Advising farmers

Advising farmers

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Agronomist Jim Vandecovering talked with wheat growers about farming with a progressive state of mind because it is going to be important in today’s wheat economy. “Especially in the economy we are in right now, the wheat price is very important and one of the things that I try to get across is that these stages are critical for development of the crop but also for inputs. If you are off in terms of timing, sometimes that can have a negative impact on that crop. It’s important to understand those growth stages and what can and cannot be applied at that particular time because we are trying to maximize that factory and ultimately increase, maximize and protect yield as much as possible.”

He says hearing feedback from growers about research and technology that companies are developing and selling is very important. “It’s critical, and I’m glad it happened in this order today because I took away a couple of key points that I never thought of from the farmer perspective. Although I deal with farmers all the time and grew up on a farm, they are living it day to day. Hearing them talk about, even within the geography we had here today, there were a lot of differences on how they approach crop production. Great to get the insights from them on what they are doing differently on their farms. These are all pretty progressive growers. They are at the cutting edge of using technologies and it was nice to hear that they are looking for new technologies and innovations coming out from basic manufacturers.

And he says consumers need to know that growers are practicing the best stewardship practices available not only to maximize yields but also to raise a safe and affordable food.

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