Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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imbibing water - you know, expanding - you don't want that process to
stop until that thing is out of the ground and growing.” Proper planting
techniques have been discovered by trial and error.
Pest management is evolving on Rissman's farm. Foxtail and velvet weed
are no longer a problem. “My weeds had shifted to lambs quarter and
pigweed and those are fertility weeds. So I really don't have grass problems
anymore. Just rotary hoeing and cultivating. I might try some biodynamic
spray. It's not much of a problem. Last year it was tough because we got
a four-inch rain right after we planted; I mean the night after I planted.
So I couldn't get in there to rotary hoe for two weeks. It wasn't that bad.
The weeds were there right with the crop. They didn't come up afterwards.
Which means they matured with the crop. Everything was dried up when
the beans were ready. So we didn't have to wait for a killing frost or anything
like that.” Joel's pragmatic approach to weeds is one that is based on his
experience: a few weeds don't really cause any problem, as long as they can
be easily sorted out at harvest time.
Joel has not had to buy much machinery on his own. “I am buying my
dad's equipment on lease agreement. Now the repairs are starting to come.
Everything is twenty or thirty years old.” But he does all the repairs himself.
In addition, he uses his own seeds from year to year. “All of my small grains
and flax and one variety of soybean I will use.” The exception is when there
is a problem. “I am undecided this year. If my wheat kills off, I might have
to buy a spring wheat. And depending on the market, which I don't have
any contracts yet for the beans, will determine if I have to buy seed. One
variety I couldn't use because of the brown swirl. I have seen it bleed over
into the next generation. I have proven that to myself, and another farmer
has proven the same thing.”
They have no permanent hired workers on the farm. “But we are look-
ing to get an apprentice or something like that. We hire temporary help.
Transient workers just for a couple of weeks. That is about it. Last year we
had an apprentice and right up at the last minute he told us that he only
wanted to work one weekend in July and one weekend in August and which
weekends would I want him to come? I told him to forget it. He wasn't going
to learn anything in a weekend, after he said he was going to work the whole
summer for us. We have gone to the organicvolunteers.com [Web site] to
see what we can come up with. Maybe one person. Other than that it is just
Adela, me, and the kids. That is a pretty heavy workload.”
Through their hard work and innovation, the Rissmans have a successful
farm, one that is constantly evolving. Joel is pleased with his decision to
shift completely away from growing corn. “I think my sorghum yield is 140
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