With the extensive drought from California to Ohio and corn prices soaring to over $8 a bushel, Trent is one of thousands of farmers who very seriously want rain. Trent tries to look for positive things to offset the pervasive gloom he hears from older farm operators. He says, ” The fields that are getting […]
View PostWe Need A Rain!!
Trent Brandenburg notes some corn damage already from the extended dry period. According to the National Weather Service in Lincoln, “Much of central Illinois (except for Springfield) is running 7-17 inches behind 2011 precipitation totals for the first half of the year, with Paris and Lawrenceville nearly 20 inches below last year” Trent estimates that […]
View PostSoybean Planting Half-Done; Corn Looks Good
Trent is about half-done with his soybean planting today, May 11, and expects to finish Monday, May 14, if there is no rain. The planting is going well, although from one field to the next the soil condition ranges from dusty-dry in this field, to wetter than you should plant in the next. The corn […]
View PostLonger Days, Getting Closer To Planting
As the days get longer marking the arrival of spring, the farming focus is on planning the year ahead, beginning with planting beginning in April. Trent’s immediate decisions concern crop insurance. Big changes in the crop insurance landscape this year require careful study of the various programs and options ahead of the March 15 signup […]
View PostNext Year Won’t Be the Same as This Year
Trent Brandenburg makes a safe prediction for 2012 as he reflects on 2011. Trent is finishing his year-end bookkeeping and tax work, and hauling grain for January delivery as muddy conditions permit. Trent is happy for the rain, because the ground is not yet frozen, so the rain will soak into the soil and not […]
View PostA Decent Year But Not A Home Run
As the first frost of fall appears in the Brandenburg fields, Trent looks back on a season which dealt some adversity, but ended with about average yields overall. Trent has completed his own fall harvest and tillage, but is still doing some custom work for other operators. The fall tillage has been made easier by […]
View PostTrent Is Harvesting The Downed Corn First
This picture of wind-blown corn in mid-season illustrates the problem with getting a combine and its corn head through a field of corn downed by wind damage. Trent Brandenburg has several of areas of fields like this from a windstorm this summer. Because it’s slow going, Trent is harvesting these first, while waiting for the […]
View PostEvery Different Color of Tractor
Every different color of tractor and every kind of farm implement you can imagine, were on display at the Farm Progress Show this week in Decatur. Seed and chemical suppliers had elaborate displays to explain their latest developments. Trent went. “It’s great that they have it,” he said. Trent sees the show as more to […]
View PostCorn Tassels, But Not All At Once
Trent Brandenburg is happy to see all the corn tassels but he would prefer that all of his plantings were tasseling at the same time. Due to the “water stunting” of plants which were in wet ground during the the protracted wet weather in May and June, the crop maturity progress is uneven. Trent foresees […]
View PostCorn and Soybean Planting Completed – Almost
Trent Brandenburg has completed his corn and soybean planting, except for about 5% of the acreage he farms, which is either ponded or too wet for good crop growth. Unfortunately, a big part of that 5% might be found in half a 40-acre field that doesn’t drain very well. In order to get maximum returns […]
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