This Week In Ag #144
Much like when a local radio station starts its non-stop Yuletide music, a plant that ushers in the holiday season is the Christmas cactus. It gets its festive name because it starts to bloom right after Thanksgiving. Blooms are triggered by the reduced light levels this time of year. Like all cacti, the Christmas cactus is a succulent, meaning it features thick fleshy tissues that store water. But don’t let the cactus name fool you. Unlike their famous cousin, the Saguaro cactus, Christmas cacti are actually tropical plants that originated in the Brazilian rainforest. They prefer humid conditions with indirect sunlight. They are also epiphytes, meaning they grow on other plants for support, but they are not parasitic and do not harm their hosts. They absorb water from the air, rain, or dew, and take in nutrients from decaying organic matter in their host. In their native habitat, you’ll often find them growing on trees.
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This Week in Ag #24
Yellow airplanes were buzzing over Iowa cornfields like bumblebees over zinnias during my drive to Iowa last week. There was a time when Midwest farmers would grind their teeth at the sight of these crop dusters. It usually meant a neighbor was treating a pest problem with a costly, unplanned aerial application. And that pest problem
This Week in Ag #37
One of the greatest inventions in history is the combine. The concept of threshing and separating grain in one operation revolutionized our food system, as well as redefined our labor force. Consider that in the mid-1800s, 90% of the US workforce was involved in some aspect of farming. Now it’s under 2%. To think my grandfather harvested corn by hand and threw the ears in a wagon! He used the pull-behind model in the 1940s to harvest small grains (that’s him, Fred Nichols, combining oats on our family farm). My mother still talks about dad wearing a Jesse James style mask while operating their first self-propelled combine without a cab.
