Beltwide: Innovative Grower Panel, 2006

The Innovative Grower Panel has become one of the highlights of the Beltwide’s general sessions. Four growers from very different parts of the country take turns talking about how they’ve tried to make their operations more efficient, productive or profitable. Their comments cover a wide range of topics. They don't lecture or preach, just share ideas that they've put into practice.

There’s no way to bring you every item that these producers touch on during the session, but the following summaries at least provide some of the high points from the 2006 panel.

David Dunlow, Gaston, N.C.:

• Hires seasonal staff: To beef up his work force during the busiests parts of the season, Dunlow brings in workers from Mexico to drive equipment, first during planting and spraying periods, then later in the year at harvest. “They work 12 to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week while they’re here,” said Dunlow, who also grows peanuts and operates a peanut buying and trucking business. “We pay them extremely well, and the same guys come back each season. That prevents us from having to train new workers.”
  
• Shifting to strip-till, wider equipment: Strip-till production has reduced planting passes from 6 to 2, which saves fuel, labor costs and equipment wear. The farm also is moving from 8-row to 12-row equipment, which further reduces operating costs. With wider equipment, it will take 8 tractors instead of 14 to put in crops.
• Emphasizes planning. Dunlow meets with employees every morning to give them assignments. He also asks for feedback about how jobs might be done better. “That makes them feel like they’re part of the decision process,” he said. “We go over the previous day’s work, discuss problems and set goals. If employees are happy and motivated they’re much more productive.” With cell phones and radios he maintains constant communications through the day with his farm manager and 3 crew chiefs. He keeps a “to do” list and prioritizes tasks.
• Has started computerizing field records. In ’05 he began carrying a laptop, using AgriEdge software from Syngenta to record field operations. “In a manner of minutes I can record any activity, and that gives me the ability to quickly pull up useful reports,” he said. “That wasn’t possible when I was keeping up with field work with a composition pad.”

Justin Cariker, Tunica, Miss.:

• Spreads out risk. Cariker plants a range of varieties to spread out maturity, field work and risk. The northwest Mississippi operation grows 4,300 acres of cotton, and the crop is mostly marketed through 2 different pools along with some that’s sold independent of the pool. That also spreads out risk. About 70% of the farm’s land is irrigated, including 2,000 acres under center pivot.
• Stays on top of details. Cariker works closely with his consultant, Winston Earnheart, on all aspects of production, from soil sampling to defoliation. He tracks field work and costs with Land.db, a software tool from Syngenta, and Cariker enters the data himself. “This gives me up-to-date costs per acre on every field,” he said. He never wants to get behind on irrigation. “Once you do, it’s hard to catch up.” If at all possible, harvest aids are applied by ground with 15 to 20 gpa of water to increase the odds of one-pass defoliation.
• Paratills every cotton acre every fall, if possible. Besides opening soils, this helps maintain controlled traffic patterns.
• Pushes for a quick harvest. The goal is to finish picking in 28 to 32 days with 3 pickers, each of which has its own boll buggy and module builder. “We try to harvest before the time changes, since we find that productive falls 10% to 15% at night,” he said.

Doug Wilde, San Angelo, Texas:

• Emphasizes water usage. It hasn’t hurt that the Southern Rolling Plains has had good rainfall in the last couple of years, said Wilde, who farms with his parents and brother. The area averages about 18 inches of rain a year, but in ’05 that much rain had already fallen before the season started. Dryland yields went from a typical average of 400 lbs/acre to 700 lbs/acre. But the Wilde operation also has started investing in subsurface drip irrigation, and those yields have been hitting 1,800 lbs/acre, with some fields topping 2,000. Cost-sharing funds have helped the Wilde operation install subsurface systems on 300 acres, and they expect to add another 400 acres of drip irrigation over the next year. “We didn’t install the systems so much to save water as to use water more efficiently,” he explained. The irrigation tape, which runs under every row, allows them to plant and gain a full stand in 10 days.
  
• Reduces stress and competition. Bollgard II varieties have eliminated worm feeding, he said, and the area has been declared effectively free of boll weevils. Early season pests are handled with Cruiser or Gaucho Grande, along with insecticide applications with Roundup and maybe one more with a Pix application. With their plant growth regulator program, the goal is to have less than 2 inches of internode elongation. In irrigated fields the goal is to hold plant height to no more than 36 inches, which is adequate to carry a 4-bale average, Wilde said. Their subsurface systems have the capacity to supply enough water for at least that yield level, he added. Irrigation is closely timed with evapotranspiration data from a nearby Extension weather stations. Irrigation continues up to 20% cracked bolls. Their fertility program in subsurface fields also is built around a 4-bale goal.
• Utilizes waste. Dairy manure is incorporated in fields, and 100 acres is irrigated with treated effluent water from the city of San Angelo.

Cannon Michael, Los Banos, Calif.:

• Shifting to one-pass field work. After stalks are cut, beds are prepped for the next year with an Optimizer. Michael calls it a “Swiss army knife implement” that weighs 50,000 pounds and takes a minimum of 500 hp to pull. Working beds ahead of time is critical in the upper San Joaquin Valley, he said. “We sometimes get early rains before planting, and the soils we have can be prone to compaction if they’re not worked right,” he said. “The optimizer allows us to get across ground faster than we ever have in the past.” EQIP funding through NRCS helped pay for the implement, he added. Air quality is a big issue in the SJV, and the system has cut out several field trips and saves $50 an acre over the cost of conventionally preparing land.
• Keeping an eye on things with remote imagery. Michael has started using Landsat satellite images to gain an overview of crop vigor and spot potential weak points. The images also are now being used to map out variable rate defoliation treatments.