then and there was growing interest in corn pellets for heating stoves as an alternative fuel. Production of the pellets would require specialized equipment for drying down the harvested corn to a 10-to-12-percent moisture content, storing it and bagging. Tough we had no idea how it would go, Linda had us plant that 70 acres in corn and made the investment in the specialized equipment to launch Sodco’s Blazin’ Corn.”
Tey’ve used the product to heat the Sodco buildings and the homes on the property. Hodgson adds, “During the recession, corn was one of our rotational crops that reduced our carrying costs of turf inventory. We got a good return from it in the heating market and a good commodity price for it for animal feed.” Tough the sales of Blazin’ Corn vary based on the costs of home heating oil, the company continues to market it successfully bagged in 40-pound bags and offered in one-ton bulk bags.
Hodgson says, “For a period in 2010, I served as farm manager when our previous farm manager moved to a job in Colorado. Tat turned out to be a tremendous opportunity because we connected with John Eidson, our current farm manager in September of 2010. He’s an exceptional farmer in his attention to the health of his soils and his ability to produce different turf crops. It’s a consistent outcome with every variety; high quality that always meets or exceeds our customers’ expectations.”
Eidson came to the job after studying plant and soil sciences at the University of Rhode Island and with an extensive background in cover cropping, having grown forages, alfalfa and grasses for other farms and custom farmed sod and hay. He says, “In 2010, the industry was still suffering from the economic downturn, and we weren’t turning the grasses quickly. Linda and I took this as an opportunity to rebuild our soils so when things got better sales-wise our soils would be better able to produce a quality sod crop. We’ve stuck with this process ever since, extensive cover cropping and balancing the soils from a nutritional standpoint. It’s what I enjoyed and preached, and we’ve never wavered from it.”
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Linda Tucker (left) and Sodco farm manager John Eidson (center) accept the Conservation Innovator of the Year award presented by the Southern Rhode Island Conservation District.
Eidson likens determining the cover cropping schedule to solving a Rubik’s Cube brain teaser. “We look at the future inventory needs for each of our 10 grass products and then I back up from there to look at the times of year and the number of acres of each product that we’d need to have ready to meet those needs,” he says. “To allocate field space, I choose the cover crop plantings to match the season. If a field is open in the fall, we’ll put in a cover crop, such as hairy vetch or rye, and let it overwinter. For a field open in the early spring that is not needed
immediately for grass production, we’ll plant a crop such as peas or oats. For a field harvested later in the season, we would most likely put in sorghum as a summer crop. We also grow corn for our Blazin’ Corn heating product and sell some for animal feed, so that fits into the crop rotation program, too.”
Hodgson says, “What we learned in the great recession, though we didn’t welcome the sales drop of over 50 percent, was a major shift in our thinking. We could use it as an opportunity to rest the farm and engage in soil improvement.”
Te combination of crop rotation and cover cropping helps change the soil’s biology and keeps pests, disease, and weeds to a minimum. Eidson says, “Te process is similar to that used by organic produce farmers, but on a much larger scale. It’s cost-cutting, as few pesticides (if any) are required to grow our crops successfully. Because we’re building a diverse population of microorganisms that are assisting us in our growing, our inputs are reduced, thus reducing the cost of the subsequent grass crops, too. Our fields are more productive; on our 526 acres, we have grown 1,200 acres of assorted crops in one year. We’ve proven we can grow a better grass product and grow it faster.”
Post ’08, municipal and household budgets were under strain and environmental concerns were an important issue. Eidson says, “Bluegrass seemed to be an offender, considered always hungry and always thirsty. We felt it was time to switch to a more environmentally- and budget-friendly grass. Sodco had planted a small amount
TPI Turf News January/February 2019
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