2020 was not our usual, routine, normal, expected, ordinary year. 2021 won't be either. My goal this morning is to find the ordinary in extraordinary times. With no rain in many places for the last month or longer, the planting season in southern Iowa is on a fast pace and in many cases completed.
This farming practice is ordinary to many of you. However not all of you live in this area. Cover crop is a grass, usually rye, that is planted in the fall after harvest to do a variety of things including erosion control, helping with compaction, and weed suppression. Then in the spring it is sprayed with Roundup and no-till planted. Below are 15 inch soybean rows on a hill that Alex planted just east of our home.
How many of you remember a planter plate? In the 1950s this type of plate was used in the bottom of a planter box. As it rotated mechanically a seed would drop in the spaces. As it turned it would bring the seed to a hole in the seed box where it would fall to the ground between a runner or disc opener that opened the soil. In the 1960s these plates went to plastic. In the 1970s plateless planters came out. Doubles and skips were common in the seed row. Today air pressure blows seed from a bulk box to a row unit. Then a seed belt in the row unit takes the seed to the ground. Below we are planting sweet corn with a couple of these older ground driven seed row units.
Last week was a busy week for most farmers. Most are wishing for a warm rain. Some early corn plants are under a crust and struggling to emerge. Some fields going to soybeans are out of moisture in the top 2 inches. It takes rain to activate herbicides. It takes rain to incorporate added 32% nitrogen and keep it from volatilizing. One of my favorite statements is, "We plan, prepare, and plant, however God determines the harvest". That's true in a corn field. It's also true in life.
A couple of weeks ago we visited about small family business being the backbone of our country and economy. Just ahead of my sprayer hood is Catfish Charlies where Buddy, Eileen, and family make catfish bait that goes all over the country and even the world. Thanks friends for allowing us to be part of your farming operation.
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