Farmers waiting on a summer market rally must feel like teenagers waiting by the phone to be asked to the dance. Only their prospects are much dimmer. Capitalizing on summer rallies is how many farmers base their marketing plans. When you chart commodity prices throughout this century, highs typically spike during the summer months. That’s
Corn is made in July, soybeans are made in August.” That’s long been the belief of many farmers in the Midwest and much of the South. This is based on the reproductive stages of the various crops. For corn, pollination (tassel time), which usually takes place in early July, is the most critical phase in
It’s National Corn Month! Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t that every month for me? True. But hey, it’s only fair that we reserve an entire month to recognize USA’s most widely grown crop. Over 90 million acres – about the size of Montana – of corn is grown annually across the fruited plain.
Look up in the sky: it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… a drone? This weekend I flyover fed my corn using a Rantizo drone. My corn has well exceeded the height of the ground rig, and airplane application is not an option. Since I wanted to feed and protect the crop at its present R3
Growing up on the farm, we’d often eat our mid-day meal (what we referred to as dinner, but most of the world now calls lunch) at my grandparents’ house, which was the farm’s home base. It was a planned break from planting, harvesting, chore work, mowing, baling hay or one of dozens of other never-ending
How do you just find 1.5 million acres? That’s like finding two Rhode Islands. But that’s what USDA did on Friday, when they upped US corn acreage to 91.5 million, from the 90 million acres estimated in March. Predictably, that sent the market tumbling down. New corn prices are now trading in the $3s. These are
Farmers are not fast forgetters. They have long memories. Past weather events, cultural practices, product usage, and marketing decisions often drive future decisions. With that, I’m guilty as charged. Last season, a straight-line wind caused major greensnap to a new corn hybrid, wrecking my goals. This made me take pause and return to some of the
“We’re always only five days from a drought.” That’s the saying here in the Delta. And for good reason. These light soils are unforgiving, as they lack the water holding capacity of those in the Midwest. Case in point this season: after a very wet May in Memphis – where we received nearly seven inches
As we celebrate National Dairy Month, my thoughts are with Jack & Frances Watt, my old neighbors (when you live in the country, a “neighbor” can reside within at least 5 miles of you) who were dairy farmers. They were among the hardest working, kindest people I’ve ever known. Vacations were a foreign concept to
How many kernel rows, or rounds, will an ear of corn have? That’s being determined right now in my cornfield. My corn has hit the critical V6 growth stage (in just 31 days, no less). Next to emergence and pollination, V6 is one of the most significant times of the plant’s life. This is when the
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