Posts Tagged ‘AdFarm’

Our North Dakota farm plan is set for 2010

By North Dakota Farm Boss, March 26, 2010

Corn it is. The AdFarm North Dakota farm will grow Pioneer 39D97 corn on its acres this year. Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens told us, “This is a 78-day Roundup Ready/Corn Borer double stacked hybrid. I’d had it in my plot for two years and it’s performed well with above average yield and above average dry down.

Looking forward to a great start.

Looking forward to a great start.

 

 

“Seventy-eight day corn is early maturing corn for our part of the world, where 82-85 day corn is more prevalent. It also has good yield potential: 39D97 did yield 190 bu/acre in a plot at Amenia, N.D., last year.” (The national average corn yield is around 156 bu/acre. Last year’s North Dakota average was around 115 bu/acre.)

Since 39D97 is a Bt corn, it will only go on 80% of the AdFarm acres.  The other 20% will be seeded with Pioneer 39V05 corn, a Roundup Ready only variety that will go on as corn borer refuge acres.

 

Refuge?

Planting refuge acres alongside Bt corn crops is required by law. A refuge is anything that is not Bt corn. So for every 80 acres you plant of the Bt you have to plant 20 acres of the refuge. The thought behind refuge is that some insects are never exposed to Bt, so they have no resistance to it. The only way insects develop resistance is by exposure. Refuge acres generate insects that are never exposed to Bt so that they will mate with insects that are exposed to Bt. The result? Dilute the chances of the offspring being resistant and protecting the corn crop.

Field prep

Last year’s AdFarm North Dakota crop, pinto beans, was harvested in November. Fred will apply fertilizer with his WilRich drill in the spring, ahead of seeding our corn.

 

What are your thoughts on our crop plan for 2010 ?

 

Keywords: AdFarm, AdFarm North Dakota farm crop, AdFarm ND crop, AdFarm ND farm, North Dakota corn, ND corn, Pioneer 39D97 corn, Roundup Ready corn, Pioneer 39V05 corn, corn borer refuge

Posted in Agronomics, Aneta, ND, Farm Insights, Farm Updates | No Comments »

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Progressive Thinking – Progressive Farmers

By admin, March 23, 2010

ProgThinkFred Lukens, AdFarm’s North Dakota farm partner, takes a look at what keeps both farmers and the entire agriculture industry moving forward in his latest blog post – Progressive Thinking. Great insight into the highly technological business of farming; How did we get here? What’s next? Check out his post at Griggs Dakota Blog.

Do you know a progressive farmer?
What changes are you making on your farm?

Posted in Farm Insights, Perspectives | 2 Comments »

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AdFarm pea crop below average due to weather extremes

By admin, September 22, 2009

A cold, wet spring followed by heat stress all contributed to lower than average quality for the Calgary AdFarm pea crop.

According to Ben Graham, the crop averaged about 25 bushels to the acre with low to moderate quality.

“Weather was the biggest issue this year. It was cold, cold and wet to start with which peas don’t like a whole lot and then it got dry,” says Ben. “They couldn’t handle the drought stress so they ended up being short and difficult to combine. We may have left two to three bushels in the field because of that.”

Not only did the weather and disease affect quality, a record pea and lentil harvest in Saskatchewan and lower global demand are also conspiring to drive prices down.

“We are really in a wait-and-see position now as to how the peas grade and what price we can get for them,” says Ben, who farms with his dad on the family farm located near Vulcan, AB. “But we should either break even or make a little bit of profit.”

As for input costs, the Graham’s saved a bit because they didn’t need to put down any nitrogen since peas, like all legume crops, naturally fix that in the soil. However, there is still the cost for inoculants, preseed burnoff, in-crop treatment and finally the desiccation prior to harvest.

So what’s in store for our acres next year?

“We will rotate to canola on the pea stubble because of the nitrogen fixed this year. It’s not recommended to put barley on pea stubble because if you are going for malt, the protein levels will be too high. We’ll follow that with another cereal, probably wheat, and then start the rotation all over again.”

Posted in Farm Updates, Vulcan, AB | No Comments »

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AdFarm pea crop delayed due to frost

By admin, June 22, 2009

Despite a late start and a little frost, the AdFarm pea crop is in the ground and seems to be holding its own. We sprayed for weeds about a week and now all we need is some much-needed rain. Here’s out

Pea Market Update – June

  • The edible pea market was quiet last week as a surplus of stocks still exists in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
  • The Indian Government currently has approximately 500,000 mt of edible peas in various warehouses across the country.
  • Demand should start to increase during the September/October time frame.
  • Feed demand has increased with the surfacing of European interest.
  • Seeding across the prairies is almost complete with the exception of Manitoba.
  • Farmer deliveries continue to be extremely strong sitting at 1.769 million metric tonnes as of May 31, 2009; last year, deliveries were 1.538mmt to date.
  • Visible stocks within primary/port elevators have also increased, currently at 219,000 mt, compared to 105,000 mt at this time last year.
  • Canadian pea exports remain are at 1.644mmt to date, compared to 1.565mmt last year

Posted in Farm Updates, Vulcan, AB | No Comments »

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