So last week NCRS college intern Jake took his field trip to North Dakota. He was met in Bismarck by Sales Account Manager Brad and Field Agronomy Manager Reid. From there they went down to the extreme Southwestern part of the state to Bowman, home of AgroLiquid Retail Partner Southwest Ag (well what else would it be called?). They spent the next several days travelling with some of the Southwest sales agronomists visiting customers both in the Bowman area and near their other site in Mandan, next to Bismarck. MSU student Jake said that many of the crops looked good but some had been hampered by dry weather and hail. Now that's a cruel combination. That's Jake on the right.
In other news...the NCRS has long been Environmentally Verified by the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP, or pronounced "Meep" in conversation). This is a state program that recognizes farms that keep good spray, planting, application, et al, records, safe storage of pesticides, containment of fertilizers, irrigation records and all of the things that make a farm a good neighbor. The NCRS passed inspection the other day and was awarded an updated sign, held by NCRS department manager Jay. This one is cool because it is one of those that shine brightly at night from headlights. Look for it on your next visit. Come at night for the ultimate sign experience.
Well the winter wheat research plots have all been harvested, but there were still some production acres awaiting harvest. Here is our fearless leader Troy taking the helm of the combine, having a last conversation with truck driver Ron.
And he's off. This actually is some soft red winter wheat. In general, these kernels are a major ingredient of flour used by private companies that bake cookies. Yummm.
Faster Troy. There's cookies to be made!
Drove by our vineyard that is looking good this time of year. You can see some green bunches in the
foliage. These are Concord grapes, and thank goodness we have drip irrigation.
We are still making applications to the Challenge Plots at the AgroExpo site. Brian Hefty called for a coulter injection treatment of High NRG-N, Kalibrate and Boron now that the soybeans are in the R2 stage of growth. So we did. (Nice picture Lacie.)
Now here's an odd picture, also at the AgroExpo site on Farm 12. We noticed on a plot area planted to soybeans in 15" row spacing, that every other row was showing severe potassium deficiency while the other rows all looked fine. Hmmm. This soil is quite low in soil test potassium (STK), but even stranger is that there was no fertilizer applied at planting or any other time. Hmmm #2. What's up with that I wondered? Come to the AgroExpo and learn more.
So it has been a busy week, and it's still not over.
