A Watched Crop Never Harvests

There are many ways people describe things happening slowly. We have all heard that waiting for something is like watching paint dry, grass to grow or water to boil. Expressions like; “a watched pot will never boil” describe how hard it is to wait for something. I have a new one to add to that, “it’s like watching the corn get dry enough to harvest” or “a watched field never dries down”.

I admit that I get a little anxious this time of the year as I watch the crops mature. Surely I am not the only one, in fact, I would bet this is a common malady amongst those of us who have a cropping affliction. Probably every road past a maturing corn field has a couple of ruts worn into the road from the farmer driving past once a (or even twice) day.

This time honored ritual of worrying the moisture out of the corn usually starts as soon as the pollination process is done. Soon we start pulling ears to see how they filled out, then we start watching as the kernels dent, the black line starts to appear and finally the leaves start to die. All of this is watched like it would not happen if we were not there to watch it.

The worst part of the wait is the final stretch as we watch the last of the green leaves turn brown. That is when the telltale signs start to appear. Are the ears turned down? Have the tops broken out of the plant? The ruts deepen along the fields as we look for the signs, any signs that harvest is almost here. I am pretty sure farmers this time of the year are worse than a five-year-old at five o’clock Christmas morning.

That brings us to where we are now. Harvest has been delayed by all of the rain we have received the past couple of weeks and that makes the waiting even worse. I stand by my statement that I will never complain about rain because as soon as you do, it will go away. However, a little dry weather right now and for the next 45 days or so would be greatly appreciated.  In any case, the rain and associated humidity have not helped in the drying down of the corn crop.

The combine and trucks sit serviced and ready to pounce, but only when the time is right. Yesterday we took the first of what will be many coffee cans of corn to town. I joke every year that we are going to bring the crop to town, one coffee can at a time. This annual ritual starts the same way every year.

The first sample is hand shelled off of three or four carefully selected ears. As Dad and I shell them, he usually predicts the moisture by how it shells off the ear and how spongy the cob is. Most of the time we would not really have to take the grain in because he has accurately predicted that it is too wet. Next is the sample we cut with the combine and Dad again accurately predicts it is too wet by sticking his hand in the sample.

Finally, several days to a week after the first hand shelled sample, we nervously cut the first full load and take it to town. Often it is right on the border of acceptable and the following loads are nervously filled with a hand on the phone to stop the combine at a moment’s notice. That will be especially true this year with the below sea level prices and the fact that even the smallest of discounts will eat a rather large portion out of the final check.

It’s funny how this happens each year and we know it is going to happen each year and no matter how hard we try to be patient we can’t be. I guess there is too much riding on the crop and it is better than Christmas presents once you get to be an adult. Much like Christmas presents to a five-year-old, some of the fields are like getting that bb gun and some are like getting a package of underwear. It is exciting and you do want to get the work done before anything can happen to the crop. I am not sure whether it is the air coming off of the truck driving by the field or the fact the corn plants know they are being watched that causes it to dry down. Whether you are in grade school or a grizzled veteran farmer, waiting is hard. Now, is you will excuse me, I have some drive by crop watching to do.

GMOs, Food and First World Problems

I often tell people I am a proud producer of the food we all need. I am also not embarrassed or ashamed that the food I raise includes GMO crops or animals that have had antibiotics. I truly believe that both are important tools that help me produce more food with fewer inputs. In the case of antibiotic use in my livestock, I believe them necessary to take the best possible care of my animals. I am also certain that the food produced from GMO crops and livestock who have been given antibiotics properly are perfectly safe.

That is why it is so maddening when I hear or see ads that proclaim products antibiotic or GMO free. Of course the implication is that those products are somehow safer than food from GMOs or animals that have been given antibiotics. Each time I want to shout at the TV and tell them that GMOs are completely safe and all meat is antibiotic free. I do realize it is the consumer’s right to purchase the products they want.

However, the idea that we can decide how food is produced as a society is a first world problem and one that is very troubling. Several states have had referendums on GMO crops. In the forum of public opinion GMO crops are continually maligned and theorized to cause health problems. This is even though nothing has ever been scientifically proven and GMO crops have been deemed completely safe for human consumption. I challenge anyone to provide peer reviewed, proven scientific papers that prove otherwise.

The bottom line is that GMO crops are an important tool that allows us, as farmers, to produce more food with fewer inputs and less impact on the environment. We need them to feed an ever growing world population. We are also in the business of producing what the consumer wants, which creates a dilemma. Again I have absolutely no problem with producers who decide not to grow GMO crops. We are all part of the same team. However, as farmers who do choose to grow GMOs we need to stand up for the crops we grow.

It is up to us to dispel the myths perpetuated in social media and other channels. We need to talk about what we do and let the public know that our crops represent many years of scientific research and even more years of testing to insure their safety. In a world with a growing need for food we cannot let our food abundance lead us down the road of allowing assumptions and theories to override science.

Our use of antibiotics in livestock is also in jeopardy. Any of us who raise livestock understand the importance of their use. Antibiotics are a necessary tool for us to insure that the animals we care for are healthy and comfortable. If their use is limited or taken away completely animals will suffer unnecessarily. We will also not able to produce meat as efficiently as we need too.

Again, this restriction of animal antibiotics is based on theory and assumptions and not at all on hard science. What makes the antibiotic issue even more troubling is that our own government is falling victim to this hysteria. Again, I challenge anyone to provide me with undeniable proof that the antibiotics we use in the production of livestock have anything to do with antibiotic resistance in humans. The antibiotics we use in our livestock are safe, have been tested and we follow precautions to make sure they remain safe and reliable.

I know I am preaching to the choir. Most of us in agriculture understand the importance of all of the advances in modern agriculture. GMO crops and antibiotics for livestock are just two of the most important discoveries and they are crucial technologies when it comes to our ever growing world demand for food. We may not need them to feed the United States but they are critical to feed the world.

It is great that we have enough disposable income to allow us to pick and choose what foods we eat. I say more power to those who want to control how their food was grown and have the money to pay a premium for food that was produced in less efficient systems. That is their choice. However, I do have a problem when they try to force those decisions on others who may not have the means to afford those choices. That is why it is so critical, that we stand up for the technologies that help us produce food efficiently, affordably and safely.  

GMO Crops Make Me Tired

I am tired, so tired I can barely move or think. But don’t worry, I know exactly what is causing my tiredness. It is because of gmo crops. Yes, gmo crops are making me tired, specifically the gmo crops I grow. I am sure that gmo corn and soybeans are making me very tired. On top of being tired, nearly every joint in my body aches and my back hurts.

OK, before you start sending me gmo free recipes and places to buy gmo free foods, I should, in the words of the late, great Paul Harvey, tell you the rest of the story. My gmo crops are making me tired because we have been blessed with a good crop this year and harvest has worn on much longer than the previous, poor harvests. Earlier this evening I thought I saw the light at the end of the harvest tunnel, then I realized it was just Dad and the combine coming in to dump more grain on the truck.

Our corn received good, timely rains and favorable temperatures at the right time and we are harvesting some of the best corn we have ever grown. The soybeans are even more of a testament to gmo advances. They did not have such favorable growing conditions and still produced an above average crop. They enjoyed the same cool, wet weather the corn did, but at the most critical times for them to be blooming, setting pods on and filling those pods, the weather turned very, very hot.

That is why it is so puzzling to me when I read things like a recent column in the New York Times (and why wouldn’t we go to the New York Times for our opinions on agriculture) on gmo crops. The author asserted that anyone who would grow gmo crops was just a shill for industrial agriculture. The writer went on to promote an agriculture system with very small farms growing a great diversity of non-gmo crops. The theory being that this type of agriculture would more easily feed a growing world population while better protecting both our food supply and environment.

This theory couldn’t be any more wrong. The truth of the matter is that we need gmo crops to feed our growing world population. In fact, we need improvements in technology to meet the growing demand for food. Basically the idea was that we would be better off if we reverted back to the agriculture of yesteryear. We cannot go backwards and expect to meet the growing demand.

The columnist also shared his thought that farmers who use gmo crops just mindlessly dump the seed into our planters. According to this “expert” we are just lemmings and do what is easy and will make us the most money. We are creating a wasteland and putting our food supply in jeopardy.  He also shared the opinion that we were creating a monoculture and putting our environment in peril.

As I sat in my truck, dusty, dirty and tired, I wondered how he missed the boat so badly. Obviously he had never spent time on any kind of a farm. Otherwise he would have known the amount of work that goes into each crop, not matter what kind of cropping system you use. We spend hours looking over the genetic traits of the seed we buy and we match them to the fields they will be planted in. Many hours are spent scouting the fields identifying pests and weeds. As far as the greed accusation, last I checked my bank account I was not getting rich.

This would be yet another example of someone who does not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from and someone who does not have to worry about how they will pay for their food. I suspect he is someone with good intentions and bad information. I am almost sure he probably has never set foot on a farm or spent time with anyone who is a proponent of gmo crops. His ideas are formed in theory and not fact.

The scary thing is that this writer represents many of our customers. They do not understand gmo crops and therefore gmo crops must be unhealthy and bad for the environment. We all know that this is not true, and we must work to get the truth and the facts out. On second thought maybe it isn’t my gmo crops that are making me tired, it must be the gmo critics.

Disappearing Rain

The western sky was ominously dark that morning. We were on about the third or fourth day of soybean harvest so we were still anxious. After all what would happen if it started raining and didn’t stop for several weeks (it's just like a farmer to worry about rain none-stop for weeks in the middle of a drought). Dad and I set our jaws and headed to the field, determined to harvest as many acres as we could before the impending monsoon overtook us.

We had made contingency plans, complete with an evacuation plan for the harvested soybeans and equipment. The weatherman was calling for heavy rains, possibly two days worth. Surely this was the start of the fabled rainy season. Our stress levels were at an all-time high, as we raced to the field, seemingly ahead of the line of storms headed our way.

Dad plunged into the field with the combine and the race was on. I quickly checked my so-called “smart” phone and watched the green squall line with imbedded bits of yellow and orange headed our way. I zoomed in and out, tracked the storm. I even looked at it with other radars on other sites; the storm had us squarely in its sights.

All of this information I relayed to Dad. At least I tried to relay it to Dad. My calls to him went unanswered; I was beginning to think he was screening his calls (later I found he had turned the ringer off on his phone). So impending was the storm that I thought about walking out into the field and flagging him down. I decided against this because I didn’t want to cost us a single minute. Earlier in the day we had decided that every acre we got out was one more we didn’t have to worry about in the upcoming wet season (more wishful thinking).

Finally, we had harvested enough soybeans to make a load. I carefully checked my now half dead “smart” phone. Did you ever wonder how can we develop phones with all the apps and abilities but not develop a battery with them that will last all day. My old phone used to go days on a battery, this “smart” phone only seems to last until 3:00, on a good day. Sorry for the rant, now back to the dilemma. The storm was bearing down on us, seemingly just 30 to 40 miles away. Did I have time to get the load to town?

I climbed up into the combine cab and Dad and I squinted at the tiny screen and watched the line of storms move toward us. A quick strategy meeting determined that I would take off for town (luckily the truck with the load was also the truck with working windshield wipers) and Dad would continue to harvest as much as he could before the imminent rain sent us to the barn.

I left for town watching the dark black clouds in the mirrors. The beginning of radar withdrawal was setting in. On the drive to town I started to think about what I would do on my rainy afternoon. I had several errands in town to run, paperwork to catch up on, or maybe I would clean the house as a surprise to my spouse. Oh who was I kidding, I was going to take a nap, and it was going to be a great nap. But first I had to deliver the load of beans to the elevator before they got wet.

I pulled into the elevator and unloaded quickly. I checked the radar one more time and noticed the storm had slowed in its approach. Great, it would buy me more time to get back to the field. The storm had also seemed to weaken a bit, but I dismissed this as wishful thinking. The weatherman had promised rain, and we all know they never go back on a promise.

I reached the field as the first drops hit the windshield, I could hear the couch calling my name that afternoon. After about a minute the drops started to smear the windshield and I turned the wipers on. After five more minutes the wipers had removed enough of the goo and mud for me to see out of a very small area. Then no more rain, the western sky had started to lighten.

I checked the radar one more time, on my now almost dead phone. The clouds had melted away, seemingly right over our field. We got no more than a few drops and the wind had picked up quickly drying off those few drops. Harvest would not be delayed, at least today. The big rainstorm had left me with only a smeared windshield and dashed hopes of a nap, and of course a dead “smart” phone. Well, I guess it wasn’t all bad.

Harvest Paradise

Last week we were in the middle of corn harvest and my job is to drive the truck into town with the grain. I wish you all could join me for harvest because there is something about the rush, hard-work, and sweat that make me feel more alive. It makes me love the life I have chosen and the place I live even more. I had this epiphany as I took the first load of the day in one morning.



That morning I started down the highway into town with a mug of coffee on the dash and my arm out the open window. The air was cool enough to be refreshing and warm enough to be pleasant. I drove down the road enjoying the crisp wind in my face and the fresh, heavy smell of fields and pastures. I watched as neighbor's fueled and serviced their equipment, waving at all of them along the way.



The great thing about our grain trucks are that they move at a slower pace than normal traffic. It is amazing how much you notice when you drive 15 to 20 miles an hour slower. You see cattle grazing on native range, kids waiting on the school bus and deer meandering through the fields.



Then I made the last turn into town. My hometown in one of those great small towns with a main street that is still very much alive. Early that morning I saw people heading to work with mugs of coffee, as with many of our Midwestern small towns they had time to stop and talk on their way to work. I wish you could all see my hometown come to life like I did that morning.



My destination was the local coop elevator (this is where we store and sell our grain). Greetings were exchanged with the employees and fellow farmers. The truck and the grain on it was weighed and the moisture of the grain was tested. I sat in line to dump my load of grain.watching other loads dump and slowly dissolve into the unloading pit. Then it was my turn to unload, weigh the empty truck and head to the field for another load.



This was my day as I repeated this 8 more times. The final load I marveled at the sunset as I drove back. The air was returning to the refreshing chill of earlier that morning, the heavy cool air intensified the earthy, clean smell of the countryside. The cattle and deer had returned to their feeding in the pastures and fields. The sun was setting in an awesome display of oranges, reds and yellows back grounded by the soft blue of the sky.



That is why I love what I do, and why agriculture is a way of life more than an occupation. I just wanted to share my experience on this perfect day during harvest, I wish I could have had you in the seat next to me. This experience is shared by all of my fellow farmers and ranchers as we bring you the food you eat, the fiber you wear and the fuel that powers your car.

Waiting Impatiently for Fall Harvest

I spent this morning helping Dad get the combine ready, we thought today might be the day we tried testing picking some corn. However, it was soon determined that we could not get everything ready in time to get a good start, so maybe tomorrow. It is probably OK that we waited because I can remember very few years when the crops were actually ready the first day we tried them. The moisture content of grain must be at an acceptable level or lower so it can be stored without spoiling.



I guess it is easy to be too anxious when your whole year's work (not to mention your paycheck)is riding on a few weeks work that can be ruined by one bad storm or a prolonged period of wet weather. Farming can be maddening when you get up each morning and look at a crop that is ready or close to being ready to harvest.



I guess that is why we usually jump the gun and try to harvest before the crop is ready each year. We know that the next hail storm or wind storm can wipe out a once promising crop in just a minute or two. Just as devastating would be a prolonged period of wet weather that could ruin the quality of the crop making it worth less money or even destroying it.



Sure there is crop insurance but crop insurance only pays enough to cover most of our expenses (notice I said most). In agriculture, farmers and ranchers pay themselves last and that is what we live off of for the next year. We pay for the seed, fertilizer, herbicide, equipment, rent, interest and all the other expenses first and if there is anything left over that is our paycheck. No wonder we are chomping at the bit to get into the field.



However, as with many things, the timing of harvest is out of our hands. The grain must dry down to a level at which it can be stored and the fields must be dry enough to hold up our equipment. So the only thing we can do in the weeks leading up to harvest is to prepare our equipment for the rigors of harvest and pray for a window of good weather.



The forecast for next week calls for rain off and on for three or four days. That gives us a window of three to four days (we need at least three weeks) to get as much out as we can. Hopefully tomorrow will dawn a good day, the grain will be dry and we will be able to start our fall harvest. If not we will anxiously have one eye on the fields and one eye on the weather forecast.