Cold, in Corn Country

By Ken Root

I'm up here north of the jet stream and feeling the brunt of a real Midwestern winter. We've seen morning lows of -11° F, as a relative marker, although anything below zero feels pretty much the same to me. The laws of physics and psychology both seem to change below this number and one has to question the sanity of living here or enduring the winter when warmer alternatives beckon.

I know it can get cold anywhere from Texas to Canada. I've been as cold in a Hays, Kan., blizzard as in an Iowa cold snap. The plunge of arctic air can come anytime from November to March and literally paralyzes everyone in its path. The blizzard of 1888 is still on the record books and shows that this land has endured some frightful winter weather. Where is global warming when we need it?

Speaking of global warming, which will be a major political issue of the 21st century; we won't be able to tell its negative effects in Middle America. If it's real, the ice caps will melt and the sea level will rise. We are about as insulated from both as you can get. A rise in worldwide temperatures may even bring more clouds and rain to our landscape and make it more productive. The major advantage is going to be incentives for capturing carbon and that might add up to half of the profit from a farm in 2020.

Right now, this icebox is holding tightly to every cornstalk and wheat straw to assure we have plenty of organic matter when the spring thaw comes along in March. The productivity of the Corn Belt is sustained by the annual freeze up of the plentiful vegetation from the hot and humid growing season. I'm not sure our immigrant ancestors knew that when they first put a plow in the native sod, but it sure turned out a lot better here than when they did the same on the Great Plains.

This cold weather is tolerable in modern times as we have insulated houses and businesses and a reliable source of heat. I wear "long handled" underwear and flannel jeans and go from house to truck to workplace very quickly. I still can't imagine how the first generation survived, but just chalk it up to God's will and not knowing any better. We say here that people aren't happy unless they are miserable and we get to be that way twice a year: cold in winter and hot in summer.

Not everyone stays in the cold all winter. The surge in population of Florida and Arizona is proof of that. But everyone seems to need an excuse to go South for the winter. We are going to a wedding next week in Cozumel, Mexico. It is my youngest nephew and we probably wouldn't have been able to make it if he was getting married in Oklahoma City.

If you grow crops here, there's really nothing to do after Christmas except fix equipment and haul grain every time the market goes up and the basis goes down. The proceeds from that sale make it easy to get on an airplane and spend a few weeks in a warm climate. Still, most folks don't go because they feel guilty about leaving.

What do they do for wintertime fun? They drill holes in the ice and fish! Last weekend I attended an ice fishing tournament on a neighbor's lake. When I checked the sub zero early morning temperature, I thought they'd be freezing but the technology that has gone into ice fishing huts is just like everything else. When I was invited into one of the plastic and canvas contraptions, I thought I was walking into someone's house. It was about 50 degrees inside and once the door was zipped up they gave me a chair, a pole and a depth finder so I could see my bait and the approaching fish! Our host said it made it so easy that it wasn't "fishing," it was "catching." They haul out anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand bluegill and crappie in the four hour competition. As I added up dollars for clamshell designed ice fishing huts, gasoline powered ice augers, fish finding transducers and propane heaters, I came up with the price of four tickets to Florida, a swimsuit and a surf rod.

I want to recognize the life of Iowa farmer, Francis Childs, who died on January 9. Francis was the guru of corn production and set records that were unbelievable. He was the first farmer to break the 400 bushel per acre yield barrier. His all time high of 442 bushels per acre still stands. He was a technician in how he handled his land and the inputs he used on his crops. He was born in 1939 and took over the family farm in 1966. He won the Iowa contest 18 times. Some accused him of cheating, but most admired his ability to pull more from the rich black soil than anyone ever imagined. Others may go further, but Childs, in his colorful life, proved that very high yield corn production was possible.

Editor's note: This is Ken Root's 34th year as an agricultural reporter. He grew up on a small farm in central Oklahoma and started his career as a vocational agriculture teacher. He worked in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri as a broadcaster and was the original host of AgriTalk. He has also been the executive director of the National AgriChemical Retailers Association in Washington, D.C. and the National Association of Farm Broadcasters in Kansas City. Ken is now the lead farm broadcaster at WHO and WMT Radio based in Des Moines, Iowa. He has been a columnist for HPJ and Midwest Ag Journal for seven years.

1/28/08
1 Star WK\5-B

Date: 1/24/08

	Web hpj.com

Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2012.  High Plains Publishers, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com