Gone Shopping

So after my return to the NCRS today, I ventured out into the shop to a beehive of activity. Well, no making of honey, but plenty of work being done as spring farm work creeps ever closer. Below we see Phil inside the new stainless steel tank he is making for his Hagie field sprayer. It has one 400 gallon stainless tank already, but with farm expansion we needed another for more capacity. Here he comes up for a breather. It is a lot of work and kind of spendy, but we learned years ago that poly tanks don't clean out easily leading to contamination and crop injury later (like dicamba on soybeans).
I think I mentioned earlier that new wiring harnesses are being installed on all of the equipment to make them able to be plugged into any tractor. The Monosem still has a some work remaining. But it will be done soon.

But the new Kinze is all ready to go.

Bay City Brian works on wiring in equipment harnesses in one of the new tractors.

Ron is nearly finished with the fertilizer loadout platform that will be installed in the Goodland, Kansas manufacturing plant. I think he is just showing off for the picture.

Tim is working on some mounting equipment for the fertilizer manifold in the containment building. We are hoping to get our fertilizer tanks loaded in the next week or two.

So the guys have been working some long days lately to get everything ready to go to the field. We are fortunate to have a talented group here at the farm. So when you see all the cool pictures of the equipment running in the field later, these are the guys who made it happen.

Also today we got our first shipment of seed: soybeans in all sorts of container sizes and varieties. I guess that does mean that planting is on the horizon.

A lot of dollars is in this picture. With Liquid fertilizer, and a good year, there will be many happy returns for the NCRS.

Down in Arcadiana

So yesterday I came down to one of my favorite areas: Southern Louisiana or Arcadiana, which is the name given to French Louisiana. You know, Cajun Country. Last year we had some contract research in rice, sugarcane, soybeans and cotton, with some excellent and encouraging results. You can read about it in the Research Report on the web site. So I came down to line up our work for this year and meet with the researchers. Below is a plot area where we will have rice and soybeans. Can't tell much now in this field, but I'll show pictures again this summer when I make another visit. Last year in a blog account, I lamented that we were too late for a visit to the home of the original Tabasco Sauce: the McIlhenny company on Avery Island. Well this year, due to Reid's excellent driving, we were able to get there before closing. Below we see sales account manager Reid, myself, and regional sales manger Dave in front to the office and plant building, before the last tour of the day.
The tour told about the long history of tabasco, first made here in 1868 (I think) and how it is made today from that same recipe. Did you know that the sauce is aged in old Jack Daniels barrels for 3 years? (The tour lady did not know why they scraped the barrels out first, and she volunteered to help with the scraping, but hasn't been asked). Anyway, it is sold in many countries around the world which means placing the appropriate label on the bottle. Today they were bottling for Germany. I was impressed by how clean the bottling room was, like a lab or something.

Here is an aerial view of Avery Island. Well, it's actually a picture of the model. But this island is actually the top of a salt dome. A salt dome is literally a dome of salt that has pushed up from deep in the earth. She said that this one is as deep as Mt. Everest is tall. That salt is used in the barreling process to seal the barrels. Not all of the tabasco pepper plants are grown on the island, as much is grown in Central and South America. But all of the seeds used for those plants comes from plants grown here. Very interesting.

And what is a main reason that Dr. Wilhm likes to come to Arcadiana, specifically Lafayette? Well to sample the Cajun cuisine of course! It is early in the crawfish season, and it is a great time to order that. We made another visit to Randol's, and I had my first dinner of boiled crawfish. After learning the technique for meat extraction from Reid, as well as for sucking the head (that doesn't sound right, does it?) I dove into the pile before me. (Dave chickened out and ordered crab.) Of course I enjoyed it, but next time I may order something with more variety, to enable more eating options. You just can't get this at home, but that's why it is so good when I am there. And there was a cajun band playing to accompany the devouring of food. A very good time indeed. Smelled a little, ok, a lot fishy when done.

Today it was back to work. We visited with a dealer of Liquid there for product and research updates. (They were pleased with the results.) Then off to another researcher where we will again have sugarcane and cotton in the field below. They say that it is abnormally warm so far this spring and the cane is starting to grow bigger than it should. There is always the chance of a late freeze. Weather always rules. They had drought and heat last summer, and we don't want any of that this year.

Now I'm in the Alexandria airport waiting to head back to the NCRS.

Planting Has Begun at the NCRS!

Well, in the growth chamber anyway. Last Friday Dan and Dr. Brian planted trays of cole crops that will be transplanted into the research plots in late April. Here is Dan checking the trays today after lunch, and makes a startling discovery. We have emergence! See the little cauliflowers just breaking through the soil into the world. They are each hoping to be the first one eaten, after fattening up on Liquid fertilizer. Dan was so proud he started passing out cigars.

After they are more fully emerged, they will be moved into the greenhouse which will give them sunlight for more normal growth. Might be a little chilly if they are moved now though. (It's only 28 degrees out this afternoon.) The greenhouse should be finished soon. That's the plan anyway.

So this is a real reminder that spring is coming. What about me you ask? Well I have been around the country recently for grower meetings and the like. I am off on a short research mission tomorrow. It is to one of my favorite areas. Hope to bring you along through the blog-o-sphere. Check back.

Department of Agronomic Sciences Department

So this week we had a meeting of the minds from the Department of Agronomic Sciences. The field agronomy staff, that being Jay, Alan and Cory, were in town to meet with us researchers from the NCRS to review plot results from last year and make research and field plot (PFE) plans for 2012. And other stuff too. We also saw the unveiling of the plans for the new world headquarters for Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers, which will start being built soon. It was amazing to see the computer generated plans that look like real pictures. It will be quite a structure and the architecture will show our agricultural roots. Can't wait to sit on that lobby couch. But I digress. We are all looking forward to getting the new year of research and PFE plots underway. After nearly two days of being confined in a windowless room, we took a field trip to the NCRS to show our out-of-town visitors the many new things at the farm. Below Doug shows our new fertilizer tank confinement building. The manifold in front of him will direct the specific fertilizers to the loadout, either a tank on the war wagon, planter or sprayer. Well once the hoses are connected, that is. Cory checks his phone for messages. Jay, Cory and Alan are all smiles as Stephanie gives a demonstation of the new Greenstar gps monitors which will be used to guide us to operations in the field. Nick looks on favorably at how the dollars he approved were spent.
Tim shows off the two-row vegetable transplanter, which was first used in 2011 with great success.

Ron talks about the new Kinze planter which will be used for corn and 15-inch row soybeans. It is all ready to be wired into the controllers and instruments in the tractor cab. Cory checks his phone for messages.


Since this was the first time we have all been together for some time, maybe ever, I forced everyone to pose for a picture. So here are Alan, Doug, Brian, Jay, Cory, me, Stephanie, Nick, Phil, Bay City Brian, Dan and Ron.
(Not pictured: no one, we're all here!) An impressive group indeed, so focused on fertilizer it's running out our ears. Thanks to professional photographer (really) and part time tree planter and cutter downer John for taking the pic.

It's Here!!!

So today, the 2011 Research Report is available on-line. Well don't waste any more time here. Go to agroliquid.com and get to clicking.

Meanwhile Back in the Shop

So I took these pictures last Friday, but didn't get around to showing them as all effort has been devoted to the Research Report, which we finished today. It was a rare sunny day last Friday afternoon when the South door of the new shop expansion was opened to bring something inside, and the sun leaked in. I just took this picture of the new Kinze planter, and did not notice until download that it looked like we had the tanks lit up. Pretty cool. Although I guess someday we will actually put some fertilizer in them. But I do enjoy that new tank smell that we have now. Here is what the fertilizer delivery options look like, with the sides removed. It is the same as on the Monosem for in-furrow placement. There is the option of the Tubular or Seed Firmer delivery. We have done research on comparing these the last two years. It's in the report. Here are the Martin No-Till row cleaners and coulter.

And here is a shot of the Monosem planter with an important change that I requested. Notice that the 2x2 fertilizer application coulters are in the front of the planter. They were behind the planter in previous years. Well I didn't like the way that they would throw dirt, I mean soil, over the planted rows rendering them practically invisible. It wasn't much, but it made it hard to see the rows, especially in no-till. So like if I'm applying treatments in the sprayer after planting, well I don't like not being able to see the rows as a guide, even with GPS guidance. And Phil, who does the herbicide spraying after planting, had the same issue. Plus it doesn't look cool with the nice straight rows covered. We would usually raise the coulters up if we weren't using the 2x2 placement. But that was a pain, and now we will be pain free. Thanks to Ron for the job well done.

So that is just a small part of some of the winter projects. There is a lot of activity going on in the shop these days. I know because I can hear people working out there from my desk inside.

It's Coming!!!

So I was driving by one of our corn fields today and thought I saw something creeping up on us.
And wouldn't you know it, but it was our 2011 Research Report! It's so close that I could taste it. It should be up on the website in a day (or so) and the CD be available too. So be prepared for some excellent reading from your North Central Research Station.