Saturday Video

Facts! Just the Facts Ma'm!

I posted this video by Cornell University on my FaceBook page: 2 Farmers & Their 3 Sprouts but I believe this is an important video well worth your time to watch.  Or, at least please listen to it while doing something else.

http://www.cornell.edu/video/gmos-misconceptions-and-concerns

The scientists in this video go over the facts about GMOs, NOT the fiction that is continuously shadowing the science behind producing food for the world.

Saturday Video(s)

Happy Ag Day!

Here are some interesting stats that are great food for thought.



Thank you to all the farmers out there but also a BIG thank you to the farmers' support network.  This support network would include the bankers who finance a farmers input investments, animal feed suppliers, veterinarians who help keep the farm animals healthy, fertilizer and chemical suppliers who keep the farmers planting in the spring and summer, seed companies who breed and produce the farmers seed, the fuel suppliers who keep the farmers rolling all year round, the marketing advisers who help farmers market their crops, the individuals that work in the processing and packing plants who process the farmers products for the US consumers and world customers, the grain handlers at local elevators, barge terminals and at ocean ports who move the farmers grain safely and efficiently, the truckers who haul all of the above mentioned plus more, and the ag journalists who keep farmers informed on the latest information effecting agriculture.

I know I have left many people out of my list but you get the idea and there are A LOT of people who make agriculture in the United States the best in the world!

Until next time,
Suzanne

Visitors

Fall is an amazingly crazy time for us.  During the fall we are combining, hauling corn or soybeans to the barge terminals or ethanol plant, doing tillage, doing weigh checks for our Pioneer customers, and trying to get the boys to all of their activities.  On a late October morning, we had the opportunity to host some special visitors to our farm.  It was an opportunity for us to slow down for a few hours and see our operation through our customers eyes.

I just read another article about buying food locally and started contemplating this visit.   I'm all for buying locally whether it is food or other products.  But, what if your source of food is thousands of miles away?  Is buying local as important as is knowing where your food comes from? 

We hosted a group of Japanese corn customers through the US Grain Council.  There were 22 individuals from very different backgrounds but all had some connection to US corn.  There were economists, starch millers, feed mill managers, grain buyers, a college professor, and even an environmentalist.  Japan happens to be the largest importer of US corn in the world.



Our visitors arriving at our home farm. 

  We began in our meeting facilities and gave them background information about our farm and family.  Our boys were a big hit, especially #1 son with his blue eyes and blond hair. 



Joe explaining how we determine what hybrids to plant.  Notice
some of the men are wearing head phones.  The interpreter speaks
into a microphone which then transmits her voice to the listeners.  I thought
it was pretty cool.  I had never seen this type of setup before.

Their questions ranged from why do we plant both conventional and genetically engineered corn to why did we still have crops standing in the field on October 26th when it is so cold to how do we get our "big" machinary to the field to harvest the corn.

The visitors really got excited when we brought out ears of corn to show them that there is no physical difference between conventional and genetically modified corn.  Many of them had never seen an ear of corn even though they used it in some aspect of their business or occupation. 

 

 

We next headed down the road to our bin site.  They were able to watch how we load out semis to haul our corn to market.  They were very interested in how we handle our grain and store it.  In the past we have sold corn through one of our local grain purchasers to a Japanese business that used the corn to produce beer.  At that time, the end user was very concerned about stress crack in the corn kernels so we had to cool the corn very slowly after drying. 

 

 

The final leg of our tour was to go out into the field and watch the combining process.  I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter where a guy is from every boy/man loves equipment that has wheels. 



 

 

I'm pretty sure that there were hundreds of pictures taken in a matter of minutes when the
Japanese customers got off the bus by the field.











And, just as many were taken when Dad pulled up to the group and opened up the side panels of the combine.

There was one question that at the time surprised me but made perfect sense.  One person wanted to know what the things were coming out of the back of the combine.  Those would be the corn cobs.  Then the next question was if there was a use for the cobs.     

 

 

 

To him this looked like a waste but when we explained to him that the fodder (corn cobs and leaves) helps hold the soil in place during the winter and also adds nutrients back into the soil as the fodder degrades he agreed that this is a very environmentally friendly use. 

 



A cross section of an ear of corn - the kernels
still attached to the cob.

Back to my original question - Is buying local as important as knowing where your food come from?  After spending time with these customers I believe that while it is good to buy local because of the economic values to an area, it is important to know where you food comes from and to make buying decisions based on what you may know about the producer of the product.   I truly feel the Japanese corn customers that came to our farm now have a better understanding of the product they are buying. 

 

Considering the fact that Japan does not have the land available to produce crops like corn, US corn could be labelled local product in this case.  There are only a few other countries that can produce a high quality corn crop and also be a dependable supplier.

 

Any thoughts on the buying local topic?

 

Gary explaining what a corn cob is.

 

 

 

 This young man did all he could to be left behind so he could run the combine with Gary the rest of the day.

 



The Group!

I would like to thank Shannon and John from Iowa Corn and Tetsuo "Tommy" Hamamoto from the US Grains Council for giving us the opportunity to share our story with a great group of Japanese corn customers.  It was an educational experience for all of us!



 

 

Rain, Rain Go AWAY!

We had four good days of planting last week.  Unfortunately, we were chased out of the field early Friday morning and have not been able to get back in since then do to rain and cold. While we can't plant there is still plenty to do from catching up on paper work to hauling corn to the barge terminals.

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to while we wait for Mother Nature to get the rain out of her system.

Dad loading a semi with corn to deliver to the river market.

Talking about crop protection products
with DuPont reps.

Derk & Travis getting ready for the next shot at planting.

Bruce from Iowa Corn stopped to vist about planting
progess in Northeast Iowa.  We are about 30% planted.

If is would stop raining now we could probably be back in the field
Friday afternoon.  However, the weather forcasters say we are
going to be getting more rain and storms this evening.

The last week in April is the sweet spot for planting corn in our area.  Since we have lost this week to rain there will be a mad dash to get the crop planted as soon as possible. 

Joe can multi task.  He can mop the floor
and talk on the phone at the same time!

Cheap Fuel!

$.85 E85!   The Clayton County Corn Growers Association is doing a Pump Ethanol Promotion in Elkader, Iowa.  All ethanol blends of fuel at the Three Rivers FS station on Hwy 13 in Elkader, Iowa, are deeply discounted until 2:00 pm today.  It's a great opportunity to fill up for the holiday weekend.  And, rumor has it there are hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and pop/soda/Pepsi for anyone who buys fuel.

Here are some pictures from earlier this morning.
 


Some friendly Corn Growers waiting to pump ethanol fuel and wash some windshields



Showing a customer how to select ethanol blended fuel.

Joe even did a radio spot for FM100

Some day I would like to get our semi wrapped like Bruces car!

Lots of food to go along with the fuel

A great supporter of Ethanol

This corn grower knows the value in using Ethanol!

Jerry - Expert griller