tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post4666664820000625476..comments2024-03-28T03:12:12.079-05:00Comments on Northern Valley Beacon: The corn picking chronicles: how farms became factoriesDavid Newquisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-19376999643878324042019-10-31T21:23:15.465-05:002019-10-31T21:23:15.465-05:00I'm a couple weeks late to this fun post, but ...I'm a couple weeks late to this fun post, but glad I found it. <br /><br />The farm I grew up on in central SD is much like what is described here as a general farm. I'll probably always miss it.<br /><br />In 1957 my paternal grandfather took a truckload of wheat to the elevator in St. Lawrence and sold it. He drove over to Miller and bought a brand new combine from the Case dealer with the money, all paid for. That combine still sat in a back lot in the weeds, still orange, when the farm was sold and the last of my family moved off in 1985.Debbonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-37817724117454492682019-10-13T16:00:14.100-05:002019-10-13T16:00:14.100-05:00
Mike,
An old farm writer colleague of mine respon...<br />Mike,<br />An old farm writer colleague of mine responded to this post with an account of how much equipment for smaller operations in northern Illinois was available from dealer-auction houses that specialize in used machines. I noted that one had a number of New Idea 2-row pickers running from $1,900 to $7,500. <br /><br />One of the last features I wrote as a farm editor was about a man in his 80s who turned his farm over to a son, bought an acreage where he fed a couple of steers for the freezer, and raised a few acres of corn and hay for feed. He was experimenting with how many bushels of corn he could raise with a small utility tractor without using weed killer. He cultivated the corn with a walk-behind tiller, but had a pull-behind picker. He had hit 240 bushels an acre, if I recall right. <br />David Newquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-84997703906801042702019-10-13T11:19:44.961-05:002019-10-13T11:19:44.961-05:00My ex-FIL and I picked ear corn and cribbed it unt...My ex-FIL and I picked ear corn and cribbed it until 2008. It was air dried and then much of it ground for cattle feed. When the remaining corn was shelled we filled the cob shed for starting tank heater fires and the rest were used as a base for outdoor bedding areas for cattle in the Winter. Corn husks and later cornstalk bales added to the pile as the need arose. He owned two New Idea 324 pull behind, 2 row pickers and we picked the crib full (2500 bushels to a side) and many years piled the rest on the ground inside a ring of snow fence.<br /><br />That was a job I enjoyed immensely, hauling the ears in and filling the crib until daily back aches set in. After that, corn picking was just another chore.mike from iowahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05493799586846040115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-85557878468683426672019-10-07T09:09:41.774-05:002019-10-07T09:09:41.774-05:00In South Dakota Republicans enjoy socialized agric...In South Dakota Republicans enjoy socialized agriculture just as Kentucky Republicans once made bank on socialized tobacco but Kentucky lost that subsidy so industrial cannabis (hemp) makes some sense there. But replacing the ecocidal corn/ethanol subsidy in South Dakota with hemp acres is a bridge too far for Republicans who run for office as earth haters in my home state. <br /><br />The Chinese Ring-necked Pheasant isn't wildlife but it is a canary in a chemically and genetically engineered corn mine so the pesticide industry that greases Republican politicos don't give a whit about anything but profit. South Dakota's legislature is dominated by Republicans who ignore the effects of the Anthropocene and lobbyists line up to stuff their pockets with cash.<br /><br />Blend the slaughter of apex predators, the resulting rise of mesopredators, increasing numbers of domestic dogs and cats then stir in a melange of industrial chemicals with climate change and voila: red state collapse on parade! Little wonder over a hundred species in South Dakota alone and a million worldwide are at risk to the Republican Party.<br /><br />Kill off apex predators like wolves and cougars; spray glyphosate and POEA on everything then wonder why cervids contract a prion contagion like Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).larry kurtzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06855417104900624838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-67838618967045054752019-10-05T13:31:09.118-05:002019-10-05T13:31:09.118-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Porter Lansinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03462946359586390472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-84410799571891061672019-10-05T12:12:03.113-05:002019-10-05T12:12:03.113-05:00In the early 1990s, 1100 durum wheat growers in No...In the early 1990s, 1100 durum wheat growers in North Dakota formed a co-operative to manufacture their wheat into pasta, Dakota Growers Pasta. It was a successful venture, but after about a decade was sold to a Canadian company and became a corporation. It was never made clear why the co-operative venture was given up, but farm co-operatives are notoriously fractious organizations, and I assume its members found it more restful for decisions to be made for them. It fit into the trend for corporate alliances and encouragement to "get big, or get out," which the current Secretary of Agriculture has taken up with a vengeance.David Newquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-27212093276601898322019-10-05T11:46:43.693-05:002019-10-05T11:46:43.693-05:00As a chef it saddens me that the durum wheat crop ...As a chef it saddens me that the durum wheat crop is disappearing from SD and the Great Plains. It won't grow most places (durum represents only 5% of America's wheat crop) and is used for the world's best pasta and noodles. The small farm absence from federal subsidies is probably to blame. Porter Lansinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03462946359586390472noreply@blogger.com