“Sir, we require the wearing of a mask here”.
“Oh, good! Maybe you could help me out? I don’t understand all these masks. Why is everyone wearing them?”
“Uhhhhhh (confused
look)… it’s to stop the spread of COVID?”
“Interesting. So, if I wear one of those masks, you will guarantee
that I won’t contract CoronaVirus?”
“Well, no. I can’t guarantee that. But, it will help.”
“Okay. Do you at least have a brochure, or a pamphlet,
or some type of handout to inform me of how effective a mask is against
viruses? How much do they actually help?”
“No, we don’t have
anything like that. But it is a state
mandate that everyone wear them in public places.”
“Well, I’m all for
helping the community and doing my part in trying to keep everyone safe, but I just
don’t do things without a valid reason.
If your company and the state health officials can’t provide some
quality reasons and data on the issue, I don’t see the need to follow right now. Thanks for your insight, but if you don’t
mind, I’ll just continue without one.”
Well, I was thinking of
something unique for the last edition of ‘Yield & Profit’ for the year, and
then I overheard this conversation while out and about in the community.
Yes, this CoronaVirus is
impacting our friends and families in unprecedented ways all around the world. And from some of the stories I hear, I would
not want to wish a COVID infection on even the worst enemies. But, the above conversation led me to some
research to find methods to help as a willing and healthy member of the
community.
I’m not sure of all the
answers, but I was inspired to try and find some info that I could use to
formulate ideas on whether or not the wearing of masks was indeed helping.
In conducting my research, I
found a couple scientific peer reviewed papers on the topic. The first, comes from The Annals of Occupational Hygiene, Volume 54, Issue 7, October 2010. https://academic.oup.com/annweh/article/54/7/789/202744
The research outlaid in this article focused on
the effectiveness of various cloth mask types in comparison to the N95 medical
masks in filtering very small particles (common virus range). In a nutshell, it states that brand name
cloth masks allowed penetration of 55-95 nm diameter particles at the rate of
75-90%. Masks made from sweatshirt
materials were sometimes slightly better (depending on brand name) at reducing
particle penetration, while masks made from T-shirts allowed penetration at 82%
or greater of the above-mentioned particle size.
As droplet size testing increased into the 300-1000
nm range, mask filtration efficiency increased, but still allowed penetration
of 40% at best (most cases it was above 60%).
If I understand the biology correctly, it only
takes one virus laden micro particle to infect the human body. Therefore, it’s hard to argue that wearing
any mask that is not a properly fitted medical N95 mask, is hardly helpful.
Another great article I found was an actual
study of health care workers in a hospital scenario. This article is from the National Center for
Biotechnology Information and published in 2015. The study was conducted in
March of 2011. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/
Over 1600 workers from 15 hospitals were split
into three groups: 1) equipped with N95 medical masks, 2) equipped with cloth
masks, and 3) control (workers self-choosing mask or no mask). The study was implemented over 28 days, and
conducted in southeast Asia (high risk area).
The trial measured infection rates of clinical respiratory illness (CRI),
influenza-like illness (ILI), and laboratory confirmed respiratory virus infection (Virus).
In summary, this study revealed that health
care workers who were in the cloth mask group had the highest infection rate of
three groups in the study – even higher than the control group! The N95 medical masks did have the greatest impact in decrease
worker infection rates.
At the end of the day if you are highly
concerned, I’d recommend frequent washing of hands, limit touching of foreign
surfaces in public places, keep hands away from your face (hard to do while
wearing a mask), and avoid handshakes when out and about in the community.
Some doctors would even recommend maintaining an
adequate level of social activity in order to keep the immune system strong. This
video was recorded back in April, but is quite informative. At about the 18-19 min range, the two
California doctors begin talking about maintaining a healthy immune system. https://www.turnto23.com/news/coronavirus/watch-controversial-press-conference-held-by-two-bakersfield-doctors-that-was-pulled-down-by-youtube
Interesting enough, I could not find any peer
reviewed full research articles that supported the use of cloth mask wearing to
significantly reducing virus sized particles and human infection. If you can find one, please forward it to me
and I’ll give it a mention in this newsletter.
Regional Weather
Well,
we continue to see a bit of snow in the forecast for most days, but no major
storms or large snow accumulation should occur for the week and likely for the
year. Temperatures will be above average
to start the week, ratchet down a notch mid-week, and then back up to the above
average range for next weekend. Without
any significant snow cover, ambient air temperatures in the above average range
could occur most weeks.
I’ll count on your weather app
for the best guidance through the 7-8 day forecast, but looking beyond that,
I’ve found this site from NOAA to be fairly reliable for a general 8-14 day
outlook (next week). https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/index.php
For the last week of December, the
forecast is to have greater chances of above average temperatures as well as
above average chances of being drier than average as well. Unless the forecast changes, we probably will
have only minor snow cover when ending the calendar year.
The NOAA
organization also provides three month outlooks. If we would like to get a general forecast
for the spring season of the 2021 (Mar-Apr-May), it can be seen here:
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=3
This forecast
currently predicts equal chances to slightly below average on the temperature
front, but just equal chances on the precipitation potential. A fairly neutral forecast for the start of
the growing season should be good for an early beginning to the planting season. However, it looks like the dry conditions may
continue until our rainy month of June. Conserving
moisture in the spring most likely will be very key for our region.
Interesting to
note, most of the Midwest for the spring forecast is predicted for greater
chances of above average precipitation and slightly above average temperatures.
It could set the stage for some delayed
planting in the Midwest and Eastern Corn Belt.
Product Spotlight: PivotBio - Proven
In conversations with many of you, it has been alluded that
corn production is probably one of the most challenging crops to consistently
raise at a high-level year after year in our region. The weather extremes across the calendar year
lead to many scenarios where corn grain production can get nipped and nipped
significantly in many cases. From
drought to flood, from wind to hail, and from nutrient loss to pest
infestation, it seems like the list is endless on the factors that can affect
our corn crop throughout the growing and harvest seasons.
Regarding nutrient loss and nutrient mobility, many of you
have addressed the issue in corn by moving to an in-season side-dress
application (Y-Drop™ or side-dress/injector rig). While our local experience with these
applications have generally shown a strong benefit, not everyone has the time,
manpower, or enough equipment to cover all the acres of corn production on the
farm in a timely manner. Maybe there can
be a simpler, more efficient way?
PivotBio has a product named ‘Proven’ that may be able to
help. It colonizes the roots of the corn
plant and begins a mutualistic relationship by providing nitrogen to the plant
while feeding off corn root exudates throughout the season. The product is reported to function under
various soil moisture contents (i.e. it won’t leach, degrade, volatilize or
move into navigable water). It’s applied
with the planter in-furrow (and over the top of the seed – no y-splitter) as a
tank-mix with your starter liquid fertilizer.
If this product works as stated, I could see a big
fit for our region, as most every field at some point in the spring or summer
typically receives an over-abundance of rainfall. Maybe a good place to start would be on some
variable fields with lighter/sandier soils (more potential for nutrient
leaching) or fields that tend to stay more saturated for longer periods of time
(more potential for nutrient volatility and/or a compressed side-dress
application window).
Some grower trials were conducted in the state in 2020 and
the farmer feedback was fairly positive overall. Product gets shipped directly to the farm in
the spring and can be sourced through the website. Labeled on corn and wheat.
https://www.pivotbio.com/
and https://info.pivotbio.com/tech.pdf
NCGA Corn Winners Announced
Successful Farming has noted the
nation’s top yielding corn producer from the 2020 season. This year, it’s not David Hula (Virginia), Randy
Dowdy (Georgia), or even Steve Albracht of Texas, but a new face to the game
from the state of Michigan – Don Stall.
The central Michigan grower produced a yield of 476.9 bu/ac on his irrigated
farm. I’ll provide more details on
national and state NCGA winners in January.
https://www.agriculture.com/michigan-farmer-tops-2020-ncga-yield-contest-with-476-bushel-yield
AgVise Soil Test
Summary - 2020
Earlier
this month, AgVise published their annual summary on soil test results from the
autumn season. A couple interesting
observations from the Dakotas, western Minnesota and southern Manitoba region:
·
Soil
samples testing below 15 ppm (Olsen P test) were again significant in our
region. It would be interesting to know
how many of these samples came in the “Low” (4-7 ppm) to “Very Low” (1-3 ppm) category. My bet is phosphorous is more limiting then
we may realize
·
Nitrate
nitrogen levels on fallow (prevent plant) acres average 38 lbs/ac from 0-24”
deep, but there is a wide variability in these results as over 39% of the
samples test below 20 lbs N/ac in this subset of data
·
Soils
on the Minnesota side of the state line have greater potential to test below
optimum in potassium
·
Zinc
is the micronutrient with the greatest potential to test below optimum in our
region.
The summary
report can be accessed here: https://www.agvise.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/agvise-soil-test-summary-2020.pdf
Interpretation of soil test results: https://www.agvise.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/SK-5-Lee-seminar-2020-soil-test-interpretation.pdf
Random Agricultural Facts – Winter
Solstice
It’s our shortest day and longest night of the year, and the
day where the sun will rise to its lowest daily maximum height in the southern
sky around mid-day. If you live directly
on the Arctic Circle, you’ll experience the day without sun – the one day of
the year without natural light.
We all know the seasons change due to the earth’s orientation to the sun, but did you know that earth’s speed in its orbit around the sun also varies? It is because of this variability that daylight gained or lost from day to day is not consistent, and each season is not exactly 91.3 days long (365.25/4).
The winter business planning time seems to go fast once the
days start to get longer and the holiday season ends. This year, our off-season will most likely
seem a little long for some due to the efficient and quick harvest season, but
may seem shorter for others as we have had an open winter so far with many continuing
outside activities.
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-december-solstice
