Posted on 09/29/2005 9:44:22 AM PDT by foreverfree
Every year during harvest time one sees little signs in farm fields with logos such as HighQ, Dekalb, NK and (my favorite) "Pioneer, Technology that Yields" :-0. I am told that these signs mark what are called "test plots". Not being from the country originally, I hope FReepers don't mind me asking how these "test plots" operate. Thanks in advance.
ff
Soylent....
It usually refers to the hybrid of corn planted in that field.
To expand... The seed company plants different hybrids in different fields. They are trying to develop, through engineering, better types of corn (or what ever plant they are growing). For instance they will try to develop hybrids that are more resistant to drought, weavils, disease...., or corn that produces more yield per acre. If successful, the company (dekalb, Pioneer, Pfister's...) will plant sell the seeds to farmers to plant entire fields of the corn.
By the way, we are not talking sweet corn here - the kind you eat - we are talking about field corn - the kind you make products such as corn sweetner... out of or sell to feed for livestock.
I'd think there's some GMO research going on..??
Those are all names of alien space ships.....
Sometimes you will see whole fields planted and the brand name of the seed company advertized, in hopes other farmers will take a look at the crop and try it the next year.
I was wondering if I should go into that aspect of corn planting. I started out walking beans & then "advanced" to detasseling & if we were really lucky Pfister's would call us back to to hand pollinate for a couple of weeks at the end of summer. Those were tough jobs. Luckily, I got a job in the air-conditioned IGA & my detasseling days were behind me for the rest of high school.
And they say these are jobs Americans won't do. I did them & then mowed lawns after coming in from the fields.
I grew up in Central Illinois, so I relate more to corn & soy beans.
Seldom do you see a corn crop up here. Sometimes pig farmers grow it for silage. Mostly it's cereal crops around these parts, and Canola.
They are also trying to develop crops such as soybeans which are resitant to the most effective herbicides so that they can spray the field and kill ALL the weeds without killing the crop.
Those signs are a form of advertising. If your crops look good, then maybe another farmer will want to plant that type of seed.
I think it has something to do with the UN and black helicopters.
Seed companies brag about their test plot results. Google the name of the compnay and 'test plot' and you'll find more than you want to know!
they grow in bio-engineered circles to confuse and amaze Art Bell listeners.
At the end of the season the testers harvest each strip and calculate that varieties yield for the record which may be public and then can be had for the asking from your State Ag University.
You have *seen* the X-Files, right? ;')
Other than when channel surfing, no. But one of my coworkers has X-Files memorabilia in her office.
ff
In the movie Andromeda Strain they were used to hid a secret goverment grem research lab.
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