Saturday, August 29, 2020
It’s a bit cooler today; the past days this week have been pretty hot. Mid-90s and high humidity. Just felt sticky. But we are inching closer to harvest. As you look across the corn and soybean fields, you see signs of the crops “turning”, or drying down and getting ripe. 2-3 weeks should see the combines rolling at Carnahan & Sons.
This soybean field was one of the first to be planted, and it showing signs toward maturity.
Took this picture this morning, and this corn will be ready for combines in a couple weeks…or so…
We have also evaluated our options, and plan to plant more wheat (some farmers out in the central plains call it ‘poverty grass’) for harvest in June of ’21. We will increase our acres by 25% over 2020. We are also planning for more intensive management, with the hope to increase yields.
We toured the Asgrow soybean plots over at the Boyd farm at Washington, IN. It was interesting. We discussed the options available through Asgrow/Bayer for 2021, with hopes for the approval of their Extend-Flex genetics. We found a couple varieties of soybeans that should work into our systems… if the Flex genetic system receives approval in Europe.
Troy Clawson of Bayer (red shirt) explains the traits of this variety of soybeans.
Troy and the area agronomist Matt Parmer helped our understanding of what Asgrow/Bayer will be offering for 2021 seed.
We found two particular varieties that grew quite tall…
…but plant height is not the best indicator of yield potential. These looked very healthy.
The guys have been working hard to clean and prepare the machines and trucks for harvest. John has been using a new foamy soap with our high-pressure washer, and he has been having some really good results!
The 9520R shines like new after John’s clean-up treatment. The tractors get really dusty just sitting in storage for several weeks. But they clean up pretty nice!
We send you our best wishes for a pleasant weekend, and hope you’re looking forward to harvest, just as we are here. Dad would say, “It’s a long way off from being in the truck just yet…”, but we are hopeful for good yields this fall. We will know the results for sure pretty soon!
