Monday, March 13, 2023
Today we are getting our feet back under us, catching up on the mail, and getting reacquainted with chilly weather. We had a great time down at the Commodity Classic in Orlando. It was so good that we now desire to go to the next year’s Classic in Houston!
It was an impressive event, with the quality of exhibitors and the displays at the highest level. When one compares this event to the NFMS in Louisville, the Classic is just simply more professional. The Secretary of Agriculture was there in person on Friday to address the crowd. He received a polite welcome. We attended a few educational sessions, and spent considerable time on the trade show floor. We got to meet The Sharkfarmer… Rob Sharkey– and his wife Emily. We had several helpful interactions with specialists at the John Deere exhibit, learning more about new features of Operations Center, and the new control panel/screen, GS5 and GS5+, coming in 2024.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack of Iowa, addresses the crowd in person.
“Sharkfarmer” Rob Sharkey and his wife Emily with Pat and me.
We just had the very best time, and found great value in this trip to Orlando. Plus, we got a couple evenings over at Disney World, too. Our trip was sponsored by Nutrien (crop nutrition and protection) and DynaGro (seed), and the hospitality they provided was superb. We stayed at the JW Marriott–Bonnet Creek Resort on Disney property. A great time. And, of course, the weather was perfect… a sunny 84ºF (29C) by day and 70ºF (21C) in the evenings. Today, we came home to snow flakes in the air!
The main reason we were down there was to celebrate our win as the top yield of winter wheat for the state of Indiana for 2022. We had two entries with John and me, and they came in as #1 and #2 for the state. John was not able to get away to attend the Classic, but Brandon was able to stand in for him. Brandon and Emily were there with Pat and me, to receive the recognition. This contest was sponsored by the National Association of Wheat Growers, and along with Nutrien, they made us feel quite honored to be among the state winners.
Here you see Brandon with Landon Taylor, our Nutrien/DynaGro consultant, and me receiving the plaques for First and Second place in Indiana NAWG.
We checked in today with Dustin Hatton concerning his conservation work over on the Roberson farm. He was wrapping up building one of three new WASCoBs. He has done a very good job with this construction, and I’m sure we will be asking Dustin to help us again in the future.
As John and I watch from the Gator, Dustin smooths back the topsoil over the newly-built WASCoB.
Andy from H&R Agri-Power is here this afternoon to make some important updates and improvements to the CIH Pro700 system controlling the planter, and the CIH STX 420 tractor that pulls it. There has been some difficulty with the section control, getting it to match up perfectly when we plant around a WASCoB riser. Hopefully, this service call will correct this hiccup. I’m a John Deere guy through and through, but I must admit that the red planter does do a good job placing seed into the soil, and this will just enhance the operations.
Our shop is too small to unfold the planter inside, so outside it is today.
Andy works the Pro700 monitor to make the upgrades.
We are also celebrating the B1G Tournament Championship won yesterday by our Purdue Boilermakers. Of course, they made it a nail-biter at the end of the game, but still were able to pull out a win. I’m just so very happy for this team to have some measure of success this year. The pundits predicted they would come in 6th place in the B1G, but they exceeded those expectations! Winning the regular season by 3 games, then becoming tournament champions was really special. We are, of course, hoping for more success for them in the upcoming March Madness NCAA. Go Boilermakers!
B1G Champions
Purdue Boilermakers!
