A Gathering of Potato Growers

We attended the Washington-Oregon Potato conference in Kennewick, WA, on January 24^th and 25^th to learn from some of the best growers and researchers in the industry.

Did you know that the combined acreage of potatoes for Washington and Oregon amounts to 20% of the nation’s total? Washington alone grows about 170,000 acres per year with Oregon in at 40,000 acres. The vast majority of the crop is grown on the east side of the Cascade mountain range so, naturally the majority of the research has east side growing conditions in mind. But that still doesn’t mean that we “westsiders” didn’t glean some valuable information from the conference.

Topics such as using hormones to break seed piece dormancy and balance the amount of stems per hill was very interesting. We (the west side) have been doing this for some time but they (the east side) are on the right track. Also the appropriate amount of nutrients to use was very important. Farmers are some of the best stewards of the land on the planet so they are always concerned about using the right amount of the right nutrients for their crop.

Overall, it was very informative and we look forward to sharing that information with the growers of Skagit County.

International Collaboration

On the 16^th through the 18^th of January, we attended the 24^th Annual Stoller International Associates Conference in Houston, Texas. Ag Tech Services has been to about 10 of these conferences over the past 15 years and it seems we learn something new every year. Even though this is a very international meeting, with 26 out of 46 presentations from outside the U.S., we are still able to pick up new ideas on plant physiology and plant hormone activity. These ideas are very applicable to our cropping systems in the U.S.

Naturally the research that is done has product sales in mind. What we find refreshing is when an idea or crop growth intent doesn’t work the way it was expected. It’s great to show success but it is also important to show failure if you are in search of knowledge, not just sales.

We at ATS will share what we learned this year with the growers of Skagit Valley and beyond. We can use this as part of a full program, or as a field trial. After all, it’s all about learning and applying.

The Big Boys and Their Bugs

What do Bayer, Dow Chemical, Monsanto, BASF, and Syngenta have in common? Obviously they are some of the largest players in the ag chem industry but on top of their corporate size, they also have a very strong and growing biological inoculant portfolio.

At this time the biological business is around the $218 million range and it is projected to go to about $420 million by 2020. That’s nearly double in a few short years. So what do they know that enables them to make such an aggressive projection? They know the biological system works and farmers are increasingly buying into it.

According to recent articles, ag chemical companies like the property called SAR, Systemic Acquired Resistance, which is triggered in the plants by certain biological players. SAR is a natural way that plants can defend themselves for insect and disease damage. Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria seem to be the main players that farms around the country are using. They provide the SAR as well as ISR, Induced Systemic Resistance, along with root and plant growth promoting nutrient mineralization and protections from many soil diseases.

Why do I bring this up? As we are into harvest, I’m sure you will see some things that could have gone better with your crop. Perhaps looking at a PGPR inoculant for 2017 is a good idea. And the interesting point to remember is that we at Ag Tech Services have been using PGPRs in our programs for the past 13 years. I guess that puts us ahead of some of the big boys.

Let us know if you are interested and we will get you up to speed well before next planting season.

Arizona Winter Meeting

During the cold, dark, damp period of last November, Brian and I were able to slip out to warm Arizona for a few days. We can do that every two years because that is when BioHumaNetics, Inc., has their international product meeting. Those of you who do business with us may be more familiar with their agricultural label: HumaGro. We have sold their material for the past 12 years and we are still learning more about it.

 

The overall direction of the HumaGro line is plant health. We all know that a healthy plant is a productive plant. The nutrients in the HumaGro program are supported by their Micro Carbon Technology (MCT). By using extremely small organic acids, nutrients get into the plant through the foliage faster and with no burn. The HumaGro soil-based products with the Micro Carbon Technology get into the root system easily and also support the beneficial bacteria on the roots. This is certainly a win/win situation.

 

As I mentioned earlier, we have sold HumaGro products for the past 12 years and we look forward to another 12. Especially for those few warm days of learning in Arizona.

Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Agronomist . . .?

From March through October, you will find me on the road about two weeks out of every month. For eight months, my travels take me from home, in Western Washington, to four cities in eastern Washington, on to the Willamette Valley of Oregon for nine stops, and then home. After that trip I am home for a week to catch up on business and then off to Idaho for a three to four day visit before returning home and repeating the process. 

After each trip it takes about 1½ to 2 days for me to recover from what I call “stupid head,” a condition where you can only hear road noise or the drone of an airplane propeller.  I’m sure those of you who travel a lot know what “stupid head” is.

This really doesn’t sound like an exciting way to spend your summer, especially if you are a 64-year-old husband, father, and grandfather. But there is a reason and a validation. When I was in college I had a discussion with an advisor about the ag retail business. He told me if you want to be wealthy, don’t go into ag retail. I can honestly say he was right. I have been in this game for 38 years and I’m sure many of my former classmates have acquired much more wealth than I have. But I think I can say I have had more successes than they have. Every place I go, I have helped a farmer or fertilizer dealer become more successful in their business and I am welcomed back for another visit.

Life isn’t all about financial greatness or great self power. When you can educate a dealer who can now pass the information on to his farmers, or help a farmer be more productive and more profitable, you have succeeded in being a real Agronomist.

Now, if you will excuse me, it’s time to pack my suitcase.

Grow for Quality, not Quantity

Modern production agriculture has been striving for increased yield ever since I can remember. Farmers are trying anything that will give them even a slight yield increase. We should take another look at what makes a quality yield instead of a quantity yield.

Everything that can be done to increase early, vigorous root growth increases the quality of the crop. This holds true for grains, fruits, and vegetables. When the root system is dominant, there is more uniform branching and increased flowering. Seed heads on grain are fuller with less shriveled seeds. Fruit has more fruit spurs with better set and more uniform development.

This happens because the roots are the brains of the plant and the purpose of the plant is reproduction. With that in mind why would it not want to put out as many high-quality offspring as possible? The conflict comes in when we try to push for quantity. To do this we increase rates of fertilizer, mostly nitrogen, over water, and basically take the brains of the plant and give them a real hard shake. What we do in excess can totally mess up the plant’s hormonal direction and increase the internal stress level. So the crop we get may have increased in number or volume but internal quality and storability is lacking.

Develop the root system, reduce plant stress and let the plant do its job. You’ll both be happy.

Send in the Drones

Imagine yourself driving on a country road in a rural farm community about early June and you stop your car across from a picture perfect field of potatoes. The dark green rows on a brown soil background just takes you back to a safe, secure childhood memory. Then you hear a loud fan sound and a three foot by two foot black helicopter swoops over your car and starts making precise passes over the field. Don’t call the NSA, FAA, or UFO Seekers; it’s just a farmer checking up on the health of his crop. It’s called Drone Field Surveillance and it could be coming to a farm near you.

By using infrared imagery to take pictures of the field, this helicopter can tell a grower if his crop is under stress and where that stress is located long before the plant will look bad. Basically a sick plant puts off a different infrared spectrum color than a healthy plant. This new technology is only new in the method of delivery. Back in the 1980s the same infrared technology was available but it was from satellites far above the earth. The question still remains as it did long ago: Who controls the data and is it cost effective? The only way for a farmer to have complete control is to buy the flying platform, chopper or fixed wing, buy the photography equipment, learn how to work with the FAA and then do it themselves. Then once you have the data, can you really use it? If you have places that are geo-referenced in your field, do you have an applicator that can do site specific applications? So many questions with too few real answers.

I was at a sales meeting this year where the presenter put up a slide of a farmer trying to drink out of a fully pressurized fire hose. He said this is how farmers sometimes feel about data: too much at one time is hard to swallow. I think this is the same with Drone Surveillance Technology. We should learn how to drink in a small amount at first so we don’t choke on the full flow.