This Week in Ag #25

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

36 years ago, a wide-eyed intern walked into the office of Indiana Prairie Farmer magazine. It was a baptism by fire. Paul Queck, the seasoned editor, told him, “We’d like to have you take a shot at writing what we hope to be the cover story for July. Since you’re only here for a few months, we don’t have time to train you, so we need to see what you got. Either you’ll produce a great story we can run, or we won’t use it and you can spend the rest of the summer editing news releases.” Sounds harsh, huh? Then he continued, “Oh, and this is the last story idea we’ll ever give you. From this point forward, you need to come up with your own story ideas and find sources.” Well, that intern must have come through, evidenced by the story below. Dozens of other stories penned by that intern appeared throughout that year, too. All written on a typewriter, no less. [Read more…]

This Week in Ag #23

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

Move over carbon credits, and make room for carbon intensity scores. That’s the sentiment of many in the ag industry. Launched with plenty of fanfare, and hailed by celebrities and politicians alike, carbon credits seemed to represent a modern-day gold rush. Yet we’re multiple years in, and adoption sits at about 1-3% of farmers. Why is that? For starters, farmers already employing the cultural practices required to qualify for carbon capture payments – no-till, cover crops, NUE, etc. – are ineligible to participate. Among those who are, lengthy contracts, significant investments in time and resources, and a lack of clarity serve as deterrents. Enter carbon intensity scores. [Read more…]

This Week in Ag #22

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

Twenty years ago, I found myself in the position of operating a farm all by myself. My father, who I was farming with, passed away suddenly that January. So in addition to my full-time ag marketing job, I was flying solo across my family farm in western Illinois. [Read more…]

This Week in Ag #21

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

You’ve all heard the saying “knee-high by the fourth of July” to describe the progress of a corn crop. It’s a phrase many folks still refer to today. But as the photo below shows, that saying is now laughable. In fact, if you’re a Midwest farmer and your corn is now knee high, it’s probably in big trouble. So where did the adage come from? It likely started before hybrid seed corn was invented, when planting dates occurred in late May/early June and when mature corn plants were much shorter. With the advent of hybrid seed corn, and adoption of synthetic nitrogen, there was a meteoric rise in yields and corn growth. My corn was planted on May 4th, and on July 4th it was tasseled and twice as high as my son’s girlfriend!

[Read more…]

This Week in Ag #20

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

Wheat harvest is well underway throughout the country. Each morning, the harvest process begins with equipment maintenance. Most farmers and custom cutters will park their fleet in a row, or in close proximity, so they can readily perform daily service. This involves the grease gun. Combines have hundreds of moving parts. Some of the most key bearings need to be greased daily, others weekly. You also want to check fluids, such as engine oil, inspect tires and belts, and clean windshields. Pickup fingers on the reel and sickle bar components on the header also need to be checked and frequently replaced. Morning is often when you refuel machines. Many farmers have portable fuel tanks to transport red diesel fuel to the field. Today’s largest combines can hold over 300 gallons of fuel. [Read more…]

This Week in Ag #18

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

In the sports of track and swimming, relay races are often the most exciting events of the meets. You know the concept: a team of usually four athletes races as they follow each other in succession, showcasing performance and precision. For a split moment, while handing a baton or projecting yourself toward the pool as your teammate touches the wall (while your toe remains on the block) both athletes are simultaneously performing. There’s a similar practice in farming called relay cropping. [Read more…]

This Week in Ag #17

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Huma®, Inc.

Today we commemorate one of the most important dates in history, D-Day. In 1944, the fate of the world literally depended on the success of this amphibious invasion. The bravery of our soldiers abroad – and the perseverance of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers in the factories at home – were paramount to our ultimate victory. But so was our nation’s ability to feed our allied troops. [Read more…]

This Week in Ag #16

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Bio Huma Netics®, Inc.

If the TV show MythBusters ever did a program on farming, there are several common myths about farmers they could bust. [Read more…]

This Week in Ag #15

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Bio Huma Netics®, Inc.

“Your rows sure are straight.” Those may have been the most pride-filling words I ever heard. They were first spoken to me by one of my landlords, Orville Larson, the spring after my dad passed away and all farming operations fell entirely on me. Orville made a habit of driving out to his farm to see how things looked. He stopped in to see me the day he checked on his crops, and those were the first words he spoke. That same day, I received the same compliment from my dad’s best friend, who was regarded statewide as one of the top farmers in Illinois. That’s when I knew I was a farmer. [Read more…]

This Week in Ag #14

By Fred Nichols
Chief Marketing Officer,
Bio Huma Netics®, Inc.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. That popular saying could just as easily apply to planting corn. It’s impossible to recover from planting time mishaps. Don’t believe it? Try this. Walk into a cornfield where plants have recently emerged. Identify a plant that’s shorter than the rest (some call these runt plants). Tie a ribbon to the small plant and watch it all season. That plant will likely never catch up to the size of its peers. It may not even produce a harvestable ear. But it will drain water and nutrients. My friend Steven Abracht – 11-time NCGA national yield contest winner – famously called these plants weeds. [Read more…]

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