Time to Irrigate the Cotton

   As I have mentioned before, timing the first irrigation is critical. Too early and the plants go to stalk  instead of bolls. Generally we want to be ready to irrigate June 1st, then we can wait until conditions are right.

Farming and Chess

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright May 2013

               I like chess. I’m not very good at it, but I like it. The best chess players are those who can think many moves ahead. Farming is like that.

            We live in a society that values living in the moment, and that is important. The problem is that if you only live in the moment, you are rarely prepared for the surprises that pop up. If you are only living in the moment everything becomes a fire drill. Life has enough challenges without everything being a fire drill.

            For example, we generally irrigate the cotton the first week of June. I got caught behind on our field work on time years ago. The weather turned hot. We had to pull out all the stops, work over time and we still had some cotton get a little scorched. Since then I start the month of May with a plan to have all our field work done before June 1st. That paid off this year when the cotton was ready to water a week ahead of normal. The fields were ready. We laid the pipe and started water.

Thinking a few moves ahead, like a chess master, helps keep surprises to a minimum.

   In other news, we had guests for dinner on Thursday night.Thirty two guests to be exact. Along with Mark and Blaine McAfee we hosted members of  the Fresno Food System Alliance for Dinner on the Farm. I made ribs, tri-tip, pasta salad and a wild and brown rice mushroom casserole. Blaine made a fabulous spinach salad an also brought brownies and amazing orange cookies. Sally Tripp brought some meat balls. Our neighbors Daniel and Shannon Bashoff sent over some yummy organic vegetables which I grilled. The Ubicks brought some fabulous wine and a good time was had by all. The goal of this group is to try to improve our food system by encouraging a healthier economy for farmers and healthier diets for consumers. The weather was perfect and the moon was rising over the Sierras as people headed home.

I hope Y'all have a great weekend.

Just a reminder-Freedom isn't free. 

We will never forget those who have 'the last full measure of devotion' for our freedom.

Thanks also to all who served. I know your day is Veterans' Day in November. We are glad you made it home.

Good Cotton Growing Weather

What a difference a couple of weeks makes. This is the cotton this week. If you go to the post two weeks ago, you can see how much

it has been growing. The weather has been perfect for cotton, warm in the afternoon and not too cool at night. 
   We have fertilized the cotton and sprayed the weeds over the past week and a half. We are furrowing out so we can be ready for the first irrigation. We'll finish furrowing out this week. Then we will put up borders and ditches. Then we will lay out the pipes and wait for the right conditions to start water. The plants have to be ready and it cant' be too cool. If we water too early or too cool the plants will grow stalks instead of setting fruit. They might look pretty being tall and green, but I get paid for cotton bolls, not stalks.

   Spring is always a busy time of year. It reminds of this piece I wrote last winter.

Success is not a 9-5 Proposition

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright January 2013

               I know farmers aren’t the only ones to work long, hard hours. In fact long, hard hours seem to be one of the main ingredients for success.

            I sometimes see people who punch in late and leave early envying those who have stuff they want. They can’t seem to understand there is a connection with extra effort and the rewards of success.

            I couldn’t succeed in school if I was goofing off all the time, and that doesn’t work in the work world either. Sure, physicians make a lot of money, but they have to go through six or eight years of school—after college to get to that point.

            My point is, success is not a 9-5 proposition. There are no guarantees that hard work will pay off. I have seen a whole seasons work get washed away in one afternoon’s rainstorm. But, there is an old saying that luck seems to favor those who are prepared. There’s truth to that.

            If I tried to limit all my effort to an eight hour day I would never get anywhere.  Farming and life take everything we’ve got. 

I hope you all have a great week!

P

We're back on the radio

   Thanks to the generous support of Greg and Karen Musson, of the GarTootelian Co., "This Week on the Farm' is back on the radio. If you are in the area you can now here us on KMJ radio on week days.

   I wish a photograph could show how the cotton has grown this week. 

Heck, I wish I could tell how pretty this cotton looks to a farmer. The cotton is loving this weather. It has really jumped this week. We got the fertilizer on this week and we started spraying herbicide on the weeds. By the end of next week we will start furrowing out. Then we wait. We will start the first irrigation by the tenth of June. The question is when to start? If we start too early the plants will bolt, growing stalks and not bolls. We don't get paid for stalks, we get paid for bolls. If we wait to long, the cotton will get stressed in the heat and not produce properly. I'll keep you posted.

   The wheat has really changed this week too. At the beginning the week it was mostly faded green like in the foreground. BY the end of the week the fields have turned to pale gold. The milk in each wheat kernel is starting to dry down and become doughy. Then it will dry down completely and be ready to harvest the end of June or beginning of July. We are done watering. Now we wait.

It’s Not Just for Doctors, Nurses and Lawyers

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright February 2013

               You may be surprised to know there is continuing education for farmers.
            As a kid I was surprised to learn that our neighbor, who was a nurse, had to go to school. I didn’t know grownups had to go to school, I thought that was just for kids. [ Like most kids, part of me was wondering, will I ever get out of school?] Mom explained that there were always changes in medicine and nurses had to take classes to keep up and keep their licenses.

            When I started farming I found out there is continuing education for farmers too. To keep my applicators license I have to take so many hours of classes every year. In addition to required classes the Farm Advisors and the universities constantly offer classes, workshops and field days to report their latest findings and introduce the latest technologies.

            It’s pretty interesting. In one sense farming is an ancient profession- one of my main jobs is to stick seed in the ground like farmers have done for ten thousand years. But, farmers today also use computers, satellites and lasers every day.

            I need to keep going back to school to keep up on the latest innovations in an ancient profession.

   I thought I would leave you with a picture of the neighbors onion field.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

Broken Nitrogen Cycle

   Well, we waited two days for an air conditioner hose, but when we got going, we got going. We are applying fertilizer to the cotton. [BTW-I wish the photo could show how great the cotton is doing. This warm weather has it popping.]

   We have also been irrigating almonds. We'll give them another spoonful of fertilizer next week. The lead samples show I have gotten a little behind and we want to keep them strong and healthy.
   We have also put the last irrigation on the oats. We should cut those in a few weeks.

   Watching the fertilizer rig in the field reminded me of one night in grad school-

Broken Nitrogen Cycle

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright May 2013

               I had a professor in grad school who is a self-described radical environmentalist. One night he got up on his soap box and preached away for three hours on the evils of pesticides and the big chemical companies. After wards I went up and chatted with him. I said, “You missed the point… I can fit all the pesticides and herbicides I use in the course of a year in the back of my truck. Some of that stuff costs $500/ gallon so we put it out with an eye dropper. Fertilizer, however, I buy by the truck load.” He asked why I didn’t mention that in class. I told him he hadn’t even taken a deep breath for three hours. How was I supposed to get a word in edgewise? He kind of hung his head a bit in agreement.

               After that we had a decent conversation about something that really matters, but rarely gets talked about. We have a broken nitrogen cycle. We make nitrogen fertilizers out of fossil fuels, use it once and then flush down the toilet. I told my prof that if he really wanted to do something useful for the environment he would figure a way to recycle some of that nitrogen. We would starve to death without modern fertilizers, but we have to find a way to close that nitrogen cycle. This is the kind of thing I mention in my book ‘Ten Reasons: Finding Balance on Environmental Issues,’ we need more bench science for problem solving and less lawsuits.

Anyone got any ideas?

I hope you all have a fabulous week.

P