Treasure Valley Visit

So last week I had the opportunity to travel out to the Treasure Valley.  Where's that you ask?  OK, I didn't know it either till I got there. But it's the area to the West of Boise, ID. Boise is in the Western side of the state and several rivers converge on the area to form the Snake River, and formed a flat valley.  The ground there is very rich and fertile, as long as you have water.  The crop diversity there is pretty amazing.  It is one of the country's leading suppliers of yellow onions.  Onions are mostly fertilized by (gasp) dry fertilizer applied in the fall, but with 32% UAN applied through drip tape.  

This grower wisely applied Pro-Germinator + Kalibrate + Micro 500 + High NRG-N through the drip tape during the growing season.  Makes sense, and they look great.  They have been lifted out of the ground and are now awaiting harvest.

AgroLiquid's Retail Partner out here is Gary Schwieger of Soil Logic.  Gary is pretty new to retail partnering but has some AgroLiquid out in a number of fields on a number of crops.  That's Gary and Sales Account Manager Bruce Keck admiring some of the onions in the field here.  There were onions being harvested all over and trucks loaded with onions headed all over the country.

There are a number of crops grown for seed.  Seed that is, for planting to grow more crops elsewhere.  I would have never have figured out what this crop is.  So I'll spare you and say that it's endive.  It is a leafy vegetable, although I'm not sure I have ever had any.  It looks like Chicory.  And this will be a very good crop of endive seed since it was fertilized with AgroLiquid.

 We went over to a University of Idaho research farm and saw these apple trees.  Look at how they are grown, I guess to make it easier to harvest.  And these were sprayed with a clay coating to protect them from the sun I guess.  And it was hot in the 90's last week, which is much above average.  They looked ripe to me.

 Idaho is widely known as the potato state, and here is one very large field of potatoes that is ready to harvest.  I didn't see a lot of potatoes here in the Treasure Valley, as most are grown over in Eastern Idaho.

 Here is another seed crop, this time carrot seed.  This guy had a big semi-trailer full of carrot seed from just 15 acres.  It is a pretty valuable trailer right there.

 Quite a few sugarbeets are grown in the Treasure Valley.  As with many crops, dry fertilizer is applied in the fall, worked in, and then the beds are formed and then wait for spring planting.  They don't get much snow here, so fertilizer loss isn't a real concern.  They form beds as they rely on furrow irrigation.  And all they want to do in the spring is plant.  Well we are going to try some AgroLiquid apps here to see what works best.  I'm excited.

 Another crop where AgroLiquid is in use is on these Riesling wine grapes.

They said they are about three to four weeks from harvest.  The fertilizer was applied through the drip irrigation system you can see about a foot off the ground.  And also through some foliar applications.

They look good to me.  There are grapes everywhere.

 Now here's a crop I certainly recognize.  This corn was fertilized with a planter application of Pro-Germinator + Micro 500 and sidedressed with High NRG-N.  Makes sense.

 This had a different planter fertilizer, and had urea broadcast for nitrogen.  Well looks a little short to me, but we'll see.  Growers that we met are anxious to use some AgroLiquid because it is different and offers advantages to what is being used now.  But they have to try it out first, as this is a new area for AgroLiquid.  But so far so good.

So in addition to all of this, I set up some research trials for next year that will give some data on best applications for AgroLiquid in this land of dry fertilizer.  And then it will truly be a Treasure Valley.

Navy Beans, Navy Beans, Navy Beans

So yesterday afternoon, which was Sunday, the decision was made to harvest the Navy Bean fertilizer experiment.  The decision was made by Tim and Stephanie as the forecast was for rain on Monday. (And the forecast was right.)  Well this is a three person job, so I was happy to be person #3.  

Tim drove the combine, Stephanie was in the grain cart recording plot weights and I drove the tractor pulling the cart. It has been a while since I did any actual NCRS work, so it was fun for me. (Besides, I got to listen to the Lions lose on the radio instead of watching it at home.)

 It's been shown many times here in the past, but for a refresher, the beans from each plot are dumped into the grain cart that has a scale with two pound increments.  Stephanie enters the weight on the i-pad and collects a sample for moisture check.

For increased accuracy, only the middle four rows of the six row plots are harvested for yield determination.  The outside border rows are removed after each round.  I will say again that it really helps having the Wind Reel system on the front that blows air to help feed the cut beans into the combine.  (It's those silver tubes on the front there that blows air from a turbine.)  Hopefully you can read the results in this year's Research Report.

 We were happy to see Troy come by to make sure all was well.  It was.

 Here they are from a window in the cart.  Makes you kind of hungry doesn't it?

 You know what goes good with Navy Beans don't you?  Sloppy Joes!  Sloppy sloppy Joes!

St. Johns is Home to Big Pumpkins and Watermelons

So the blog is back from a lengthy vacation, and all ready to fill in the many happenings of AgroLiquid around the blog-o-sphere.  In fact, there is a basement full of back-logged adventures that will be making their way to the Land of Liquid files.

So on Saturday, if you were in St. Johns, you no doubt would have dropped by Andy T's Farm Market and the annual Pumpkin and Watermelon Weigh Off.  This is a big deal for people who follow such things.  I have reported on this before as there is an entry of note.  Here is a pic of the pumpkins lined up awaiting their chance to be weighed.  

 But first the watermelons.  Now I've seen wat'melons and I've seen wat'melons, but this one is huge.  It was grown by Tim Brussel of the NCRS.  He really pushed himself this time.  That's Andy T himself watching on the right. While the melon is being weighed, Tim is interviewed by the Weigh-Off Emcee, and he attributed the size to the use of AgroLiquid.  Good answer!  How much did it weigh? 

 A whopping 206 pounds!  This is a record for Tim, and good enough for Second Place.  It was nine pounds short of first place, but that one was from Ohio. So Tim is the Michigan champion.  Tim said that he has a bigger one he is saving for the state finals contest in Dundee next week.  Good job and good luck.

 But Tim has diversified.  Here he is by his pumpkin.  He is pretty optimistic on how it will do, thinking he will be in the top 10.

 There is his in the corner, next to some pretty big ones.

 Here is how they bring them up to the scale.  They remove the harness lines and get a weight.  That's proprietor Andy T himself on the tractor.  Pump kin is a big deal.  Seeds of the winners are pretty valuable.

 I went inside Andy T's store and look what I found.  If you want a big pumpkin (or any garden plant), choose your nutrient here.

 Andy T's also bought quite a few apples from the NCRS orchard.  Honeycrisp apples are a big hit.

 OK it was Saturday afternoon, and there was football to watch, and there were so many pumpkins to weigh, that I wished Tim good luck and went home.  I had to stop by the NCRS and saw this maple tree with a hint of red in it.  Could that mean colder weather is coming?  Hope it takes a while...I'm never ready for cold.

 Well thank goodness I am well connected.  Stephanie sent me this Facebook posting of the results of the Andy T contest on Saturday night.  It seems that Tim placed third in the pumpkin contest with a weight of 1534 pounds.  That is his biggest pumpkin by a large margin.  That's him in the picture below.  I will have to pump him for his secret, although he is pretty secret.  Other than using AgroLiquid that is.

So that was a fun morning.  I'll let you know how Tim does at State.  Hopefully it will be on ESPN or something.

Martin Truex Jr Wins Southern 500!!!

So there was lot's of stuff going on Sunday night on TV.  But hopefully you saw Martin Truex, Jr win the Southern 500.  This is one of the top races on the NASCAR circuit with the initial race in 1950. 

 This is Martin's second victory for the year, having won the Coca Cola 600 on May 29.  And of course there is a report of that victory in the blog.  Notice that the sponsor is Auto Owners Insurance.  They are based out of Lansing.  They are sponsors for two races this year.  Cool for them.

I didn't see team owner Barney Visser in the TV.  But as you know Barney farms quite a bit of land near Denver and uses AgroLiquid for his crop nutrition.  So of course I cheer for Martin in every race.  Surely the prize money goes to fertilizer purchase.

3rd Annual Farm to Fork Charity 5K at the NCRS

So time sure goes by quickly anymore.  Like Saturday was already the third 5K at the NCRS.  Like before, the Greater Lansing Food Bank was the major recipient of the funds raised.  Before the race, a spokeswoman from the charity announced that the funds raised from today's race would provide 90,000 pounds of food to the charity recipients.   Well that's certainly worth the  effort.   Prior to the   8 am start, runners gathered outside for the Star Spangled Banner.  The singer was outstanding and hit every note.

 There were over 200 runners, and they lined up at the Start behind Farm "Speedy Boots" Guy.  Best to let him go first unless you want to get trampled.

 Race director Eustaquia fires the starting pistol and the race is on! Evidently Farm Guy is already out in front and out of the picture.

 And a mere 18 minutes later, winner Eric Lowe crosses the finish line.  Eric won the first race two years ago and was happy to re-gain the title.  You may recall that Eric used to work at the NCRS years ago while in high school, and no doubt has an advantage of knowing the course and short cuts. Just kidding Eric. He has been working in Grand Rapids now for several years, but always keeps in shape for this NCRS race.

 Here come some runners nearing the final turn for the stretch to the finish line.  We really appreciate the several members of the Clinton County sheriff department for coming out and watching the race as it crossed the road a couple times. 

Here comes Farm Guy to the finish line.  He would have won, but he stopped to scout some soybeans over on Farm 5.  He just can't run by crops without stopping. 

After finishing, there was still time to encourage the walkers.

 Nick and Levi dash for the finish.  Not sure if Nick ever caught him.  Nick can run and sing.

You get thirsty competing in a 5K.  Well so I've heard.  Here we see Cory passing out.            

Water to passers-by.

AgroLiquid-ite Margi was also taking pictures on the course as it wandered through Farms 3, 2, 1 and 5.  She provided these next several pics of course action.

 Hey Todd, watch out for that Mud!  Don't say we didn't warn you.

 It was a nice morning for the event.  It's no doubt the place to be on a Saturday morning.

It was fun to see all ages giving it their best on course.  I am happy to report that all participants finished under their own power and the EMS crews on hand had to just sit and watch.

There were awards given to top performers in the various age groups.  Here we see Angi from Marketing giving Farm Guy a high five as she receives her award.  Didn't catch the age group though. Eustaquia passes out the engraved Fork trophy (get it: Farm to Fork?).  That's Burt handling the announcing duties.

 So it takes more than just a bunch of people showing up to run to make it a successful charity event.  Here is the board with all of the sponsors.  Just about all are local, and look how many there are.  It was also nice to see RFD TV as a major sponsor.  Thanks to all.

 And it also takes people in charge to get it done too.  Now Troy will be modest, but AgroLiquid does provide a lot of support with dedicated employees providing help, allowing the nice NCRS as the course venue, and there is the financial part as well.  But the real ring-leader is Eustaquia, who, like it or not, is the Event Chair for Life.  No one is a better leader for this than her.

One of the main reasons Eustaquia is so effective as the Chairwoman is that for the third straight year the rain held off until after the race was over.  Really unbelievable how she is able to do that.

Seriously.  Look at the last two years of blogs on 8/30/14 and 8/31/15 and the last picture is of rain falling after the race is concluded.  So that was #3...tune in next year for #4.  Or why not come run? Eric needs some competition.

2016 AgroExpo recap

So the first AgroExpo has already come and gone.  Those of you who were there know that it was a little wet...but the hard-working NCRS staff plus folks from sales, agronomy and the office got the best of the water and had the grounds ready to go.

The horticulture staff had a unique take on a vegetable garden with vegetables from A to Z.

 There were also vendors and a program stage for speakers inside the large Agri-Business tent.

Everyone liked the self propelled forage harvester demonstrations over in Silage Town.  Four new harvesters were shown.

 After a sunny start on Wednesday morning, it looked like a storm was coming in for the afternoon.  Well, it did.

There were a couple of guest speakers at the breakfast and dinners back at the AgroLiquid office. Brian Hefty gave his thoughts on key aspects of soil and crop growth.  He also discussed his strategy in the Yield Challenge Corn and Soybean plots. 

Later in the week Darren Hefty talked about agronomic influences for crop growth, plus his own Yield Challenge plots.  Additionally he and I gave a presentation on nitrogen management trials in corn from tests conducted at the Ag Ph.D farm and the NCRS.  (This was in a blog post on August 10).  Darren even went out on the Research Field Day research plot tours to see what's happening out at the NCRS.

We had a nice crowd of attendees on the daily Research Field Day plot tours on Farm 7.  Stephanie, Tim and I gave test overviews and showed key past results on a number of experiments that support product recommendations.  Here Stephanie talks about one of the corn experiments.

 One popular demonstration was that of the aerial cover crop application by Al's Aerial Spraying of nearby Ovid, Michign.  A tarp was spread to catch the ryegrass seed that was being applied.  I thought it would bounce around, but it landed and stayed where it fell.  FYI: this is to demonstrate application of a cover crop in a standing crop prior to harvest.  This enables it to start growing and get established before harvest, such that after crop removal, it will grow and provide cover and nutrient recovery. There isn't enough time for cover crops to get established after corn and soybean harvest in the North.  So this is an option.

 Everyone has a look.  It was pretty cool.  I have not seen such a thing before.  Hopefully it gave some of these folks some ideas about trying it.  I mean the plane did put on a nice show and all.

 People flocked around Dr. Massri who explains the results of his research on losses of nitrogen (through volatility) and phosphorus (through tie-up and flux or movement from site of application.) He will be sharing much more about this in upcoming months after results are summarized and interpreted.  It really is favorable for AgroLiquid's novel fertilizers.

 And over in the orchard, Jacob Emling and the horticulture staff showed numerous visitors the workings of the high density research trials there.

He also demonstrated how apple growers know when it is time to harvest: the iodine starch test, pressure (below) and refractometer for measurement of sugars in the sap.  You couldn't help but learn about the complexity of growing apples.  But it all pays off in the end with a delicious crop.  

So while the rain did pose a few snags, vendors and attendees said that they would be back next August for the Second  AgroExpo! 

Now that we've literally gotten our feet wet on the first one, the next one will, of course, be bigger and better.  And hopefully drier.