of Cayuga County, NY (briefly seen in a picture with our Bianca Moebius-Clune). At 30:00, you can see a short presentation by Tim Richter, Iowa farmer, where he talks about the benefits of Adapt-N for his farm.

Walmart’s initiatives are quite impressive (also: sustainable sourcing; reducing food waste, putting stores in food deserts, etc.), and they are likely to achieve sustainability gains like no other company. Interesting times, and happy to be part of it!"

This is from my friends at Cornell who developed the Adapt-N program to help farmers understand what level of nitrogen in their soil is most profitable, particularly in corn.  I've heard reports from scientists that the program is helping their clients manage nitrogen.

We are seeing more involvement from food suppliers on the food message to consumers.

Is this a good thing?

Ed Winkle

Treat Your Soybeans Like Alfalfa

Jim Dandy, not his real name, made a Jim Dandy of a post on Crop Talk today.  He said treat your soybeans like alfalfa.

" don't grow soybeans every year, but when I do I treat them like I treat my alfalfa hay fields ( both legumes ). 35 years ago, the clay sidehills grew good alfalfa, but the bottoms and tops of the hill grew midget alfalfa.

Tried adding Boron and suddenly all acres grew good alfalfa. Then as the air was cleaned up, sulfur was added to the fertilizer mix and the crop was greener and better quality. Sulfur and Nitrogen like to work together.

Then less than a decade ago I discovered Midwest Bio-ag, and I started using Bio-cal. A mix of varying availability Calcium with Sulfur and added Boron. Calcium is the trucker of the soil, but it is only one way trips so and adequate trucks ( Calcium ) are needed. Good results on all crops, so I feel available Calcium, Sulfur, and Boron are needed in adequate levels along with your P & K.

Somewhere around this time I had a field of soybeans which turned out to be the year of the aphids. While most other farmers in the area averaged 20-30bu., my beans went 43 bu/a. Insects don't like healthy plants because they can not digest complete sugar and protein strings.

So feeling I was on the right track, I started using a complete fertilizer from Bio-ag on my alfalfa and yields went up 50% from good to excellent And 50 dairy cows went from a free choice mineral usage of 50 lbs every 5 days with a bag of salt to 50 lbs every 20 days and 2 bags of salt. Minerals from plants are much more available than mined minerals in animals and us. Bio-ag's micro nutients are homogenized with some carbon so if a root hair feeds from that complete nugget, it is like a TMR ( total mixed ration) helping the plant to do it's best with the least amount of energy expended to resist pests and add to yield.

Tissue tests certainly can help pinpoint issues, but what I have done fertilizer-wise has worked wery well for me on my farm. I wish you good luck in your quest for better efficiencies of your cropping program.

Blood Moon

The total lunar eclipse will be visible at moonset for most of North America. The glowing orb will be 5.3 percent larger than the last total lunar eclipse, which occurred on April 15, according to NASA.

Lunar eclipses are always interesting, though the “blood moon” is a much rarer event. Instead of a total eclipse, the moon is bathed in a red-orange hue of refracted light coming from around Earth.

With tonight’s impending blood moon eclipse (the first of four over the next 18 months or so), many people are discussing its cosmic significance; some are even suggesting that it may be a sign from God such as a portent of the apocalypse. As an ABC News story notes, “for some it signals a certain foreboding. ‘Something is about to change,’ Pastor John Hagee of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, writes in his newest book on the four blood moons. Because many biblical references cite the celestial bodies, Hagee says, ‘God uses the sun, moon and stars to send signals to us on the earth.’”

PHOTOS: Lunar Phases: The Changing Face of the Moon

Among the more alarming Biblical verses referring to the moon can be found in Joel 2:30: “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
 Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness. And the moon into blood,
 Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord” (KJV). Pretty heady stuff, though the moon has turned “into blood” several times before, and nothing apocalyptic happened.

Many police and doctors believe that people go “a little extra crazy” on full moons, though the evidence seems largely anecdotal and has not been borne out in scientific studies. Researchers Ivan Kelly, James Rotton, and Roger Culver, in their study “The Moon was Full and Nothing Happened” (published in the book “The Hundredth Monkey and Other Paradigms of the Paranormal”) examined more than 100 studies and found no significant correlation between phases of the moon and disasters or homicide rates.

Pointing at the moon has traditionally been considered unlucky, though various explanations are offered for why; some say that the “man in the moon” who resides there considers it rude. According to one superstition from the British Isles, anyone who points at the moon nine times cannot enter heaven, no matter how pious he or she has been. It’s not clear if the nine times are in a row (which would be pretty easy to avoid, to secure a place in heaven) or over a lifetime (in which case each person better have a good memory to keep the pearly gates open; I wonder if anyone pointed to the moon eight times, and they just started to point a ninth time, just to tempt Fate).

The best I can today is enjoy this beauty of creation and always be ready.  "We know not the day or the time" of what is going to happen to us or our loved ones.

It's foggy in Martinsville this morning so the coverage on TV and social media is the best I can do to view this spectacular event.  Every day is spectacular in its own way if I participate in its wonder.

That's hard to do some days but that is the task at hand.

Have a great day and always be ready.

Ed Winkle

Times Are Tough

Times are tough in southwest Ohio.  I hear that all over the USA.  Not from the media necessarily but by talking to the people we meet each day.   Over half the people don't like what is going on from Ebola to grain prices.

Sable and I went to our favorite Post Office this morning to mail my weekly soybean inspection reports.  Many Post Office's this small have been closed and it is a matter of time before we lose ours.  I saw Cecil who owns that 55 Chevy that looks like the one I owned in 1968 and struck up a conversation with him.

I asked him how sales were going at his Marathon gas station general store type deal common here in southwest Ohio.  He said it has been the worst year since he bought it some years ago.  I knew that well enough to almost NOT ask him my stupid but inquisitive question because I thought that is what he would say.  He verified my feelings about our local economy.

To commiserate with him I chimed in my $5 corn is worth $2.50 on the market today.  I don't think either one of us got any good out of that statement.  Every one agrees that this over production low price scenario is not good for the sector that have been "propping up" the other sectors.  Add to that we have the CAUV or Current Agricultural Use Valuation situation that is going to double or triple local real estate tax bills.  We may have to dig into savings because of these situations.  We are thankful that we have some but we never thought this would be the "rainy day."

The population is aging like me and there is not enough of us working to operate the budget like we did 40 years ago.  The farmers have had some good years but they are always operate on a  low margin.  This year we are operating on a negative margin at best in the grain sector.

The Misery Index is increasing but we need to share the bright spots.  I am looking for them this morning!

Are your times tough where you live?  What happiness can we share today to lift our spirits?

Ed Winkle