Oh my gosh! Is it possible that 2023 slipped in here already? If it is possible that 2023 has arrived and it brings in warmer winter temperatures than we saw in December we will welcome it. Those -20s and -30s were cold enough for most of us. Our livestock does not like it much better, but most species have a thick coat of fat and fur or feathers to keep them warm. We had a good long conversation with a friend up in Bozeman on one of those cold nights and she was reporting actual temps of -45. Luckily the extreme cold lasted only one week instead of months. The next few months are predicted to be warmer with an occasional multi-day cold pulses.
One notable announcement by our meteorologist was that a month ago he was predicting a series of atmospheric rivers were going to set up off the coast of Northern California and begin to pound the states along our west coast with deluges of rain with as much as 5” to 12” with each volley of storms. or those excursions. While we may see those amounts only rarely, they can cause major flooding as their soil types don’t allow much infiltration. In northern California up to Washington State they have what are called Serpentine soils. These lack several components that we have in our soils which cause them to clump and stay in place. Their soils lack those components, which allow their soils to slump, leading all sizes of mudslides. Apparently, this happened on Prince Edward Island in the Pacific Northwest and most of the soil on the island just cut lose and slid into the Pacific Ocean over one weekend.
Several forecasters are predicting some of that moisture could skirt down along the northern edge of the Rockies and make its way into the plain states which are in the midst of a three-year drought.
Iowa Power Show
For a large number of Ag producers, the Iowa Power Show normally held during the last week in January and first few days in Feb. Be watching for the dates and mark them on your calendar.
The extension service regional agronomists and specialists swill be holding their Ag update meetings where they will cover new items for 2022 and release any new finding they have made. Those meetings typically draw quite a few attendees.
Conference Happenings
Our Central Iowa Ag and Agronomy Rx held a joint conference where we had a number of invited speakers from across the Midwest, Florida and Kentucky. A few of those did not get mentioned as much in my column from two weeks ago, so now may be a god time to mention them. One of those was Martha Carlin of Kentucky, with her discovery and research lab in Colorado. What she and several microbiologists have done is sleuthing for valuable microbes in the environment, identifying them and their properties or abilities, and cataloging them for future use. This is happening in the U.S., Europe, and in Australia, as more people and companies recognize that microbes play a much larger role in many aspects of human life and survival. She has assembled a collection that help people and animals who have problems with high blood sugar, control sugar metabolic support, reduce sugar cravings, boost energy levels, lessen sleep problems and lessen fatigue. We have a list of those products on our website.
We had Steve Apfelbaum from Broadhead, Wisconsin make a presentation on soil restoration. He performed that himself on a farm he bought and spent a decade doing so. It had been mined with lots of slag piles on it along with sand from that work. It was in such bad shape that no one else really wanted to own it. He now has planted a lot of taller native plants and grasses on it so he can harvest the seed to use on more reclamation projects.
If you are interested in purchasing a video of the Power of Biology conference that was held in December go HERE.
Bob Quinn’s Story
Steve is also interested in native seed producing grasses which produce seeds having commercial value after they are milled into flour. These don’t cause negative reactions with consumers who suffer from gluten intolerance. Several members of that his group who do the high dollar genetic testing of soil microbes and plant species have identified varieties which have been found through milling and taste tests to pass these consumer desires and needs. Steve had stories where they had made cookies using the ancient grains and served them at conference were the attendees were mostly gluten intolerant. They gobbled them down and stuffed their pockets with the cookies. He and his genetic and food science members of his group have been able to get several large food companies interested in using these flours for making commercial food products. Their hope then is to partner with growers on the western edge of the corn and bean growing corridor in the Midwest and begin to produce these perennial grains which are projected to have a major market demand. In the fringes the yields are traditionally lower and rainfall is less so any leaf diseases are not as common. Being able to have a single planting produce a crop for five to six years would also be a benefit.
This brings up a book I just completed reading. It is by a Montana wheat producer Bob Quinn of Bob’s Red Mill and Flour fame whose small bags of flour are sold in a high percent of the grocery stores in our state. Mr. Quinn was a native of Big Sandy, Montana. He was urged by his father to get a college degree. He did that at the Univ of Montana and moved on to earn his PhD degree in Biochemistry from U.C. Davis. He became interested in finding out why so many people had gluten intolerance after a number of people he ran into told him the problems that family members had in eating normal wheat flour products. He respected his dad’s opinion when his father explained why the current model of agriculture seemed to be top down rather than top up and left very little profit for the guys or ladies who were doing most of the work. As he saw when he went back to Big Sandy on visits he saw many businesses closing as were also schools and churches. As he worked with his father to develop a clientele of whole wheat customers in the form of millers up and down the west coast and in Europe. They had been looking for a source of top quality whole wheat and ancient varieties. He soon found himself and his wife operating a mill and partnering with other Montana farmers to grow the wheat the marketplace was demanding. These growers found themselves working further up the food chain custom growing small grains for the greatly expanding specialty markets. As a result, his home town of Big Sandy is now home to a number of new businesses and employees who work in them.
In the book’s last two chapters he told of how he became acquainted with the groups of millers in Italy who were noticing similar problems with their flour and bread eaters. The affected group included all ages and all heritage of people. In Bob Quinn’s quest to find the reason for the high percentage of wheat intolerant people he had at first quizzed a number of high level Drs and Medical researchers who had the same questions. He ended up working for several years with an Italian MD and Chemist who dug into his project. They found that consuming the ancient grains not only eliminated the gut and digestive problems, but it healed up the damage that had already been done. Through self-funding his team ended up authoring a number of scientific papers that got published in medical journals.
Updated Soil Testing
It has been interesting to see the concept of the soil microbiome proposed and explained, then the roles of and identification of the microbes that exist explained and how it all functions. Next was the research to understand all the actions and interactions between the components, then figuring out how to best work with the different populations to learn how to manage them to maximize their benefits. Then finally developing and adopting new tests to measure the influence of the different components to come up with a predictive model. In the real world we use soil testing labs where harsh acids were used to extract minerals from the soil samples. That was the status quo for most of the 1900s. Then in the late 1980 and the 1990s as soil researcher in many companies around the globe discovered all the different species of microbe in the soil interacting with other little critters around and in the roots, things began to get very interesting. Forward thinking soil microbiologists worked to find out the roles of these different little critters. Count Jill Clapperton, Bob Kremer and Gary Harman as three that many of you have heard of, read about or listened to. Biological companies like ABM and Agra Quest blazed the paths that others followed. Then we began to hear about this feedlot cowboy down in Texas who combined several diagnostic tests and called it the Haney Test. A number of major testing lab and say the value of doing this test with soil samples. It didn’t take long for the crop advisors and conservation minded farmers to see what had been doing on for eons under their feet. Now when the science of genetics has increased in importance and applied use, identifying all the different species of these little critters and their roles has become the next horizon.
We now can track the evolution of some of these tests. For many decades it was old harsh chemical extraction done in the testing labs. Then came the Haney test followed shortly by the PLFA, which analyzed the fat or lipid layer of the microbes. Now the well-funded scientists use molecular tests to detect and identify the microbial life in soil samples. A new one I became acquainted with about a month ago was one called the Be Crop test which is projected to be used to answer the question as to what microbes in the soil are responsible for converting crop residue into the different forms of carbon in the soil. A number of the ideas behind Be Crop originated in Silicon Valley. Currently the Regen Lab in Kearney, NE is furthest along in offering to the public. A video showing a presentation by Gus Plamman with the Silicon Valley company gives his interpretation and shares his working knowledge of the test. It may take a few viewings to understand the DNA analytical work involved.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.