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Testimonials
 Ohio
Success
Challenges
Of Today's Growers
Not everyone in today's farm economy can
boast of such productivity. In fact many growers do well
just to stay in business. According to the USDA, over 10%
of farmers quit each year.
What
drives such attrition? In addition to low commodity prices,
there's the rising cost of land, fuel costs, fertilizers,
herbicides, labor and equipment. Throw in concerns about soil
erosion, uncertainty about government price supports, environmental
requirements, as well as weather and moisture extremes, and
you have a challenge that tests the fiber of the best growers.
Sadly, many of the farmers who do manage to stay in business
have become used to marginal performance. They find it hard
to believe the claims of those who actually do make money.
A large part of this marginal performance starts with abused
and overworked soils. Compaction, hard-pan, erosion gullies,
top soil losses and over-tillage destroy much of the microbial
life in the soil and reduce the availability of nitrogen
and minerals resident in the parent material. Poor air and
water exchanges reduce the impact of the best fertilizers,
and leaves real dollars in the field.
The problem continues with poor planter designs and fertilizer
strategies that prevent growers from planting early. Because
conventional tillers can only plant in dry conditions--after
many time-wasting tillage and fertilizing operations--many
growers miss their window of opportunity for planting.
When planting actually commences they often have difficulty
with closing the compacted sidewalls in the seed trench,
poor uniformity in seed placement and lack of available
nutrients for germination. Then the nagging question: Did
I select the right hybrids?
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