A ‘fifty-fifty’ harvest
THE LAND, OCTOBER 14, 2011
2 A
P.O. Box 3169 418 South Second Street Mankato, MN 56002 (800) 657-4665 Volume XXXV ■ Number XXI 64 pages, 2 sections, plus supplement
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sooner. Our early October splurge of 85 Once again an amazing harvest. I’m not degree temps will do that. Even beet harsaying amazingly good, or amazingly disvest was temporarily stopped. Piling gusting, but simply amazing. beets is early October when Minnesota Review the 2011 crop year. One of the temps are 85-plus just doesn’t work. wettest and coolest springs, with soybeans Check your ‘wellness’ card and even corn still being planted in June, Being a veteran Minnesota senior citisometimes late June. Crop chances? “Fiftyzen, but fortunately not yet being fifty” were the odds at the local coffee involved in the prescription medicine roushop. tine, it seems my duty to share a real-life Then July with generous amounts of LAND MINDS story involving my brother-in-law. He, too, heat, high humidity and an incredibly is a senior citizen and unfortunately he’s rapid accumulation of growing degree By Dick Hagen experiencing some health problems. days; unfortunately right through the Here’s his story as he shared it with critical pollinating period. My area also me: got a July first blast of 85 to 90 mph “I was having trouble getting my winds — 24 trees down at my place — plus hail. At the local coffee shop, however, the odds breath, and my heart was pounding. So I went to see the doctor; he sent me to a cardiologist. And from were still 50-50 for a decent crop. him I learned I have a heart valve problem. But he August was “cozy” with just about the right stuff also assured me that a drug called Flecainide could from Mother Nature. Now help stabilize my heart. my coffee shop gang was That was OK with me so even getting a bit excited he asked me where I about their crops. ComGranted, corn that didn’t ‘black wanted my prescription modity prices scratching filled.” layer’ before that September frost higher virtually every is coming in light. Yet farmers in He opted for a nationother day helped reinforce wide pharmacy “since it early October were talking 200bubbly moods. September was right on my way started almost as good. bushel yields ... and 120-bushel home. yields ... sometimes in the same Then Mother Nature’s cru“When my prescription elest trick: on Sept. 15, 26 to field. was ready I asked how 28 degree temps blanketed much it cost. The pharMinnesota, northern Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota. Suddenly going to macist said $165. I said, ‘I hope I don’t have to stay on that drug the rest of my life.’ He said, ‘More than the local coffee shop was a challenge. likely you will, but if you want to sign up for the PreHowever, thanks to September cranking out day scription Savers Club, we can save you money.’ after day of ideal weather, crops did some readjust“The Club dues were $20 but that dropped the cost ing. Granted, corn that didn’t “black layer” before that September frost is coming in light. Yet farmers of this $165 drug to $55. So I wrote a $75 check for both Club dues and the Flecainide and left the store. in early October were talking 200-bushel yields ... and 120-bushel yields ... sometimes in the same field. On my way home I started thinking how easy it was to drop $110 in the cost of my prescription medicine Tilers are having another bonanza. just by joining this club. Will there be enough seed for 2012? Sort of depends “But it also made me curious about the ‘real cost’ of upon which seed company rep you talk with. Thank these prescription medicines. So I stopped at a local God for carryover seed. For certain South American production will be big this winter. I recently visited a drug store not far from my house to see what it would cost there. The local pharmacist just about local soybean seed conditioning plant. Last year 98 percent of the delivered soybean seed crop graded out knocked me off my feet when he said $18.20. And he told me his cost for that particular drug was about “good to go.” Not so this year. His early prediction is $12. I decided to some more checking so I stopped at only about 90 percent of the seed crop will make it; another local store which also had a pharmacy and for certain lots of smaller-sized soybeans (corn, department. They, too, told me the cost would be too) for the 2012 planting season. about $18 to fill my prescription. Another big store But life goes on. As ideal and “easy” as the 2010 See MINDS, pg. 4A harvest was, this 2011 harvest could wrap up even
OPINION
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 12A — As the grape-growing industry booms, the Upper Midwest is becoming the “Napa of the North” 16A — The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers
Alliance is bringing together agriculture’s disparate groups to speak as one voice 20A — Starting when just a boy, dairy farmer/musician “moved” to find niche as building relocater ...AND COMING UP IN TWO WEEKS: The Land’s Lamb & Wool Issue