CCSP -No till Farm
April 3, 2007
I was getting pretty excited about planting wheat a week ago but 2-3 inches of rain, snow today and cold weather predicted the next few day have slow me down. I need some time get paper work caught up with anyway.
The winter wheat is greening up nicely in the plots. Roger Knapp, Ducks Unlimited winter wheat agronomist, says all the winter is shaping up well. It would have been nice to get the spring nitrogen applied before this precipitation but there should still be time. The Dairy land alfalfa planted the first part of September into winter wheat stubble looks good as well. I was a little concerned it was in too late. The recommendations are to plant in early to mid august which allows the plant to get a little stronger before going into winter.
How is the corn marketing going? I have not sold any more crop yet. Corn has taken a 40 cent hit the last 2 days after the planting intentions report but I see the price is coming back. At the moment July 09 is up 9 to 3.99. Nearbys up fractionally. For at least the foreseeable future, ethanol made from corn and bio-diesel from oil seeds are the only readily available fuels to burn in our vehicles besides oil products. This may well change in the future, but nothing else exists today, and nothing will be different tomorrow. 5 years, maybe. My opinion. Unless demand for energy changes I am sure there will be development of cellulosic energy products. After all, the horse did a pretty good job on cellulose!
Much work will needs to be done before fuel from biomass can be competitive and we hope to be a part of that. We plan on seeding some switch grass in the plots this year to evaluate growth characteristics.
Have a good week.
Kelly Cooper- farm manager
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