Agricultural News
Greg Leonard of Miami Compares Commodity Classics of Days Gone By
Fri, 27 Feb 2015 17:27:33 CST
A lot has changed over the last 20 years for the Commodity Classic. The annual convention of corn, wheat, soybean and sorghum producers has grown and evolved, just like agriculture has over the last two decades. Greg Leonard of northeastern Oklahoma was on the grower board for the third commodity classic many years ago. Leonard said the Commodity Classic has grown substantially through the years. In attending the 2015 Commodity Classic, he said it has been tremendous to see all of the people with another record breaking year for attendance with more than 7,500 attendees.
Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays caught up with Leonard at the Commodity Classic in Phoenix, Arizona. Click or tap on the LISTENBAR below to listen to the full interview.
In walking through the large trade show, there is a lot of new technology becoming available to farmers. On his operation, Leonard said they use grid sampling and variable rate fertilizer applications. In talking with company representatives this year, he was most curious to learn more about how that information is stored, connectivity, and transferring that information from the tractor in the field to the computers in the office. Beyond paying for the latest technology, he finds the biggest challenge is having a strong enough cell phone signal in the field.
In looking back at the 2014 crop year, Leonard said their farm was blessed with timely rains and a cooler than normal temperatures making ideal growing conditions. Knowing that wasn't the case for farmers in western Oklahoma, he didn't want to admit that this was his best yielding crop in 30 years of farming with 60 -70 bushel wheat, 170 - 200 bushel corn and 40 - 50 bushel double crop soybeans. With a son at Oklahoma State University studying Agronomy, Leonard has reminded his son this was probably a once in a lifetime crop year.
With a great crop in the bin, Leonard said he would like to say it was all of the advances in technology, but in reality it was Mother Nature. He said we can set it up for a great year for the times when Mother Nature cooperates, but no one controls Mother Nature.
In looking at 2015, Leonard said they are committed to their three crop rotation. He said half of their acres will be planted corn, half wheat and they will double crop their wheat acres with soybeans. Leonard has seen the benefits of breaking the continuous cropping cycle and curbing weed problems like pigweed.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
