Soil P

Our email group has discussed phosphorous extensively this year.  A farmer asked why his soil lab suggested he may want to include more P for his crop when it is below 50 degrees.  Purple corn is well known by farmers from a lack of phosphorous at cooler temperatures.  The subject of phosphorous is not black and white.

"PHOSPHORUS (P) is an immobile nutrient. So when
a P fertilizer material is applied to the soil it remains in
place. This is generally true, but as with most generalizations
there is more to the story and certainly exceptions to
the generalization. The following discussion is intended

put P mobility in perspective.

Fertilizer Phosphorus

The chemical form of P in fertilizer materials is

phosphate (H2PO4

-, HPO4

-2 or PO4

-3 ). Regardless of what

fertilizer we add to soil, whether it is a dry product such as

concentrated superphosphate (0-46-0), diammonium
phosphate (18-46-0), monoammonium phosphate (11-52-
0), or a solution product such as ammonium
polyphosphate (10-34-0), for all practical purposes the fate
of soil P is ultimately the same.

From the Farm to Plate Manual:
"Phosphorous acts as a catalyst in the conversion of nutrients.  Some potential benefits of phosphorous may include more vigorous and rapid growth, early root growth, better development and quality of grain, quicker maturity, increased nitrogen uptake, increased mineral content and higher sugar levels in the plant.  Phosphorous also promotes energy release in cells, cell division and enlargement, photosynthesis and neutral pH.  Phosphorous is contained in the DNA and is non-toxic to the plant.  Good sources of P include MAP, Idaho phosphate, North Carolina phosphate and soft rock phosphate.

Optimum levels are 175 pounds per acre with a 2 part P to 1 part K ratio for grass crops.  Legumes need more potassium in relation to phosphorous."

I am spreading soft rock phosphate this year.  How will you address the phosphorous needs of your crop?

Here is a great video narrated by Baxter Black about the importance of wheat to world and American agriculture.  The farmers in the video pretty well understand the importance of phosphorous to their wheat crop.  They also understand the value of teaching our children these principles.


Ed Winkle 

The Next Farm Crisis?

"Ed, what do YOU think about things? Watching that "The Farm Crisis" documentary and it just sounds SO like the same thinking about land prices and the like are the same as they were then.

 

Are we going down again?"

"I  don't know. I think our economy will crash first but could be wrong. How our economy keeps going I have no idea but I can tell you lots of NATers like _____ and ____ _____ have gold silver, loaded to the bear and ready for anything. So far, only a few farmers are leaving and leaving silently, some more will be hitting the skids here. They can't make $300 ground work, thank God I don't have to. Great question, good blog topic."

There are some great discussions by real farm people at this link.   Corn is half the price it was a year ago but inputs aren't.  Wheat and beans have held their own but the commodity markets have been pretty dead.  Cattle are good property but hogs may hit the skids again.

 

"So what could farmers do to survive another financial crisis? The world is always changing, but farmers may gain some valuable insights from those who survived the farm crisis of the 1980s.  First, the answer is not to do what farmers are been advised to do for the past 50 years. This is not the time to get bigger, give in to corporate control, or get out of farming. The farmers who bought more land and equipment to expand during the 1970s were the ones with the biggest problems during the 1980s. With regard to contract production, the agribusiness corporations do not make legally binding, long term commitments to their contract growers. When times get tough, contract producers are going to be caught with large investments in facilitates and equipment with no animals to feed or no markets for their crops, and thus, no means of making their loan payments.

 

The farmers who survived the farm financial crisis of the 1980s were those who resisted the temptation to borrow money during 1970s. Those without large debts obviously were not committed to large loan repayments nor were they subject to bankruptcy, even after significant year-to-year losses. Their equity, primarily in the unencumbered value of their land, was more than adequate to cover their modest debts. Diversified farmers also fared much better than those who had specialized in one or two commodities. Those with a variety of crops, or both livestock and crops, were in a better position to manage their financial risks. Even though prices in general were depressed, different commodities were more or less profitable at different times."

 

"Those who fared best during the farm financial crisis of the 1980s had strong personal relationships within their families and communities.  Farmers who have developed personal relationships with their customers, who also happen to be their neighbors, will not only have their moral support during the hard times ahead but will have their continuing financial support as well. Friends don’t abandon friends when the going gets tough, they stick it out together. Those who eat locally won’t go hungry and those who market locally won’t go broke. Instead, they will find ways to work though their problems together and their relationships will grow stronger as a consequence.

 

So, the most important strategy for surviving the next farm financial crisis may be to get to know your neighbors and turn them into customers as well as friends. Wendell Berry writes that farmers of the future “must tend farms they know and love, farms small enough to know and love, using tools and methods that they know and love, in the company of neighbors that they know and love” – and I might add, producing food for people they know and love.  The key to surviving the next farm financial crisis will be a deep and abiding love of land and people."

 

This makes sense to me.  What do you think?  I just added Ralph Goff's excellent link to a story on such in his area.

 

Ed Winkle

 

Logistics

Maybe you have received this email going around:

Did anyone besides me wonder how they got all those signs printed and distributed far and wide, including to all the national parks and cemeteries overseas only eight to ten hours after the government shut down?  Take a look at this from someone who wanted to remain anonymous.

 

I have worked in the government on and off for 40 years.  During that time I became quite familiar with requisitions, bidding, awarding contracts etc.  It is a time consuming process with bean-counters and pencil-necked bureaucrats every step of the way.  The simplest request takes months not days or hours.

 

 In less than 8 hours of the shutdown, miraculously, professionally printed 3X4 foot signs appeared all over the country in the tens of thousands saying-“this [park, facility, etc. with custom logos] closed due to government shutdown.  There has not been a government shutdown in 17 years.  These signs were designed, specifications were determined, signs were then requisitioned, bids were posted and vetted, government contracts were awarded.  The materials were then ordered and the signs manufactured then distributed U.S. Mails or freight companies.

 

 This shutdown was orchestrated and planned well in advance at least 6-8 months ago.  Millions of tax dollars were appropriated and spent in this process.  There is a paper trail a mile long leading directly to the White House.

 

I never thought about all those signs and TV coverage until I read this.  I smell skunk and there is more going on around us  than we even want to know.

 

I am not happy with our government or what is going on in our country though there is little I can do about it.  Even Putin is now seen as the world leader over our president.

 

Ed Winkle

 

Best Thing That Ever Came Out Of Michigan

I was thinking today the best thing that ever came out of Michigan was the Dodge Dakota.  They made over two million of those trucks and most of them are still on the road.

I have mentioned my three Dodge Dakota pickups in many of my blogs.  They have all served me very well and the third one is just broke in at 118,000 miles.  I got 21 MPG on the last tank so some of them did get decent gas mileage.  The first one did, too but it was a five speed.  That is the last manual transmission I owned, the fall after we bought this farm in 2004.

It's pretty easy to get 200,000 miles out of a Dakota and 300,000 is not too difficult if you are willing to spend some money in repairs.  The automatic transmission will probably go first but that is true of most any vehicle I know of.  Automatic transmissions are weak links in most cars and trucks today.

I like the size and design of this truck, it fits me like a glove to drive.  I will admit I can drive the Buick or Silverado longer without stopping but the Dakota has made a nice scouting and farm truck for me.  It's a real grocery and parts getter.

I wish I had bought the quad cab when I started looking for a replacement in 2004.  We found a nice one and it even had the 5 speed manual but I didn't want to spend that much money right then with a new farm payment.  In hindsight I should have but the 01 club cab served me well and is serving a friend of mine right now.

Many people say the last design killed the sales of the truck and I think they are right.  It looks too fancy for a Dakota and I still can't get used to it.  The second version I had in the 01 and now in the 04 is the most popular looking Dakota.

I do thank Chrysler for the minivan and the Dakota and especially for the one million dollars they just donated to my favorite charity, the National FFA Organization.

Have you ever used a smaller truck in your day to day operation or are you a full sized pickup driver?

Ed

John, Dear

I spoke at a cover crop field day in Dearborn County Indiana today.  We had a great group of 120 farmers together to talk all about how to make more money with cove crops.  I had to use the facilities and there was a long line to the PortaPot so I walked behind the barn and there was the farmer's outhouse.  I stepped in and this sign was on the wall:

"John, Deere, just in Case you are wondering where I am, my cousin Oliver told me you have been messing around with Allis Chalmers.  Here I thought you were on the FarmAll this time!"  I had a hard time hitting the hole!  If you say it just right, it's very funny to an older farmer who remembers all those brands of machinery.

One speaker told us that palmer amaranth has been confirmed in 17 Indiana counties now.  Cover crops is one of the best way to combat resistant weeds.  Cereal rye is the best control of Marestail I have found.  Did you know weeds are not really resistant to the tank cleaner called glyphosate?  They can assimilate it better than GMO or non GMO crops can!

When I walked into the shop, I saw Marshall's planter was converted to Martin Till.  I asked how many where at the planter clinic I taught a couple of years ago and many raised there hands.  Marshall said it was the best change he had ever made to a corn planter.  I told them I would not be able to farm the way I want to without that planter setup but now I was using the tanks to apply calcium nitrate and water instead of just nitrogen and sulfur plus popup.  John's method of fertilizing works better.

We talked about all of the benefits of cover crops but I think the main message was unlocking nutrients and keeping applied nutrients like sulfur in the root zone while the cover is growing.  We discussed the documented yield increases with and after using cover crops.  I told them about Matt VanTilburg and I planting radishes in double crop soybeans and how mixing radish with wheat was an accident.  Even USDA is interested.

My main point was how to get this marvelous thing done.  Plant some cover, even in your garden or around your fields and watch them grow.  Once you are convinced and you must be convinced or you won't carry through, this is how you do it.  Always have seed on hand and before you fire up the combine, load the planter or drill.  That is how I got that nice letter from NRCS stating I was the only farmer who got every acre covered three years in a row.  The letter was great but better yet was the great crops I got from doing it.

There is another good meeting coming up in Fort Wayne, Indiana November 20-21.

What is your cover crop plans for the rest of this year and next year?

Ed Winkle

The Coming Phosphorous Crisis

Chimel posted a link to an interesting program in his comments Wednesday.  Now Chimel, can you translate his beautiful French language for us?  It's a good thing his speech is posted in English at the bottom of his slides!

"Biologist Mohamed Hijri brings to light a farming crisis no one is talking about: We are running out of phosphorus, an essential element that's a key component of DNA and the basis of cellular communication. All roads of this crisis lead back to how we farm -- with chemical fertilizers chock-full of the element, which plants are not efficient at absorbing. One solution? Perhaps … a microscopic mushroom. (Filmed at TEDxUdeM.)
   
Mohamed Hijri studies arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), seeking to understand the structure, evolution and reproduction of these organisms, which form a symbiotic relationship with plant roots.

Why you should listen to him:
Mohamed Hijri is a professor of biology and a researcher at the plant biology research institute (l'Institut de recherche en biologie végétale) at the Université de Montréal. His work focuses on the most common and widespread symbiotic relationship on earth -- between plant roots and a type of fungi found in the soil called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). These fungi improve plant growth by increasing roots' ability to absorb phosphorus, while also boosting resistance to pathogens.

As Hijri points out in his talk, the study of AMF and a deeper understanding of them could have big implications for agriculture and could help divert us from an impending crisis -- that we are quickly running out of phosphorus.

Many would say but yes we have piles of manure and biosolids that could be spread.  I would tell you way too much FGD gypsum has been land filled due to ignorance.  A few of my friends would tell you those piles of manure are loaded with glyphosate and could potentially do as much harm as good.  The few manure tests I've seen for glyphosate would be equivalent to spraying a gallon of RoundUp per acre.  Would you do that?

Weeds are indicators of soil health.  Why are weeds bad?  Dandelions are pretty well gone here in fields but still a pest in lawns and gardens.  Even dandelion are an indicator of soil health.  Radish and other cover crops do a good job unlocking phosphorous and other nutrients from soil.

Google lists many links on the coming phosphorous crisis.  You can read and make your own conclusion but as Chimel points out, this scientist thinks it is real and goes about proving it in the first link of this blog.

Ed Winkle

Pulse Crops

" pulse (Latin "puls",^[1] from Ancient Greek πόλτος poltos "porridge"),^[2] sometimes called a "grain legume",^[3] is an annual leguminous crop yielding from one to twelve seeds of variable size, shape, and color within a pod. Pulses are used for food for humans and other animals. Included in the pulses are: dry beans like pinto beans, kidney beans and navy beans; dry peas; lentils; and others.

Pulses are important food crops due to their high protein and essential amino acid content. Like many leguminous crops, pulses play a key role in crop rotation due to their ability to fix nitrogen.
Just like words such as "bean" and "lentil", the word "pulse" may refer to just the seed, or the entire plant."

We were never taught the term pulse crop in Ohio.  I think it must come from Canada or the plains, probably before that.  Pulse crops do very well in Ohio and soybeans has bean our number one crop more than once.  The first time I heard the term pulse crop was from Dr. Dwayne Beck from Dakota Lakes Research Center at the National NoTillage Conference many years ago.

Pulse crops are key to his research because in that part of the world they can grow about anything and have more crop diversification than we do in the Midwest.

"Archaeologists have discovered traces of pulse production around Ravi River (Punjab), the seat of the Indus Valley civilization, dating circa 3300 BC. Meanwhile, evidence of lentil cultivation has also been found in Egyptian pyramids and dry pea seeds have been discovered in a Swiss village that are believed to date back to the Stone Age. Archaeological evidence suggests that these peas must have been grown in the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia regions at least 5,000 years ago and in Britain as early as the 11th century.<sup>"

LuAnn topped her salad off with Garbanzo beans or chick peas last night.  I don't like the taste of them or humus which is made from them but they are healthy foods.

I do like raising "pulse crops" though because they fit very well in the rotation in Ohio and across this country.

Pulse crops need to be inoculated properly because most of the soils they are grown in won't be healthy enough to provide the bacteria they need to produce nitrogen.  I don't think I find one field in 1000 with enough soil health that legumes won't make more  yield than if they are properly inoculated.

Do you raise pulse crops?  Do you consume them?

Ed Winkle</sup>