Spring Planting

March 7, 2000

We're already getting excited about the spring planting season on our farm. There's nothing like a few 70 degree days to get you in the mood. [I love global warming!] Field conditions are dry enough to knife in anhydrous ammonia. The planter is in the shop and repairs almost completed. Pits under the hog barns are being sucked out and taken to the fields. [That will save a big fertilizer expense.]

There are many things we can do to help insure a profitable year. And yet there are so many variables that are vitally important to us that are completely out of our control. Start with the weather. These ground conditions right now are unusually dry. We're in the field doing work -not something we normally can do this early. But, you know the advise "Make hay when the sun shines." I'm sure we will get rain. The river always floods at least once.

We still don't know what the acceptability of genetically modified crops will be this fall . We'll still plant some but won't put all of our eggs in that basket. USDA has just set new standards for organic foods. The organic food business is growing 20% per year to 6 billion dollars but is still just 1 % of all food sold. Organic doesn't mean the food is any safer. Secretary Glickman said that but if that's what some people want, we can accommodate. If enough acres were committed to organic food production, we wouldn't have a surplus. We'd literally be in the death grip of a worldwide famine . But we're a long way from that now. I guess that's another one of those things that we as individuals can't do a whole lot about.

We can't control what is grown in other countries. We can't dictate free and open access to every market. There are so many things we can't manage. We just have to manage what we can and hope for the best.

We're still excited as we prepare to plant the seeds another year. We have faith.