Breaking Ground
When Tradition Becomes Poison
Newspapers labeled it “the year without a winter.”
The winter of 1877-1878 delivered temperatures ten to fifteen degrees above average, along with Christmas rain, to Minnesota. That El Niño fueled winter remains the warmest in Minnesota's history.
Rookie farmers took advantage of the dry soil in late February and sewed most of Minnesota’s wheat crop in the month's final week.
Remarkably, yields were okay in 1878.
This winter appears to be similar to 1877-1878. With temperatures reaching nearly fifty in late January, many areas of Minnesota may experience dry, workable soils in February. Only this time, nobody will sock a crop in the ground, no matter how good the soil conditions are.
Planting in February this far north is madness. History tells us that April can be just as winter-like as December. Therefore, crop insurance companies won’t underwrite any crops planted before a specific date, usually in April or May, depending on the region.
The odds of planting a February crop in Minnesota and producing a respectable yield aren’t very good. Farmers know this, so nobody in their right mind would plant in February.
How do they know? Well, somebody fucked around and found out to learn that planting too early is a poor strategy.
The seven deadliest words in agriculture are “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
The younger generation constantly explores new avenues, such as experimenting with different crops, altering the direction of farming a piece of land, changing the fertilizer program, or even choosing a different type of truck.
But then, the patriarch slaps the kiebosh on the kid’s ideas.
This is a Ford house, son. Daddy always drove a Ford, so that’s what we do. If you don’t like it, you can get out.
There are two types of farmers in this world: those who repeat the same practices and those who seek a better way. And those searching for the better way don’t just do it by reading Successful Farming.
They do the work.
They stick their necks out.
They try new things on their farms, experimenting with different products, different fertilizer or seeding rates, new soil management strategies, or paying workers a better wage than the standard eighteen bucks an hour.
Agriculture is constantly evolving.
We learn from the mistakes and successes of those who came before us and strive to build upon them.
That’s how it works.
Somebody had to try something new to learn what works so that future generations know what they can or can’t do.
I spent many years working with an old curmudgeon who grew strictly wheat and soybeans year after year. We rotated the same two crops for nearly a decade under the same management system.
Boring.
Sure, it was easy. We tucked our machinery in sheds for many years while most continued harvesting sugarbeets, sunflowers, and corn. We mailed it in like somebody working only to collect a paycheck.
We chose the easy path, but at what cost? All those years, we farmed without learning anything new. We didn’t contribute anything to ourselves or the industry. We followed the path of least resistance by doing the bare minimum.
If everybody farmed that way, we’d still be planting wheat in February, hosing our crops in dangerous pesticides like DDT, and warshing our hands in gasoline. (Seriously, that was a thing. And we wonder why cancer rates are so high in middle America.)
We must adapt and learn from our mistakes to remain relevant.
That’s the way we’ve always done it is a horseshit excuse.
Do you remember Blockbuster video? They refused to adapt and stuck with the old ways, which led to the company's downfall. In 2000, Blockbuster had the chance to purchase Netflix for $50 million, but they decided to concentrate on physical stores instead.
Blockbuster is now just a memory, while Netflix has a market cap of nearly $250 billion. What a blunder.
We either change with the market, or we drift and die. Those are the options.
Which will you choose?
Do you operate under the “This is the way we’ve always done it” mentality?
What have you learned the hard way from trying something new?
Are you planning on trying anything new in 2024?
Do you miss Blockbuster Video?
Have you ever warshed your hands in gasoline?
1. I hate that "this is how we've always done it" bullsh*t! Nothing kills progress and ingenuity faster than that old mental rut. So I personally avoid it (and people with that stuck mentality) at all costs lol.
2. To be more careful with the men u choose to bring into my life because the wrong partner will tank your farm faster than a June-frost in Maine!
3. Building my first cold-frames this year, to extend my growing season.
4. Nope!
5. Double nope!
Great post, Adam!