Fourth of July Corn Felfies

Jun 24, 2014

Canada, U.S. Corn Growers Asked to Submit #CornFelfie Photos

According to an old farming adage, corn fields should be “knee-high by the 4^th of July.” The saying was considered years ago to be a good measure to determine if a corn crop was doing well or not. But does that benchmark still hold true today?

Knee high nowadays would most likely be an indication that your corn crop isn’t fairing very well. But it also depends on when it was planted. For example, spring of 2014 was a late start for most farmers. The cool, wet spring weather prompted some farmers to adjust their cropping plans, including switching crop varieties.

Plant breeders have improved the genetics of corn to the point that 4^th of July corn should probably be about chest high or about four feet tall. Corn varieties have been developed to withstand harsher conditions, often allowing farmers to plant their crops earlier than before. Planting a crop early gives the crop, in this case corn, more time to grow. While the phrase has outlived its usefulness, it remains a popular saying.

Last year, Farms.com put out a call to farmers asking them to submit photos of themselves standing in their corn crop. This was done even before the felfie trend caught on. “Felfies” are farmer selfies, which are self-portrait pictures, taken with a hand-held camera or a camera phone. Farmers, let’s have a little fun this 4^th of July. Send in your #cornfelfie pictures and we will make a video with them.

How to participate:

Tweet at @AmandaBrodhagen or use the popular #fromthefield hashtag
Email: amanda.brodhagen@farms.com

Information to include:

Location or region (i.e. state/province, county & country)
Additional information (i.e. date of when it was planted, variety, number of acres etc.)

The video below is a collection of photos featuring the 2013 4^th of July corn submissions:

Video: Season 6, Episode 12: Veterinarians’ Perspectives on Managing Swine Herd Health Across All Phases

Identifying challenges in swine production and turning them into solutions through research and team development is the focus of this episode. Dr. Christine Mainquist-Whigham of Pillen Family Farms and DNA Genetics shares insights on herd health, biosecurity and trial work to improve pig performance. She also discusses her team’s research philosophy, how they evaluate rate of investment and how they gather feedback from employees to address challenges and maintain herd health across all phases of production. Dr. Carlos Roudergue of Country View Family Farms discusses the growing complexity of swine production, especially as technology increases and employee interaction decreases. He also shares how their workforce is shifting toward more specialized roles to support herd health and efficiency.