Well, this past Wednesday was the first official day that farmers in Iowa could put their crops in the ground without worry of voiding their crop insurance replant payments if they were necessary. It was a beautiful day and Kevin was out finishing up putting anhydrous on the fields. Anhydrous is a liquid form of nitrogen and is used as a fertilizer that aids in the growth of the corn when it’s planted. Since Kevin has decided to plant all corn this year, all of our fields got anhydrous applied to them either last fall or this spring. The next step will be to start planting! We received .75 inches of rain early Friday morning and there is more in the forecast this weekend, so that will stop all planting in our area for a few days. Kevin’s hoping to get started by early to midweek next week!
The storms are actually suppose to be pretty bad in this area later today, so Kevin and I spent an hour this morning rearranging the shed a little bit so we could get all the equipment and our vehicles in it just in case it decides to hail! Keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn’t!
From our farm to yours, we just want to wish all the farmers out there a safe planting season!
We had to rearrange a bit, too. 🙂 Happy planting!
I know nothing about farming, but it sure sounds like you are dumping on a TON of chemicals on the land. On top of it, who pays for these crop insurance payments? Please help me understand this.
Anonymous-
Please take a look at my most recent post (http://sarashousehd.blogspot.com/2012/04/topic-tuesday-crop-management.html) on Crop Management. I hope that answers your questions/concerns about why we put chemicals and fertilizers on our fields. If you have further questions please let me know! I’ll also be posting about crop insurance and explaining how that works in the next few days! So stay tuned! Thanks!
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Sometimes I get lost with all of the technical terms farmers use. I just want to know the food I eat is safe and that the farmers that are providing the food are protecting the environment as well.
Weird question, but are you considered a factory farm? I hear the term “factory farm” used a lot on the news.
Anonymous-
No we are not a “Factory Farm”. We are a family farm that has land that has been in my husband’s family for six generations. Our son (future kids) could be the seventh generation to farm the land that we currently do. To me that is not a “Factory Farm”. Can I ask you what you think a “Factory Farm” is? I’m just curious as I know that 98% of the farms in American are family farms. Yes, some of them have incorporated their farms for financial/tax purposes, so they could actually be considered Corporations, but they are still families farming the land.
I’m just curious, where you are from? Since you are listed as Anonymous, I don’t know anything about you! I’d love to hear where you’re from and about your family!
PS I’ll be posting tomorrow about crop insurance!