A farmer’s work is never done. They are always trying to make things better, both for improved crop production, but also to do it in a more environmentally friendly fashion, both to save our resources, but to also increase their bottom line.
Having a front row seat to the farming process, I am amazed at the effort put into making the farming process better. Placing field tile to improve field drainage was a huge investment in time and resources, but it also had a huge impact on the farm, and on crop production.
As I visited Don and his crew, I learned a lot about the process and it’s impact on our environment. One of the most interesting facts that I learned was that a 1 inch rain drops over 27000 gallons of water on an acre of ground. Totally blew me away with that stat. No wonder you see fields with small lakes after a huge rain.
Those ponds and lakes on productive fields do nothing but cause problems for the farmer. If they are lucky, the field will dry out in time to replant if the area is large enough to bother. Many times that does not happen. This cuts production and profit at the end of the year. Not something that makes a farmer happy for sure.
There is a lot of information to share on this topic, so stay tuned for additional posts on the subject.
On the Family Farm 