Check Out the New Case IH Farmalls

Agriculture.com recently displayed the new equipment from Case IH.

8 Ways Cover Crops Pay

Think about the land you drive by that's idle and not being farmed.  What do you see?  Weeds usually.

"Mother Nature keeps the ground covered, and a living root in the soil, for nine to ten months out of the year.  Then we came along and started doing tillage to grow row crops.  By growing corn or soybeans, we keep a living plant on the soil surface just five months or so a year," says Paul Jasa, engineer in biological agriculture systems at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in a recent interview with Agriculture.com.

Why Plant Cover Crops?

Jasa, who studied cover crop and no-till systems for more than two decades, farmers need to understand why they want to grow cover crops.

There are numerous reasons:

1. Erosion control
2. Nutrient capture/recycle
3. Improved soil health
4. Water management
5. Biodiversity
6. Nitrogen fixation
7. Reduced compaction
8. Weed supression

Managing Wheat this Winter

Becks Hybird's put together a wheat management plan to follow.  They published it on Agriculture.com.  The following is the plan in a nutshell.

Wheat Management

September is upon us and that means wheat planting time.  Many farmers are getting ready to harvest their soybeans.  Although this year it looks like harvest will be later than normal.  The question for most is when do I plant wheat?  It's pretty simple.  The earlier the better.

Early Planted Wheat Offers the Following Advantages

1. Better emergence and fall growth.
2. More tillers will form in the fall with early planting.
3. Tillers that form in the fall have larger heads than tillers formed in the spring.
4. Less heaving the following spring if the nodal roots start to establish.

There Are Some Potential Disadvantages to Planting Early

1. Hessian Fly could become an issue.  Although this hasn't been an issue recently, it's best to plant after the fly free date.  See the chart above to get an idea what your date would be.  Planting prior to the fly free date can cause issues with aphids which can transmit barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV).  BYDV hurts more when the plant gets the disease in the fall compared to the spring.
2. Early planting may cause leaf diseases in the fall which is more dangerous than in the spring.
3. The earlier you the plant the earlier the wheat will try to come out in winter.  This is influenced by genetics more so than planting date.  A late spring frost will hurt plants coming out too early.

Despite all this the potential higher yield out weighs all the dangers associated with planting early.  It is in my opinion to go ahead and plant as soon as possible.  Good luck.

The Clock is Ticking on Cover Crops

Harvest looks like it may be coming later this year than normal.  This poses a serious problem of when to plant cover crops into corn.  Most cover crops need five to six weeks of growth to be able to withstand the winter hardiness.

Cereal rye can be planted later than most.  It can still grow at 34 degrees F.

The question is when is the right time to aerial supply serial rye to a corn field.  If you apply too soon when the corn is still green you may not get the seed to the ground and the sun may not reach through the crop canopy.  On the other hand, if you wait to close to harvest, you may not give enough time for growth before winter.  The time to look for is when the sunlight is hitting the soil roughly 50% of the time.

Wheat fields that did not have a crop after harvest have much more flexibility to plant cover crops now.  Your options are wide open.  The Midwest Cover Crop Council has excellent information to help you with cover crop selection.  Just go to their Cover Crop Decision Tool to find more info.

Agriculture.com has found the following chart also gives some good information about when to plant cover crops.  As you can see we are in the prime time as to when to plant.

Ryan Moore is the cove crops specialist with Becks who came up with this chart.  You may email him rmoore@beckshybrids.com, contact your local dealer or seed adviser for more information.

Farming Like a (Go) Pro

I thought this was a pretty cool video from the Peterson farmers out in Western Kansas.  This is what farming looks like with a Go Pro.

Q&A with Monsanto CTO Robb Fraley

Robb Fraley, Monsanto chief technology officer, is excited about the future, but he's looking for new ways to explain new technology with non farmers.

Monsanto has been on a roll these days, as the St. Louis based firm integrates its recent acquisitions with existing seed and trait businesses.

The recent buying craze started with the purchase of Precision Plantation in May of 2012.  "It used to be seeds at planting would land on top of the field, others would land below where you wanted to plant them," Fraley, Monsanto's executive vice president and chief technology officer, said during a recent interview with Agriculture.com.  "Now, were talking about a planter precisely controlled by hydraulics, with picket fence stands occurring."

In 2013, Monsanto also expanded into biotechnology with a Novozymes collaboration, and extensive weather data with its acquisition of The Climate Corporation.

"We are seeing all these technologies starting to integrate together," he says.

Not all has gone smoothly however.  A simple Google search of Monsanto turns up groups like March Against Monsanto and Millions Against Monsanto.  Also, some weeds and corn rootworms are resisting the companies weed-resistant and insect-resistant technology.

The following is a Q&A between Fraley and Agriculture.com.

AG: What excites you?
RF: Microbials and biological.  We are in the early stages of how useful they will be, but we see applications for control of insects, weeds and viruses.

AG: Did weeds and insects that resist transgenic technology surprise Monsanto?
RF: From the day we launched Roundup Ready soybeans (in 1996), resistance was always on top of our minds as a possibility.  We are always testing the next generation product.  In the case of corn rootworm, the science moved quickly, and we were able to replace a single gene product with dual gene products with multiple modes of action.  We are expecting RNAi technology to come into the market by the end of the decade.  This will defer from the Bt technology now used in corn rootworm traits.

AG: What's the state of the U.S. regulatory system?
RF: It's getting more complicated.  We are seeing more delays.  The EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) that USDA requested dicamba (Monsanto) and 2,4-D tolerant soybeans (Dow AgroSciences) has added another two years onto the time these products can get to the market.  We are complying, but we didn't think it was necessary.  The last two products we launched in Brazil took just two years to get government approval.  We are able to launch Roundup Ready Xtend (dicamba-tolerant) soybeans in Argentina before we launch it here.

AG: Aren't there concerns, such as off-target movement, about these new weed control technologies?
RF: I understand there are concerns.  We and BASF are doing a lot of work in developing new formulations of dicamba.  Dow is doing the same thing with new formulations of 2,4-D.  These new formulations are incredible.  I remember as a kid spraying Banvel and seeing volatility and drift.  Newer formulations have dramatically decreased off-target movement.

AG: How is Monsanto working to ease concerns about genetically modified foods?
RF: We're making a bigger effort to talk with consumers - in schools, with moms, with people who like us and people who don't.  We need different approaches.

AG: What will you be talking about in five years?
RF: We will talk about how big of an enhancement Roundup Ready Xtend has made across soybean production.  It is a great new tool for weed control.  We will also be talking about adoption of probably the third or fourth generation of FieldScripts.  These will build upon products that select the right seed for the field and for planting at optimal populations.

"Right to Farm" Could Expand to Other States

Constitutional amendments normally go unnoticed.  And that's usually for a good reason.  Most of the time the are archaic, outdated and doesn't apply to modern times.  Politicians usually just tack things on they want to pass for lobbyist and away we go.

So when the amendment "Right to Farm" was passed in Missouri, it came as no surprise no one noticed it.  The ballot asked, "Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to ensure that the right of Missouri citizens to engage in agricultural production and ranching practices shall not be infringed?"

Basically it asserted the right to farm.  Why would anyone need to have that written into the constitution?  Isn't the right to farm your own land an unalienable right?  Unfortunately, in today's age, we need to have everything spelled out for us.

The law seems reasonable enough.  Proponents of this law were reasonably concerned about what's been going on in other states.  For example, in 2008, California voters approved roomier living conditions for hens.  And in Oregon, a rural county overwhelmingly passed a ban on genetically modified crops.

Considering all the hysteria surrounding GMO's recently, it's not out of the question that similar laws like the one in Oregon couldn't be passed in other states.

Missouri isn't the first state to pass a "Right to Farm" law.  South Dakota passed a similar law two years ago.  North Dakota State University law professor David Saxwosky says he hasn't seen any resulting court cases in a recent interview with South West Farm Press.

Maybe sometime in the next decades there will be some technology that even producers will say, 'Hey, wait, are we really aren't sure if we want that within our industry.'  And at that point, this language will be tested," Saxwosky said.

Other states are looking to add similar laws like the ones in Missouri and North Dakota.  Indiana recently added right to farm legislation in the form of a law.  Oklahoma had legislation that didn't make it pass the general assembly.  Many other Midwestern states have also begun conversations about "Right to Farm".

Why the Opposition?

You would think in a state like Missouri, with nearly 100,000 farms, the "Right to Farm" would pass easily.  Actually it passed by the narrowest of margins.  So slim in fact there may be a recount.

Unofficial results showed in the 3,898 precincts, it passed with only 50.1% of the vote.  Out of the 1 million votes casted, it passed by a mere 2,528 votes.

You may be asking yourself, why would anyone oppose the right of an individual to farm?  But Missouri is the "Show Me" state.  The message became muddled.  

Those supporting the amendment were portrayed as large corporate agricultural interest that were trying to avoid regulation relating to environmental and animal welfare while opponents were painted as over-zealous environmentalist who wanted to destroy traditional farming.  The debate pitted urban interests against rural ones.  The areas of Kansas City and St. Louis largely opposing the amendment.

Essentially, politics as usual.

Where ever you stand on the issue, we might be seeing similar legislation soon in Southern states.  In states like Alabama and Georgia, the "Right to Farm" issue would seem like a softball issue.  And we all know our esteemed legislators love softball issues.