mcorn nix
PENNSYLVANIA CORN GROWERS A
Section E
Com Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Oct
Fulton County Grower Manages Under Unique Conditions
Drought, Deery Microclimate Are All Part Of The Mix In Great Cove
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
McCONNELLSBURG
(Fulton Co.) Russell McLu
cas’s fields lie just west of the
Russell McLucas’s grain system allows him to dry 25-percent moisture corn
for about 7 cents a bushel and store half a year’s crop. After initial drying, a
forced air system in the large bin runs inexpensively until January.
Photo by Dave Lefever
Camden Farm Hosts 2002 Va. Corn, Soybean Exposition
GAY BROWNLEE
Virginia Co. Correspondent
PORT ROYAL, Va. A
Thursday, October 24
Conference to Highlight
Trends and Opportunities
in Agriculture, State Col
lege, thru Oct. 26, (717)
787-5085.
John F. (Johnny) Davis, who farms Camden Farm
in Caroline County, exits a Deere 8400 tractor at the
Corn and Soybean Expo. He took a run down the
field to experience the sensation of allowing the
global positioning system to guide the machine via
satellite.
t Photo by Gay Brownlee, Virginia correspondent
Monday, October 28
Certified Crop Adviser
School, Holiday Inn, Grant
ville, (717) 921-8803.
Wednesday, October 30
Tuscarora Mountain in a little
valley called “The Narrows.”
It is part of Great Cove, a
larger valley in the area north
of McConnellsburg, near the
Regional Cropping Systems
project on Aug. 15 was the
featured educational opportu
ORN TALK
Farm Calendar
Drought Workshop, Holiday
Inn, Grantville, (717)
840-7408.
Wednesday, Novembers
Northeast Pa. Quality Forage
Conference, Mansfield Fire
Hall, Mansfield, 10 a.m.-3
p.m., thru Nov. 7.
Thursday, November 7
(Turn to Page E 3)
Fort Littleton exit of the turn
pike.
McLucas faces some unique
challenges here, but in 30
years of farming he’s devel-
nity for some 750 persons who
descended on Camden Farm
for the 2002 Virginia Ag Expo
in Caroline County.
Supported by the United
Soybean Board, the Founda
tion for Agronomic Research
and the USDA, the main re
search of the multistate proj
ect is being done on 60 of the
2,150 acres Camden depends
on for growing com and soy
beans.
John R. Pratt and Beverley
C. Pratt are the owners, but
since 1969, John (Johnny) F.
Davis has been the man farm
ing Camden and Tommy
Hicks is the fellow he depends
on to help him do it.
When Jaunsee Terrell, 26
and Jason Stover, 10, arrived
on the grounds, their attention
(Turn to Page E 4)
oped a variety of ways to deal
with them. While com is one
of his main crops represent
ing about 300 of the 650 acres
he farms he knows better
than to stake his livelihood on
it.
The list of reasons includes
tremendous deer pressure,
drought, pests, and often low
prices.
WINDING DOWN A
NASTY YEAR
Mother nature provided
many educational demonstra
tions to those who paid atten
tion this year. We learned
again that com can recover
from severe frost in most
cases. We found out this year,
though, when com gets frost
ed of three times, or when it
gets to the five leaf stage and
is frosted, survival can be re
duced.
We learned again that our
weather is unpredictable.
SSOCIATION
ober 19, 2002
As part of a diverse ap
proach, McLucas has made a
successful business of growing
mixed bromegrass and timo
thy hay and marketing it in
700-pound round bales, most
ly to dairy farmers within a
50-mile radius of his home. He
grows some wheat and other
(Turn to Page E 2)
NSYLVANIA MASTER
GROWERS ASSOCIATION
tetween The Rows
•r. Greg Roth
Agronomy Associate Professor
When it was hot and dry in
April, it soon changed to cold
and wet in May and June and
then back to hot and dry in
July and August.
The changing weather pat
terns resulted in many oppor
tunities for crop stress
throughout the season. Early,
the rain and cool tempera
tures in May caused lots of
purple com throughout the
countryside. This happened
because cool temperatures
(Turn to Page E 5)