Looking back through my day planner, I have "FPS Planting" crossed off four times through April and May. That's how many times rain pushed back the planting date for the Farm Progress Show seed plot planting. Mother Nature finally gave us a break on Monday, June 1.
While taking photos of plot planting, I was reminded of an adage often used in construction -- "Measure twice, cut once." For seed plot planting, I'd tweak the saying a bit -- "Check the bag twice, plant once."
If you check out "seed row" at this year's Farm Progress Show, you should know that a lot of planning and effort went into the four-acre seed technology showcase. Here's a rundown of the day's events.
Host farmer David Brix got quite a work out climbing in and out of the tractor all day. Between planting passes, he worked with seed company reps to measure and layout the next plot. In the meantime, other seed company reps cleaned and prepped the planter for the next pass.
I met with seed company representatives at Decatur's Progress City at around 8:45 a.m. About six different company reps were going over plot layout, crop combinations, etc. At 9 a.m., host farmer Dave Brix drove up in a Case IH MX 215 tractor pulling an eight-row Kinze 3500 twin-row planter. One of the company reps said, "Well, that's a little overkill."
From there, we drove over to the seed plots. For those planning to attend, the seed technology plots are located along the northern edge of Progress City. Once Brix got the planter in line for the first pass, company reps emptied the planter boxes and poured in packets of seed, each one meticulously selected by the company rep whose plot was being planted.
After each pass, Brix would back the planter up for the next eight rows. Company reps would then begin vacuuming the remaining seed from the planter and prepping it for the next pass. The amount of teamwork was tremendous. Once Brix had made the first few passes, each rep knew his role and sprung into action once the tractor came to a stop. It reminded me of a NASCAR pit crew. This went on until about 2 p.m., when the last of the soybean plots were in the ground.
Be sure to check out the seed plots to see the latest and greatest in corn and soybean genetics at this year's show. The Farm Progress Show will run Sept. 1-3 in Decatur. For more information, visit www.farmprogressshow.com.
Registered uses can comment on this blog.