Could it be?

As we continue to deal with piles of snow and drifting roadways it seems that spring is far off, however some have already started thinking of it. A report that came out a while ago on AOL news was talking about long range forecasting models and what they are showing for this spring. The long range forecast shows that much of the nation and almost all of Pennsylvania may be looking at below average temperatures with above average rain fall. This could mean another wet spring that is hard to prep our fields as well as plant? Of course I'm not too worried about this at this time. It seems like it is a long stretch for most forecasters to get tomorrow's weather right, let alone a few months out. Never the less it does make us think that we may want to take a little extra time to think out a sound strategy for spring time. Make a game plan that is flexible yet can outline steps needed for each field, such as manure, burn down, tillage, etc. Take some time now to do your maintenance on machinery to make sure it is ready to go as soon as your soil is fit. All of these steps will help you to be ready for warm soils and dry weather and more likely to get timely planted crops.

Budget Savvy Corn

As markets continue to be volatile and margins are scrutinized we all are looking for a place to save some green, is your corn doing the same? Recently there has been a lot of attention focused on corn hybrids and their use of nitrogen. What if genetic advancements allow us to change our nitrogen recommendations on corn, how about if you use the same nitrogen but increase the yield? Research has already shown that yield response to nitrogen is not only based on amount but also tied to soil type and yield potential so it seems only natural that the specific genetics of the plant may also be a player. Recent research and demonstration has also shown that some of the most striking differences with hybrids is how fast they can recover after a time of stress. Another interesting article was also recently posted on AgWeb looking at some of the possibilities to advancing corn yields in the future by minimizing stress to individual plants. Individual plants must compete with each other for nutrients in order to have consistent growth across the field, so if these plants can get better at competing hopefully they will utilize more of the nutrients available to them in the field.

As we look down the road we may see more ways that corn becomes budget savvy. This shouldn't be a surprise to us since in some sense it has already happened. With new traits we can now plant corn resistant to pests allowing us to spend less on chemicals and applications (while more for the bag of seed) and also saving us some time. As we move forward in the market there is no doubt our corn will continue to get 'smarter' and hopefully widen our margins on the farm.

Food for the Festivities

The holiday season are here! These celebrations often involve time with family, friends and food. For most of us, food plays a significant role in our celebrations. Food may also even be part of a tradition, like that famous fruit cake recipe passed down through my mother's family. Even in challenging economic times, most of us will have more than enough food for our holiday celebrations. So, during the hectic pace of the season, I challenge you to take a moment and think about how fortunate we are to be served by farmers and others in agriculture who assure us nutritious foods. Whether it is getting out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to go milk cows, or spending seemingly endless hours in the field growing crops for human or animal consumption, Pennsylvania agriculture has a diverse workforce of farmers all unified by one common goal: producing high quality food for those living in the state and around the world.

Pennsylvania is also home to a wide variety of agricultural products. Our state's number one product is dairy, with product valued at over two trillion dollars. The next most valuable agriculture product is cattle and calves followed by mushrooms, corn and greenhouse/nursery products (USDA ERS 2007). Chester County, in Southeastern Pennsylvania, produces over 50% of all the fresh mushrooms grown in the United States. White button, shitake and oyster mushrooms are all produced by Pennsylvania mushroom growers. Pennsylvania agriculture will be well represented on your holiday table from the butter used in those delicious cookies, to the corn that fed the turkey, and the mushrooms in the hors d'oeuvres and salad.

So over this holiday season take a moment to appreciate the local farmers in your community. If you know them, thank them. If they make their food production available for retail sale on their farm, support them with your purchases. But most of all take a moment to think of how much time, effort and love went into preparing your holiday treats before they even reached your kitchen.

Technology Anyone?

As I was driving to State College yesterday for a meeting I passed an interesting site on my way through Big Valley. It caught my attention enough to stop and be a tourist on the way home, clicking a few pictures. One of these accompanies this post. At first this caught me off guard since it is an odd clash of modern technologies coupled with a very old practice. Does this mean one or the other doesn't belong? Maybe, maybe not, I'll let you decide for yourself. However as I thought about this I thought each farm has this mixture to some extent, new practices and technologies mixed with remnants of the past. The only step is then to identify each. I think this may be an interesting practice for all of us to look at both on and off the farm. What are areas we are excelling in and what areas could use a little polishing. I'm not stating we have to all be immediate adopters of everything that comes down the road, nor am I stating that we leave everything Dad and Grandpa taught us and move on, we simply need a balance that moves us steadily forward. Maybe it's a good time for all of us to think hard about why we do things. Consider what changes may be made, do a small trial and your farm see how it performs. Just like this photo shows, anyone can implement technology on their farm.

Marketing on the mind?

Does anyone have any idea what to think about the price of corn right now? It seems that the market place is quickly shifting between bullish and bearish views of the crop. Over the past weeks to even the past days we have been seeing large fluxes in prices anywhere from a few cents up to 14-15 cent changes in a day. All of this brings to mind marketing. As many of you know this time of the year becomes filled with days of meetings for me as well as planning for the upcoming winter meeting season. This week has been no different (hence the blog isn't getting updated quite as often). However today at a meeting I was talking with one of our educators from risk management and it looks like we will can get a marketing class to come to the county this winter. For some of us marketing seems foreign since commodities are kept on farm and fed to livestock, however, even if you only feed livestock chances are you are largely effected by the market since you need to decide when to buy and not to buy additional feeds. Hopefully we will get a meeting together for this winter and we can all cut through a little bit of the haze surrounding marketing.

Will it ever stop?

As we continue to see rain and gray sky's the question arises will this trend ever stop and allow us to get back to the fields? We are under the influence of a cold front moving across the mid west being fueled by an extreme trough in the jet stream. This trough is fueling this moist weather with gulf moisture. This slow moving trough looks like it may release by early next week. Hopefully that brings enough dry weather to get us back into the fields to finish up harvest.

To Cut or Not to Cut, that really is the quesiton

With our first major frost behind us many questions arise about what is next and what we should do. One of the most pressing is what if you have standing alfalfa? This perennial crop needs enough energy to get through the winter, but we often don't want to waste what is still in the field. The question arises is alfalfa now dormant and thus OK to cut? I had a discussion with Dr. Marvin Hall today about considerations for alfalfa after a frost. Here are some of the main points.

• Depending on your previous management of the crop this may be a mute point. If at any point this season you had 1/10th bloom or better you probably have enough stored energy to get through the winter. If you made every cut for maximum quality (no bloom) you may be short energy.


• Alfalfa takes a very hard freeze to go into dormancy. Typically we need to get down around 25 degrees for multiple hours to trigger dormancy. Currently our alfalfa probably is not dormant.


• Alfalfa that has gone into dormancy will quickly come back out at the first sign of warm weather. With the forecast and today's temperatures if your alfalfa would have gotten enough cold temps to initiate dormancy it is no longer dormant. Wait till cold temps are the norm, not the extreme.

Another point of discussion I brought up was cutting height. I have typically been under the impression to cut high on the last cutting to offer protection of the crown throughout the winter. Dr. Hall stated this was an OK practice but may be more trouble then needed due to our more southerly location and lower amounts of snow. Cut high if you want to make sure your safe or as normal if you believe this will be a 'normal' winter.

See Dr. Hall's latest article in this weeks Field Crop News on this very topic! (will be posted tomorrow).

First Major Frost

This morning the thermometer dropped to 28 at my house just before sunrise. This will be the first attempt at a hard frost (below 28 degrees for a few hours) but not successful at least at my house. It does appear we may have a general warming trend over the next few days as high pressure builds in and the trough in the jet stream moves over us. Overall I think we will see some damage on sensitive plants in areas but at this point it appears we have another week of growing season left.

First Signs of Frost

This morning as the dawn began a light frost settled on the grass and my vehicle. Another reminder we are progessing further into fall. The long range shows temperatures in the middle 30's for lows over the next few days. This is far from the hard frost it will take to see damage but reminds us the growing season is drawing to a close. Keep an eye on susceptible crops such as late planted corn. Likely we will begin to see some burn on leaf margins over the next week in some fields, however little actual damage should be done to the crop.

Cover Crops Growing Well!

The cover crop plots around the county are growing well. It has been amazing with these warm afternoons how much growth some of these species have put on. With a ten day forecast showing warmer temperatures and no sign of frost it will be interesting to see what kind of growth we get out of our later plantings. Their will be a cover crop walk on Friday October 23rd from 10-noon for any interested.

It's Bean Time!

With combines busy around the county corn, and now beans, are getting to their harvest windows. The field I was in yesterday was averaging around 72-75 bu/ac. Hopefully you will find some high yields in your fields as well. As always make certain your combine is properly set and get out to check what is coming out the back end of the machine. Harvest losses can be very high with poorly set machines. Also if you are no-tilling remember to adjust your choppers so that you have uniform distribution across the header width. This adjustment will pay large dividends next time you plant the field. Regardless of the crop make sure your combine isn't putting a large amount of commodity out the back end. Hopefully you can enjoy a safe and happy harvest with lots of high yields.

Here we go!

Corn is 'rolling' out of the fields in Franklin County. Though a lot of corn is still standing we are starting to take high moisture off and it looks like quite the crop so far. Today I was in a field that was running about 24% and with a corrected yield of 230 bu. It looks like most of this years corn will be a great crop. This field was an early planted field with 114 day corn. Overall I believe we will see high yields across the county. Most silage has been running around 25 tons on the better soils with highs in the 30's. Some of the less productive ground has been running around 15-18 tons which isn't bad at all! Tomorrow I'm going out to harvest the Franklin Co. bean plots so hopefully I have some information on what the bean crop looks like as well.

Cut Costs, don’t eliminate!

As I was working on my father-in-law's dairy farm this weekend I couldn't help but think of the current economic situation facing all dairy farmers and most of agriculture in general. Things are tight and because of this costs need to be reassessed. As I was bedding up some cows I thought of how crucial some costs really are. Take the straw I was using at that point. I could have just eliminated the use of the straw to cut costs, however we all know the long term affects of that would be devastating in cattle health and production. This got me thinking about all the upcoming costs on the agronomic side of farming and where we may try to eliminate costs that may hurt us in the long run. Here are some of my thoughts.

Soil testing is a practice we preach all the time, and the fall is the best time to do it. Although this can be a low cost practice it may be one that gets a scrutinizing eye as we hit hard times. Depending on your current testing practices you may have some room to cut costs here, but they should not be eliminated. If you soil test every year you can probably take a year off. Use last year's soil tests along with this year's crop grown and yield to estimate nutrient removal and thus see what nutrients need to be added for next year's crop. If you haven't soil tested in over three year you ought to consider taking soil samples to check where you are at.

Once you have soil tested the question always is where do I spend money first? The most important area in soil health and nutrient availability to the plant is pH. If you have low pH (low depends on crop but typically no lower than 6.0) lime is the best product you can buy. Dollar for dollar this will return the greatest on your investment. Soil pH is a driver in many other nutrient cycles as well as the microbial population in the soil. If you have only one product you can buy for your soils make it lime. This year we have seen many cases around the state of poorly inoculated soybeans, one of the contributing factors to this has been low pH.

Fertility in the form of commercial fertilizers is always a large expense on most farms. Many farms in this area do have the availability of manure, however many of us need to supplement our manure nutrients with fertilizer. One of my biggest concerns at this point in time is potassium. Due to last year's high prices for potassium many decided to take a year off of buying potassium and mine some of the potassium in the soils. This year due to excellent rainfalls many of us have experienced yields at the high end of our expectations; this means more potassium has been used. Now we are in a situation where very few may want to invest again in potassium even thought the price is falling. This could set us up for some deficiencies. If I were to offer one suggestion on potassium fertilizer at this point it would be this. If you have manure at your disposal get it tested for nutrients. If commercial potassium is more expensive then nitrogen, apply your manure at a rate to supply potassium and supplement with nitrogen. If you are going into corn the use of a mid season nitrogen test such as the PSNT or Chlorophyll meter along with sidedressing can save money as will. In addition to potassium make sure you keep an eye on boron levels on alfalfa. This year we have had great yields so therefore if you are harvesting silage of any type, hay, and/or fodder you have a lot of nutrients in your bunkers, silos, and barns.

As we try to manage this current time of tight economics we need to take a good assessment of cutting costs without hurting ourselves in the future. With good soil tests you may be able to find some areas where you can cut costs, however we want to maintain enough nutrition in the soil to allow for good yields in the years to come. Many times if we get behind in nutrition in the soil it will take a long time to get it back. Additionally, if we don't have soil tests we will need to wait until we see deficiency in the crop before we know we are behind. At that time we have lost yield and that can be a costly mistake.

Up and running

Just about a week after planting the rye/radish mixture is getting to the point you can 'see' my thought process. As you will notice the rye is coming on well and the radish isn't far behind. Typically I have observed the radish to be a little slow in germination but a vigorous grower once germinated. Again the rows of radish will winter kill while the rye will remain. This should allow direct planting of corn in the early spring between the rows of rye.

A new cover crop?

As some may have noticed I have been spending less time on my blog lately. This is because I have been out planting a cover crop trial to test a new method of using cover crops. I'm planing a mixture of rye with tillage radish, which obviously has been done before, however with a slightly different twist. I have alternating double rows of rye and radish (see illustration) that will hopefully allow for corn to be directly planted into the winter killed radish rows in the spring.

So the question may be why do this? Here are a few reasons we are looking into.

We have all heard the benefits of letting cover crops grow to increase soil carbon as well as add a mulch to conserve moisture. However, this practice means you have to give up an early planting date to receive the benefit of the crop. With the alternating rows the rye can continue to grow along with the corn for a short time. Another issue we see often is residue from most cover crops holds moisture and keeps soils cool. Radish leaves little to no residue by spring so the strip they are in should heat up and dry out a little quicker. Lastly pests are often an issue in fields where we have had cover crops. This is the area that this will either perform as desired or be a disaster. Hopefully the corn will grow with little residue immediately around it so slugs will not be an issue. Additionally some observations from last year have made me think that we may be able to get the pests to feed on something other then the corn by having a living crop in the field with the corn.

Some of this may be a stretch but we feel it is worth looking into. I will have more on how this is going in the near future.

Cover Crop Plot Planted in Franklin County

Today we planted the cover crop plot in Franklin County. This year we have 19 species and mixtures in the plot. It will be interesting to see how each performs. The plants include grasses, legumes and some non leguminous forbs. I will be keeping you up to date on the growth as well as winter hardiness of each species. I will also hold two field days at the plot, one this fall and one in the spring. Until then you can feel free to stop by the plot and see what is happening. It is located on Walker Rd. just east of Chambersburg. I want to say a special thanks to Ron Hoover of Penn State for helping establish the plot and Stanley Burkholder for the use of the land.

Soybean Aphids Continue to Dwindle

After scouting the Chambersburg plot again today for soybean aphids it appears that the population continues to decrease. As I stated before we never came close to the threshold, however now that hot weather has hit we are starting to see the populations react with a decrease in populations. The beans I'm scouting are in R6 so even if we hit a threshold population now (250 aphids per plant) it would not be economical to spray. If you do have late planted or double cropped beans make sure you still pay attention to the aphids. Hopefully the populations are dwidling all around, however you still may have heavy presure in some areas of the county.

So here it begins

So I have now rocketed into the world of blogging. This blog will be mainly focusing on the area of crop and soil science (agronomy) in Franklin County Pennsylvania. With this being said I will warn you that comments on the dairy industry and livestock production will likely come into play as well. Hope you enjoy this and I'll do my best to keep it up to date with relevant information.