Sunday, May 11, 2014

more no till?

some necessities took me to the supermarket next to the field this morning and, shopping done, i wandered over there because i saw green...last year this field was churned up and planted in dense yellow #2 as evidenced by the cornstalks still standing and the zea detritus down the rows...and all of that is a clear indication that this field wasn't tilled to plant the crop that's greening up now...that it was deliberately planted shows by the rows...but what is it? a cereal grass is what i am thinking...the second photo is winter rye i planted on the south side of my house as a cover crop in the old potato patch late last summer and the bottom two are of the grass in the field...rye has a bit broader leaf than say winter or spring wheat but i am not expert enough to really tell so cereal grass it will remain until something more concrete emerges in the way of an id...if it emerges...because the next question is, is this a crop or a cover crop? will it be turned under and the field returned to the monoculture of beans/corn? is this a break with industrial farming tradition in the making? because the price of wheat has been up the past few years i have seen more than one field around here that brought a crop of winter wheat to fruition and then was planted in alfalfa...have to wonder...at least until the season goes on a bit..if it is still in grass at the end of the month that is probably what it's going to be...certainly be the first few weeks of june when beans go in...i would be interested in following a field of alfalfa for a bit...i am planning on using it as a cover crop/ green manure later this season in a few places and i'd like to see how it behaves...there will surely be more on the suburban fields as the season gets going...the one behind the big box stores is inert...it isn't sprouting either a crop or buildings...the season for both is beginning to demand attention.

2 comments:

  1. a report on the news that due to the extreme drought the Kansas wheat crop this year will be less than half of usual...I assume this will reduce the availability (unless enough is stored somewhere to make up the difference) so anyone with wheat will see good money for it

    ReplyDelete
  2. as of friday index mundi lists wheat at $350.44 a metric ton...almost as high as it was last october...it's been like that for a few years which is why you can see more wheat around here and a late planting of alfalfa after it is harvested...i have wheat in the back yard and on campus...perhaps it can be used to fund further expansion.

    ReplyDelete