ag
/ag140
Welcoming everyone's casts and discussion about agriculture.
Wrapped up a second day of yap to yap technology for farmers… featuring a former crew member from decades ago when in NY, giving a talk on retirement for millennial farmers.
Good to see the conversation in the program for a conference mostly focusing on production.
Second slide - a talk on celeriac variety and spacing trials; rather niche.
Good to see the conversation in the program for a conference mostly focusing on production.
Second slide - a talk on celeriac variety and spacing trials; rather niche.
Tightening belts in ag land, especially for commodity producers
https://x.com/schuelkecorn/status/1868353677271982471?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
https://x.com/gavin_spoor/status/1868066676987883777?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
https://x.com/schuelkecorn/status/1868353677271982471?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
https://x.com/gavin_spoor/status/1868066676987883777?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
Farm sales are showing impact of depressed commodity prices, higher inputs, and of course interest rates.
Still buyers of prime pieces in the I states; bit less outside that region.
Exhibit A
https://x.com/jlinvillefert/status/1867639275510280662?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
Still buyers of prime pieces in the I states; bit less outside that region.
Exhibit A
https://x.com/jlinvillefert/status/1867639275510280662?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
Mercury is just above freezing outside, inside the fieldhouses it’s considerably cozier as we wrap up a little December planting session. TBD whether we are aggressive enough with our traps to protect the seedlings.
These would be lettuce and spinach (next bed over) for late January/February harvests depending on the seasonal rhythms.
We just run a small no stress fall>winter>spring CSA and this year I told folks I needed to catch up on office & household tasks so typical Jan/Feb harvests are low priority this winter. We’ll maybe seed another round in the gh next week to have a few more beds worth of starts available for planting in January.
Can be tricky this time of year, houses can get pretty warm on sunny days and I’m not actively managing them everyday so bolting becomes a potential once we flip into longer days late Jan-Feb.
Easiest crops are the brassicas, then spinach, then lettuce. Lettuce is a bit more prone to disease and struggles if we get real, real cold.
These would be lettuce and spinach (next bed over) for late January/February harvests depending on the seasonal rhythms.
We just run a small no stress fall>winter>spring CSA and this year I told folks I needed to catch up on office & household tasks so typical Jan/Feb harvests are low priority this winter. We’ll maybe seed another round in the gh next week to have a few more beds worth of starts available for planting in January.
Can be tricky this time of year, houses can get pretty warm on sunny days and I’m not actively managing them everyday so bolting becomes a potential once we flip into longer days late Jan-Feb.
Easiest crops are the brassicas, then spinach, then lettuce. Lettuce is a bit more prone to disease and struggles if we get real, real cold.
Farm bill update (not looking good) https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/article/2024/12/11/farm-bill-extension-stalls-oppose
We’ve planted garlic in December once before, crop turned out solid. It’s a bit late, yet the window before Thanksgiving didn’t materialize and last week the ground was frozen a bit too much for tillage.
4 beds in the ground for July 2025 harvests. Here’s a photo when we were half way through at the lunch hour. Feel like we’ve hardly been working the last few weeks with multiple data off, light harvests and clean up underway.
Already starting to order the necessities for our 2025 season, taking advantage of pre-orders and end of year discounts from suppliers.
Bookkeeping backlog is a bit longer than usual this season, will require a couple of days before the holidays to get caught up, in case we need to make any decisions before the close of the fiscal year.
4 beds in the ground for July 2025 harvests. Here’s a photo when we were half way through at the lunch hour. Feel like we’ve hardly been working the last few weeks with multiple data off, light harvests and clean up underway.
Already starting to order the necessities for our 2025 season, taking advantage of pre-orders and end of year discounts from suppliers.
Bookkeeping backlog is a bit longer than usual this season, will require a couple of days before the holidays to get caught up, in case we need to make any decisions before the close of the fiscal year.
"Will the incoming administration's tariffs help you?"
The answer is it's complicated. We sell our fruit to packing houses who, in order to remain competitive year round, also are buying fruit from Mexico. Those packing house will be responsible for paying the tariffs on the fruit that they import. This is money paid by businesses to the U.S. government in order to import the fruit being resold. Indirectly, they are raising the overall cost of the products being sold including mine.
Those same packing houses negotiate prices with grocery stores to sell a mix of U.S. produced and Mexico produced fruit year round. Those negotiations are about to get a lot trickier with tariffs.
The avocado market is strong worldwide and Mexico will probably use these tariffs to make a push into Europe where there's very little domestic production even possible. U.S. retailers will use the tariffs as an excuse to mark up desirable Mexican avocados which could have some benefit to domestic growers. Stay tuned.
The answer is it's complicated. We sell our fruit to packing houses who, in order to remain competitive year round, also are buying fruit from Mexico. Those packing house will be responsible for paying the tariffs on the fruit that they import. This is money paid by businesses to the U.S. government in order to import the fruit being resold. Indirectly, they are raising the overall cost of the products being sold including mine.
Those same packing houses negotiate prices with grocery stores to sell a mix of U.S. produced and Mexico produced fruit year round. Those negotiations are about to get a lot trickier with tariffs.
The avocado market is strong worldwide and Mexico will probably use these tariffs to make a push into Europe where there's very little domestic production even possible. U.S. retailers will use the tariffs as an excuse to mark up desirable Mexican avocados which could have some benefit to domestic growers. Stay tuned.
A bit on the late side… yet should still be just fine except for the chilly planting conditions.
Garlic planting season starts ..
and finishes today.
Garlic planting season starts ..
and finishes today.
100K BTC
Meanwhile on ag twitter they’re talking Boron and…
https://x.com/parrtweets/status/1864424053236290038?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
Meanwhile on ag twitter they’re talking Boron and…
https://x.com/parrtweets/status/1864424053236290038?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
Won’t impact us in any meaningful way as K per acre Is small $ compared to labor and other inputs in our operation.
Yet would have a meaningful impact for many larger commercial growers https://x.com/shaunhaney/status/1864017514964914273?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
Yet would have a meaningful impact for many larger commercial growers https://x.com/shaunhaney/status/1864017514964914273?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
A meaningless metric I enjoy looking at is calories produced per acre. This year we grew our biggest crop in over 40 years with over 35k pounds per acre. At 160 calories per gram that’s over 25 million calories grown per acre. That puts avocados up there with corn & nuts that also pack a lot of energy in. 💪
Was away for a couple of days and today was dedicated primarily to household errands.
The benefit of an honor system farmstand especially at this time of year is we can sell vegetables while on vacation and any weekends when I’m not fully farm focused.
Just about ready to close the stand for the winter, Sunday will be our last official day til the spring.
Last Saturday when it rained a heap, was the first Saturday “off” since last February.
Now commencing “the weekends season” for a few months when I schedule 5 and even 4 day workweeks and time off with the family around the holidays.
The benefit of an honor system farmstand especially at this time of year is we can sell vegetables while on vacation and any weekends when I’m not fully farm focused.
Just about ready to close the stand for the winter, Sunday will be our last official day til the spring.
Last Saturday when it rained a heap, was the first Saturday “off” since last February.
Now commencing “the weekends season” for a few months when I schedule 5 and even 4 day workweeks and time off with the family around the holidays.
Steady lads deploying more row cover…
First night time forecast for temps dipping into the low 20s tonight, and then a string of cool weather on tap for the next two weeks.
Added a second layer of row cover here primarily for the lettuces which are the most tender greens we carry into December. The brassicas and spinach are rather cold hardy.
Next up (soon) putting up the doors on the south side of this house.
Our fieldhouses are all unheated, they get solid warmth on sunny days, even in the winter, the row covers keep the temps under them a few degrees warmer than ambient air temps in the houses at night.
Typically all it takes to keep light harvests rolling into the winter.
First night time forecast for temps dipping into the low 20s tonight, and then a string of cool weather on tap for the next two weeks.
Added a second layer of row cover here primarily for the lettuces which are the most tender greens we carry into December. The brassicas and spinach are rather cold hardy.
Next up (soon) putting up the doors on the south side of this house.
Our fieldhouses are all unheated, they get solid warmth on sunny days, even in the winter, the row covers keep the temps under them a few degrees warmer than ambient air temps in the houses at night.
Typically all it takes to keep light harvests rolling into the winter.
Off farm work sustain most farms these days… https://x.com/nyfarmer/status/1861901490660548682?s=46&t=TVy9rDl3UkuxmVj4e18bOA
Not sure I could have as much fun exploring the interwebs if my life didn’t revolve around the outer webs.
Always feel blessed to have a career that provides abundant fresh air and movement.
This is not to say others shouldn’t be afforded the happiness which comes from the lifestyle they choose, only to say that for my body and being working outside, with the earth, and expending physical energy nourishes me.
Always feel blessed to have a career that provides abundant fresh air and movement.
This is not to say others shouldn’t be afforded the happiness which comes from the lifestyle they choose, only to say that for my body and being working outside, with the earth, and expending physical energy nourishes me.
As our use of land becomes more efficient it does follow that we will need less farmland. But this plan seems rooted in exporting climate liability rather than reducing emissions:
“Denmark is returning 15% of its land to nature”
https://www.fastcompany.com/apply/world-changing-ideas
“Denmark is returning 15% of its land to nature”
https://www.fastcompany.com/apply/world-changing-ideas
Agricultural automation isn’t the panacea everyone expects it to be. Rather for agriculture it’s a sliding scale constantly at odds with labor costs & the quality of the job done. The long tail of automation includes maintenance and operating costs frequently ignored.
Spraying by drone isn’t “cheaper” until you factor in the operator cost of the drone and the maintenance expenses of the tractor vs. the drone.
In the 80’s and 90’s (when labor was much cheaper!) the hot new ticket in citrus farming was mechanical pruning. Specialized tractors could cut both the sides & the tops of trees and could do in a few hours what would take a crew of 20 men a week.
The problem: they didn’t do as good of a job as the hand pruners. The longer we kept our tree’s mechanically pruned we were creating new problems that had to be cleaned up by hand crews several years later. This was not evident in even the first or the 10th year & there are still guys trying to automate it today to save a buck.
Spraying by drone isn’t “cheaper” until you factor in the operator cost of the drone and the maintenance expenses of the tractor vs. the drone.
In the 80’s and 90’s (when labor was much cheaper!) the hot new ticket in citrus farming was mechanical pruning. Specialized tractors could cut both the sides & the tops of trees and could do in a few hours what would take a crew of 20 men a week.
The problem: they didn’t do as good of a job as the hand pruners. The longer we kept our tree’s mechanically pruned we were creating new problems that had to be cleaned up by hand crews several years later. This was not evident in even the first or the 10th year & there are still guys trying to automate it today to save a buck.
🐿️ $JAM Airdrop for my channel members is here 💰! Claim my $JAM now before it’s gone! 💸
Meeting Season continues…
SEMAP - Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership annual meeting and dinner tonight.
Held in a renovated barn, the second story of a working barn for a cranberry producer.
Final few folks filtering out at the end of the night.
Great energy in the room tonight.
Regional Buy Local
a non-profit, I used to serve as the board president awhile back, now I get to enjoy the evening with conversations and no formal responsibilities.
SEMAP - Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership annual meeting and dinner tonight.
Held in a renovated barn, the second story of a working barn for a cranberry producer.
Final few folks filtering out at the end of the night.
Great energy in the room tonight.
Regional Buy Local
a non-profit, I used to serve as the board president awhile back, now I get to enjoy the evening with conversations and no formal responsibilities.
It’s wild but not a total surprise that we have huge vertical protein farms before vegetable farms https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/business/china-pork-farms.html
The U.S. imports 80% of our fertilizer potash from our Canadian friends who have a massive deposit. Counter tariffs affecting those imports would be an immediate hit to American farmers / consumers.
https://www.realagriculture.com/2024/11/canadian-potash-production-is-a-critically-strategic-asset-for-the-u-s-corn-farmer/
https://www.usgs.gov/news/technical-announcement/plenty-potash-some-regions-lack-low-cost-sources-crop-production#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20produces%20potash%20from,large%20potash%20resource%20exists%20there.
https://www.realagriculture.com/2024/11/canadian-potash-production-is-a-critically-strategic-asset-for-the-u-s-corn-farmer/
https://www.usgs.gov/news/technical-announcement/plenty-potash-some-regions-lack-low-cost-sources-crop-production#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20produces%20potash%20from,large%20potash%20resource%20exists%20there.