New This Week at the NCRS

So the research staff at the NCRS has a new face as of this week. He is Dan Janzen. Dan is originally from Oregon, but has lived in Michigan for a number of years. He grew up on a field crops and fruit tree farm, and got his Bachelors and Masters degree in agronomy from Oregon State. He has worked in University extension and in several orchard management jobs. So he has quite a lot of experience in tree crops which we plan to use here at the NCRS and eventually in the field. This is a huge market that we are just starting to crack, and Dan will certainly help. He is now learning about the family of Liquid nutrition and will be helpful once the research season starts. Dan and his wife live in Greenville. So welcome him if you get a chance. Here is what our new equipment barn on Farm 3 looked like yesterday. You can see that it is next to the fertilizer and chemical storage barn. They are coming along fast in spite of the less than ideal conditions.
My weekend visit to the NCRS was met with a lake in the parking lot as temps warmed up and it actually had rained all night. But the ground below the top couple inches is still frozen. So the water just sits there.

Here is the muddy mess off the East side of the main barn. Now its snowing again. What a contrast to my visit to the warm South earlier this week.

Crawdads and Cane

So I'm back in Michigan now, but my nice trip to Louisiana is still fresh in my mind. These first two pictures were taken yesterday morning south of Alexandria. Do you know what these are for? Here is one next to the highway. Here is one off the beaten path. But they are crawfish ponds. And the objects sticking out of the water are the tops of the traps. I do know that it is just getting into crawdad harvest season as we saw some boats in some ponds checking the traps. Did you also know that these "ponds" are actually also used for growing rice, although not in the same year. Crawfish farming can be pretty profitable and I have heard that theft of traps can be a problem. Police are often on the look out for any suspicious activity around them.
Spring tillage is getting going this time of year down there. Here is a field that will be planted soon to corn. First they bedded up the ground. Then they will knock of the tops and flatten and firm the beds, but maintain the furrows. In most places the furrows are for irrigation, but here in most years they are used for drainage as rainfall can be excessive this deep in the South. I know of several places that wish they had this problem. Now in some years furrow irrigation is applied, but not too often.

Below is a picture of some "off-bar" tillage in a field of stubble sugarcane. (See yesterday's installment for further explanation.) Most often dry fertilizer (ick!) is broadcast ahead of this operation. This tillage trip will incorporate the dry fertilizer, but more importantly, it will warm up the soil and promote growth of the stubble crop. You can see the disc blades cutting into the soil on either side of the row.

And here is the view from behind.

And here is what the bed looks like. It's kind of hard to see the sugarcane, but it's there and will start to grow faster now with the warm soil.

Now our plan is to use liquid feritlizer application knives to place Pro-Germinator, Sure-K and Micro 500 on either side of the row at the time of this off-bar application. In fact we have some research plots planned for this. If successful I can see the use of tanks or a cart to carry fertilizer during this application, thereby eliminating a trip through the field just for application of fertilizer, as in the case of the dry spread.

Now in about 3 weeks after this operation they will re-form the beds, and then in mid-April to mid-May, depending on how big the stalks are, they will run the dual fertilizer knives to apply solution nitrogen. And then stand back and watch it grow to ten feet or more before harvest next fall. It is interesting to come down here and learn about growing different crops and animals. And hopefully you enjoyed the trip too.

Loving Louisiana in March

So after the past couple of weeks in North Dakota (twice) and Montana, along with the ongoing winter of Michigan, it was time to head to a warmer climate. So why not Louisiana? Anyone care to guess what crop is growing in the field where I stand? I'm holding a remnant of the harvest from last year....anyone? anyone? OK, here is Sales Account Manager Reid tasting the sweet juice that still remains in the stalk. (I told him it was safe to do that, and he is still around.) Yes, this is sugarcane, and we are just south of Lafayette. What we have here is what's called a "stubble crop" that is re-growing following harvest of the above ground stalks last fall. The residue is burned to clear the way for this regrowth. I don't think they burn the leaves before harvest here as they do in some places, but I will find out. I really don't know all the details about the cultivation of sugarcane. I have seen fields of sugarcane with Liquid fertilizer in Hawaii and South Texas though. But tomorrow we have an appointment to visit with a researcher here in Louisiana about some potential plotwork.
Earlier in the day Reid, myself and Senior Agronomy Manager Cory met with a new Area Manager in Crowley. Cory gave a presentation to their agronomists covering product information. It seemed to go well and we will look for more Liquid development there in the future.

I love Tabasco Sauce, and after the meeting Reid and I drove down to Avery Island, which isn't really an island, to the place where the famous sauce is made. But alas, it was closed. Feeling like Clark Griswold, we did leave though. Maybe some other time. If only Cory talked faster.

Reid says he likes Louisiana for three things: hunting, fishing and the food. Well on this trip I will agree with the food part. I had Cajun food for lunch (alligator and seafood gumbo) at Fezzo's and also for supper (blackened catfish on crawfish etouffee) at Randols. I have to say that this is so much better than the native food of Michigan (whatever that is.)

And this close to Mardis Gras there was a cajun band there for your dining and dancing pleasure. Reid and I couldn't agree on who should lead, so we didn't dance. But they were a great band to sit and listen to.

So I hope to re-visit down here, probably in the summer when it is 200 degrees. But for now, it was a great visit, and we actually did get a lot of Liquid work done.

Road Work

So I was in Fargo, ND last week and spoke at a grower meeting hosted by Area Manager Kevin Abentroth. Two words: tough crowd. Things started out pretty rough as they proceded to eat me alive as they didn't believe that LIQUID could be all that we promote it as being the only fertilizer needed for growing crops. But after showing product proof with research results and differentiating the concepts of "usable" and "available", they came to see how LIQUID can grow crops with less pounds and is easier to apply. Especially with planting coming up soon, row application of LIQUID makes so much more sense than broadcasting dry or using other liquids that lack efficiency and can hurt growth. Also this week I was with Area Manager Chad Schlecter in South Dakota lining up some contract research and stopping by Hefty Seed in Baltic to visit with Darren Hefty and Rob Fritz about plots on the Blank Slate field again this year. Then Kevin and I, along with Mitch Abentroth, visited some more researchers in ND for additional plotwork this year.

Then I went to Great Falls, MT and met up with Regional Sales Manager Stuart Schilling for another plot research meeting followed by the long but scenic drive to Billings for another grower meeting and to visit the Montana Agri-Trade Exposition, where LIQUID had a booth. Below we see Area Manager Ed Schilling and AM Mike Kilzer visit with a LIQUID user.

So this was a busy week of work preparing for the upcoming growing season. Brian was busy too attending the Michigan Potato Growers meeting plus participating on a panel for donors to the Greater Lansing Food Bank. Recall that the NCRS donated some 30,000 pounds of vegetables to the Food Bank last year.
I knew that they were putting up the new communications tower at the NCRS last week and drove out to see it today. Yes it was there, and evidently they didn't need my help. There are also towers at the office and at the new plant in Ashley. This is supposed to enable better communication ability and faster internet. (Now that I can understand.) For some cool pictures of the antenna projects at all three of the sites, you should visit Nick Bancrofts blog http://aclfprojects.blogspot.com.

So last week is over and this week I am off on another fertilizer mission. Brian and I will attend the annual meeting of the Fluid Fertilizer Foundation, although I'm not going to say where it is. As always, should anything of interest come up, you will learn of it here.

Sunday Drive

So it was a Sunday afternoon, and like most people would do, I took a drive out to the farm. One thing we had today was a warm-up. It was sunny and in the mid-40's when I got out there, which felt nice after such a long time of cold weather. But I also dread it because of the mud.

I walked over to the equipment barn to see what the new Hagie looked like after some surgery Friday. And there she is with the boom shrunk down to plot size. It will need a little extension to cover the 15 feet that we spray, but quite a change.

Uh-oh. Over in the corner is the old plot Hagie. I think she has figured out that she is being replaced, as there were a few tear drops on the floor. Either that or some hydraulic fluid leaks.

Here are the boom sections that were removed. They will be stored in the yet to be built second equipment building which will be next to the red fertilizer/chemical building you can see (with some close looking) in the distance. It is the same one that I showed being built a few weeks ago.

So I posted this today as I am off on a fertlizer mission this week. If anything of note happens, you'll be the first to know.

Long, Cold Winter Showing Effects on NCRS Staff

So the cold winter continues here in the North, but the time is being used for a variety of projects. One is prepping the new Hagie sprayer for plot work. Below we see Doug and Phil (who is now a Supervisor) installing the new tanks where the old one was. Two tanks are always better than one. Here they admire their work. Can't wait to get it out in the field to do some sprayin'.

We also got a new (well new for us) mulch tiller today. Here we see Doug unhitching it after moving it to the parking lot.

Well, back to work. There are many more important tasks waiting, but I just wanted to let all of our followers, as well as our bosses, know that we are keeping busy out here. (First we ought to check the heater for carbon monoxide emission.)

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

So as I wrote that Title above, it occurred to me that possibly not a lot of people get the reference. Not that I have personally witnessed such a thing outside of old movies and TV. If you don't get it, look it up. But I digress. I guess I could talk about all of the snow and cold we had this past week, but so did most of the rest of America. Not sure of the official snowfall total, but it had to be over a foot. Unfortunately it slowed down the building progress mentioned last week. It pretty much looks the same as it did the previous Friday, but they will get going again.Snow pushing was a big job here at the farm and at all of the other ACLF property.

But the big news of the Blog is to announce the completion of the 2010 Research Report and its posting on the ACLF website. To read it simply go to http://www.agroliquid.com/, and click on the Research tab, and there it is. It is in pdf format for fast access. (Thanks to Stephanie and Lonny for getting it posted to the website.) It has pictures, commentary plus product descriptions. And of course, you'll find the results of all of the experiments so thoroughly covered last year on the blog. Hopefully you will enjoy reading it much as Stephanie, Brian and I did writing it.

By the way, the Research Supports Future Growth will start rolling out again next week. It too will be available on the Research part of the web. Have a great week.