Tey’ve also partnered with Helena on precision fertilization for their crops. John Sr. says, “We worked with Helena to develop variable rate application of lime and fertilizer based on soil test results and GPS mapping of our fields. It’s all programmed on a thumb drive we plug into the truck which triggers the automatic rate change for precision application. In addition, John Jr. fabricated a light bar for that truck enabling early and late day operation for greater efficiency.”
Even old equipment looks like new with a fresh coat of paint.
allocated for the machine shop, with an oil change area; a reel grinding area; and an in-house paint shop. John Sr. says, “I learned to paint when I started driving—there’s a direct correlation there. Even our 1989 International truck looks new with fresh paint.”
Adding Spinach “With just corn, soybeans and sod, we wanted a vegetable to rotate, as typically the vegetables produce better revenues than grains,” John Sr. says. “We decided on spinach. We only needed to buy the planter and cultivator. We had the sprayer, granular fertilizer applicator and the tractors. It’s a contract crop with Seabrook Farms. Teir processing plant is ten miles from our farm. Tey handle the harvesting and hauling, as well as the processing.”
Spinach is a 45-day crop, John Jr. reports. “It gives us the flexibility to plant and harvest available fields either before or after another crop. We schedule our large acreage spinach crops in the spring and fall. Fields harvested in September can be planted to turfgrasses. October spinach plantings will overwinter at about an inch tall and be harvested in May. With the short season, every day is very important. I call it the crisis crop. It looks beautiful one day, we get some weather changes and it looks bad. We’re always
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watching and adjusting the fertility and the irrigation and, when the humidity goes up, monitoring to control diseases. But it’s an excellent rotational crop, so it’s been a great move for us.”
Helena Connection John Jr.’s agronomic interests lead to the start of their fertilizer facility, now leased to Helena Chemical Company. He says, “Te fertilizer facility was part of a farm we purchased. We were paying a premium for the crop land and wanted to offset that cost by putting the existing infrastructure to use. I bought a blender, initially planning to operate it ourselves, but found we couldn’t make that profitable. Te better option came about five years ago, in leasing the facility to Helena. It allowed them to add fertilizer to their chemical line, creating another source of revenue for them. Te leasing fees help cover our mortgage.”
A Banner Year 2012 was a growing year for Coombs Sod Farms in many ways. Kevin graduated from Penn State with a degree in Turfgrass Science and came back to the farm full-time.
Tey planted 1,000 acres of corn and added a grain bin system that could store half of that production, 110,000 bushels. Tat gave them better control of their shipping, which brought them a higher price for their product. Te majority of their grain production goes to agribusiness giant Purdue for chicken feed.
John Sr. says, “My mother-in-law came over one Sunday and I asked her if they were ready to start planting potatoes. I told her I missed the potatoes. At 7 a.m. the following Monday my father-in-law was in my office, saying, ‘If you want to get back into potatoes we can make that happen.’ He retired from full-time farming; we bought his equipment and now farm the 700 acres of Cruzandale Farms under a rental agreement.”
Getting back into potatoes unleashed more fabrication opportunities for John Jr. “You can buy potato grading and weighing systems,” says John Sr. “But John Jr. can design them to do exactly what he wants them to do within the available space and he can make them work better and last longer. He enjoys doing it; that’s his satisfaction.”
Coombs Sod Farms leases this fertilizer production facility to Helena Chemical Company, a plus for both businesses.
Coombs potato grading and weighing equipment is all designed by John Jr. and fabricated onsite by John Jr., Kevin and the staff. All the
TPI Turf News November/December 2017
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