So last Friday was the Ag PhD Field Day at the Hefty Farm in Baltic, SD. This is my second year, and it is a real treat. But on Thursday I had a chance to visit the Blank Slate Field which was just down the road a few miles from the show site. Darren Hefty showed several Hefty dealers and some of us Liquid-ites around. Of interest was where the planter fertilizer was left off for a ways, and the corn was shorter and showed potassium deficiency on the leaves. The rest of the corn is tasseled and way over our heads.
One new feature this year was a real live race car! This is the Farm American/Furniture Row NASCAR. Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers is a supporter of Farm American which was formed to promote agriculture primarily to the non-ag public.
Each participating company has plots. As was pointed out by Darren, this is Brian's ground, and he makes sure that there will not be fertility shortages and applies hundreds of pounds of dry fertilizer annually. But in the plots, planter-applied Pro-Germinator + Sure-K + Micro 500 really made an impact. In the picture below, the corn in the foreground had the fertilizer off, and it is shorter and not tasseled like the corn around it. The picture really does not show it as well as being there, but it was very noticeable.
Here is the trailer that hauls the car around. Plus the nice Liquid displays.
The Liquid booth was very busy all day with steady traffic of interested growers. It seems that everyone was well familiar with Liquid from the Ag PhD show and the Blank Slate blog. There were growers from as far away as Maryland and Texas that stopped.
Brian and Darren led a tour of the plots. Many hundreds followed along. There was a lot to see and learn about crop nutrition, seed, chemicals, equipment, and new ag technologies.
The crowd was there to learn. I was also there to eat. They had an outstanding lunch and dinner for the hungry crowd.
One item of particular interest was some cotton planted by a seed company. Now cotton is a long ways from home here in South Dakota. Many had never seen cotton and enjoyed getting their feet in some. We have planted cotton at the NCRS, but never have gotten a boll due to the short season up North.
Finally it was time to pack up and get ready to leave, after an enjoyable, although very warm day. This gave the car groupies a last chance for a picture.
I would certainly encourage anyone to attend next year's show. I know I will. Thanks Hefty's.
One new feature this year was a real live race car! This is the Farm American/Furniture Row NASCAR. Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers is a supporter of Farm American which was formed to promote agriculture primarily to the non-ag public.
Each participating company has plots. As was pointed out by Darren, this is Brian's ground, and he makes sure that there will not be fertility shortages and applies hundreds of pounds of dry fertilizer annually. But in the plots, planter-applied Pro-Germinator + Sure-K + Micro 500 really made an impact. In the picture below, the corn in the foreground had the fertilizer off, and it is shorter and not tasseled like the corn around it. The picture really does not show it as well as being there, but it was very noticeable.
Here is the trailer that hauls the car around. Plus the nice Liquid displays.
The Liquid booth was very busy all day with steady traffic of interested growers. It seems that everyone was well familiar with Liquid from the Ag PhD show and the Blank Slate blog. There were growers from as far away as Maryland and Texas that stopped.
Brian and Darren led a tour of the plots. Many hundreds followed along. There was a lot to see and learn about crop nutrition, seed, chemicals, equipment, and new ag technologies.
The crowd was there to learn. I was also there to eat. They had an outstanding lunch and dinner for the hungry crowd.
One item of particular interest was some cotton planted by a seed company. Now cotton is a long ways from home here in South Dakota. Many had never seen cotton and enjoyed getting their feet in some. We have planted cotton at the NCRS, but never have gotten a boll due to the short season up North.
Finally it was time to pack up and get ready to leave, after an enjoyable, although very warm day. This gave the car groupies a last chance for a picture.
I would certainly encourage anyone to attend next year's show. I know I will. Thanks Hefty's.