View from the Cab: Plot season is here

Plot tour season is in full swing as I eat my way around Central Illinois.

I am happy to support pork producers by enjoying a delicious pork chop during the numerous meetings I attend each year just before harvest. Everyone seems to have their own way of seasoning a chop and I like it. A few seed dealers even offer chicken breast and steaks. Deep fried chicken gizzards were quite the hit during a late August customer appreciation dinner hosted by one retailer.

You can’t go wrong with the desserts either – I have witnessed everything from homemade ice cream to cookies and cake. The peach cobbler I had during a meeting in late August was good too. These companies are never short on beverages either with a wide variety for everyone’s tastes.

In addition to gaining a few pounds before we bring the 2019 crop in, growers learn a thing or two this time of year about which hybrids and varieties to plant in the coming year. I personally like to wait until the combines roll through the fields to see which seeds were the highest yielders and which weren’t.

New soybean varieties and strong corn genetics seem to be the talk of the seed industry this summer. The newest soybean trait for 2020 is expected to be another tool farmers can use to fight the never-ending weed problem. Also, one company is promising great returns from a new type of corn.

Good thing I have been eating so much at these dinners because we have been busy cleaning up equipment on the farm and I need some extra energy. If you visit the beach, you will notice sand everywhere for the next few months. That’s pretty much how cleaning the tractor is after a wet spring. I keep finding more mud in various places – especially on the back tires. Just when you think you have pressure washed all of the dirt off the tractor, more shows up.

I am trying to work ahead on office work as well because one of these days, I will be gone from sunrise to sunset as we harvest the 2019 crops. That day will likely come later than sooner.

(The View from the Cab is powered by Petersen Motors of Fairbury)