Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Organic Virginia Farm Nails Corn Growing Record





Ultimately, organic farming is local soil science and not a general formula such as agribusiness has peddled.  Its application is complex and difficult but information sharing is driving its development.  The day of the traditional farmer is long gone.  Now he is a trained soil technician.  I personally participated in that transition.  I took four years of agricultural classes in high school and this opened our mind to the language of biology and soil management as well as many other related skills.

The payoff is that new and better methods are quickly adopted today.  That is both good and bad.  It allowed Monsanto to pitch their round up protocol to what has turned out to be absurd lengths.  Yet now we have a vigorous push back developing as farmers truly master their soils.

We will soon reach a point that a farmer acquiring a new land position, will need to prove and develop quality local knowledge in order to make an orderly transition from one operator to another.  Expect coursework and licensing.

Record: Virginia takes world's biggest corn harvest from Iowa --- and it's all organic
BY PAUL BEDARD | DECEMBER 20, 2013 AT 2:53 PM 


Virginia farmer David Hula harvests a record-breaking corn crop.
Virginia, long known as tobacco country, has a new title: Corn king.
A farmer from near Richmond broke the 12-year-old Iowa record of 442 bushels of corn per acre with 454 bushels, nearly three times the average of 160 bushels nationally. It was declared the world record by the National Corn Growers Association.
“That kind of gets your heart,” said Charles City grain farmer David Hula. “When you think of growing corn you sure don’t think of Virginia,” he added.
In a video about his new world record, Hula described how his combine yield calculator once hit 500 bushels per acre before averaging out at 454.
Even more shocking than his production is that it was all done organically and with special organic soil treatments to the farm that used to house a sand and gravel mine.
“We strive to produce high yields,” Hula said in a statement to Secrets. “As we’ve been cropping some ground at Curles Neck farms, we’ve tapped into some areas of the land that are more productive. Through the application of some products, we’ve been able to unleash that potential,”
He credited soil enhancing products from the firm Biovante.
That company’s agronomist Phillip Davis said, “We couldn’t be more excited about what David has done here. This is a big day for him, but also a big day for the agricultural world. As growers look to increase yields, the lessons that were learned here can help everyone. You have to start with the soil in mind, and know that it is the most valuable thing on your farm. Your plant can feed the world, but your soil is what feeds your plant.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted atpbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.


2 comments:

  1. Interesting to see this article posted now. Where did you find this version? The original has been updated to reflect the fact that David Hula is NOT an organic farmer, he uses a full range of natural and synthetic inputs to produce his tremendously high yielding crops.

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks

    too bad it turns out to be too good to be true.

    ReplyDelete