Over the last week agriculture has had two very negative, very misinformed articles written about it in Time and The New York Times. So I thought I would tell you the truth about how we produce our corn on our family farm. I will take you through our year and right up to the point the corn goes to our friends who raise the hogs. From there Chris Chinn will take over and continue the tale of our corn crop.
The process of growing corn starts long before the seed goes into the ground. In the fall we take soil samples from each field. The samples are sent to a lab and the nutrients are analyzed. We then have the results of those soil tests scrutinized by a trained agronomist who provides us with a targeted, specific recommendation for that field. Those recommendations take into account the nutrients the crop will use and replenishes the soil.
We follow those recommendations and apply our fertilizer in two applications. We only apply what is recommended. The two applications is also important, this insures that the fertilizer is taken in by the soil. Fertilizer does us no good if we over apply it or if it washes out of the soil. And as you will find out later, our fertilizers are not always a man-made petroleum product.
Then it is time to plant the seed. Our seed comes from corn specially raised and developed to help us grow it more efficiently with less impact on the environment. Over many years highly trained scientists have helped develop corn hybrids that require less fertilizer, herbicide and water.
Many of us plant our corn utilizing a method of planting called no-till. That means exactly what it sounds like. We do not till our soil, but instead we plant directly into the residue (stalks) from last year’s crop. This helps keep our precious top soil on our fields and not in the rivers and streams that run through our farm. It also improves the soil quality and lessens the need for fertilizer and herbicides.
Soon the corn starts to sprout and we spend many days walking through the fields watching for unwanted weeds and insects. We often consult with trained agronomists (someone trained in the production of crops). When it is determined that herbicide is needed for weeds or insecticide is need for insects, we only apply the minimum amount needed. The person spraying must be licensed by the state department of agriculture. We adhere to strict restrictions on the use of these pesticides.
Finally it is time for harvest. We harvest the corn in the most efficient manner we can. We make sure the grain is dry enough that it can be stored with a minimum amount of drying in the storage bin. Drying the grain takes energy and we are very mindful of that. We also make sure the soil is dry so that we do not compact it. The soil must have air pockets in it to allow for root growth. Then we haul the crop to grain storage facilities were it is used by our fellow food producers to raise their livestock, ethanol producers for fuel or it may be made into food for you.
As you can see we utilize the advances in technology, not only to produce more corn, but to preserve our precious natural resources and insure that the world we live in has a safe, healthy environment. Those advances require a team of the brightest researchers at our universities, private companies with cutting edge technology and our farmers and ranchers, many of whom have advanced degrees and all of whom care for their farms, their neighborhoods and their world. Now I will hand this story off to my good friend Chris, who’s family takes that corn and turns it into protein.
Before we purchase any corn, we test every load for quality, moisture content and aflatoxins. We want to ensure that the corn is dry so it doesn’t encourage fungus growth. This is another reason corn farmer’s work hard to harvest their corn at the right time, hog farmers do not feed high moisture corn to their livestock. We also make sure the aflatoxin (naturally occurring mycotoxin produced by a fungus in grain) is within an acceptable level for our hogs to eat.
Once we verify the corn is of good quality, we grind it to a specific particle size, generally between 600 – 680 microns. Once the corn is ground to specifications, we have a swine nutritionist who designs our diets with the hog’s well-being as the top priority. We blend the corn with soybean meal, vitamins and minerals to ensure our hogs are receiving adequate nutrition to provide safe food for your family. For each stage of a hog’s life, we have different feed rations to meet their nutritional needs. We closely monitor how many pounds of each ration a hog gets to ensure they are not over fed or under fed. This close monitoring enables us to see how our hogs are eating, and if there is a problem, we know it immediately and with the help of a nutritionist or our veterinarian, we can head off problems before they start normally. But the life of that kernel of corn doesn’t end here.
The manure from our hogs is used as natural fertilizer to enrich the soil which then produces corn or soybeans. We test our manure to determine its fertilizer value. Once this is known, we test the soil as Glenn mentioned to determine the needs of the soil. We then apply the fertilizer at the appropriate rates to once again grow a bountiful crop to help feed the world.
With this the cycle will start all over again. I hope from this you will be able to see how farmers apply the latest technology available to them to not only grow the abundant food we all rely on but to protect the environment at the same time.