We now move into the latter half of the short month of February and there is not much happening on the national scene. We could talk about Fanni, but it has been recommended that I not talk politics. She must have had a miserable childhood where she was constantly teased about her name all thru her school years.
Oh, there may be another somewhat weird story out of North Carolina as Charlotte the female stingray who has been co-habiting with two male sharks named Mo and Curly for the last eight years. There could have been some hanky panky or fishy business going on in the tank as she is showing a few baby bumps, possibly four. Of course, none of the sharks are talking or confessing. Are they both lying and maybe Moe or Shemp left town under the cover of darkness. A number of experts gave their best scientific explanation, which is parthenogenesis, which is where different species of amphibians and insects can be self-fertile. Still Charlotte has either shark nibbles on her back which could have been made by one of the sharks. Do sting rays have ears? I’m guessing they will have a camera on her activities like they had on the eagle’s nest north of Decorah a few years ago so everyone could view the hatchlings as they grew.
Most of the snowbanks have disappeared without much running snowmelt showing up. The small streams were running faster than normal on the warm days, but speculations were that the ground was thawed out enough to let the water soak in rather that run off. Every inch of moisture in the next six weeks will be welcome.
The Ohio Crop Conference
It was a short week for me as I am among a number of well-seasoned agronomists who travel across the Midwest conducting informational meetings. The one of Feb 12 was in Findlay, Ohio, a site I had been close to but have never driven through. I was surprised at the size of the town and several of the larger office buildings in the downtown area. It turned out to be the world headquarters to both Marathon Oil and Cooper tires. I had looked into flying but every flight would have had me lay over in Chicago for longer than desired so I drove the 630-mile one-way trip. Not much different than driving to Denver.
My pockets and notebook were both full of contact information for a number of attendees wanting to provide more details on different cropping items. I had covered crop disease management and how I would suggest the best course of action to follow.
Jim Martindale of Wabash, IN was there. He has been visiting with Dr James White of Rutgers Univ on the topic of rhizophagy. This is a hot topic with a group of endophyte mycologists at a university over in Australia. Their later work is suggesting that we baby our crops too much and if we reduce some of our inputs the microbes will accelerate their activities in pulling nitrogen out of the air as well as free up more of the minerals that show up on the soil tests but remain unavailable to the plants.
That concept dovetails with another recent development. Last December 2022 we held a conference in Webster City. A lady biochemist/microbiologist from Colorado/Kentucky told of how she went from being a CPA accountant type to a world class scientist in trying to determine why her 40ish marathoner husband had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Syndrome. She had employed the knowledge by an established scholar whose specialty was in researching ancient microbes to find those capable of doing valuable tasks. She has developed several dietary products which help manage diabetes and blood sugar plus assembled a ‘guild’ of microbes which proved to be capable of degrading glyphosate in the soil in rapid fashion. I have been receiving trial data and a lot of it looks terrific and may tie in with the BeCrop Soil test as developed by Al Toops and Lance Gunderson at their new Regen Lab near Kearny. I have mentioned the BeCrop Test in previous columns. Its purpose and findings tie together the Haney Test and a microbial test which measures the ratio of fungi to bacteria. Typically, a 1:5 or even a 1:20 is low but somewhat acceptable, but a much wider ratio is more common. What that does is limit the functionality of the soil, meaning that maybe only 20% of the minerals in the root profile are available to the plants during the growing season. The theory then is to try to better the fungi; bacteria ratio by changing several management items. Those include foregoing salt-based fertilizers, reduce tillage, avoid pesticides that have strong antiseptic properties and avoid 82%. That constitutes changes that many farmers in Iowa in central and north central Iowa which are blasphemous. What Dr. White is following with his lab and field research is how plants and microbes have held strong relationships for eons. Those relations are symbiotic in nature in that both parties benefit.
There are more and more YouTube videos on the topic of rhizophagy. The word is a combination of ‘rhizo’ meaning roots and ‘phagy’ means ‘to eat. The process of rhizophagy then as being discovered is that the plants’ roots are growing thru the soil and eating microbes to gain the minerals and sugars contained within their bodies and absorbing the nitrogen as well. The N is in the organic acid form which is the perfect form. The plants spit out a portion of the DNA that was in the microbes. They do this where the roots hairs eventually form. When asked White summarizes his findings by saying that when you raise kids and you give them everything they want they never have to think or provide for themselves. You can expect them to be lazy the rest of their lives. He says that encouraging rhizosphere activity will convert reserve minerals to plant available minerals. As that happens paying attention to the micronutrients which are vital to plant growth and plant processes become more important and can give a higher ROI than going the NPK route.
Jim also has some interesting ideas as to why in spite of two or three of the last seasons have been years where in many areas the corn yields have not been reduced nearly as much as the lack of rain should have reduced yields. He contends that maintaining good soil respiration and air exchange has been more important than anyone would have guessed. He was the developer of a tillage implement called a ‘Curse Buster’ which is somewhat like an AirWay except the teeth run differently and are shaped at a different angle to increase aeriation.
A farmer and carbon exchange expert I have gotten to know is Matt Rohlik. He farms both near Olivia, MN on about 2,500 acres and in Arkansas with two partners. He also is the main field man and presenter for Arva Intelligence. Now we have all heard the pitches about how to capitalize on the opportunities to earn money with the different carbon schemes. A person always has to wonder if any or all of the promises will come to fruition. Matt has been at this for a while and has been in the boardrooms of the largest energy and largest marketing companies in the country and has become well enough received in that when a company decides they get active in this carbon deal they call him to figure out what their next move should be. He has many more data points than any other group on the topic, and because he farms himself his goal is to make sure the actual guy farming and taking the risk will get the rewards. As far as which company has done business with him companies like Microsoft and Nestle are on that list. Matt will give a good understandable that will be worth hearing.
Annual Growers’ Meeting in Webster City
Most of these same experts from the meeting in Findlay, Ohio will be presenting at our meeting scheduled for March 4th and 5th in Webster City. We might be calling ourselves the Highway Men like Willie, Johnny, Waylon and Kris did in their younger years. It was decided there was too much information to absorb in just one day so it will be a two-day event. Starting at 8 am and going until 4 pm each day. Their will be at least one group discussion involving growers who are growing corn and bean crops using Regenerative Ag type ideas with good success. Two growers with beef herds who have developed the feeding programs to produce the best tasting beef I have every consumed will be providing the meat on each day. The two groups are expanding their controlled grazing acres and experimenting with diets to switch fat formation from omega 6s to omega 3s and working with a few other ideas to be able to capture the absolute top end of the premium beef market. Carol and I are eating our way thru a 20 lb. bundle of various cuts. I could taste the difference in the first bite of hamburger we grilled up.
You can expect to hear a number of great speakers with new ideas that could be valuable to your operation. The dates are March 4th and 5th at the Briggs Woods Conference Center at the Briggs Woods Golf course two miles south on Hwy 17. Be aware of the speed cameras in that area so drop your speed to closer to 55. Sponsors of this of this meeting are Tidal Grow and Central IA Agronomy and Supply. Next year we expect Mark Nichols of O2YS to be involved. Both companies supply a line of products which offer both insect and disease control of some of the tougher to control pests and diseases. At a time when fewer hard pesticides are being researched and commercialized new companies will be stepping forward to provide solutions to cropping challenges.
Please sign up by Feb 25th to make your reservations. Food counts are due the next day on Feb. 26th and we want to make sure there is enough food for everyone. Call or text Carol Streit at 515-231-6710 to reserve your spot. Thank you!
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.