5 minute read
Editor’s Note
Carroll Smith
The Importance Of ‘Being In Charge’
As parents, we get busy with our own responsibilities — typically work-related — and realize we must depend on our kids, the younger generation, to help out at times. You must “put them in charge” of something.
I was reminded of this two times yesterday. The first was when I was talking to my daughter in Texas. Their washing machine had broken down, which meant the repairman had to pay them a visit. As it turned out, he said he could be at their home later in the afternoon. Of course, the adults were both at the office, and the older son was at baseball practice. This meant the younger son, Shep, would be in charge of waiting for the repairman and letting him in to see if he could get the washer running again. About 4:45 p.m., Shep called his mom to tell her the man had arrived.
He proudly said, “I showed him where our washing machine is and told him it had ‘started acting up’ last night.” This may seem like a small task in the big scheme of things, but it was an important step in subtly teaching responsibility. My young grandson appreciated being trusted enough to take care of this chore in the absence of his parents.
The second time I was reminded about the importance of putting a young person in charge was while watching a YouTube video featured in the Peanut Grower e-newsletter. It opened with a young man named Randy sitting in the driver’s seat of a dump cart in the middle of a peanut field.
At the beginning of his narrative, he let viewers know his daddy was trusting him to run the dump cart that day while they were in the heat of peanut picking season. You could hear the pride in his voice. He said his older brother typically had this responsibility, but he was out for the day on personal business.
Randy was so excited about his new-found importance that he began offering advice about how to pick peanuts to his dad and the other workers via the twoway radio. Instead of ridiculing the suggestions, his dad calmly explained they wouldn’t work. For example, when Randy asked his dad how fast he was running the picker, his father said, “I am running at 2.2 mph.” The young man came back with, “I have a buddy who says he runs 6 mph, so you might want to bump it up some.” His dad patiently replied, “Son, there is no way you can pick 3-ton peanuts at 6 mph.”
Randy considered what his father said and appeared to nod his head in agreement. It had been a teachable moment. As you go through planning season this winter, think of some jobs you can assign to the younger generation to help nurture their sense of responsibility. Put them in charge and watch them grow.
Carroll
Cotton Farming
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Study Features On-Farm Precision Experiments
BY MARY LOU PETER
KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Kansas farmers have an opportunity to join other U.S. producers in participating in a $4 million conservation innovation grant aimed at improving the efficiency of fertilizer and seed management in cotton, corn, soybean and wheat production.
The research is made possible by a $4 million U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service award to the Data-Intensive Farm Management Project. It aims to develop and deploy a data-intensive crop management system based on on-farm precision experiments. Farmers will use these tools to conduct site-specific, data-based evaluations of the economic and environmental effects of site-specific nitrogen, phosphorus and seed rate management strategies.
“We’re taking some of the theoretical methods we’ve been studying and are ready to put them to the test in real-life situations on farms across the country,” says Kansas State University agricultural economist Terry Griffin.
Better Bottom Dollar
Though Kansas is not one of the states specifically targeted by the project, producers from any state who grow cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat can apply to participate.
“The great thing about this award is that it gives us funding to make sure that every year we can increase the profits of participating farmers and their crop consultants,” says project leader and University of Illinois agricultural economist David Bullock in a statement announcing the support.
The funding is provided through On- Farm Conservation Innovation Trials, a component of the conservation innovation grants program first authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill.
How It Works
On-farm trials awardees work with NRCS and farmers and ranchers to implement innovative practices and systems that have not yet been widely adopted by producers. Awardees are required to evaluate the conservation and economic outcomes from these practices and systems, which provide partners, producers and NRCS critical information to inform conservation work in the future.
“On-farm trials help producers improve the health of their operations while at the same time helping NRCS build data to show the benefit of innovative conservation systems and practices applied on the land,” says retired NRCS Acting Chief Kevin Norton.
More details and contact information are available on the project’s web page at https://bit.ly/3As1zMn.
Farmers will use tools developed by the Data-Intensive Farm Management Project to conduct data-based evaluations of the economic and environmental effects of site-specific nitrogen, phosphorus and seed rate management strategies.
