From a Kernel to a Chip: Harvest Time!

White corn harvest has arrived!! First, I apologize for not posting my "From a Kernel to a Chip: September Update" blog post. Right when it was about time for me to post my September update, we got super busy with soybean and popcorn harvest as well as drilling wheat. So I figured I would tie it in with my Harvest blog!

In my last blog (August Update) I mentioned that we were starting to wrap up irrigation. This year's irrigation season lasted a little longer than previous years and we didn't stop watering the white corn until the end of August. Most years we usually start wrapping up irrigation on corn around the middle of August. Once we shut down the wells, we began picking up pipe on pivot corners and other gravity farms. We also prepared equipment and bin sites for harvest so once it started, we would be ready to go!

On September 25th we were able to get started on our soybeans as well as started drilling wheat. We do some custom drilling for neighbors, so that kept me busy while my dad and our help stayed busy harvesting the soybeans. Once the soybeans were done we moved on to the popcorn and corn. Then on October 18th we were finally harvesting our white corn! Usually we harvest white corn last as it usually matures slower than regular corn. We always try to harvest our white corn at 17% moisture or below. If it is higher than 17%, we usually wait to let it dry down. So far what we have harvested has been around that moisture or below, so it has allowed us to keep on harvesting. The white corn yields have been decent with a few fields not doing as well as we would have liked them to do. I think some of the cooler weather we encountered back in August could have impacted yields a bit, especially where we saw some tip back. We also had a couple fields that had some wind damage. Unfortunately the hybrid we planted also had a weak stalk, which caused it to lay over and made picking it not so fun. So hopefully the seed company can provide better white corn hybrids in the future that can stand winds a little bit better.

If all continues to go good the next few days, it looks like we should wrap up white corn harvest by the first part of next week. After harvest is completed, we will clean things up and then move into preparing for next year's crop. This usually involves fertilizing and some tillage work. We also will do some dirt work to fix low spots and ditches.

Overall it has been a very different growing year, but thankfully the Lord has looked out for us and allowed us to bring in a crop. I hope all of you who followed my "From a Kernel to a Chip" blog series enjoyed it as well as learned where your chips come from! If you have questions that might not have been answered in this blog, please feel free to leave a comment! Thanks again for following and even though the series has come to an end, I hope you will continue to follow my farm blogs in the future as well as blogs about Agriculture policy, leadership, and faith!

If you would like to see previous "From a Kernel to a Chip" blog posts, click here. 

Below are pictures of the white corn during harvest:

The combine picking through the field of white corn.

An ear of white corn that will soon be harvested.

When the combine picks the corn, it gets shelled off the cob and goes into the grain tank where it gets stored until it gets unloaded on to the grain cart or truck.

When the combine's grain tank is full, the corn gets unloaded into the grain cart which then hauls it to the trucks.

A handful of white corn kernels!

A nice ear of white corn I found out in the field. A farmer can hope that all the ears of corn can look like this.

Corn is being dumped into the pit from the truck, which will then get stored in a bin until we haul it to the elevator later on in the year.

One of the many nice sunsets that we get to see during fall harvest. Makes a person appreciate the sights we get to see in the country.

From a Kernel to a Chip: August Update

Nebraska State Fair, Husker Football, Husker Harvest Days.... that must mean fall is upon us! It is hard to believe how fast the summer went and how quick fall is approaching. Before we know it, we will be harvesting our fall crops, which includes popcorn, corn, soybeans, and last but not least WHITE corn! However, the crops must mature and dry down before harvest can take place, which looks to be awhile.

August was a different month for us as we saw cool and cloudy weather the first couple of weeks and then went straight to dry and hot weather to finish off the month. While the cooler temps were a nice break from some of the heat we dealt with in July, we could have used the sunshine. In order for plants to grow and produce, they need an adequate amount of sunlight as that is the energy source for the plant. When plants, corn in this case, don't receive that adequate amount of sunlight, it can cause the ears of corn to not fill out completely. I have heard many farmers say they have seen some "tip back" in their fields, which could be from the lack of sunlight, hybrid trait, or both. Tip back is when kernels don't fill out to the tip of the ear of corn. This can lead reduced yields if it is wide spread throughout the field. We have seen some tip back in our white corn fields and I am guessing it had to do with us having mostly cloudy weather the first part of August.

Other than seeing some tip back, the white corn crop looks to be good! I forgot to mention that even though we had cool and cloudy weather, we were very fortunate to catch a couple of rains the first part of August that allowed us to take a few days off from irrigating. Unfortunately though, with the rain came some wind, which leaned the white corn over. Now a few of the fields look mangled up and will be a little more challenging to harvest.

As we move into September, we will complete our irrigation's on the corn crops and run the pivots a time or two on the soybeans. By the middle of September, we should be all done irrigating for the season! This year's harvest looks to be a week or two behind compared to previous years. Most likely we wont see much harvesting taking place until the end of September unless things really start to mature and dry down quick. Only time will tell but until then, the next couple of weeks look to be busy getting projects wrapped up and harvest equipment ready before we get into the full swing of harvest 2013!

Below of pictures of the white corn during August:

With the corn being over 10ft tall, it looks like a jungle in the field!

A nice big ear of white corn!

When I broke the ear of corn in half, this is what person sees. The corn cob in the middle and then rows of kernels all around the cob.

If you look closely at a kernel, you can see the starch line that signifies that is is maturing. As the kernel continues to dry down, the line will move lower and everything above it will become hard.

An ear of white corn that I picked from one of our fields. Hope the rest will look like that one!

What the inside of a kernel looks like!

Be sure to check back on October 1st for the next "From a Kernel to a Chip" blog!

To see my previous "From a kernel to a Chip" updates, click here!

From a Kernel to a Chip: July Update

In my last From a Kernel to a Chip update, I said we started off with a wet spring and then went to a dry summer. That was true until the middle of July when things started to cool off and we started seeing rain again! The cooler weather was definitely welcomed as the corn began pollinating. Sometimes, like last summer, when it is too hot and does not cool down during the night it can lead to kernels being aborted and an ear of corn not filling out completely. Thankfully it looks like most of the corn has pollinated well this year.

As I mentioned earlier, the beginning of July started off warm and dry. That meant the pivots were running full bore and irrigating seemed like a never ending job. Right after the fourth of July it felt like we almost couldn't keep up due to it being so dry and hot. While we were fortunate to not have too many breakdowns, we did run into a couple stuck pivots. Trying to get a pivot out that is in corn is not fun, especially when it is hot and humid. Unfortunately though, we can't let the pivot be stuck too long or otherwise we would have gotten behind and stressed the corn. However, by the end of July we started getting much needed rain, which allowed us to turn the wells off for a few days. It also helped out the dryland corn. However, some of the dryland corn ended up burning up because it didn't get rain earlier in July.

So far all of our irrigated white corn looks good and we were fortunate to miss bad weather that crossed South Central Nebraska the last week of July. If we can continue to get rain and have decent temperatures, we should end up having a decent crop this year! Only mother nature knows what will be in store for August, and right now it looks like we are going to be seeing cooler temps with a chance of rain almost everyday! So time will tell!

Below are pictures of the white corn during July:

Tassels are just starting to shoot out of the corn. Within a couple of days, all of the tassels popped out of the corn.

In June I showed/talked about creating a ridge in the corn so that water can flow down it. Here is an example of that. We use furrow irrigation on pivot corners or fields where a pivot doesn't work the best.This involves laying out pipe on the headland an then opening up gates to let the water flow out into the rows.

What an ear of corn looks like before the pollination process begins. In order for kernels of corn to develop the pollen must fall on the white silks, which then leads to the development of a kernel.

Once the pollination process has been completed the silks will turn from white to a purple/brown color.

Once pollen has fallen on the silk, it creates the kernels. This is actually called the "blister" stage because the ear of corn looks like it has blisters but is actually the beginning stages of kernel development.

What I usually saw after an evening of irrigating. You just can't beat Nebraska summer sunsets!

Be sure to check back on September 3rd for the next "From a Kernel to a Chip" blog!

From a Kernel to a Chip: June Update

Wet Spring - Dry Summer. So far that is how this growing season has gone. It seemed like back in April/May we weren't going to even get a crop in the ground because of how wet it was. Now, it looks like the dryland crops might burn up if we don't get a rain the first part of July. However,  I can't say that has been the case for everyone. Some places around the U.S. are still wet and would be glad to give us some of their moisture. Too bad there isn't a way that we can exchange weather patterns with others!

Since my last "Kernel to a Chip" update, June has ended up being a busy month! The first part of June we cultivated the white corn on the farms that got ridged. The purpose of cultivating is to clean up any weeds that might be growing, which allows us to not have to spray the crop a second time and keeps weeds from using water that could otherwise be used by the corn plants. It also loosens up the soil so that it is easier to ridge the corn for the field that we lay pipe on to furrow irrigate. Due to pivots, we only have to furrow irrigate pivot corners and fields that pivots won't work on due to the lay out of the field. After we ridged the corn (ridging corn creates a ditch for water to flow down), we then laid out the pipe. After the pipe was laid out, irrigation began taking place. We have been irrigating our white corn the last couple of weeks of June due to how dry it has been. We haven't had a good rain for a couple weeks now and the forecast isn't calling for much moisture anytime soon.

As we move into July, we can only hope that Mother Nature will bring us some much needed moisture before our dryland crops shrivel up and start looking like they did last summer! However, not matter what the weather does, we will get through it and hopefully end up having a bountiful fall harvest!

Below are pictures of the white corn during June: 

Cultivating the white corn to remove any weeds that might be developing out in the field.

On the left is what was cultivated and on the right is what was ridged. The purpose of creating a ridge to allow the water to flow to the other end of the fields so that the crops can get water.

The corn has really taken off due to warmer temps!

A sight that is seen almost every evening during irrigation! Gotta love summer time!

Even after the corn has grown and now has many roots, you can still see the seed coat of the seed that was planted back in late April.

It might look like a jungle, but it is only corn plants. As the white corn grows taller, it begins to canopy. This shades off the ground and can prevent weeds from growing while also helping keep the moisture from evaporating so quickly after a rain or irrigation event.

In a couple more weeks we will see this come out the top of the corn plant! This is the tassel which will pollinate the corn plants!

This year we are using a water probe that measures the soil water content and salinity. It will help us schedule our irrigating and tell us how much water is in the soil profile. It is also a tool that is helping us increase our water efficiency.

Be sure to check back on August 6th for the next "From a Kernel to a Chip" blog! 

 

From a Kernel to a Chip: May Update

Who would have thought that we would go from a drought in 2012 to seeing almost too much moisture in the spring of 2013?! Over the last few weeks, we have received over 5 inches of rain, way more than what we saw between July and November of last year! However, the moisture we have received has been a blessing and much needed as our soils were bone dry due to the drought last summer. Pasture ponds are starting to fill back up and the grass that we have our cattle out on is looking much better. However, due to the large amount of rain that we have received the last couple of weeks, there has been some fields that have had some flooding issues. This has lead to the drowning out of some crops. Overall, we will take the moisture and I hope that mother nature wont shut it off!

The white corn is looking good and is starting to grow. It started off sluggish and took a little longer to sprout than normal, but that is due to the colder temps that we experienced in late April and early May. However, the white corn has emerged and is looking good; it just needs some more sunshine and warmer days, which corn thrives on. We will soon be cultivating and ridging some of our white corn to get rid of weeds and also create a ditch so that we can irrigate the places that the pivot doesn't reach. Overall, the white corn crop is starting out good and hopefully will turn out good come next fall!

Below are pictures of the white corn during May:

After a week, the white corn seed began to sprout. The root is the first thing to emerge, which is shown in the picture.

Once the root has emerged, then the shoot emerges. Basically the shoot looks like a green spike sticking out of the ground when the corn is emerging.

A few days later the corn plant's leaf's started to show and the root started to grow deeper into the soil.

Thanks to GPS, we can have nice straight rows of white corn! In a few more weeks, this corn will be much taller and will be a darker color of green.

One of my favorite pictures I have taken! I was lucky to be able to catch a double rainbow and put my favorite brand of equipment in the picture! This was actually taken while I drilled soybeans, but I had to share!

Be sure to check back on July 2nd for the next "From a Kernel to a Chip" update!

From a Kernel to a Chip: April Update

As most of you probably know, this has definitely been a spring that will be remembered! Actually, I don't even know if we can call it spring because spring doesn't include freezing temps and snow! At the beginning of April last year, we had a good start on corn planting but that was the complete opposite this year. We were lucky to get a few days in the field at the beginning of April, and that only included wrapping up some fertilizing and tillage. Unfortunately, due to very cold temps and snowy/icy/rainy weather, we weren't able to start planting white corn until April 27th. Most years, we try to start a lot sooner than that but that wasn't the case this year. Not only was the weather colder, but so was the soil temperature. Under most circumstances, we want the soil temperature to be at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit since that is the temperature that corn seed will begin to sprout. However, corn/white corn can get planted in soils that are 41 degrees Fahrenheit or greater but it will slow the emergence of the corn crop. Most of the soil temps in our area were just above the 41 degree temp but not quite to 50 degrees by the time we started planting. Usually our soil temps are a lot warmer by the time planting starts!

While white corn planting may have started late this year, we were able to get a lot done once we did get some better weather. We have finished all of our white corn and also finished our field corn. Now we will move on to planting popcorn and drilling soybeans. The way the forecast sounds, I think spring might finally be arriving with much warmer temps! However, I hope that mother nature won't shut off all of the moisture we have received in the month of April. The moisture we have received has been great for our soils and is helping recharge the moisture in our subsoil which almost was completely depleted last summer due to the drought!

Below are pictures of white corn planting!

This is something that a person really doesn't want to see in the middle of April. While we are thankful for the moisture, we would much rather have rain!

Pioneer is the only seed company that has white corn hybrids. So here is a bag full of seed waiting to be planted!

A box full of seed that will soon be put in the ground! Hopefully each seed will produce a good ear of white corn that will end up yielding well!

The tractor and planter. The front tank on the tractor is where we put our liquid starter, which is a fertilizer. This helps get the seed to emerge quicker.

A view from the cab! It is nice having GPS which makes for nice straight rows of white corn.

The white corn seed is placed roughly two inches deep into the soil.

Once the planter puts the seed in the ground, closing wheels will push dirt on top of the seed.

Be sure to check back on June 4th for the next "From a Kernel to a Chip" update!

From a Kernel to a Chip!

Chips and Salsa! The most common type of snack at a get together along with the most common type of appetizer found on a menu at most restaurants. Yet, have you ever wondered how that chip ended up in that bowl? If I had to take a guess, you probably haven't. Even when I have chips and salsa, I don't even think about how that chip got there. However, chips don't just magically appear in a bag, and a chip's life doesn't begin in a grocery store.

The corn tortilla chips you have with your salsa dips, nachos, or taco salads actually come from kernels of white corn that are grown in fields across the Midwest! In matter of fact, some of those kernels in your chips might have actually come from my family's farm in Nebraska!

 Every year my family's farm grows white corn that eventually gets sold and made into the corn tortilla chips that can be found in your grocery store's chip isle! Now, growing white corn doesn't just mean putting a few seeds in the ground and then waiting until next fall to harvest it. It takes hard work and care to make sure that we produce a high quality crop that will eventually end up in the food supply! We also make sure that we are supplying consumers with a safe product that they will eventually serve at their get togethers with friends and family!

As consumers continue to grow more curious about where their food comes from, I have decided to do a series again this year called "From a Kernel to a Chip" that will show how white corn is grown as well as the different growth stages of a white corn plant. The series will begin with planting and continue through harvest, which will take place next fall! This blog series will be similar to my "From the Field to the Movie Theater" blog series last year that focused on popcorn production. The first Tuesday of each month I will publish a blog that gives an update about the growth stage of the crop along with some other interesting facts. Not only will I be posting an update, but I will also be posting pictures that will show what the white corn plant looks like as well as the development of the ear of white corn! So I hope that you will find the blog series interesting as well as being able to learn about where your food comes from, in this case where your corn chips come from!

So be sure to check back on May 7th as I will post what has all happened in the month of April! Hopefully by that time, spring will have arrived with warmer weather and we will have put the seeds of white corn in the ground!!

If you are interested in popcorn production, click here!