[AT] junk

[jtchall at nc.rr.com]

I'm really glad they are pushing it. It creates a new market for us.  Wheat, 
corn, soybeans, sorghum, tobacco and hay are the only field crops you can 
grow here that have a market. No market for barley, oats or sunflowers.  For 
whatever reason, commercial vegetable production never caught on, probably 
due to the lay of the land and shorter growing season. Red clay isn't very 
forgiving to sweet potatoes and peanuts either.

I was told a few years ago that NC could use all the corn it could produce 
just in animal feed. Since so much got diverted to ethanol production in the 
Midwest, I think that is why the push for grain sorghum here. You guys in 
the eastern part of the state can compete somewhat with the corn belt on 
yield, but around here a FANTASTIC crop that everyone would talk about would 
be 140-170 bushels. When I talked to my insurance agent about planting corn, 
he told me to do the math and don't go to the field if I couldn't make it 
work on 80 bushel corn. I chose my best land and so far have some really 
nice looking corn. Its taller than I want which scares me, especially after 
a storm we had knocked a bunch down just before it tasseled--fortunately it 
straightened back up. Supposedly there is 3 times the amount of sorghum 
planted around here than it was last year.

John Hall


-----Original Message----- 
From: Al Jones
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 7:04 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] junk


That's right, I don't know where I got 50% from.....but yes Murphy Brown was 
really pushing people to grow it.  The devil in me has really enjoyed the 
way Murphy-Brown and some of the others have gotten so concerned about grain 
prices and availability!

Al

-----Original Message-----
>From: jtchall at nc.rr.com
>Sent: Jul 20, 2013 6:12 PM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] junk
>
>Al, Milo was about 90-95% the price of corn last year. Murphy-Brown was
>begging for it last year and was installing new dryers and wet bins all 
>over
>the eastern part of the state. I think we went from nothing to around 
>50,000
>acres last year. A large push to grow it was you could get some sort of
>government payment to grow it instead of Roundup beans or Corn--this was to
>try to fight resistant weeds. I didn't want to deal with the rules and
>regulations concerning soil erosion so I didn't participate. This year I
>planted some early and the rest double cropped behind wheat. The best part
>about it is the deer don't mess with it! That and being cheaper to grow 
>than
>corn are making it a very attractive alternative to soybeans--it does well
>in marginal land as well. My insurance agent got me to grow it--he was 
>tired
>of me filing deer damage claims!
>
>John Hall
>