A farmer is only as good as his equipment – and this spring, one of your principal pieces of equipment will no doubt be your trusty planter. Equipment maintenance is one of those “everybody knows” pieces of information, but planters require a fair amount of attention to prevent damage and poor operation thus resulting in poor yields at harvest. Here is a general checklist for maintaining and inspecting your planter, to keep it working smoothly for years to come – remember to check your owner’s manual for the specifics of your model.

1.   Check all parts and replace any that are worn or damaged
2.   Replace all rubber seals that have become worn
3.   Check the alignment of disc openers and coulters – and if disc openers are worn out, replace them
4.   Repair or replace planter chains or rusty chain links – lubricate the chains that you don’t replace
5.   Inflate tires to the proper pressure – under or overinflated tires can throw off your seed drop pattern
6.   Clean your monitoring sensors and clear out the seed tubes
7.   Check the end of seed tubes to ensure the tube hasn’t become deformed – that can throw off your seed drop
8.   Look for rust buildup or treatment residue on the finger-pickup back plates
9.   Inspect backplates for worn spots – resembling dimples – that can cause double seed drops
10.   Adjust finger tension to manufacturer’s recommended values
11.   Visually inspect the seed conveyor belt and the belt drive sprocket teeth for wear and to make sure these important components haven’t become brittle

When it comes time to start planting, I also suggest making a test pass, then going back to review the results before you continue to plant the rest of the field.  Measure to test the depth and spacing of each seed while looking for doubles and/or misses. Your tests should sample 25 foot strips, for each row, on flat land, planted at a typical planting speed, and you should do this in random 100 foot intervals.  Take at least 3 samples from your test pass and write down the results. If you find a consistent problem, (i.e. row 3 has more doubles) go back to the check list and try to find the problem.  Remember, in times like these we need to make every dollar count on our inputs. (garbage in = garbage out) Happy planting!

The CropLife Ambassador Network (CAN) and the Missouri-Kansas chapter of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) both believe in the necessity of educating consumers about today’s agriculture. The CropLife Ambassador Network (CAN) is a program of the Mid America CropLife Association (MACA), a non-profit association of manufacturers, distributors/formulators and allied industry of crop protection products in 13 Midwestern states. CAN works to provide scientifically based, accurate information to the public regarding the safety and value of American agricultural food production. (http://ambassador.maca.org) CAN which has approximately 160 ambassadors and regularly places those volunteers into schools across the Midwest, welcomed the opportunity to celebrate National Ag Day, www.agday.org, with the MoKan chapter of NAMA.

CAN located three schools in Kansas City, Missouri for MoKan members to visit the week after National Ag Week when students return from their spring break. The topics were chosen by the teachers from CAN’s six program offerings to correlate with their current classroom curriculum. 

• MoKan member Lori Kruger will speak with fifty-two 3^rd grade students at Satchel Paige Elementary School March 23 on Farmers, Stewards of the Land.
• MoKan member Sarah Schmidt will speak with forty-two 6^th grade students at Lee’s Summit Elementary School March 24 on Biofuels.
• MoKan member Becky Johnson will speak with one-hundred 6^th grade students at Antioch Middle School March 25 on Biofuels. 

Many ag-related organizations working towards a better agriculturally-educated consumer dot the United States. According to Janet Braun, CAN Program Coordinator, “This was a great opportunity to connect the dots.” When Lori Kruger of MoKan contacted Braun about this opportunity, “I jumped on the idea and would be happy to work with other groups in the Midwest.” said Braun. CAN already has the framework built for linking schools and speakers together, while providing presentation material and topic information to the speakers. Other Midwest Ag organizations and individuals are welcome to use our program as their outreach education resource. When our industry connects all the dots, Ag’s picture CAN be seen by the public.

For information on CAN contact Program Coordinator Janet Braun at janet@maca.org, 800-625-2767, or visit the CAN website at http://ambassador.maca.org.

For information on the MoKan chapter of NAMA, contact Chapter President Melanie Acklin at macklin@sfp.com, 816-377-9088, or visit the NAMA website at www.nama.org. 

I wanted to let you all in a bit more on my book project.  In short, I am writing a book for future farmers and people that are considering farming as a career/lifestyle option – young people who play Xbox in between classes on botany and soil management at ag school, farm heirs/potential heirs thinking about whether the family farm is the right career for them, current and former FFA members, and young entrepreneurs (perhaps with a green thumb, or a passion for the environment) looking for an experimental outlet for their business energy. The book will inform the reader about coming global and national trends in the farming world, explore the merits and realities of the farming life, provide an overview of the core business concepts that future farm managers can profit from, and talk about the many ways for farm owners and operators to diversify their business, reduce inherent risk, and secure their operations for the future. The target audience for the book is young (and young at heart) people for whom farming is one possible option, and the book’s purpose is to instill excitement about farming as a career and lifestyle and to provide honest and accurate information supporting the decision to become a farmer. My goal is to have the book be the one volume people have in mind when they hear that a friend  or family member is interested in farming – “oh, then you have to read this book I just finished!”

I hope to have the book completed in the next 3 months.  If you would like to be notified when the book becomes available, please be sure to enter your email address to the right of this article in the “Get Notified” section.  (I promise I won’t sell your email address)