Disqus - Latest Comments for alextiller

Re: Strip-Tilling Tips and Tricks

alextiller — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:02:00 -0000

Hi Mike,
I am basing my statements in part off some Kansas State University (KSU) Agronomy Field Research that was done in 2006. The primary research was conducted by K. A. Janssen. Perhaps my wording was too strong. There's nothing particularly wrong with your approach, it's just that you’re probably putting on more than you need. It's a good idea to use as little N as you can get away with, both for economic reasons and to prevent excess runoff. -But maybe your soil needs that much extra - hard to say without looking at his chemistry. I would suggest testing the theory and “underapply" (by your standards) N on a small section this coming year. Then check the yields to see if you’re getting anything for the extra 50-80 lbs. Keep in mind that farming is an art and no two fields are exactly the same. We can’t write an end-all be-all instructional, even though we try. Thanks for writing in and be sure to let me know how it works out!

-Alex

Re: Getting Academic: Farmland as an Investment

alextiller — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:18:41 -0000

There is not one link that I can provide that shows all of this data. (that would have been nice though) I had to compile it by hand which was done by pulling Historic USDA Land Values reports. Each report usually only covers four years, so it is fairly tedious. Here is the most recent report which covers 2004 to 2008: http://usda.mannlib.cornell...

Good luck!

-Alex Tiller

Re: The Probability of Profitable Farming: Stack the Deck

alextiller — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:18:29 -0000

I asked Dominique to provide an example of his regression analysis. The link below will download the spreadsheet.

http://alextiller.com/agrib...

Dominique said, “I looked at the effect of seed variety, fertilizer rate, stands (average distance between plants which reflects stress and germination), sunlight hours, effect of downey mildew on some plantings and wind, against yields. The model correlation came to 74%. The coefficients provide the effects of each and the T-Stat provides the reliability of the info. Bottom line, you can differentiate and quantify the role of a lot of factors and adjust farming practices accordingly.”

Re: Getting Academic: Farmland as an Investment

alextiller — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:13:54 -0000

Hi Pam. Thanks for your comment. A “small farm” is difficult to define. The USDA would say smaller than what I described in my paper. Many of my readers are high net-worth investors interested in creating a “farmland portfolio” or Midwest commercial farmers who own/operate pretty large land masses. For the purposes of this paper, I would say 100 to 500 acre parcels. That being said, there are many other farmers that own sustainable and organic farms that do very well on far less land. They do not participate in commodity crop markets like corn and beans that require large chunks’ of land and economies of scale. Their farms are less mechanized, so they require more physical labor, but they generate solid returns growing fruits and vegetables for human consumption.
Here is a guy farming ONE acre: http://www.youtube.com/watc...
I know some farmers might laugh at this and say it’s not possible to be a farmer with only one acre. (They would call that gardening) But I disagree. If he is earning money (selling his crop) and he approaches his farming practices in a professional way, I think he is a farmer.
Webster calls a farm: “a tract of land devoted to agricultural purposes.” I would add…with the goal of deriving income or profit from the agricultural product.

Good luck to you!

Re: Hydroponic Farming Continued

alextiller — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:28:17 -0000

Hi Fred,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I would reach out the guys at AmHydro. They sell the hydroponic equipment and train users on it.

http://www.amhydro.com/

Also contact University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. (http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/IFA... Find out if they have a professor that specializes in hydroponics. (I am sure they do) It may be more for a breeding/genetics program and less focused on food production and operations, but he/she should be able to help you find local help.

Good luck. Let me know how it goes.

Alex Tiller
303.517.6608

Re: Hydroponic Farming Continued

alextiller — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:31:45 -0000

I enjoy reading your magazine. It is very insightful and I frequently recommend it to people. Thanks for checking out my blog and making sure that my commentary hydroponics is accurate.

Alex Tiller

Re: Farmland Investments vs. The Stock Market: Comparative Analysis

alextiller — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:43:50 -0000

Hello,

Thanks for the message. Please feel free to contact me directly (information below) and I would be happy to take you through some of the history.

Alex Tiller
Office: 303-524-3076
alex@agerco.com

Re: Fungal Diseases in Corn

alextiller — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:31:11 -0000

Delete

Alex Tiller
303.517.6608

Re: http://blog.alextiller.com/post/58178195

alextiller — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:53:32 -0000

Hi Jeff,

I don’t have any exact FSA numbers on yields but the area averaged 174.7 bu corn in 2006 and 160.2 bu corn in 2007. Beans were 53.1 in 2006 and 50.6 in 2007. Area farmers I now seem to trend around 160/50, but as you know, some really good farmers do even better . I don’t have an actual appraisal on this farm, but area farms are getting $4K and change. I would also tack on a premium (8% to 10%) for the large scale contiguous acreage. There were 14 tracts and I it went to roughly 3 or 4 buyers with one buyer getting the premo chunk of contiguous land.

Alex
http://agerco.com

Re: Farmland Investment Fair

alextiller — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:17:56 -0000

I appreciate your appreciation. Thanks for reading. Be sure to tell others about my farm blog!
-Alex

Re: Fungal Diseases in Soybeans

alextiller — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:28:10 -0000

Thanks for checking out the blog and sharing.

-Alex

Re: Biochar, a “Green” Alternative for Fertilizer

alextiller — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:09:00 -0000

Hi TreeBanker,

That’s an interesting point and it coincides with a series of blog posts I wrote about water and agriculture. See Water/Farming articles below:

August 21, 2008: Water – For Agricultural Use, Change is Inevitable
August 15, 2008: Water – 80% to 90% of Global Freshwater Used for Irrigation; Sustainable?
August 6, 2008: Water – Agriculture and Changing Weather Patterns
July 30, 2008: Water – US Farmers, Count Your Blessings
July 23, 2008: Water - The Next Farm Crisis

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
-Alex

Re: Biochar, a “Green” Alternative for Fertilizer

alextiller — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:31:56 -0000

Hi Rich. Thanks for taking the time to comment, and thanks for the email with the tip about the Farmland Investor conference.

Re: Biochar, a “Green” Alternative for Fertilizer

alextiller — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:28:30 -0000

Hi Erich. Thanks for sharing all of this.

Re: The Lowdown on Carbon Credit Standardization

alextiller — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:00:37 -0000

Hi Don,
Thanks for the tip. I have to admit that I was not familiar with the term. I love it when my readers teach me something new about farming and energy. I will do some more research on the topic.

Re: Wall Street Could Learn Something from Farmers

alextiller — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:28:07 -0000

$700 billion compared to maybe several million? (-even if it was several hundred million) Farmers did loose their farms left and right during the farm crisis of the 80’s. Lots of them. Also, my point was that farmers have learned their lessons and have drastically cut their debt to equity ratios. Year on year it is getting lower and lower and that has been the trend since the 80’s. Wall Street could learn to use a little less leverage.

Re: 2008 Pre-Harvest Yield Estimates

alextiller — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:32:53 -0000

Follow up by Alex Tiller: I’ve heard from many farmers in the Midwest that the tail end of Hurricane Ike may reduce these numbers further. Bean don’t like wet feet, and they are standing in some deep water right now. Wind damage may have also impacted stalk and root structures on the corn which must stand up nice and tall and strong for harvesting.

Re: Russian Agriculture, The Come Back Kid?

alextiller — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:10:30 -0000

I agree, but governments do some crazy irrational things sometimes when it comes to farmland. Especially newly appreciated, desirable farmland. ( see previous post: http://blog.alextiller.com/... )

As to your other question, try searching Google Images using terms like: soviet, propaganda, posters, art, agriculture, farming, wheat, crops, etc. –These images lacked any legible copyright markings and I would certainly remove them if the owner notified me of unintended infringement. Public propaganda art released by a defunct regime 60+ years ago would also likely not have any copyright protection and owners of particular posters do not gain any intellectual property rights since they did not create the original art. Just like you don’t own a copyright on the image of a Monet painting if you buy a poster/reprint of a particular piece. The original artist also would not likely have ever had or retained any rights to the work as it was created for the communist government, the absent original owner. (Disclaimer: Alex Tiller does not purport to be an attorney or legal professional and this should not be considered legal advice.)

Re: Support for Ethanol (Not just Corn)

alextiller — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:53:51 -0000

You are absolutely correct. I stand corrected. I meant the Mr. Fusion.

Re: Support for Ethanol (Not just Corn)

alextiller — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:07:24 -0000

Hello 'Ol James,

Thank you for your comment. My reference to the “flux capacitor” was kind of a joke. If you recall from the movie, the character went to a trash can and pulled out an old rotten banana and a half empty can of beer and put them in his car as fuel. I was just trying to paint a picture for my readers.

You are correct that technology to modify existing cars is a great idea, and there are products on the market right now that make that feasible. In Brazil you can buy conversion kits for around $3000 that allow cars to run on pure ethanol, pure gas, any blended percent of ethanol/gas, or compressed natural gas.

The problem is that in the US we don’t have the infrastructure yet to offer multiple fuel types. Our gas stations only sell gas. (petrol) I believe that if we want a wide spread adoption of these alternative fuels, legislation must start from the top. Mandate it for all new cars being produced, and fuel sellers will know there is a market for this product in the future. (it will encourage them to make the investment necessary to offer multiple types of fuel) Other new car manufactures around the world will likely follow suite because they love to sell Americans cars. As more cars are produced that can run on the alternative fuel, filling stations will want to carry the alternative products to accommodate existing patrons and attract new ones. The other problem with only making kits to upgrade existing cars is that you will most likely have a very low adoption rate. People driving older cars (used cars) probably won’t fork out $3000 to upgrade a car that is only worth $5K or $6K. You also have a potential problem with voiding manufacturer warranties with newer-used cars.

So the answer is yes, upgrading cars is a good idea, and that will be adopted by some individuals, but only after we have a large scale shift from the auto manufactures followed by a large scale shift by the fuel sellers.

Thanks again for your comment.

Re: Alex Tiller's Blog on Agriculture & Farming - Is Ethanol Viable? Response to a Previous Comment

alextiller — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:15:42 -0000

UPDATED NEWS as of August 8, 2008
So the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently rejected the RFS waiver request from Texas and the research they did when looking into whether RFS was really driving up food/fuel costs REAFFIRMED what I have been saying all along. The EPA said under the scenarios they ran to analyze this (approx 1,000 models), granting the waiver would reduce corn prices an average of $.07 per bu., and in 76% of those cases, there would be no impact on ethanol production and thus no change in corn prices.

Post By Alex Tiller

Re: Alex Tiller's Blog on Agriculture & Farming - Is Ethanol Viable? Response to a Previous Comment

alextiller — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:51:53 -0000

Hi columbusguy,

Thanks for writing. The point you make about corn ethanol is right on point. Corn is not the final solution. Here’s the important thing to consider that you omitted. Corn ethanol is Alcohol, and alcohol is a great fuel if we have enough resources to make it. What we need to do is convert our fuel economy to an Alcohol Alternative structure. Corn is only the first step, other steps must follow. Many bright minds are working right now to figure out Cellulosic Ethanol. (also an alcohol fuel) If we can begin to migrate now to an alcohol alternative platform, being able to swap one for the other, or blend them together, then we won’t be so dependant of foreign oil in the future. (No one said it is a 100% answer) Cellulosic Ethanol, although not perfected YET, will allow us to use things like old newspapers and phone books, grass clippings from our yards, paper mill by products and more to create alcohol based fuel. We can’t just wait for the technology to be perfected, and then wait another 10 years get it built into our distribution network. We live in an imperfect world where we must take steps now to make ourselves ready for the change (better technology) that is coming in the next few years.

We use corn now as a bridge. This will get the auto manufactures making cars that do run on alcohol, it will get the filling stations to accommodate different fuel types, it gets the scientists working on better transportation methods, and it encourages investment into new “refining” techniques that will be truly more sustainable.

We have “biomass” all over this country that could be used as a fuel alternative once we work out cellulosic ethanol. But this nation needs to understand the big picture and stop expecting a silver bullet answer tomorrow that solves all our problems. (US Biomass Resource Map: http://www.nrel.gov/gis/ima...

By the way, you are correct that we also need increased auto fuel efficiency standards, people to use less, and many other steps to really make a difference. –Bottom line, it will take several approaches in combination to make a dent, but the good news is that we are starting down many of these roads that will eventually converge to make a difference, including the use of corn for ethanol.

Re: Alex Tiller's Blog on Agriculture & Farming - Is Ethanol Viable? Response to a Previous Comment

alextiller — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:41:00 -0000

Pick your poison. Your argument suggests that any use other than for food is wrong. Many foods use corn as a substitute for other products like sugar. And many products use corn. (did you know that you can make biodegradable plastic from corn?) This trend of using corn for things other than feed started because corn has been cheaper that the products that it has been substituted for. When people aren’t willing to pay for a natural resource like corn, others will take it and find a better use for it. Remember a few years ago when the world was complaining that US farmers were making too much corn, driving down prices, and making other farmers go out of business because they couldn’t produce as much as cheap? What gives? Stop blaming farmers. I would much rather burn it for fuel and stop exporting dollars to the middle east to perpetuate this addiction to oil. Lets blame all the scientists and food producers that started substituting it for the real thing or using it to make things stick together better, shinyer, etc. Our fuel crisis is real. We are running out of it. And we are buying it from people who don’t care about us. Our food issue is a mis-allocation of resources that can be fixed. There’s your ethical dilemma.

Re: Alex Tiller's Blog on Agriculture & Farming - Is Ethanol Viable? Response to a Previous Comment

alextiller — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:18:53 -0000

Hi jerseymiller,

Thanks for taking the time to comment. While I don’t agree with your statement, you are correct that the cost of food is a critical issue that the world is dealing with. What I find most interesting is that your argument of “taking food off the table” is not actually what is going on. We are not talking about sweet corn that people eat. Instead we are talking about commodity corn that is used to feed animals, sweeten soda, make drywall, adhesives and more. This “corn” is a utility product that has been used for a long time as anything but direct food consumption for humans. While I would admit that redirecting the use of this product for one use over another creates an increase in end price for food products like beef and chicken, it does not cause food shortages. Perhaps we should all drink less soda to free up some corn, or perhaps the Heinz Ketchup people should use real sugar to sweeten their products. (check the label, it’s in there) The surplus in available corn (if you argument is correct) would feed the world and we could all drive around on renewable fuel that we made ourselves instead of purchased from the Persian Gulf. I am afraid that you have been duped by an ad campaign that was funded by the grocery manufactures association, and that rumor has it, was actually funded by some unsavory folks in the oil business. Here is an article: http://www.agriculture.com/...

Also, to read more about the so called food crisis that we are experiencing, that isn’t real, please check out: http://blog.alextiller.com/...

Re: Alex Tiller's Blog on Agriculture & Farming - Other Agriculture & Farm Blogs

alextiller — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:47:09 -0000

Thanks for stopping by.