tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6975161130020685883.post2302937383103711985..comments2024-03-27T03:19:09.202-04:00Comments on HyMark High Spots: We Have To Be Told How To FarmEd Winklehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07299533401041542458noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6975161130020685883.post-77925053817791621532015-03-16T06:08:12.316-04:002015-03-16T06:08:12.316-04:00Not so many rules, but you've got to do what y...Not so many rules, but you've got to do what you've got to do to contain the spread of this pest recently arrived in France when you don't grow Bt corn. All farmers seem to be on-board and afraid to see the infestation spread, I didn't read about any complaint or street protest about it, and farmers are the first to take to the streets in France, blocking traffic with tractors, burning bales of straw, spilling milk or manure in front of the prefecture government administration buildings. Today at 1PM it's the organic farmers who'll be protesting in front of Toulouse prefecture. The government cut the subsidies to support organic farming by 25%, ironically only a few days after the Minister of agriculture sensationally said he would encourage organic farming as an answer to the challenges of climate change, most likely in preparation to the big international conference on climate change that will happen in Paris around December. It looks like the program was so successful that there was 25% more demand of subsidies than the government budgeted for, so they are just cutting subsidies by that amount instead of honoring their word and provisioning the few more million euros that were missing. There are also subsidies for converting to organics, these are maintained and not cut.<br /><br />Forgot to say the rotations around airports are every year, no corn for 2 years in a row there.<br />Rotations with milo seem to help too, looks like this plant is not susceptible to the rootworm so they die off during this year of fast.Chimelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08601975288198239103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6975161130020685883.post-78357967582912428912015-03-11T07:43:09.939-04:002015-03-11T07:43:09.939-04:00Wow, that is a lot of rules to follow! I don'...Wow, that is a lot of rules to follow! I don't know how this is going to all shake out here, Chimel.Ed Winklehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07299533401041542458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6975161130020685883.post-65154476277564676452015-03-11T07:43:04.006-04:002015-03-11T07:43:04.006-04:00Wow, that is a lot of rules to follow! I don'...Wow, that is a lot of rules to follow! I don't know how this is going to all shake out here, Chimel.Ed Winklehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07299533401041542458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6975161130020685883.post-64308933256943398222015-03-11T06:41:40.412-04:002015-03-11T06:41:40.412-04:00Rotations are mandatory for rootworm in specific a...Rotations are mandatory for rootworm in specific areas of France too, they even enforced them since 2008 around the international airports to limit infestations coming from freight.<br /><br />Alsace especially has it tough. When high rootworm populations are detected, a 2 km diameter red zone is delimited, where corn cannot be planted for 2 years, and a 10 km orange circle where corn cannot be planted the next year.<br /><br />Regardless of infestations, corn cannot be planted for more than 5 years in a row in any field (17% rotation minimum), and rootworm larvae insecticide spraying is mandatory starting on the second or third corn on corn year, depending on the number of rootworms counted. Following these measures, average counts of rootworms went down from 150 per trap to a couple of dozens. There's 1000 rootworm traps monitoring the whole region, 4000 in France. Yield followed suite, with 180-195 bu/a in Alsace the next years, higher than the French average.Chimelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08601975288198239103noreply@blogger.com