Seed
When farmers use less fertilizer crops grow less food. That’s an iron law of agronomics. Now it combines with an iron law of economics: When farmers grow less food, the cost of feeding families spirals out of control.
As a wheat producer, I will be watching developments in Argentina and Brazil closely—and hope they lead to a better future for farmers, consumers, and everyone.
Planting a crop isn’t just dropping seed in the ground and hoping for record results. In order to “Win the Furrow,” it starts with uniform germination and emergence.
Just an hour and forty-fives south of the Iowa state line, 15-year-old Garrett Heil’s cotton is a testament to the determination of a remarkable farmer not old enough to qualify for a driver’s license. Heil has succeeded in producing cotton deep in the pocket of the Midwest.
As is a written guarantee against GMO presence to protect non-GMO crop sales
In 2014, Nathan Reed fought for financial breath even after skinning inputs one by one. No matter how he shifted the figures, the pencil always pointed to the glaring expense of biotech seed. With an eye on cost control, he began switching portions of his ground to non-GMO production supported by a minimum till cover crop scheme, and the change led to farm-wide profitability.
Alec Horton begins every wheat crop aiming for 100 bu. per acre dryland yield through seed treatments, proper seeding rates, tiller promotion, vegetative growth reduction and moisture conservation. However, he didn’t see a 121.48-bushel bin buster in the cards when he planted “Joe” in the fall of 2015.
With yields consistently bouncing above 100 bu. per acre, crop consultant Robb Dedman is among the best cornermen in the business. From 2013-16, Dedman eclipsed 100-plus bu. five times in four consecutive years in three separate Arkansas counties, with five different varieties.
When William James Beal crept out under cover of night and buried 20 uniform bottles filled with a mixture of soil and seed in 1879, he lit the fuse on agriculture’s longest running experiment.
