Of corn and snow

[checking]

Here's a new twist on a water complaint. This from an Omaha DTN post segment Thursday Dec 31, 2009.

"In the last 80-acre field we combined, the neighbour to the immediate north ripped and then disked his cornstalks and left very little residue on the soil surface. Since there is no fence line between the two fields and only a couple markers, the big blizzard two weeks ago blew all the snow from his field into our field, completely burying from eight to 24 rows of corn. It was awful. There ought to be a law against that action."

Well, thumbs down to you, Mr Dan Davidson, DTN agronomist.

[Fransisco]

I've seen similar things happen in our area in spring. You get a big wind right after seeding and the topsoil from the guys who harrow behind their airseeders winds up on the fields of the guys who used drills.

I don't think there should be a law against it, but it's sure frustrating when your perfectly placed seed all of a sudden has another inch of dirt to fight through thanks to your neighbor.

[mustardman]

Some day there will be a law against it, and rightly so. We are stewards of the land for a very short time in history before it is passed on to others.Top soil blowing away should be accompanied by a jail term

[fjlip]

Nothing worse than blowing dirt. Do not miss summerfallow a bit. A lot of maximum tillage on the organic land, though. Wind and water erosion prone.

[Fransisco]

No one had to legislate zero till into practice. Farmers can figure out what the right thing to do is on their own farms way better than any legislator.

[checking]

It is so easy to blame someone else for your struggles. So very easy.

What did the agronomist farmer do in the preceding years to lessen his stuggles? Did he consider a north and westerly shelter belt? Did he consider asking his neighbour if he would mind leaving a headland of unworked harvested corn stubble sufficient enough to create a snow fence effect? Did he volunteer to make it right with them, if they would? Did he think?

No, apparently not. Instead he chose to write about it as if it was his neighbour's fault that he had 10 to 15 acres of headland corn buried in snow that he couldn't harvest.

Strange that his neighbour not only was able to complete his corn harvest, but was able to disk the residue under (as is a common agricultural fall practice in corn states) before the arrival of any 20" snow blizzard. Yet, Mr. Davidson could not.

Oh, but he has a solution. Make it illegal. What does the agronomist do with his corn stubble? Disk just before seeding. Maybe that is the reason he is a half a season behind his north and west facing neighbours come spring, and therefore needs a law to slow them to his footing.