March_6_2006

It has been a quiet winter out at the plots. As you can see not a lot of snow this year. We were hit with the big ice storm just after Thanksgiving like the rest of this part of the state. Moisture will be more than adequate this spring. I expect the strip till that we did last fall will be advantageous to plant in.

We have some exciting news in the machinery department! Titan Machinery, a long time supporter of the project, has donated the use of a brand new MX 245 RTK GPS equipped tractor for our use along with the RTK base station. We are really looking forward to using this tractor on the whole farm but more especially for strip-till.

Thank goodness the meeting season is coming to a close! Lots of good information this year, but all good things must come to and end. Energy prices are a mixed blessing for us in the ag business. Higher input prices on one hand, but tremendous opportunity on the other. Ethanol has gone national with E-85 mentioned in the State of the Union Speech. My brother in California was even asking me about ethanol! I hope we can get it right and bring some much needed new business to our rural communities.