Knee High By the Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July from the Nebraska Corn Board

With Independence Day quickly approaching everyone is eager to be out working in their corn field's right? Okay so maybe not everyone is interested in being out in the fields and thanks to technology farmers are able to spend less time out in the field and more time celebrating with their families. I would like to take a moment and recognize some of the differences that technology has made for farmers.

Knee high by the Fourth of July was the traditional way of knowing if your corn is on track to successful yields. Thanks to biotechnology though this isn't the most accurate saying anymore. Biotechnology in corn seeds has improved plants efficiency and we are seeing record yields. This means that in an average year most biotech corn fields will be taller than your knee by the Fourth of July. It has been hard to see these improvements the past two years with the drought and then unseasonable weather this year that all but halted planting in most regions but hopefully we will be back to normal here soon.

Another improvement due to technology is irrigation needs. As much as we don't want to lay irrigation pipe or turn on those pivots here in Nebraska we have needed to take those steps again this year. Luckily for farmers biotechnology seeds are more drought resistant and get more benefit from every drop of water than ever before. In addition to the seed technology we have also developed irrigation technology that makes it easier to manage how much water you are applying to your field. Farmers now have the option of putting a chip in their fields that tells them how wet the soil is. This is making it possible for modern farmers to better conserve water which helps both the environment and the farmer's checkbook. Other technological advancements have made it possible for farmers to receive a text message on their phone telling them if something has gone wrong with their pivot. All this reduces the amount of time needed each day for checking your fields to make sure the pivot is still running properly. Finally one of the best advancements in my mind is the ability of pivots to shut off at a certain point by themselves. This has been made possible thanks to GPS. Being a teenager growing up on a row crop operation it was my job to run from pivot to pivot checking their position and reporting their statuses back to my father. Thanks to our new GPS pivots I am now able to take a nap instead, or in most cases I am free to do a different chore.

Photo from a field near Holdrege, NE

Needless to say there is more than one way that technology will be benefiting farmers this Fourth of July. We would love to see your #kneehighbythefourthofjuly photos, you can post them to our Facebook or Twitter pages. We look forward to seeing how tall your corn is this Fourth of July!