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Cab Conversations, Get Growing No. 5

This week Meghan Grebner, Indiana Farm Director, talks to farmers about how the weather has impacted their crops, what they’re expecting from the rest of the season, and how their work crews enhance their operations.

Cannon Michael, Los Banos, California
Jay Hill, Las Cruces, New Mexico
Adam Casner, Carrollton, Missouri

Show Notes: 

Meghan Grebner: She recaps the first conversation with this group, that centered around water. She asks what the month of May has been like.
Adam Casner: Says his area, Missouri, has had 7 1/2 inches of rainfall, a record. He says some crops are standing in water.
Jay Hill: He says the weather has been hit and miss.
Cannon Michael: Says California saw a little rain but not enough to make an impact.  He says conditions are cooler.
Meghan Grebner: Asks about how the crops are doing.
Cannon Michael: He says there’s still about 25% of his acreage that still needs to be planted.
Jay Hill: He shares video of rolling onions. He says they’re preparing to hand harvest them.  Crop conditions look good.
Meghan Grebner: She asks about manual labor compared to automation.
Jay Hill: He says its intense in a non-controlled environment and so they work as quickly as they can in good conditions. His farms employ around 350 people. They start around 4:30 a.m. and stop around 10:30 p.m.
Adam Casner: He says most of the corn is stunted due to wet and cool conditions. They’re waiting for warmth.
Cannon Michael: He says his tomato crop starts as transplants several month before planting. He calls it a semi-mechanical process. He says there’s been a little bit of evidence of the leaf virus curly top, but overall things look good.
Adam Casner: He wants to know how long Jay’s onion harvest will last.
Jay Hill: He says they start harvest the last week of May and finish mid-to-end of August. He shares that working with multiple crop harvest gets tight with getting everything done.
Meghan Grebner: She asks about labor and how everything gets done.
Jay Hill: Says the crews that work on his family farms are the best.  He says with a good crew the process seems to manage itself.
Meghan Grebner: She asks Adam how he explains his corn and soybean production to consumers in comparison to farmers whose crops end up in the supermarket.
Adam Casner: He says consumers never see their finished product so it does make it harder to communicate. He thinks there’s a lot of confusion about corn that is eaten and that, that is produced for other reasons.
Meghan Grebner: She asks Cannon to explain how he explains the importance of what he’s doing, to consumers.
Cannon Michael: He says it’s important to remember that most of what we consume contains a lot of water. He says it takes water to grow things and the alternatives are not as good as the environmental and ethical control that’s used here in the U.S.