The Rural Voice, 1989-08, Page 27we were met by close to 100 farmers
who had come to attend his annual
field day. We even met two fellows
from London, Ontario.
Carroll's meetings start off on a
different foot than most other agricul-
tural meetings. He opened with prayer
and a reading from II Chronicles 7:14
and Proverbs 6:16. Then he asked:
Why do you farm the way you do? Is
it because of your neighbours? Is it
because of high-powered salesmen?
Is it because of your education? And
is it pleasing to man or to God?
Carroll spent considerable time
discussing the herbicide compounds
coming on the market. Because of
their extreme persistence and many
unknowns which are only now show-
ing up, he believes that having an
active soil biological system is the
only way American agriculture will be
able to cope in the future.
He stated that it's only in the past
several years that he is beginning to
see earthworms in his soil again. Prior
to his switch in 1979 and his total
abandonment of herbicides in 1983,
the earthworms were gone. Half
jokingly, I turned to the fellow sitting
beside me and said, "He's got to be
kidding". The southerner replied,
"Shucks, I ain't seen fishworms on
my farm since I was a boy."
The soils in this part of Missouri
are a sandy, silty clay, and very prone
to crusting and compaction. When
Carroll started farming the natural
biological way in 1979, his organic
matter ranged from .7 per cent to .9
per cent. Fields now range around 1.6
to 1.7 per cent. The soil type, com-
bined with conventional tillage, a
temperate climate, high spring and
autumn rainfall, and flood irrigation,
makes it very difficult to raise organic
matter levels above 1 per cent. These
low OM levels plus the use of herbi-
cides, insecticides, and high fertilizer
rates may explain the non-existence of
earthworms.
No dry P and K has been applied
on Carroll's soil since 1979, but in
that time P levels have doubled. How-
ever, the potassium levels have gradu-
ally declined to the point where he
may apply some sulfate of potash this
fall. No ordinary potassium chloride
for him. It's too high in chloride salts.
Carroll uses a corn/soy/wheat rota-
tion, but he does plant some double
crop (soys after wheat, June 24 plant-
ing). His field of 21 -day-old soybeans
looked better than most of our 60 -day-
old soys. He also plants hairy vetch
after his crops are harvested in order
to give his fields a soil -binding cover.
And as vetch is a leguminous crop, he
gains about 50 lbs. of N by the next
spring, which in turn lets him cut
down on his purchased nitrogen.
Carroll has been on ridge tillage
the past four years. He's found it an
excellent system to control weeds
inexpensively. But because of the
high rainfall, crusting, etc., consistent
stands and irregular emergence has
been a problem. As well, a lot of
residue has been swept off his field
with heavy rains. On one occasion
this past spring, they received 14
inches in 48 hours. Carroll's now
considering going back to a chisel
plow or sweep plow configuration
which will bury more trash. And yes,
he does spread his residue behind the
combine and chop his stalks.
We may gripe and complain
that we haven't got the new
herbicide ammunition the
boys in the U.S. have, but
I'm telling you, there's a
whole bunch of those products
that I never want to see here.
Well, once out in his fields it was
apparent this guy wasn't fooling.
While he did have a few more weeds
than his brother across the laneway,
his corn was better than anything I've
seen grown around here. Mind you,
we were looking at 120 -day corn
planted in April and flood -irrigated.
His brother's field of corn was
certainly picture perfect. As he farrtrs
using conventional methods, there
wasn't a weed in sight, and his corn
was a deep, dark green from the 220
lbs. of N. Yet the cobs on Carroll's
corn were as large and filled to the
end, and with much less expense.
During the tour someone pulled out
a compaction tester and proceeded to
probe an area, both ridges and valleys,
in a natural biological section of the
plots. To a depth of 2 feet the lowest
reading was 750 psi and the highest
was 900 psi. Walking across the lane -
way into his brother's field and again
probing in and between rows, the low-
est reading came in at 1,200 psi and
the highest at 1,400 psi. Obviously, if
this area of Missouri couldn't irrigate,
it would have some of the most wilted
corn you ever saw.
Walking back into Carroll's field
and to plot 7, which is 36 rows wide
and has always been on conventional
fertilizer and pesticides, the probe was
again put to the test. However, this
time they had to find a 200-1b. man to
run it. The lowest reading was 1,400
psi and the highest 1,600 psi. There
were a number of people walking
around shaking their heads and trying
the compaction tester for themselves.
About this time, the press heard we
were there and wanted information on
our cropping systems and an explana-
tion of our large government subsidies
to Canadian farmers. Did we tune this
guy in. When we got done with him
he couldn't even move his arms.
A loans officer with the local
Production Credit Association (PCA)
also showed up. Asking him how his
loans outstanding were, he confessed
that business was pretty slow. Farm-
ers have done well the past several
years. One farmer, he said, operates
3,000 acres and normally needs an line
of $500,000 to $1,000,000. This year
he didn't need a cent.
Land in this 160 to 200 -bushel
corn area is trading at $1,500 per acre,
if you can find any.
When we got back to the airport
our pilot informed us that because of
heavy thunderstorms to the north we
wouldn't be able to fly out as planned.
After a shift in our course, we found
ourselves heading to Fort Dodge in
Webster County, home of some of the
highest priced land in the state before
the agricultural recession.
Once under the clouds nearing Fort
Dodge I reckoned we had seen the top
of the corn market, unless it doesn't
rain from now until October. Even
though their corn was 7 to 10 days late
going in, it was still way ahead of
ours. The area had had 5 inches of
rain in the past week and many areas
of the state had good, timely rains,
even though their subsoil moisture is
still in a deficit position. The state
AUGUST 1989 25