an atypical season winds down

meteorological autumn is twenty days old and the equinox is three days away so i wandered out into the fields for an end of season update...and things have not changed all that much...there are some fields of dense yellow #2 ( with saw-tooth sunflowers in the berm ...but not nearly as many as one would have seen in a "normal" year in the bi-annual industrial monoculture that passes for agriculture around here...

bean fields are far more common out there and they are clearly beginning to find an end to their season...the field corn may not be ready yet but the beans will be coming soon...they closed at $328.12 yesterday...down $34.57 a metric ton from the closing price at the end of last month...the harvest may be good...they prices may not...

fallow fields are as populous as planted ones...some have been left truly fallow and have become home to "native" plants like these...and to signs that farming might not be what it once was...

others have been turned to control the presence of those "native" plants...even though it has not prevented them from making an attempted return...

while the farm machinery has been kept busy freshly turning still others...this could be in order to plant small grain as cover crops for winter...although i haven't seen a farmer plant winter wheat or rye as a cover and turn it under in spring since we used to drive down rt. 231 on the way south to visit my grandmother when i was a child...this does not preclude a return to old ways...it does seem unlikely to me...that won't stop me from looking into it...i am due to plant small grain in my yard very soon...i may be in harmony with some segments of the industrial world...still...i am left wondering just how much fuel, time, and money has been expended in the process of this mechanized "weed" control...and how much in the way of green house gasses as well...the entire season has seemed futile to me in the face of the climate, the weather, and the political shenanigans, none of which helped the season...or will help the harvest either...things may be dodgier than the powers that be are telling us...their truths or distortions will come out soon enough.

unnatural landscapes

even when they are planted in the local bi-annual monoculture of soybeans ( like these in porter county ) or dense yellow #2 there is nothing "natural" about these fields...chemically treated to a sterile "growth medium" with neat rows of all the same plants ( which is why there's a need for herbicides and pesticides...the lack of diversity makes them vulnerable to all sorts of issues...there's a lesson in that ) these fields are pretty much industrial plants and removed from nature....green or not...the majority of planted fields hereabouts are soybeans...

there are a few fields of corn here as well...replete with ears...they are, however a distinct minority along the roadside...

at least as populous along the county roads are the fallow fields...some, like this one, are supporting volunteer corn...which, in my experience, will not provide much of a yield...

many of the fallow fields have been plowed...this one looks to have been turned recently...

most of the ones that were turned in late june or last month have begun to show signs of a return if "native plants"...a first, albeit temporary, step towards a more "natural" landscape...

and there are a few out there that have been left untouched...work for the tractor come spring...the usda released its planted acreage estimate for corn yesterday and prices took a hit settling at $177.26 a metric ton...down $9.45 a metric ton since i last checked prices...the government maintains that 90 million acres are planted in corn...successful farming says 87.7 million...the usda figures are roughly equal to the total for 2018 which has some questioning them ( notably successful farming )...the harvest isn't in yet and prices will remain fluid and driven by speculation...if anyone takes a hit it will be the farmer.

fields on the fourth

took a holiday drive out south to have a look around at industrial food's feedstock...the news is mixed and not all that good especially...i did see farm machinery ( albeit parked...perhaps for the holiday ) in the fields...

the majority of the fields ( and, again, this is a small sampling from a couple of indiana counties ) were planted in beans..and , given the weather in spring, that is no surprise...

i found exactly two corn fields...this one in porter county has plants far smaller than anything i planted in my yard at the end of may...

and this one in the field by the supermarket which was obviously planted well inside the planting window since it is up to almost my waist...verdant and robust...

on the other end of the spectrum there is still quite a bit of acreage that remains untouched...some seems to have been sprayed with herbicide...perhaps preparatory to planting beans...perhaps some other phenomena...still there is not much time left for planting even beans...at least not any that will return a worthwhile harvest...

the stalks in this field tell me it was dense yellow # 2 last season and the still standing water after a few relatively dry and warm days tells me why it is untouched as yet this season...

and the sign tells me it is for sale...farming is not what it once was...the yeoman farmer and jefferson's "republic of townships" are dead...and not coming back...meanwhile dense yellow #2 settled at $188.58 a metric ton yesterday...up $14.47 in ten days...that crop by the supermarket may pay off well come autumn.

stalled industry

near four tenths of an inch of rain yesterday brings the months total to approximately two and four tenths inches give or take a few hundredths...

and, while this morning's sky looks threatening, it may just be a threat...that doesn't help out much in the industrial fields however...threat or no threat things are getting dodgy..

there are still many acres that have not seen farm equipment yet this season...

and there is water standing in both fields that have not been worked...

and those that have...

i did find planted fields...given the small number i covered i would not want to make any large scale guesses ( and they would be guesses ) about how many fields have actually been worked locally...however it seemed about a fifty-fifty split between planted and unplanted in what i saw...i had a difficult time discerning what these are from the roadside...looks like beans to me...i have been wrong before though...

this is unmistakably a field of dense yellow #2...even at a distance...the only one i could identify with any certitude..."knee high by july" may be wishful thinking here...

and that was directly across the road from one that has been fallowed...probably by the weather...it is late in the season fior planting beams, much less field corn...some people are worried and it is showing...

may corn futures were up $9.59 a metric ton...

and yesterday's settlement price was even higher...looking for a price increase in the popular and wholly extruded hot pockets soon.