Growing Kids

I have been thinking about the grandkids all week since Becky announced the coming birth of our eighth grandchild.

Farmers always say that kids are the best crop you will ever grow. I sure agree. Children are our future and I have always been a "big kid."

Helping a child learn and grow and find what they are best suited for is the biggest challenge I have ever undertaken as a parent, teacher, schoolboard member and now grandpa.

The oldest grandchildren are doing well in their progression in life. You can see their traits coming out. You can even see some in the little ones but you never know how they will work out. It takes a good support system to help them achieve their part in the chain of life.

I wonder if they will all graduate from college? We all know not everyone is best suited for college but that diploma runs strong in our family and everything learned to achieve it is used in some good way.

I can see Madison teaching like her dad or working in business like her mom. She is curious and a good leader. She is a really good oldest grandchild. Liam loves music and speaks in big sentences with his musical voice. Corbin could be the tractor cowboy with my love of machinery that runs through his background.

Brynn is a little big eyed actor and is really forming her personality. She has left the terrible two's and seems to be happy all the time. I am sure she as her moments as we all do. Claire could be anything, it will be interesting to see how she progresses. Tyler is athletic and into everything, Caolin is a very happy baby and observes everything you do.

They are all so young, they have a lot of growing to do. Who knows, I don't know what they will do but you can see the pathways forming. That is the fun part of life. Once you get there, there is so much to do in that path you are in.

I wish them all well always and will do everything in my power to help as will their whole support group of family and friends.

How is your "crop" growing?

Ed

Hodgepodge

Today is a hodgepodge of ideas.

I am thinking about so many things it is hard to focus on one. I try to catch the NCAA scores, keep hearing about the health care plan coming up this weekend, keep thinking about my wheat, a whole myriad of things.

So I just focus on Lent and LuAnn. That keeps me focused. I can't do anything else about the other concerns right now so I might as well focus where it works.

Matt called and ran into one of my old college roomates, who I haven't seen in years. I am sure Matt got an earfull. He is busy being husband, dad and ag teacher while trying to restore the IH 706 he bought last fall. I can't wait to see it. He is more particular than I am so I know it will be like new.

One of my suppliers called and we are trying to figure out when and what to do with my crop.

I am working on cleaning fence rows again so y ou have your normal challenges with that. Mud, trees and try not make too big a mess so close to planting time.

Another supplier called and needs aerial maps of the farms I want to spread lime on.

I will add more to this blog as I think of it but right now I am just tired and waiting for the Buckeyes. I hope Turner is up to par tonight, he is a key part of this good team's success.

Ed

Brackets, Blogs and Business

Do you have your NCAA brackets filled out? I know not everyone does but even the president did his live on ESPN today. I guess that is more important right now than the business at hand. He must have the votes for his health care or knows he can't do anything about it.

I like reading and writing blogs. Have you dug back and found my best blogs? I have some that really stand out, like anyone's writing, I guess. People ask me all the time about subjects I have already commented on here.

Have you read my blog reading list? From Kelly and Paul in Illinois, to the Blog Fathers in Cincinnati, to Nancy's blog in Louisville and from all over the land, including Canada, I like to see what others are doing and saying. Budde Shepherd is a good read for anyone, especially farmers and he has been a great help to me.

My big business decision now is to decide whether to keep my wheat or barley or kill it for a good cover crop and plant a full season crop. I can sell fall soybeans right now near $9 and many think it won't be that high at harvest.

I need to make a decision as soon as I determine the final stand before Feeke's growth stage 6. That will be late this year, at least the end of April but the quicker you decide and kill the plants already out there, the easier it is to kill.

Kill a good crop, are you crazy? No, farmers do it all the time and that is the advantage of planting a crop in the fall. You hold the soil and pick up nutrients that can be released now.

I don't think that will happen with wheat near $5 per bushel and with the stand I think I have but I will know better next week. Still, I have the option of going to a full season crop. The wheat fits better in our rotation and spreads our workload out which is becoming an important consideration, especially in years like these.

Kansas is the most popular pick for the tournament, wheat is the most popular pick for my crop and I don't know if the government will force a health care package down our throat or not.

Maybe blogging is the safest bet today.

Ed

Green Things

It's St. Patrick's Day and I see some people wearing the green today!


The Emerald Isle has lots of parades and celebrations this week to bring attention to the six million population.


The grass is getting greener and early flowers are greening up. The little bit of wheat around here is trying green up but it is very soggy. You can't walk on most fields without sinking in so we still can't get needed nitrogen fertilizer on them.


It will be a few weeks until we really start spending the green to try and green up our fields! You keep thinking isn't that far away but you walk outside and think differently.

The greenhouses are full of green growing plants to sell to us by Mother's Day.

Many of you are doing the green thing by doing things that help the environment and keep it green. The price of fuel is cutting trips just because of the cost but we can all do a little with Reduce, Re-use and Recycle.


I wonder how many green parts Deere and Company are cashing in on today? I bet it's a bundle of green!

I know my Pioneer dealer is busy selling the green with his line of seed.

The first green hat I saw this morning reminded me of all things green.

In agriculture, that is our business.

Ed Winkle

Hydroponics

We got to see some high tech hydroponics today. It is amazing what they can do with this very specialized way of growing food.

Hydroponics have really come along the past ten years but they are still used in conjunction with sunny climates and where heating bills are less. A source of warm water like a manufacturing plant like ADM's plant near Decature, Illinois is a big plus.

It is a great addition to a school setting where science and/or agriculture is taught. I had the aquaponics lab up and running at Clermont Northeastern when I retired there. The fish make fertilizer that is cycled to the roots of the plants above.

The one I saw and many use a trichaderma fungus in the fertilizer water as an IPM method to control root dieseases, just like I do on our farm. Intergrated Pest Management is a key concept to reduce production costs and pest problems from greenhouse to farm field.

If you are interested in what this fungus can do for your plants or farm, look around http://www.bioworksinc.com/ I have been using the biological fungus since T-22 was introduced in 1995.

If you have any questions on it, you can comment on this blog or email me directly at edwinkle@verizon.net If I don't have an answer, I probably know someone who does.

If you are interested in hydroponics, that is out of my line of work. One website I found is http://www.growingedge.com/basics From hydroponics to your gardens to our farm fields, there are many principles shared in common.

Good seedstock
Good fertility program
Pest identification, management and control

The steps in creating a beautiful lawn or golf course is not that different from farmers trying to produce corn.

Ed

Todays Farmer

I have been thinking about todays farmer and came up with this:

National Ag Week is being celebrated March 16-22 all across the U.S., and March 20, has been designated National Ag Day. It is a good time to reflect on all the traditions and advancements that help make the U.S. agriculture industry second to none! Following are some interesting statistics about today’s agriculture industry:

The top five agriculture products in the U.S. are cattle and calves, dairy products, broilers, corn and soybeans.The U.S. produces 46% of the world’s soybeans, 41% of the world’s corn, 20% of the world’s cotton and 13% of the world’s wheat.

· It takes the average American about 35 days to earn enough disposable income to pay for all the food that is consumed at home and away from home during the entire year.By comparison, it takes consumers more than 100 days of earned income to pay all federal, state and local taxes each year.

· About 19¢ of every consumer dollar spent on food actually goes to the farmer.The other 81¢ is spent on processing, packaging, marketing, transportation, distribution and retail costs.

· One acre of wheat will yield about 35 bu./acre and will produce about 1,960 loaves of bread – about 56 loaves of bread/bu. of wheat.A three-fold increase in the price paid to a farmer for a bushel of wheat from $4/bu. to $12/bu. only increases the wheat cost for a loaf of bread by 14¢/loaf.

· The U.S. agriculture industry employs more than 22 million Americans to produce, process, sell and trade the nation’s food and fiber.This represents approximately 16-17% of the total U.S. workforce.

· The soil erosion rate on U.S. cropland has declined by over 40% since 1982. Today, conservation tillage methods are utilized on approximately 103 million acres of the total of 281 million crop acres in the U.S.

· Fresh beef sold at the retail meat counter in the U.S. has 27% less fat content than 20 years ago.Today, an average pork tenderloin only has about 1 gram more fat than a skinless chicken breast, which is considered among the leanest of meat products.

· One dairy cow produces enough each day for 7 gal. of fluid milk, 2.9 lbs. of butter and 6 lbs. of cheese.This daily production is accomplished by the dairy cow’s average daily consumption of 35 gal. of water, 35 lbs. of hay and silage and 20 lbs. of grain and concentrates.

· Today’s modern combines, harvest about 900 bu. corn/hour, or 100 bu. every 7 minutes.By comparison, in the 1930s, before modernized harvesting equipment, a farmer would harvest about 100 bu. of corn in a 9-hour day.

· Some other interesting facts regarding today’s farmer:

The average U.S. farmer produces enough food and fiber for about 150 people. This number was 19 people in 1940, 46 people in 1960 and 115 people in 1980.

99% of all U.S. farms are family farm businesses owned by individuals, partnerships and family corporations. These family based farm enterprises account or about 94% of all the U.S. agricultural products that are sold each year.

The average age of the U.S. farmer is 55 years. That proves I am over the hill!

From 1997 to 2002, the number of farms operated by women increased by 12.6%.

There are 2.13 million farms in the U.S. today. This compares to a high of 6.8 million farms in 1930, 4 million farms in 1960 and 2.4 million farms in 1980.

Today, about 65% of farms have computers, and over half of all farms have Internet access. Almost 90% of farmers use cell phones.

I need to make my own comments on every point that I scavanged off the net. The numbers I found seem sound to me and ones I believe in.

Prove me wrong!

Ed

Grandchildren

Grandchildren may be God's greatest creation.

Grandparents are old enough and hopefully wise enough to give the little guys the perspective we never had time for as parents.

Sorry, children, we were busy raising you and making a living.

Now we have some breathing space and can really look at the little ones in our farm in a whole new light. Not that we don't love you but now we have time to give your children things you can't give them.

How many people you know who just adore and respect their grandparents? I can think of many right of the top of my head. There arandsons who get along with their grandad better then their own dad and I can thing of many women who had a very special relationship with a grandmother. That is really cool.

But yet many people don't have that and it is another sorespot in family life. I never had it with any of my grandparents. I don't resent that I didn't but I am sure not missing this opportunity with my grandchildren.

My clock from yesterday just lost an hour and those little guys are changing between each time I see them. Those three babies from 2009? You ought to see them now! They are forming their personalities.

I praise all the children, I think they are doing a great job raising their children, probably better than I did but I sure tried. The success and respect they all have makes my buttons burst a little bit.

I sure love kids and intend to continue to be one when its time to have a little fun with the third generation...

Ed