Farming Progress South to North

So listening to Ag PhD radio and talking to AgroLiquid folks around the country, it is hard to imagine there are things up and growing while we are still cold and wet here in Michigan.  This picture was sent to me  from Regional Sales Manager Brian.  This week he was about as far South as you can go in Texas without falling into the Rio Grande. Or be in the shadow of a future wall(?).  But it was South of McAllen.  I had never seen this crop before.  Any guesses?  It's a field of cilantro.  Well I had no idea what it looked like, but I do like it as a flavoring on food.  And this should be extra cilantro-y since it is being grown with AgroLiquid.  

I'm sure you noticed the cracks in the soil.  It is dry, but not all soil has cracks like that.  I am guessing that is a soil of Vertisol soil order that is common in that area of South Texas.  It is high in montmorillonite clay that expands and shrinks based on moisture content, and can have big cracks like we see there when dry.  Good thing he uses AgroLiquid to give the roots enough push to grow well in that condition.

On the other hand there is nothing growing in the ground up here today.  In fact, this field is next to the AgroLiquid World Headquarters and is being rented and farmed by the NCRS crew.  So we wait.  But at least the snow is gone.

Not sure when cilantro harvest is.  I will have Brian give me an update.  But it is fun to see crops grown all over the country and have something in common: AgroLiquid nutrition.

Planting Straight Rows of Trees.

 So in previous episodes I've shown nice straight rows of trees in California.  There is a real increase of new plantings of trees, mainly almonds.  So how do they get those nice straight rows that line up no matter which way you look?  Well again Sales Account Manger Dylan was my source of answers.  In fact he has been part of tree planting operations in a previous job.  Well one way is to lay out a real long tape on top of the raised bed, and put in markers, or "straws" as they are called, where the tree will go.  For almonds that is around 14 foot spacing.  Then go to the next row and adjust the tape so that the straw is mid-way between the trees in the previous row.  That way you get maximum sunlight penetration.  And it looks really cool.  Here is an orchard that was probably planted last year.  

Here is an almond orchard that was recently planted.  However instead of straws this grower used GPS guidance on a tractor or something with wheel spacing to match tree placement.  Then they built the raised rows and used the wheel tracks as placement guides.  This is lots faster than the tape and straw method.  This is pretty new to me, and I haven't talked to enough almond growers to get the real scoop on what's the most popular today.  But I would lean towards GPS.  But you have to really be careful to get it set exactly where the wheel track is.

 Look how this tree is leaning.  In fact, they all are.  It seems that they plant on a slant facing Northwest, as that is the direction of the prevailing storm winds in the winter when trees can get blown over. So they lean them into the wind to make them better able to withstand the wind.  Then they will stake them to hold them in position.  Look at the top picture where stakes are on the trees.  I guess it's worth the extra trouble as they will be there for many years. 

There is a saying that I like (but don't always follow) that fits here: If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?  (Do you know who said that?  Famous UCLA basketball coach John Wooden who is the GOAT with 10 championships in 12 years, including 7 in a row.)  He probably wasn't talking about planting almond trees, but it applies.

March 26, 2018: Planter Out in the Field at the NCRS

So we heard that corn planting has started down South.  Well not wanting to be behind, Tim and Phil got our planter out in the field.  Relax readers, that's all it did was go out in the field.  There was no planting as the soil temperature was still a crisp 39 degrees.  But they wanted to try out our new planter attachments (from a previous blog post).  The soil was actually dry enough to give it a go.  I'm sure this is the earliest that the soil conditions were dry enough to actually go for a test drive.  Well it looks like it worked.

I know I've been holding back on what this is, but I promise a full reveal once we get it up and running.  Does anyone know what I'm talking about here?

Michigan: Not Just Cars, Crops, Fruit and AgroLiquid Anymore

So this item was in the Lansing State Journal on March 18 and I had not heard about it.  Up in Oceola County (orange arrow) and 1.5 miles down there is a huge deposit of high quality potash.  There is already a Michigan Potash company that has the rights, permits and approvals to start bringing it up.

Well there is that 1.5 mile trek to get it.  But they already have a plan.  That is where it gets a little controversial.  It seems that they can actually build some wells and inject water, dissolve the potash, bring it up, dry and reconstitute it back into solid potash.  Right now they plan to produce 650,000 tons of potash per year.  And they can do this for the next 150 years just from this 2.5 acre site.  It will cost an estimated $700 million to build the facility.  But there is an estimated $65 Billion of potash down there.  This will be the largest potash mine in the US.  Currently the US imports 94% of the 10 million tons of potash used per year, nearly all from Canada.  So they will still have the most but it will be interesting to have a Michigan source.  It will be  the only US owned source as the 300,000 tons produced domestically is owned by Canadian ventures.  Now  there is a controversial side to this.  This area is generally not farmland, but rather lakes and woods.  Remember that they are using water to bring it up?  How much, you ask?  Try 725 million gallons a year.  And it's groundwater.  But I'm sure they studied it real hard and it is all on the level.  And there is the added bonus of table salt production as well.  So Michigan farmland is generally low in soil potassium, and this could be a valuable soil amendment.  And since potash takes a while to become plant usable, there will always be a need for Sure-K and Kalibrate from AgroLiquid (green arrow).  Place your order today. 

Friday March 23, 2018 at the NCRS

So did you know that this is National Ag Week?  Well it is, or so says the Agricultural Council of America (ACA).  The ACA is made up of leaders in agriculture working to promote public awareness of agriculture's vital role in society.  Especially for people who think food grows in grocery stores.  Tuesday was Ag Day, and our wonderful Customer Service team made a poster with nice things said about the NCRS staff from AgroLiquid employees.  And today, Margie brought out balloons and pizza.  Looks like we had over 100% attendance today.  Thanks!

Even though it still gets down in the teens at night and early morning, I saw a Robin at the farm this morning.  And what do I always call a Robin?  The Harbinger of Spring.  (Look it up.)

Here is some of  the snow that remains.  Hopefully it will be gone by Monday and start warming up.

One task today was making the last of our product videos for our Video Library.  Nine are available to employees and Retail Partners, but it has taken a while to finish the Sulfur video about our products AccesS, S-Calate and eNhance.  Well it was winter after all.  But thanks to Burt and Tim, that's a wrap.  Well except for the editing, combining pieces, graphics, voice intro and quiz.  But give us a week.  (Us includes Adam, Angi and Stephanie.)  

It was nice and warm in the greenhouse where Chris, Zouheir and I worked on a grow-out experiment on soybeans.  Zouheir made these buckets and added the test soil.  Chris accurately applied the test fertilizers.  As usual I took pictures.  But they did let me plant the soybeans.  So our first crop is in! 

As the countdown to planting ticks ever closer, there is always the final touch-ups on the planters.  Tim and Phil attach some new prototype fertilizer application devices to our plot planter.  Why is it green and going on our blue planter?  Hmmmm. 

Quinten, who works here between classes at MSU during the school year, carefully assembles the new applicators.  Always fun to try something new.

So everyone was busy today....and that's just the stuff that I took pictures of.  (I mean....the stuff of which I took pictures.)  Enjoy the rest of Ag Week.  It continues through Saturday.

Early Season in the San Joaquin Valley

So sorry for the time between the last blog, but I've been busy.  But back to my time in CA last week.  California already has some spring crop growth, so this is good timing for that.  Oddly enough, it was kind of rainy at times.  Dylan and I were driving here near Bakersfield when it started raining.  Any rain is welcome in CA, but evidently this current week very heavy rain has turned into floods in some areas.  They call it a Pineapple Express.  Why make a great fruit like pineapple the culprit?  Hope they get the rainbow of promise like we did.

Here is a field of grapes that received Kalibrate and Pr-G (what you call Pro-Germinator) last year, and will again.  Look at the sandy soil here.  Application of fertilizer through the drip irrigation works great as the nutrients are better taken up from the application in irrigation water.  There are vineyards all over.  But this is California.

 It is still early and buds are just starting to break.  You have to look close to see some small leaves.  As I have said before, we prune the vines differently in Michigan.  We generally don't prune last year's vines all the way back like in CA.  We leave six or so buds on a vine, clip it off after that,  and it grows from there.  I guess the difference is that with the shorter season up North there isn't time to get enough growth for maximum grape production.  So we need a head start. 

 So if you see a field like this, don't say it's onions.  Especially if it's garlic.  Hey, I've never seen garlic.  Till now.  Well they are the same genus: Allium.  (I take being wrong very hard.)

 So who doesn't love Halos?  If you don't, then seek help.  Here we are passing the Halo packing plant near Delano, north of Bakersfield.  Halos are mandarin oranges, sweet and easy to peel. This facility for storing Halo cartons was opened in late 2016.  It's big, 80 feet tall.  Excellent marketing and architecture.

So I will have more CA news in upcoming blog posts.  It's already getting close to the end of the month, and I need to make my self-imposed quota of eight posts per month.  This is number three. You do the math.  That will teach me to procrastinate.  But that keeps them fresh.

Almond Progress

So I found myself back in California last week.  It's been three weeks since my last visit, and the almonds in the southern San Joaquin Valley had good leaf emergence now.  This is looking down the tree rows in one orchard.

 And this is a diagonal view, but there are still straight rows.  Within the orchard, the adjacent row has a tree planted mid-way between the trees of that  row.  More on orchard establishment coming up in a later post.  Pretty interesting.  Anyway, look at the ground.  See all the white petals?  This is the petal fall growth stage.  Good name.  It was like it was snowing.  But warmer.

But there are still flowers from later opening buds that need pollinating, as this bee is doing.  But the adjacent flowers have dropped their petals.  Recall from my previous visit that there were nighttime  temperatures below freezing.  There was concern on the effects of that on the flowers.

SAM Dylan is holding a pistil where the base is black indicating that it was killed by the frost.  Sorry the pic isn't better, but black is black...

 But that was the only one we found.  Here is a cross section of the ovary, green and growing.  A frost at this stage would be devastating as it is full of gel and would freeze and that would be the end of any almonds there.

Here is a bee at work.  I showed some hives in the earlier almond blog post.  I did a little reading on almonds and bees.  It seems that almond flowers have very little nectar.  The bees actually consume the nectar themselves, and any honey that is produced back in the hive is also consumed by them.  In fact, that honey is bitter, and the keepers don't collect it, but leave it for them to eat.  But they do a good job of pollinating. Further, researchers have found a specific bee attractant (amygdalin) in almond nectar to ensure pollination.  Interesting.

 Although he was busy, I asked this bee: "You taste nectar and pollen from all sorts of flowers.  If the nectar from trees that received AgroLiquid tastes better than that from other fertilizer, raise your hand."

Now who can argue with that?

Join the AgPack

So most computer pop-ups are annoying.  But there is one that really has value, and that's the RAM AGPACK, from Ram Trucks.  The AgPack is a collaboration with Ram Trucks that offers savings from several key ag supply companies, including AgroLiquid!  So make sure you give it a "click".

Heading up this program for AgroLiquid is Dale Ruff, who has been working with Ram Trucks to establish and promote this.  He has also been with the AgPack team at a variety of trade shows in the Ram Truck booth.  Here he is checking out the website in his official AgPack shirt.

So if you're in the market for a new truck, check out a Ram.  And when you select one, check out the AgPack savings.

Save thousands of $$ on things you could use anyway!

First NCRS Employee Retires

So there was an employee retirement today, and we had a recognition lunch for him.  It was Dave Hines.  Dave is the Inventory Systems Manager, which has something to do with raw materials and product inventory.  That's him against the backrest enjoying his lunch today.

Dave has another important role for AgroLiquid.  Surely you have seen the AgroLiquid ads featuring a grower who has discovered the many virtues of using AgroLiquid.  Well that is Farmer Dave, who moonlights here at AgroLiquid.  In the commercials, he is interviewed by ace reporter Jenny.  Well Jenny stopped by for a final interview.  It appears that Farmer Dave had quite a humorous answer.

Of course there was a cake.

Eustaquia, who works with Dave, is too shy to cut the beautiful cake.  Especially with Dave watching.  But Dave was hungry and gave her the go ahead.  So she did and we all enjoyed some.

But probably not everyone knows that Farmer Dave really was a farmer back in 1994, the first year of the NCRS.  He and I worked hard to put in the first plots in the first research efforts there.  Now this was a much simpler time as far as equipment went.  We had two tractors, a JD 4230 for tillage and one seen here...a John Deere 750 which we used to pull our 3-row tool bar planter.  Now unlike today where you just punch your fertilizer rate into a monitor and it magically comes out right, we had to use speed and pressure.  So that meant hours calibrating with graduated cylinders and a stop watch to get all of the rates set for our test plots.  Here Dave is running the planter.

And no flow-controls on the sprayer either.  Hand calibration and use speed and pressure.  But we didn't know what was to come a few years later, and did a great job.  GPS were just letters of the alphabet.

That first year we did not have a plot combine, so I borrowed a stationary thrasher from MSU to harvest the bean crops. Here Dave runs some Navy Beans through the thrasher where they would fall into a drawer on the bottom and we would dump them out and weigh them.  For corn, we hand picked and weighed ears.  Yes it was a simpler time, but the results were no less accurate and meaningful.  You know, I think we will go back to all of these methods at the NCRS.  No! Of course not.  I'll never give up flow control and GPS guidance now.  But it gave us some great results right from the start.

Like in this graph from 1994 NCRS research showing how 5 gallons of Sure-K through the planter out-yielded 100 lb of broadcast potash in soybeans.  And after that Sure-K sales sky rocketed.  Well that's how I remember it anyway.  (And graphics have improved since putting a yellow filter on the camera and taking a picture of a graph for a slide.)

So thanks Dave, for your help those first two years of the NCRS and all that you did to support our fertilizers.  Researchers today have it easy.  It was fun to be a pioneer, wasn't it?  Although you did move into the plant after that.  Hmm.  But I'm sure the NCRS experience made you a better person and employee.  Well that's how I remember it anyway.