Thursday, August 4, 2016
Yesterday was a very special day for us at Carnahan & Sons. We had a terrific visitor, a young farmer from Australia, here to spend the day with us. Angus Duddy arrived here at the farm at about 830 am, and we hit it off quite well, right off the bat. His pleasant personality made all of us quickly at ease. As the day wore on, we learned quite a bit about Angus and his family and his farm. His specific circumstances, of course, are quite different from our farm here, but we learned that we are more alike than we are different. The things that challenge him ‘down under’ are quite similar to the challenges we face here. (maintaining profitability during times of depressed commodity prices) As he described his travel experience, it became quite apparent that this young farmer is quite intelligent and has vast knowledge and much first-hand experience on any topic of conversation. His travel is a part of a special international agricultural leadership training program called the Nuffield Farming Scholarship . After his acceptance into the program, his journey began in Ireland, and has taken him to Belgium, France, Brazil, and many other nations. His specific study during this adventure is to learn about extraction industries (gas, coal, oil, minerals) and their interrelationship with agriculture. He came to Indiana to examine the coal industry and its land reclamation systems, and how that is intertwined with farming here. He has made several stops: He learned about cover crops from our area’s most experienced cover-crop farmers: The Anson Family Farms. He visited with Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials to learn how Indiana government ties into the reclamation/restoration process. And during his day with us, Angus was introduced to specialists in the seed industry, soil and fertility experts, folks with deep understanding of precision farming, and one of the most significant markets for corn in southwest Indiana. It was a genuine pleasure to spend time with Angus and see his inquisitive interaction with people across the spectrum of Indiana agriculture. He is about halfway through a 5-week period of extensive travel across North America. From here, he was traveling to Peoria to visit Caterpillar, and later to Calgary, Alberta and finally to Wyoming before his return to Caroona, in New South Wales (NSW).
Along with Monsanto specialist Troy Clawson, (orange shirt) we observe as Angus shows us his Australian farm on Google Earth. Troy discussed his view of the future of crop genetics with Angus
At our local CPS plant, Greg Anthis describes to Angus the seed treatment process. They also discussed fertility management in SWIN
At our John Deere dealer, Alliance Tractor, Jason Boyles showed Angus a type of nitrogen application equipment. This type of machine was new to Angus. He was quite interested in local farmers’ use of GPS equipment, and how it differed from his controlled-traffic management on his Australian farm.
Angus also got a tour of the local (and rather large) installation of Grain Processing Corporation (GPC) at Washington, Indiana. GPC consumes about 100K bushels of corn per day.
John and Angus discuss their observations about weed control– among many other topics vital to young farmers.
As the day cooled down, John demonstrated the use of our drone
And, not surprising, some of our best times were spent around the dinner table.
Angus Duddy, our new friend
Angus is certainly an impressive young farmer. He has a pleasant disposition and an engaging personality. We are hopeful we have made a lasting relationship!
Looks like tomorrow will bring an online conference about management software, and later some bush hog work and mowing the yard. It’s gonna be a hot afternoon. Well, it’ll be in the high 80s… and with high humidity!
Schools are beginning in the area. Our kids at South Knox will be the last in the county to return… on Tuesday. Good thing there’s A/C at school!
