Notes From the Palouse

Rolling hills and patchwork farm fields

   
     This past week I visited the farmers who live and farm in the Palouse Region of Eastern Washington state.  This area comprises roughly in the south-east portion of the state, and goes into the panhandle of Idaho.  It is very rich agriculturally, with silty soils and abundant rains, which come during the spring and early summer.

Winter wheat beginning to turn from green to gold.  

     Geologically, the region is made of unusual and beautiful silt-dunes, which were formed during the Ice Age.  They were the result of a glacial outwash, which made huge, random humps and hollows.  I often describe them as endless giant gopher mounds.  The big, open portions of the dunes are cropped fields.  In the gullies and hollows, are timber, brush, creeks, deciduous trees and shrubs.  The combined fields and trees are gorgeous.

See how the cab is level, and the header follows the contour of the land?
This is a self leveling combine.  Pretty helpful.

     You might imagine that it could be dicey attempting to drive a tractor or combine on these steep hillsides.  It is!  The self leveling combine was developed by Washington State University, which is in this region.

      The farmland here is like none other.  Precipitation ranges from 15" to 22" annually, so farmers have no need to irrigate.  The top soil is very deep, ranging from 3' and deeper throughout the Palouse.  Crops are predominantly wheat, barley, dry peas, lentils and garbanzos, with some oats, flax and canola.  Whitman County, in the heart of the Palouse, is the largest grower of Soft White Wheat in the United States.

     The region was settled in the late 1800's by German, Irish and Russian immigrants - you'll hear their surnames all over the Palouse.  Most farms are still being worked by original families - with 4th and 5th generation now tilling the land that their ancestors homesteaded.

Fields with dry peas growing in the foreground

      Harvest is just beginning in the Palouse.  The first crop to ripen is winter wheat (hard red and soft white winter wheats), then dry peas and dry lentils, then the spring wheats (dark northern, hard white and soft white spring wheats), and finally, garbanzos.  Harvest runs from the end of July through September.

     After harvest, farmers plant their fall crop of winter wheat and in some cases, dry winter peas. Also, they prepare fields which will be planted in the spring.  They spray weed killer and incorporate fertilizer in the soil, so that it can work over the winter.  Usually they are done with all their fall work by mid to late October.

Dry peas growing.

     Then, they rest.  They  make repairs and upgrades to all of their equipment.  They go to seminars and conventions which pertain to the crops they grow, or type of farming they practice.   They plan and budget for next season, and talk with their banker, accountant and crop advisors.  They sleep in a little bit, maybe till 7 am or so.  They enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And, if they're lucky, they go on a winter vacation with their families and friends. The farmers of the Palouse know they live in God's country, and they don't take it for granted!

Summer at Sweet Hills Farm

     The weather has really heated up over the past few weeks.  We had several nice, helpful rains the week before last, and now the warm weather has turned on.  Our farmer is irrigating non-stop, and the crops are growing, filling out and maturing.  I've snapped pics of wheat, sugar beets, corn and onion seed, on our farm and our neighbor's farm. (Our farmer farms both places).

The wheat on our place is getting tall,
the heads are filling out, and it is beginning to turn color

The field corn grows a couple of inches each day!

Seed onions - this crop is grown for the seed, which will be  sold to other farmers who will plant it
to produce onions for us to eat.  This photo was actually taken in early May, I forgot to post it.

The seed onions right now - the baby seeds are developing in those heads, or blossoms.
The blossom is the part of the plant which will be harvested.

Bees are brought in to pollinate the seed onion.  There are bees all over the place.

Update from Farmer Ed Schneider!

Hello everyone! Farmer Ed Schneider has sent us a new video! He is sending us videos of the same potato field every few months to show us the process from beginning to end. You can see his other videos here (prepping field), here (planting potatoes), and here (update and dammer diking).

The potato field is growing like crazy, and looking good! So sit back and enjoy the latest and greatest from a potato field, somewhere in Washington!

Spring Updates from Farmer Guy Therrien + Tiling

Hello Everyone!

You know we just love getting updates from our farmer friends about what's happening on their farms right now.  Here's the lastest news from Farmer Guy Therrien, who was just profiled last week.

"Hello,

The spring planting has been done, and we are spraying the spring wheat for weeds.  We have adequate moisture right now, but will need some timely rains.

The hot spell we just had for a week did not help.  The market is, as always, tough.  I am not very confident right now, but the way things work these days, that can change quickly.  More wheat world-wide, less U.S. wheat, speculators listening to every rumor; I can only guess where the market will go!

The only projects other than the usual spring crop work is to unplug two more tiles.

Take care - Guy"

You can see the emerging themes from the farmer updates we've had so far - water shortages, wacky weather, and violatile markets.  It's tough being a farmer with so many very important factors out of your control.

I bet you all are wondering what tiling is, right?

A drain outlet in a field

Tiles are actually drains that are put into fields to
help remove water from the subsoil.  Certain parts of a field might be wetter than others, and hold too much water.  If there is too much water in the subsoil, the plant's roots can't develop well, and won't produce a good crop.  For example, in an area where there's a swale, water would naturally drain into that swale and cause a bog.  The farmer can't get into that area with his tractor, which makes the area unfarmable and less productive.  A tiling machine is similar to a trencher; it digs a trench, then lays in 4-6" pvc pipe with perforations on the top.  The excess water in the wet spot naturally drains to this perforated pipe, and allows it to be drained off, into a waterway.  Usually the boggy or wet area dries enough so that it is easier for the farmer to farm and produces healthier plants.

Here's a good article from wikipedia on tile drainage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tile_drainage

Notes from Pasco & The Columbia Basin, Washington

     Last week, I visited the farms and farmers in Pasco, Washington.  Pasco is located in south-central Washington state, at the southern end of the great Columbia Basin.  It is bordered to the west by the mighty Columbia River, which is the main transport for crops and commodities to the west coast.  They are barged downriver to Portland, Oregon, where they are then shipped to points all over the world, especially the Pacific Rim.

The pivot of a center pivot irrigation system or "circle" for short
Circles have revolutionized irrigation for farmers

The Columbia Basin is irrigated by the gigantic Columbia Basin Project (CBP) irrigation network which originates in northeastern Washington.  It is the largest reclamation project in the United States, supplying water to over 671,000 acres of farmland.  The water originates on the upper Columbia River, and is held in reservoir by the Grand Coulee Dam.  This dam project was part of President Roosevelt's new deal.  Construction on the dam began in 1933 and was finished in 1942.  The lakes resulting from the dam are Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt.

     The irrigation water is held in reservoirs throughout the basin, sometimes called "potholes", and is then delivered to the farm fields by way of 331 main canals, 1,339 miles of lateral canals, 3,500 miles of drains and wasteways.  Wow!

A lateral canal delivering water to a farm

        Because this is a relatively new and modern irrigation system, the land has been divided in larger, more uniform-shaped fields, ranging in size from 50 to 150 acres each, as compared with older systems which have smaller and often irregularly shaped fields.  The climate of south central Washington is arid; natural rainfall here is 7" per year.  The Columbia Basin Project turned desert into some of the most productive farmland in the country.

A field of beautiful timothy hay.
This will be cut two times this year, and baled as hay for horses
Look at that pretty sky!

    Columbia Basin farms grow an endless variety of crops.  Alfalfa and timothy hay, potatoes, dry beans, onions, garlic, buckwheat, sweet corn, fresh peas and beans.  Grapes for wine and the table, as well as all number of other fruits including cherries, pears, apples, peaches, nectarines, walnuts - all are grown on a commercial scale.

Potatoes for you and for me!  They're coming along nicely.

Our Pasco farmers are busy this time of year.  All of their crops have been planted, and have emerged from the ground. The first cutting of alfalfa hay is underway, and unfortunately, much of it was rained on.  Here are some photos for you to enjoy.

Haylige.  Like silage, only hay.  This was harvested in 2012,
then set all winter in the plastic wrap, which fermented it.
The milk cows love it, and it provides super-nutrition for them too.

John Deere tractors all lined up, ready for work

The tractors pull these hay-balers, to bale alfalfa and timothy hay

Spring Updates from Farmer John Sturtevant

Hello Everyone! John Sturtevant has sent us a note about spring on his farm. You'll be interested to see all the different things that farmers have to think about. It's a whole lot more than planting, praying for rain, and harvesting!

From John:

This spring is going well. The weather has been a bit of a roller coaster. Really warm temperatures in March had us thinking it would be an early cut year [for alfalfa], but was followed by a cold April. Now, 90+ degrees this week after we had frost three days last week. Some pretty wild swings! The warm weather is great for helping the hay catch up on some growing it needed. Very little rain this spring. The dry land wheat guys must be nervous.

I plowed out the east 60 acres this week in preparation to plant red beans at the end of the month/beginning of June. We start cutting alfalfa on Monday. Tonnage for the crop looks like it will be ok.

The price for first cutting alfalfa is forecast to be somewhat down from 1st cutting last year - maybe $10 to $20 per ton. There is still some of last year's hay sitting around which is depressing the dairy market [dairies buying hay].

The export hay market was slow, then it got even slower when Japan began manipulating their currency in much the same manner that the U.S. has in the past 4 years. This has made the dollar/yen ration unfavorable for exports to Japan.

It looks like the bean market is holding steady. I guess everybody is waiting to see what the corn market does. If a record corn crop comes off this fall as some are prediciting, then prices for most commodities will fall. One negative weather event could change that, though. I heard one analyst say that we are entering into a three-year down-cycle in commodity prices as world stocks increase.

I think snowpack in the mountains as adequate this winter, so there shouldn't be any water problems here.

That's the end of John's report.

See? Farmers have to think about national and international commodity markets, currency fluctuations and exchange rates, and a whole bunch more!

If you have any questions for John about his operation, how he makes is plans for the year, or anything else, please feel free to ask in the comments section!

Springtime at Schneider Farms

Hello Everyone! Farmer Ed Schneider has sent us some updates and a new video from his farm in Pasco, Washington. We love hearing about what is happening on the farms, and hope you enjoy this little update, too!

From Ed:

We have finished the bulk of the [potato] seed cutting and planting. All we have left is 160 acres of babies [potatoes] to cut and plant at the end of May.

It has been a little wild on the weather this spring. We started off warm and then we had a couple weeks of frost that did do some damage on the early planted potatoes, but they are up and going again. All of the french fry potatoes are leafed out, and about half of the babies.

As always, we are fortunate in the Columbia Basin, where are no water worries. The ]potato] market for 2013 seems to be getting a little better. A few weeks ago, there was no interest in open [no contract] potatoes, but now there have been a couple of sales in the last week or so. Maybe the market is not oversupplied as much as everyone thought. The fast food restaurants are still struggling, but I think the processors have adjusted their needs to meet the demand.

The video is of the same field where I took the video of planting, only now the plants are up and growing. I will take another one later in the season when the plants are bigger.


They're dammer diking. What is dammer diking? Want to see how a potato grows? Watch to find out! It's really cool!




Please let us know in the comments section if you have any questions for Ed! He will be glad to answer your questions about farming!