> feet tall or more. Densely pack enough corn plants into a
> large field and
> the noise of "few over here" and "few over there" adds up.
> Those who've
> never experienced it are often non-believers.
To put it in perspective for those not used to Iowa/Illinois
corn fields--the most intense corn/soybean farming in the world:
28,000 corn plants per acre
180-240 bushels of corn per acre
To quote a lady I work with who owns with her husband a lot of
quality dirt: "You have to be a moron to not get at least 180
bushels around here". Farming is very much science, though.
You don't just go out, kick the dirt, and say "I think <spit>
I'll go plant <spit> some corn today. <spit><spit>"
Of course, there is a ton of chemicals required to maintain this
type of yield year after year. Critters, fungis (and you
thought zuikos had it bad), and diseases keep evolving so the
seed varieties keep evolving too. There are research farms all
around Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois that will get yields beyond
our wildest imaginations. Some experiments are getting around
500 per acre.
The biggest John Deer combine has something like a 400 bushel
hopper. To afford such a harvester you must farm at least 3000
acres. With a yield of 200 bushels per acre that means the
hopper must be emptied 1500 times! Now remember that thanks to
the dual diesel engines (huge) the beast can actually fill the
hopper as fast as you can empty it. These things are BIG!
Imagine open-pit mining vehicles for your farm! They are
delivered partly disassembled because of their shear size. The
reason why the hopper is only 400 bushels is because they can't
transport them on the highway if they are any bigger. When you
meet one on a two lane road there is NO getting around it.
Vehicle alone takes up ditch to ditch on AMERICAN ROADS! The
harvestor head is so big that it is hauled to each field either
on a trailer or on it's own integrated wheels. Biggest one I've
seen had something like a 25 row head.
Back to the fast growing corn: Last week we had TWO DAYS in
which the corn grew nearly TWO FEET! Can you hear the corn
grow? Whadya think?
I know BBB is in the agribusiness so he probably has some exact
facts and figures on yields, etc., but this is some of what is
happening here in the Peoples Republic of Iowa.
Ken (Silvernose) N.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|