Happy New Year LAND of LIQUID!

So I say this every year....and why change now....but how can it be (insert upcoming year) already?  In this case, 2018.  The year has flown by, and is still a blur.  And even now 2018 is rotating West towards the Land of Liquid.  But it was a pretty good year overall.  Some new things were learned at the NCRS (see Research Report) and  a great AgroExpo event was held there as well.  Numerous group tours and another great quartet of college interns learned the real deal on crop fertility at the NCRS last summer.  But even as we close the books on 2017, there are already thoughts being formed of research activities and projects for 2018.

So wherever you are welcoming in the New Year, we wish all of you the best in 2018!

And of course, an AgroLiquid year would really make it the best.  It's the best Jerry!  The best.

A Gift For You

So after all of the waiting and anticipation, when it seemed so far away, here it is now towards the end of Christmas day.  I hope you had an enjoyable and reflective day wherever you were.    

And this being the season of giving, AgroLiquid's Agronomic Sciences team has a great gift for you.  The posting of the 2017 Research Report on the website.  Just click the Research Tab and you will see it.  It's 83 pages packed with reports from the NCRS, as well as off-farm contract research and PFE's.  Additionally there are the summer intern project posters.  A page turner if there ever was one.

Thanks, as usual, to Stephanie for managing the assemblage of all of this information into a rich report.  Through her persistence, we are able to meet our pre-Christmas deadline every year.  And here is the big but, there are a couple of NCRS reports that were not yet finished due to complexity.  And a number of PFE reports for which the Agronomists say they have not yet received the information.  So there will be a supplement coming in early 2018.  But thankfully, the 2017 Report was, in fact, completed in 2017.  

Merry Christmas to the LAND of LIQUID!

So this being Friday, it's the last day of work for the year at the AgroLiquid World Headquarters in St. Johns, Michigan.  As has been the tradition for the last several years, it was a chance for the loyal workers still toiling away on fertilizer tasks to assemble for the annual picture.  This was after 4:30, so here are the people who closed up the place.

Word must have gotten around as there were 19 assembled for the pic this year.  Last year there were 13 and two years ago there were 8.  So people want to hang around for the festive foto.  There was actually a 20th worker still on the premises, that being Hudson in the chemistry lab.  Well the lab is behind two sets of locked doors, so he wasn't able to heed the call.  But there he is in an ornament in the upper left corner.  So I guess that is 20 in the picture this year.  Including Troy and Nick.  Working hard for all the fertilizer folks out there in the Land of Liquid, which is everywhere.  Merry Christmas!  But there are a couple more posts coming before the year is over, so be on the lookout.  Enjoy the season. 

Salute to Farmers!

So have you heard the news?  It seems that our friends at Ag PhD are going to have a float in the Rose Parade on January 1.  Here is an artist’s concept of what it will look like.  The theme is "Salute to Farmers" and they plan to have real farmers on it.  Not actors from nearby Hollywood.  You can find out more information on their website.  But it's going to be pretty big, over 100 feet long.

And here's something else.  They are asking for farmers to send in seed from their farm to be used to decorate the float!  They want to have seed from all 50 states.  Yesterday they said that they had seed from all but a few New England states.  Anyway, it wouldn't be the same without seed from the NCRS.  Well we don't keep any of our harvested corn and beans, but we did have some rye seed that we grew and use for cover crop.  So I sent some to the float building place in California last week.  Here is what it looks like, so be on the lookout when you watch the parade.

For truth in advertising, here is the field of rye on Farm 12 as it looked last June 7.  It was taller than me.

Here is a close-up.  See that seed head on the left, kind of leaning over?  And that one in the middle about half way down?  Well some of the seeds in the bag on the left came from those.  As researchers, we keep track of everything.

So this will be exciting to have something from our own farm in the parade.  If you can, watch it on RFD-TV where they are sure to give extra coverage to America's most important resource: Farmers!

Snow Day

So yesterday (Wednesday) there was a big portion of the country that got snow.  Michigan was part of that portion.  I was out at the NCRS in the afternoon, and it was really coming down.  We ended up with close to 8 inches.

 The snow stopped at night, but then the cold set in.  Here was my temperature this morning on my way in according to my Flexometer.  I didn't think it would get that cold.  Fortunately I brought in my brass monkey last night.

 But as the sun came up, it was a pretty day.

As long as you could stay inside.  Which I did.

Yield Follow-up: California Melons

So here is another follow-up to a blog about crop comparisons.  This was from a May 8 post (Desert Fruit. No Extra Salt Needed) from SE California, just West of Yuma, AZ.  This was about a visit with SAM Carlos to a field of cantaloupes where a fertilizer comparison was being conducted.  This visit was a couple weeks before harvest.  To re-cap, Carlos and Retail Partner Jeramie with RNM Agriturf set up a fertilizer comparison in a field of melons.  This field was pretty rough with a pH >8 and high soil test sodium (>1000 ppm and 20% base saturation).  Anyway, the grower wouldn't tell them what his normal program was.  He just gave them a soil test and a target cost per acre.  With help from agronomist JW, they came up with a fertilizer program that was applied through drip irrigation.  

I showed these pictures in the original blog post from either side of that road on the left.  The pictures show the yields and the fertilizer programs.  The AgroLiquid program was more nutritionally balanced and it payed off with a yield that was almost 1.25 TONS/A higher than the growers program (a box of melons is 30 lb.).  So as I've said many times before, AgroLiquid is a superior nutrition program for any situation, but especially so in adverse conditions like high pH and sodium.  

This is because of carbon encapsulation of phosphorus, which protects from tie-up losses and enables extended release and feeding.  There is also a more direct application of nutrient needs like micronutrients and calcium.  Anyway, performance was proven again.  Hopefully I will be able to obtain more results from earlier field comparisons shown here in the Land of Liquid.

Great Lakes Expo

So this week is the wildly popular Great Lakes Fruit and Vegetable Expo in Grand Rapids.  There are people from all over the world who attend this as speakers, exhibitors and growers.  AgroLiquid has exhibited here for years.  I took the opportunity to attend the opening day on Tuesday.

Here is the AgroLiquid booth.  With an expansion of retail partners in the fruit and vegetable markets, there is much information to share with growers.

Last year over 4200 people attended the three day event, and looks like at least that again in 2017.  There are over 450 exhibitors from seed, greenhouses, chemicals, fertilizers, storage, marketing, farm marketing and of course, equipment.  The NCRS has a supply of fruit and vegetable equipment for use in our plots.  But like most growers, you like to see what's new and improved.

There are some give-away items at the different booths.  But probably nothing as valuable as this Yeti cooler that will given away to a lucky entrant.  Look at this familiar grower with the AgroLiquid cap.  Hope he wins.  (I say that to everyone though.  And I'll be right once.)

This conference also has over 70 educational sessions, on everything from asparagus to zucchini.  The apple presentations have the biggest audience, it being such a big crop and all.  I attended this session since the NCRS has an apple orchard.  They talked about managing pesticide residues (not really a problem here, but different import countries have different residue standards), soil biology (always a topic these days), insects (the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, imported from Asia is a growing problem), disease management around pollination time (bees), apple storage and other topics.  I thought it was a learning experience.  Although nothing on fertility on Tuesday.  

They had displays of different apple varieties.  And this is just one of two long tables!  Who knew there were so many?

Remember Jacob the AgroLiquid horticulturist at the NCRS who left to return to MSU for his PhD?  I didn't see him on the day I was there, but I did see a poster of his research project.  He compared application drift from an airblast sprayer (which blows out a high powered volume of mist to cover the trees) and a solid set canopy delivery system (which has delivery nozzles down in the canopy for delivery at a lower pressure from an overhead hose).  These are systems for application of pest control chemicals and crop nutrition.  Well he found that there is considerably less drift from the solid set canopy system compared to air blast.  Who knew? 

So that was a nice day talking to growers, seeing the other vendor displays, filling my head with knowledge and my stomach with tasty items from the farm market.  (If you ever see a jar of Blueberry Salsa, buy it and try it!  You can thank me later.)   

(No really, it's good!)

'Tis the Season

So it's December now, and it's never too early for a Christmas parade.  Such was the case last Friday in St. Johns, MI, and of course AgroLiquid was an eager participant.  It featured lots of lights, so the NCRS crew outfitted our Hagie plot sprayer with lights galore.  Hagie pilot Tim stands guard.

 Here are the AgroLiquid paraders.  Notice the Flavonol bubble people and Farm Guy.  All lit up and ready to go!

We also had a bright antique golf cart leading the way downtown to the throngs of parade fans.

 The Hagie made a nice show going down Clinton Street in the midst of town.  Although most people apparently thought it was a tractor.  But I liked their enthusiasm.

Gerrit and Molly and kids are having a great time spreading the Christmas cheer.  Obviously Beth is too.

 There was a long string of all sorts of lighted floats and bands making the parade a civic success.

 And like all good parades, the last float has Santa waving to all the good kids in town.

I waved back.