Cooking With Kristin

This has been one hot summer! The grill has been getting a workout at my house. We’re grilling everything from steaks and burgers to salmon and shrimp. A fabulous side dish that goes well with so many grilled meats is coleslaw. The crunch of the cabbage and the tang of the dressing makes this a perfect accompaniment to anything you throw on the old barbie!

Here’s some fun coleslaw concoctions to try this summer! Coleslaw Sweet Onion Salad

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seed, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour over the https://www.onions-usa.org/onionista/sweet-onion- cabbage mixture and toss. Cover and refrigerate for one hour for salad/ flavors to blend. 3 pounds sweet onions n 1 cups white vinegar I was talking to my co-worker, Joan, about writing this cole1/2 cup water slaw column and she recalled a family member’s recipe for a 1/2 cup sugar tasty slaw with bananas and pineapple. I had never heard of this 3 teaspoons dried dill weed interesting concoction; but apparently lots of other people have 2 teaspoons salt as there’s plenty of coleslaw recipes which feature pineapple and Peel and thinly slice onion and separate them into bananas. Here’s a good one! rings. Place the onions in a large bowl. In a medium Pineapple Banana Slaw bowl, whisk together the vinegar, water, sugar, dill https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/pineapple-bananahttps://www.cookingclassy.com/coleslaw-recipe/ 1 (14 ounce) package coleslaw mix 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1-1/2 tablespoons honey (or granulated sugar) 1-1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar salt (optional, to taste) weed and salt. Pour the liquid over the onion rings. Stir well. Cover and refrigerate at least five hours before serving, stirring occasionally. n Mayonnaise can divide even the closest of families. It seems people either love or hate this condiment. Let’s take that debate out of this next recipe with a mayo-free slaw that will bring the slaw/368b8667-8c6c-4cd9-aeb0-948074e04dd8 3 cups coleslaw blend 1 (8 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, drained, reserving 3 tablespoons of liquid 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon honey

In a small mixing bowl whisk together mayonnaise, honey, family together. 1/4 cup chopped pecans apple cider vinegar and a pinch or two of salt if needed. Place coleslaw mixture in a medium mixing bowl pour mayonnaise mixture then toss to evenly coat. Serve immediately. n While not technically coleslaw (as this recipe doesn’t contain any cabbage), it does feature onions — A LOT of onions. This salad was once brought to our work potluck 14 years ago. We all Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw https://www.foodiecrush.com/sweet-vinegar-coleslaw/#recipe 10 cups shredded coleslaw mix 1 cup thinly sliced red onion 1 cup shredded red cabbage 1 carrot thinly slivered 1/3 cup canola oil 1 small banana, sliced In a medium bowl, combine coleslaw blend and pineapple; mix well. In small bowl combine mayo, sour cream, honey and 3 tablespoons of pineapple liquid; blend well. Add dressing to salad; mix gently to coat. Sprinkle with pecans. Refrigerate at least one house or until serving time to blend flavors. Just before serving add sliced bananas; toss gently. scoffed at the notion of eating a salad made almost entirely of 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar Mayo, bananas, pineapple, whatever way you like onions; but we were wrong. This salad is sweet and delicious. 1 tablespoon sugar your coleslaw, you can’t beat the tangy crunch of Make this for your next potluck and get ready to make onion 1 teaspoon caraway seeds this perfect summer side dish. It’s sweltering out salad believers out of your friends and co-workers! 1 teaspoon celery seed there, stay cool with coleslaw! 1 teaspoon kosher salt Kristin Kveno scours the internet, pours over old 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper family recipes and searches everywhere in between to In a large bowl, combine the coleslaw mix with the red onion, find interesting food ideas for feeding your crew. Do shredded red cabbage and carrot. In a small bowl, whisk the you have a recipe you want to share? You can reach canola oil, apple cider vinegar, sugar, caraway seeds, celery Kristin at kkveno@thelandonline.com. v

COOKING WITH KRISTIN

By Kristin Kveno EPA approves paraquat applications In an interim registration review decision recently To minimize human health and occupational released, the Environmental Protection Agency bystander risks, additional protective equipment announced grower access to the herbicide paraquat requirements have been imposed, as well as the will continue to be allowed — including uses for soy- timeframe from field re-entry after application beans; and aerial applications will continue to be lengthened from 24 hours to 48 hours. Importantly permitted under certain circumstances. though, EPA’s decision will keep paraquat available The herbicide has been under scrutiny for alleged links to Parkinson’s, but EPA clarified, “there is limited, but insufficient, epidemiologic evidence to conand meaningfully useable for growers who need it to protect their crops and maintain conservation practices. clude that there is a clear associative or causal rela- Other measures to help mitigate risks include protionship between occupational paraquat exposure … hibiting pressurized handgun and backpack sprayer

Facebook.com/TheLandOnline Twitter.com/TheLandOnline and Parkinson’s.” Originally, the agency had proposed an end to aerial applications aside from cotton desiccation, but upon further review it decided it would allow aerial applications, requiring enclosed cabs or respirators for groundboom applications and increasing the Restricted Entry Interval for several crops. This article was submitted by the American Soybean applications on up to 350 acres within a 24-hour Association. v Instagram@thelandmagazineonline period for all uses, except for cotton desiccation which will not face limitations.

By DICK HAGEN “We already knew of Ed Baumgartner’s work to The Land Staff Writer Emeritus provide corn hybrids that better fit the dry, cold-

OLIVIA, Minn. — On June 25, 2018, I was siter areas of western North Dakota. We use lots of ting in Ed Baumgartner’s 3MG seed office in Ed’s pedigrees in our corn program. So we wonOlivia Minn. He had just returned from dered if his firm might have a genetic package Kazakhstan (northern Europe bordering on that might fit similar conditions in Kazakhstan.” Russia) where his firm is attempting to intro- Baumgartner seems to thrive on genetic chalduce hybrid corns with the genetic stamina to lenges for corn. He sees huge opportunities for endure the harsh, dry soils common over much of the right genetic lineup in Kazakhstan. And this huge country. with a rapidly developing cattle industry he’s

Why Kazakhstan? Primarily because 3MG confident of a growing corn market also. But it was doing some corn trials in this country for Bill will take some learning time. and Dan Price, two enterprising North Dakota He explained, “This was a Communist govcattlemen jump-starting the beef industry in erned society for many years and land is still Kazakhstan. These brothers air lifted 12,000 owned by the government. Cattle guys, includhead of registered Angus cows from their North ing the Price brothers, are renting land on a Dakota operation. This effort is also generating a 49-year lease! But corn production is ramping significant new interest in growing corn in up. This summer I had the unique satisfaction of Kazakhstan. standing in a 2,000 acre field of corn in

Thanks to a Kazakhstan business development Kazakhstan and this huge field was entirely our specialist working seven years in the North corn!” Dakota Economic Development helping to direct “We’re developing corn lines to fit the specific new business opportunities from North Dakota the ninth-largest country in the world. It is an oil- demands for growing corn over there. It looks to Kazakhstan, the Price brothers envisioned huge rich country with other resources including produc- like early hybrids, under 80 days maturity is the only opportunity. tive soils. Organic matter runs about 7 percent and logical route. And drought tolerance is vital. Dan Price related, “There simply wasn’t a cattle industry in this big country which has 16 million people and huge Russia is next door. Kazakhstan is rainfall averages about 16 inches per year. They have lots of ground water we are told so irrigation potential looks good. See BAUMGARTNER, pg. 10 Baumgartner noted Kazakhstan farmers are begin-

Photo by Dick Hagen Ed Baumgartner’s work in corn genetics is gaining a foothold in Kazakhstan’s agriculture practices.

We can’t promise you’ll trust your We can’t promise you’ll trust your daughter’s prom date, but you can put your daughter’s prom date, but you can put your trust in a family-owned seed company. trust in a family-owned seed company.

Scan to watch Scan to watch the videothe video

BAUMGARTNER, from pg. 9

ning to understand the importance of early planting rather than waiting until the middle of May. “They don’t yet relate to ‘growing degree’ days and how that single factor pretty much determines the effective length of a growing season. So I’ve simply advised them that April 25 is time to start planting corn. I tell them they’ve got good seed with good seed treatment. So get your seeds into the soil and let the genetics go to work.”

Now jump forward to July 2021. Again I’m in Ed’s Olivia, office. He tells me this is now their fifth year in Kazakstan, “And we’re making good progress. We’re getting credibility on making recommendations on growing corn they thought were rather audacious … like going no-till, using fertilizer, etc. That comes with risks and caveats because they don’t have crop insurance to bail them out if needed. So we can understand why their farmers are not very eager to spend more money growing a crop.”

This perhaps stems from the fact that there is no such thing as agricultural extension service program providing on-farm teaching and learn demonstrations. “They do have what they call agricultural institutions,” Baumgartner explained. “But these are understaffed, poorly equipped, and simply not geared to dealing with modern production. We’re working with one of these schools which is closer to the apartment where Debbie (His wife) and I live when working there; but in our two years we haven’t spent much time over there because the pandemic locked us out for ten-and-a-half months. It’s still in a locked-down mode, so we had to navigate through lots of hoops to get back in again for our recent visit. Kazakhstan allows work visas for outsiders which we were finally able to obtain.”

So what’s the future of corn production in this distant country?

farmers’ hands; so during this season’s drought we’ve gotten many calls from corn growers simply saying ‘gosh, your corn hasn’t curled leaves, still seems to be getting along okay.’ And that obviously is music to my ears,” said a smiling Baumgartner. Always the realist, Baumgartner says show plots are show plots Almost all the farming people we deal with are younger folks — a complete opposite situation from the U.S. — Ed Baumgartner — meaning your corns can look darn good in your own show plots. “But in the field, where our hybrids are planted with their favorite brands, growers are noticing the difference. When In candid terms, Baumgartner replied, “I would say limited … it’s just these farmers tell me we’re being com petitive, that’s what counts.” too dry. It’s not a Ukraine environ- All 3MG breeding work is non-GMO. ment. Kazakhstan’s claim to fame will “We let the environment be a major facmore likely be producing crops to tor in the development of our lines….in become an animal production power- essence, the good survive; the not-sohouse because their culture is animal- good don’t. That is the driving factor in based over the millennium. They were our work in Kazakhstan too. We don’t a nomadic people herding their ani- put a conventional in our warehouse,” mals to where the rains were falling. states the 3MG president. And that is why their government ini- He concluded, “We’re starting a new tiative is to enable their farmers to marketing campaign called ‘the produce meat — not only for their Unconventional Conventionals.’ We’ve domestic population but for neighbor- done scads of breeding work for drought ing countries as well.” tolerance, disease tolerance and insect

Baumgartner talks of some highly- tolerance through native genes that productive but short-season soils which exist in corn. Today, when people think he compares to areas north of I-94 in of conventional corn, they think in North Dakota and into southern terms of being highly problematic and Canada. “Relating this to corn maturi- needing high levels of management. ties, we’re talking sub-80-day corn. But we’re concentrating on breeding There’s few of those products available, more durable corn lines and this is cerso thus this emphasis on our breeding tainly a good season to be showing the programs here and especially in our tri- unconventionals competing against the als in Kazakstan. With all the stress conventionals.” breeding work we’ve done over the Because of transit time (60 to 90 years, we’re getting good sales in these days), 3MG hybrids to Kazakhstan stress-related environments here in the move out from their Danube, Minn. Dakotas, Montana, western Minnesota distribution facility first — in mid-and into Saskatchewan, Canada. January. Because Kazakhstan is land

“We have enough hybrids in enough locked, once off the ocean freighter, combinations of truck and rail transit moves these precious seeds to selected Kazakhstan locations. Yes, complicated to say the least.

“We have a ‘joint venture’ seed brand over there,” Baumgartner explained. “We sell the seed to them under contract in their currency with a down payment. When they receive the seed, they pay us in U.S. dollars. We own half of this joint venture business, so we make absolutely certain that everyone is taken care of fairly and squarely. The biggest hang-up for us is understanding all the Kazakhstan rules and regulations regarding importations and production of seed in their country. Eventually, we hope to have a production plant in Kazakhstan. It’s a two to three-year process, but we’re making progress.”

Yes, there’s apparently no slowdown speed in this 3MG organization. Baumgartner talks of 25 to 30 new products being registered this fall. But not all corn — soybeans, barley and possibly some new root products in the offering also. And these too are destined for Kazakhstan; plus expanding sales across North America.

This surprising closing comment from Baumgartner: “Almost all the farming people we deal with are younger folks — a complete opposite situation from the U.S.” He explained that in Kazakhstan agriculture is looked down upon. Everyone wants to leave the farm. (Much like we went through in the 70’s here in America.) “So our biggest job is not selling seed, but doing the training so they better understand the importance of a productive agriculture to their own well-being. We work at some of their internship learning centers. It’s a slow process, but progress is happening!” v

Updated book focuses on soil health fundamentals

Focusing on sustainable soil management has shown to increase farm and ranch profitability, improve crop yield and provide other critical services related to water, air and climate. SARE’s newest book, the fourth edition of “Building Soils for Better Crops,” provides rich detail on ecologically sound practices for developing and maintaining healthy soils.

The new edition of this book provides updates to reflect the new science and many new developments in soil health over the past 12 years. “Building Soils for Better Crops” includes detailed information on soil-improving practices as well as in-depth background, from what soil is to the importance of organic matter. Along with providing practical strategies for achieving agricultural sustainability with high-quality soil, the book presents readers with a holistic appreciation of the importance of soil health.

“Building Soils for Better Crops” is written by Fred Magdoff (University of Vermont emeritus professor of plant and soil science) and Harold van Es (Cornell University professor of soil science). It is published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program.

Building Soils for Better Crops is free to read online or to download as a PDF at www.sare.org/soils. Print copies can be ordered online for $23 each, plus shipping and handling. Call (301) 7791007 for tax free, rush or purchase orders. Discounts for bulk orders apply. This article was submitted by Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. v