Re: BIG square bailers

Posted by Hal (WA) on July 08, 2008 at 20:30:13 from (208.81.157.90):

In Reply to: BIG square bailers posted by 37chief on July 07, 2008 at 16:14:53:

In my area of Eastern Washington, a lot of bluegrass seed is grown. The farmers used to be allowed to burn the straw and stubble on the bluegrass fields, which was inexpensive to do and caused much higher seed yields. But it did produce some smoke for a couple of days a year, and the urban people complained. The farmers tried to be very careful about wind direction and just when they burned, but eventually the Washington State Health Department decided that it would be illegal for the farmers to continue to burn the bluegrass fields. Fields are still burned in Idaho, but maybe that is because Idaho actually cares about their farmers livelihood.

Farmers have continued to try to grow bluegrass seed, since it seems to do very well in our climate and the sod it produces virtually prevents erosion on the steep hills. To continue, the straw has to be removed from the fields, and the usual solution has been to bale it up using the large, square bales.

At first, there was no market for the straw. Farmers hauled it to gullies and unfarmable places, but soon those were all filled with rotting, huge bales. The farmers tried to manufacture strawboard, but as I understand it, there was little market for the boards.

Now I understand most of the bluegrass straw is being trucked out of the area and is being used as part of cattle feed. The large bales fit well on semi trailers and the farmers have machinery that handles them easily. But I doubt that the farmers get much for the bluegrass straw bales.

It wouldn't be so bad if the yield stayed the same, but the non-burning farmers get much less seed yield per acre than their neighbors across the border in Idaho that can burn. Apparently burning stimulates the plants to produce extra seeds. The burning also killed many insects and their eggs, as well as weed seeds, so now lots more pesticides must be used. And the straw must be removed every year. It's pretty bad that the state government would make the price of farming go up and profits go way down. I have seen friends just decide to quit farming and lease to the megafarmer corporations.

It will be interesting to see how much bluegrass land gets plowed up to raise wheat. The high prices for wheat this last year were a big, welcomed surprise. I hope that decent prices continue. Wheat was the traditional crop before the farmers discovered the advantages of bluegrass seed production. If they go back to wheat, I supposed the very real problem of huge topsoil erosion will come back.

I'm not a bit sorry for the rant. It was a BS decision by the health department!

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