This is my office today- Now what leads to smaller changes

The highway was slowed to a stop with orange barrels.  Because of the slow down I nearly missed my turn off on to a tiny, dusty gravel road.  Most my offices are down dusty roads, but pulling a u turn on a highway with construction to get there waaassss a litttlle much. 


So there, at a crest of a hill was the wheat farmer, and his equipment dealer. 
The question was kind of simple. 

This is what we do now
This is what we want to do
This is what the equipment dealer wants to do

What is best for the land. 

Sooooo, maybe we should start at the beginning. 

Wheat... Yeah... the gluten filled yum filled stuff.

Here, locally, it's typically planted in September/October, over winters and it's harvested in July. 
After harvest, your done.... right?

MMMMM nope.  See that is when the decisions really really start.

See that stuff still on the ground?  We call that residue.
Residue is problematic in the a Schrodinger Cat way.

Too much?
It gets in the way (plugs seeders up) , harbor pests/diseases, and can effect soil quality.
Too little?
You can have issues with soil erosion, and it is the proverbial "doggy bag" for nutrients for the soils. 
It is a balance.

Fast Forward, to our producer. 
Typically, in the area of the PNW, after you farm you would mow, bale, and sell off the straw. 
It's great because of the disease and residue plugging issues, as well as the added value of selling the straw off.  That straw gets used for tons of reasons from bio-fuels to decorations.

Then he had a tillage operation that he wanted to do.  Typically, tillage has it's own ups and downs. 
You get to break down that residue so that the "doggy bag" nutrients are available, and incorporates Oxygen into the soils... which is awesome healthy.... I'll get into that more later posts.


But they tried a couple of lower "minimal tillage" items side by side.
See?

Can see the difference?


Nope?










OK, look higher

THERE YA GO


crazy right?
(I have a drone flying license, just in case you didn't realize it).



Looks totally different!

But which is better?

That's how I come in.  Doing drone flights for NDVI/NIR (I'll explain what that means in another post) checking for moisture, weeds, residue management, and more.


So that will be my office once a month for the next year.
Measuring residue and know which of these systems works best