Every growing season requires different skills, strategies, and ideas to solve the problems that are thrown the farmers’ way. To say that people are kept on their toes by each and every growing season is an understatement. This week on the Farmer Rapid Fire on RealAg Radio, I asked the panelists about an agronomic lesson they learned this year to be applied to future years. A common answer was “patience.”
Patience is defined as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.
In my opinion, it is easy in hindsight to be patient, but in the moment of stress and uncertainty of the unknown, executing patience is so difficult. It is far too easy to press on, omit opportunity cost calculations and other steps to proper decision making.
Patience is also one of the best Guns N Roses songs of all time but I digress….
Back to farming……
Brett Israel of Mapleton, Ontario says, “In the spring, I think if we can be a bit patient and plant into the best conditions possible, that will set ourselves up for success no matter what the weather decides to do.”
Patience does not guarantee success as our farmer guests alluded to, but it can prove to be a virtue more times than not.
Warren McCutcheon who farms at Carman, Manitoba reiterated the difficulty of being patient when the stress of time is playing on your mind. “You never know in the spring, but this year we waited on a few extra days to let the ground dry. On some of our wheat we went a few days too early on some heavier ground, leaving some wheel tracks. If we could have slowed down a little bit, it would have helped but it was so hard this past spring in Manitoba because of how late the calendar already was.”
Pioneer Seeds Canada agronomist Derwynn Hammond says, “it’s great to hear because it can really help maximize the productivity of your crops. With canola and corn the attention to detail leads to consistency.” It’s not just spring that requires patience, it can pay off with harvest as well when it comes to desiccation or swathing.”
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