September 2020 - 20

GROWER'S POSTCARD
Midwest Mechanical Field Day goes virtual this year
SAM OSCHWALD
TILTON
rcvcfarm@gmail.com
machine only needs limited adjustment.
On Sept. 25, from 12:30 p.m.-1:15 p.m.
Greetings dear reader,
It is a bleary-eyed early morning for
me - writing this article trying to stay on
deadline. The hottest part of the summer
should be passing for most of us. I hope your
fall crops are mostly planted, and hopefully
soon the temperatures will drop, causing
weeds to slow their growth and leaving your
well-established crops to make spurts of
final growth while outcompeting any weeds
currently disputing possession of the soil.
Garlic harvest has gone well here in
my lakeside patch on the western shore
of Lake Michigan. I waited perhaps a bit
too long to harvest, hoping to give the
bulbs all the time in the world to size up.
Finally, my friend insisted, " Sam, they're
not gonna get any bigger in the next week
- get them outta the ground so they don't
start to rot! " And I relented to the voice of
reason, which is one reason to have good
friends who know about garlic.
You know how some events just punctuate
your year, like the first barbeque, first
tomato, planting garlic, etc.? The event that
has been coloring my late summer/early
fall for the past four years is the Midwest
Mechanical Weed Control Field Day - an
event the New York Times would have
dubbed " The quintessence of cultivation, a
wonder of weeding " if they attended.
Torsion weeders, finger weeders, basket weeders and many more designs have been
demonstrated at previous Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Days.
In normal times, a gorgeous day in
mid-September finds hundreds of farmers
visiting a generous host farm, where we
all learn from each other and see the latest
weeding machines demonstrated in the
field, speaking with industry experts and
enjoying a lunch together.
As you might imagine, this year, due
to the Coronic circumstances, the field
day has changed. Yep, we have gone
virtual. This was a disappointment for
me when we first realized the necessity
of bowing to reality, but I have since
come to appreciate the benefits of an
online platform. In past years, it was
quite an investment of time for farmers
to travel from all over the Midwest for
this valuable event; whereas this year
farmers from all over the county can
learn about setting up weeding tools in
the shop and field from their phone, for
free, in short 45-minute sessions. Heck,
you can even listen to the audio as you
are driving your tractor.
Of course I will miss seeing a field full of
interested farmers, but it will also be neat
to see farmers from all over the country
gather for a more accessible field day.
Maybe we'll learn some improvements to
bring to the in-person event when it makes
its triumphant return.
On Sept. 11, from 12:30 p.m.-1:15 p.m.
CDT, is Episode 1 - " Drone Wars. " We
will explore camera-guided cultivators
for both row crops and vegetables. You
can see what all the fuss is about, what it
takes to set up one of these machines and
how to make adjustments on the fly.
On Sept. 18, from 12:30 p.m.-1:15 p.m.
CDT, is Episode 2 - " The Awakening. "
Watch preliminary tool set-up in the
shop - starting with a bare toolbar, see the
measurements and progression of adding
parallelogram units and tools to exactly
match a crop spacing. Then watch all of
the preliminary adjustments that can be
made more accurately in the shop so that
by the time you arrive at the field your
CDT is Episode 3 - " The First Encounter. "
Watch precision cultivation of directseeded
vegetables. Once the weeding tool
has been mounted and adjusted in the
shop (episode 2) watch the first run in the
field and see how results are judged and
adjustments are made to correct issues in
order to quickly achieve accurate weeding
in direct-seeded crops.
You can register in order to
receive a reminder email at https://
thelandconnection.regfox.com/2020midwest-mechanical-weed-controlfield-day
You
can also just sign on to the
Facebook pages of either The Land
Connection or Practical Farmers of Iowa
to participate.
Each episode is eligible for one
continuing education unit in crop
management. All of these virtual field days
are hosted on Facebook Live - so you can
participate from your phone for free and ask
questions as tools are being demonstrated.
Hey, what a world we live in!
I suppose that I will not being seeing
your smiling face in person at this year's
Midwest Mechanical Weed Control
Field Day, and I will miss connecting
with many friends old and new at the
event. But nevertheless we persevere,
and I still hope to see your smiling face
through the phone screen as we all
make it through this different time with
innovation, grit and kindness.
Yours,
Sam VGN
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September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2020
