| January
7, 2005: Two-thousand-and-five! What happened to
the last 5 years? Wasn’t it yesterday that everyone
was discussing Y2K, computer crashes, power outages, and the
like? And now it’s 2005 already. I still think of my
1992 pickup as my new truck. I suppose that shows my age.
But it is January and the start of another year. The cycles
of the weather and my time follow the calendar this year as
with all others. So, as I’m thinking what to write about,
I struggle to make it different from last year. Yet it is
much the same.
In January of 2004 I talked about the coming year bringing
new opportunities. The same is true for 2005. I know for our
farm we are facing new challenges brought on by our efforts
to seize some new opportunities in 2004. One of those challenges
is to expand our work on organic no-till grain production.
This is a topic of huge interest across the country. I know
many of you wrote to me expressing your interest in the project
and the possibilities of incorporating these production practices
on your own farms. We’ll be working with several researchers
and farmers in different regions of the country to experiment
with the equipment and the cover-crop systems under various
management scenarios and cropping systems. Included in our
plans will be keeping all of you up to date with what’s
happening once the field work gets rolling. This way we can
follow the successes and failures together and all benefit
from the experiences the participants are having.
Last year I also talked about the weather. Yeah, I know,
we always talk about the weather. I said I hoped it would
be better than the year before; it wasn’t. We had the
wettest year on record. How we got the crops in is beyond
me, but we did and our yields were extremely good. Baling
hay and straw was a different story. We couldn’t put
three rain-free days together to save ourselves. We got some
great hay, some good hay, some not so good hay, and some stuff
we’re not too proud of (sometimes all on the same day).
We had corn yields on our better ground that topped 200 bushels
per acre. Of course, the wetter ground that usually does well
drowned out, got weedy where we couldn’t get in to cultivate,
and had reduced yields. All in all, we have little to complain
about. By having a diverse rotation, we always have something
that grows well, even if another crop struggles.
In January I always talk about meetings and conferences and
our need as farmers to gather as much information as possible
on topics as diverse as our farm operations. Anything from
business management to equipment modifications can be of great
use as we move our operations forward. Farming is not immune
to the “information age.” If we hope to remain
in business, we need to gather information. This work is just
as important to our futures as cleaning the barn or ordering
the seeds for planting. In many cases it’s much more
of a struggle that those other chores because we actually
need to travel to the meeting, sit, and pay attention. I find
that committing to going is the hardest part. We all know
that once we get there and meet with friends (old and new),
we find the time to be well-spent. And there is no excuse
for saying you can’t find a quality meeting to attend.
It doesn’t seem to matter where you live; there many
exciting opportunities available to you. Ideas shared at these
events not only add practical knowledge to your toolbox but
can inspire and challenge you to succeed in your efforts.
As I said last year, here in the Northeast, we have events
happening just about every week from early January through
February. I know—I ’ll be at quite a few of them
myself. We have state-sponsored farm shows. We have equipment
shows, horse shows, dairy shows, beef shows…We have
sustainable ag conferences, organic ag workshops, and state
Extension seminars. Not to mention all the conventional agriculture
conferences, which also have great information for growers,
ranchers and farmers of all types. These are opportunities
you really don’t want to miss. You may even want to
think about being a speaker at one of these events. We all
have information worth sharing. This learning bit is a two-way
street. How many of you decided to sign up as speakers? I
surely hope some of you did. I’m sure we could all learn
from your experience. I know I learn something from every
email you send me.
All this new knowledge and awareness of new opportunities
will mean nothing if it isn’t translated into new plans
or new activities. A new year means new plans. What didn’t
work last year that needs to be changed? What worked great
and needs to be expanded? Maybe there are massive changes
in the works, or maybe all you need is some fine-tuning. The
point is we all need to take some time and re-evaluate our
farms, re-evaluate what resources we have at our disposal
and decide how best to put them to work. With out a written
plan, and you should take the time to write one, you will
struggle not knowing if your on track or not, not being able
to see where the information gaps are, not knowing if your
marketing plan is working and, most importantly, you’ll
be left next year at this time not knowing how to improve.
Well, I need to get back to pulling a presentation together
for one of those meetings I need to attend. Even though I’ll
be making a presentation, I’m sure I’ll learn
far more than I’ll teach.
I wish for you, your family, and your farm a year of great
success.
From one farm to another,
Jeff
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