MOUNT PLEASANT, Del. - An
ancient Chinese philosopher wrote,
“A 10,000 mile journey starts with
the first step.” The first step in
spring planting activities is a
safety readiness check.
Not many people think of
plowing as dangerous, but im
properly adjusted machinery,
fatigue, or just plain carelessness
can cause accidents.
Delaware extension safety
specialist Ron Jester Says a
thorough understanding of how to
operate the equipment is fun
damental. Proper maintenance
and adjustment of tractor and plow
are also vitally important.
Getting off to a safe start in
volves hitching properly. Poor
positioning of the plow makes
hitching difficult and could lead to
injuries.
The plow should be on a firm, flat
surface free of other objects.
Securely block mounted plows
before lowering the hydraulic lift.
A little forethought when
unhitching can save hands, back,
feet, tempers, and 4 lot of time
when rehitching, adds the safety
specialist.
Taking shortcuts is often asking
for trouble For instance, don’t try
(Continued from Page DIO)
On the positive side: passage in
1980 of an Alaska lands bill which
reserves 104.3 million acres of
Alaska as public land and a
Coastal Zone Management Im
provement Act, which budgets $7l
million m incentives for states to
protect coastlines.
SOIL
Down. Last year, the U.S. ex
ported more than $4O billion worth
of food, and as the world’s
population continues its rapid
climb, foreign demands on U.S.
agriculture could reach staggering
proportions.
Unfortunately, the U.S. is losing
valuable farmland at an alarming
SCHLESSMAN'S
to put hitch pins in place from the
operator’s seat with the tractor in
gear, advises Jester. Set brakes or
put the transmission in park before
getting off the tractor.
Also, be sure you have enough
headroom when backing up inside
buildings.
Jester says hitching is easier
with the help of an assistant, ad
ding that the trained tractor
operator should know where the
other person is at all tunes
An assistant should step in only
to make the final pin connection
when the tractor is inching for-
or is braked in the final
position.
There have been many serious
accidents during this simple
operation, so extra care is
essential.
Pins used to connect plow to
tractor should be of proper size and
secured with a clip of safety pin.
Check the owner’s manual for
details on setting up the plow
properly. A safe plowing operation
involves proper hitching, which
produces good steering control and
adequate penetration.
If adjustments are not correct
(e.g. improperly set cutters),
problems develop which lead to
Indicators
rate Each year, about a million
acres *of prime farmland are
permanently lost to urban sprawl,
highways, and other development.
To offset these losses, about 1.3
million acres of new cropland are
brought mto production annually
by draining swamps, irrigating
deserts, and clearing woodlands
land being converted to
agriculture at the expense of
forests and other valuable wildlife
habitat. And these new lands are
subject to more serious erosion
losses than prune acreage.
Currently, the U.S. Soil Con
servation Service estimates that
about four billion tons of American -
topsoil are lost annually to erosion.
How to
make plowing safe
anger and frustration ideal
emotions for an accident, says
Jester.
The size, shape, and slope of field
affect the pattern of operations.
Avoid dangerous working
situations such as operating on
steep slopes, getting too close to
obstructions and ditch banks, and
extremely tight turns where the
tractor tire may catch the im-
Continuous cropping helps
soybeans
disease build
GEORGETOWN, Del. - When
no-till soybeans are grown con
tinuously on the same soil, there’s
a good chance yields may suffer.
Robert Carroll, a plant
pathologist at the University of
Delaware’s Agricultural Ex
periment Station, has been
studying the relationship between
tillage practices and root and stem
diseases of soybeans.
Results from the past three
years suggest that when they’re
grown repeatedly on the same
ground, no-UU soybeans have a
higher incidence of Fusanum
blight disease than do con
ventionally grown soybeans.
Fusanum blight is caused by a
soil-borne fungus which can
senously reduce yields.
In heavily infested fields, losses
may run as high as 20 to 25 percent,
says Carroll. More often they run
around five to ten percent. The
disease easily represents a loss of
two or three bushels an acre.
The scientist has been studying
the incidence of disease in two
major soybean vaneties-Essex
and Williams-grown under both
no-till and 'conventional tillage
after both wheat and barley. These
are the two major cover crops used
with no-till beans in this area.
He plans to collect data from test
plots at the university’s
plement.
With the recent ram, farmers
face a higher probability of getting
stuck in wet fields, creating ad
ditional hazards if safety
precautions are not followed.
If a fanner is struck and can’t
back out, it’s best to get help,
advises Jester. Don’t chain blocks
to the drive wheels because the
chassis can revolve around the
Georgetown Sub-station again this
summer. He will then pass along
his findings to Delaware’s ex
tension plant pathologist who will
make any needed recom
mendations to growers.
Carroll says the jury’s still out,
but data he’s collected so far show
a trend towards a statistically
significant higher level of
Fusanum blight fungus on the
roots and stems of plants grown in
no-tili, as compared to those grown
underconventional tillage.
He’s also isolated the fungus
more often in soybeans £rown
after a cover crop of wheat, rather
than barley. Seedcoats of no-tilled
soybeans from his test plots also
showed higher levels of the
pathogen.
Carroll considers Fusanum
BOYD'S 78 AT
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April It, 1981—Dll
in
EGGS
axle if wheels stick.
When pulling a tractor out of
mut, hitch only to the draw bar.
Engage the clutch smoothly, not
suddenly.
Jester stresses that under no
circumstances should extra riders
be allowed on a tractor. This
cardinal safety rule applies not
only to plowing', but to all farm
operations.
blight to be the mam threat to
soybeans m the mid-Atlantic
region right now.
“Other diseases like pod and
stem blight or brown stem rot are
present, but they haven’t yet
caused any serious losses like
those we’ve confirmed from
Fusanum blight,” he says.
“I’m not condemmg no-till,”
stresses the scientist. “It has many
advantages. But you need to look
closely at all aspects of any new
practice.
“Depending on what we find out,
it may mean that farmers growing
no-till soybeans will have to think
more carefully about the varieties
they grow since use of resistant
varieties is the best means of
controlling a pathogen like
Fusanum,” he said.