why let the crops die?

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: Gothmog

Usually beans and corn only produce once a season

Corn produces once. Beans and peas produce several times throughout the season as long as continuously harvested/picked.

Again , depends on the types.

originally posted by: Gothmog

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: Gothmog

Usually beans and corn only produce once a season

Corn produces once. Beans and peas produce several times throughout the season as long as continuously harvested/picked.

Again , depends on the types.

The most common types:
Traditional green beans, zipper peas, cow peas (blackeye and pink eye), and butter beans to an extent, at least where I live.

Although it's still customary to stagger planting, usually every two weeks, for prolonged harvest.

ETA: even English peas.

originally posted by: loam


Unless you want to qualify for the subsidy in succeeding years.

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ah i see

had not thought of that

a reply to: TinySickTears

Southeastern Michigan/Ohio border... Sweet corn comes early on... Normal later around end of summer, the later (up to now or later) animal feed or they just turn beans n the like over or leave to re-hoe/plow in spring/re-plant

Farmers usually let the cattle corn dry in the fields before taking it in and processing it. I used to get cattle corn from the farmers field who I rented from, with his approval, and it was kind of bland tasting but it did cook up all right. That was back in 80, he did not spray any pesticides on it. I could have gotten sweet corn from his yard, but he didn't have a lot there so I was satisfied with the cattle corn. There were other farmers who grew sweet corn to sell to Libbies, but I never got any of that, even though I had permission to take some for myself. I went and asked the farmer and he said I could take a few if I wanted, I took three that day when he showed me how the best way to pick them without hurting the plant.

I always asked the farmer and wasn't afraid of helping them out when they needed some help.

Welll about my flowers. I let many of them look dead at the end of the summer because I want their seeds for next spring.
Maybe the same with veggies?

a reply to: TinySickTears

Those crops are harvested dry and stored. The dryness factor determines the price paid to the farmer. Corn and soybeans are stored for extended periods of time and moisture will cause them to mold and ruin the entire crop if they're not dried properly before storage. So, if the product has a high percentage of moisture the buyer pays less for the crop because he will have to spend money to get it dry enough for extended storage. Our crop this year (corn) ran about 6-9% above the optimum moisture content (13.5%) so we were "docked" for excess moisture content when it was sold.

If a farmer doesn't have the facilities (giant grain bins and drying bins) to dry the grain, he just hauls it directly to market and takes whatever price is being offered. Many times, just getting the crop out of the field is more cost effective than taking a chance on letting it get dry.

Our farmer raises food corn, white corn to be made into grits by Martha White, so our price is set before the crop goes into the ground. The only variants are moisture content and contamination by weeds.

For those saying that these crops were planted just to get subsidies---and left to rot in the field. I can tell you it doesn't work that way. You need to educate yourselves a bit. You evidently have NO IDEA how much it costs just to get those crops in the ground. The subsidies wouldn't even cover that cost.

a reply to: diggindirt

Very sensible and reasonable explanation. It sounds like you know what you are talking about.

a reply to: angeldoll

Glad you found it informative. There seems to be a large knowledge gap about how the food we eat each day comes from the dirt to the table.

I grew up living and working on a small subsistence farm. We grew hay and corn to feed cattle and hogs. Depending on how many cows we had, some of the corn might go to market but mainly it went to the feed mill to be made into feed. Tobacco was our cash crop and working in the tobacco field was what drove me from farming to other jobs at age 13. We grew dark-fired tobacco (hung in a big barn for several weeks with low smoky fires below) for cigars so having flawless leaves meant more money at market.

Man, I HATED snakes and there were always a few of the devils hiding under those big bottom tobacco leaves. The kids did most of the pulling of suckers and bottom leaves from the plant because we were small and could get down the rows without bruising the growing plants. But every time a serpent darted out from under a leaf, I would go all Richard Prior and ruin/damage several plants. I hated that job so bad. I knew there had to be a better way to make a living; something that didn't involve snakes.

Now I live on that farm but a good friend and neighbor does the farming. He raises a rotation of corn, soy beans and wheat. As a landlord, I know a bit about what the farmers have to do today. Even landlords have to do yearly paperwork that seems utterly stupid and repetitive. When I bought the farm the only paperwork I had to provide to the farm service was a copy of the deed proving that I owned the land and a power of attorney to the farmer who was tending the lands so he could insure the crop. So long as ownership or farmer didn't change, no further paperwork was necessary. Now I have to fill out forms every year and submit the same paperwork every year to prove that I own the farm and that I am still renting to the same farmer. If we have a crop loss due to drought or flood, the paperwork triples. I also have to verify the photos made by contractors hired by FDA farm service of the crops and any improvements made to the land. Corporate farming may be collecting big bucks from farm subsidies but independent farmers like my neighbors aren't.

I love living on the farm and particularly like the years that we grow corn because it's like having a big privacy wall with the corn on four sides of the house. And after the mechanical pickers are finished I can take my four-wheeler and collect what's left to feed the squirrels, deer and other critters throughout the winter. Lots of chicken owners do this kind of re-harvest for corn to make feed for their chickens. We do leave some for the wildlife, our rule is to leave one third behind for deer, turkey and other critters who might find it tasty.

Soy beans are tricky to harvest because if left on the plants until they are completely dried out, the pods will shatter when the combine hits them and more end up on the ground than in the grain bin. They are more likely to be harvested "wet" than corn. But it takes a lot of energy to get them dry enough for long-term storage. In our area propane is the source of energy for the drying process.

Even though I'm no longer directly involved with commercial farming, I still grow a bit of my own food. That bit of knowledge might be the most important thing my parents and family taught me. And every year that I grow a garden I learn things.

a reply to: diggindirt

Wheat harvest works like this too.

We would climb up into the backs of the trucks with a probe and stick it clear down to the bottom of the load. Then the sample we took would be tested by weight, for moisture, and have a count to see how many of the grains were not wheat to determine contamination.

All of this was noted and factored onto the ticket written up and given to the farmer which determined how much he was making on that load brought in.

When a farmer doesn't farm the land, it simply lies fallow without actually having anything raised on it or it might be part of a rotation scheme.

a reply to: diggindirt

Have you ever been working at hay baling?

You haven't begun to live until you look down and see a pissed off snake curled around your leg that just got free of a new bale it got made up into.

a reply to: ketsuko

Yes, I remember when the probing was done that way. Now the combines have computers that determine moisture levels and contamination levels as the crop is harvested! It's amazing to me to just go and ride a couple of rounds in the tractor these days when they are planting or harvesting. They even have GPS that can be set when the planting is done then called back up so the combine will be in the same position when harvest time comes.

Yes, I've hauled hay but never encountered a snake that was alive after going through the baler. I've found them much later, when breaking open bales for the cattle---just a skeleton of a snake---a good snake in my view.

a reply to: diggindirt

It's been a while since my last contact with harvest or a working farm ... say college ... so maybe close to two decades ago?

nefb.wordpress.com...

a reply to: TinySickTears

Perhaps it was an insured and failed crop? Especially food crops...you can't sell something that has a fungus growing on it.

Perhaps it was simply test crops meant to test seed?

Perhaps it was simply a cover crop to cover for more illicit crops hidden inside?