There is probably a good reason, but I don't know what it is.

[NwMtGardener]

I have to say, i find this fascinating too. It's like...how many other people have seen this but not REALIZED, or have I seen this and not realized it? For me, its like watching Dirty Jobs and learning about other careers out there i know nothing about. Somebody needs to figure this out!!!

 

[jackb]

& u r sure they didn't run combine through field? If they just mowed it, there should be a lot of volunteer corn, & I do mean a lot-like grass in yard.

I have never seen one. I do know that in the spring it is a brown soggy mess after our usual 70 inches of snow. There is a lot of corn laying around, but I never thought of volunteers. I would think between the geese, crows and critters a lot of corn gets consumed. When it was a dairy they would spread manure, boy that was stink times ten! I never see them put anything on the field, but they do spray between the rows when the corn first comes up. If I think about it I'll take another photo at the end of October.

JackB

 

[journey11]

Could be growing it to conceal a patch of weed. Maybe that's why he's being so tight-lipped about it.

Seriously though, I can't imagine any good reason to bother planting it and not bother harvesting it. Especially with the demand for field corn for ethanol and feed. Seems like the effort and investment in it would in no way off-set the property taxes.

I would be horribly tempted to go harvest a few 50lb sacks for my chickens or for DH's deer hunting plots in the wee hours of the morning. LOL

ETA: Actually, if he were looking to turn a profit AND off-set his property taxes, the landowner would be better off leasing it out for someone to cut hay. I know several folks around here who do that.

 

[digitS']

Some farmers around here plant crops that they know full well won't be harvested.

Crop insurance pays.

If it can be shown that a profit cannot be made by harvesting - could be all sorts of factors involved - collecting that check and plowing it down makes all sorts of financial sense.

How that has worked that I know about is planting too early during a spring when the meteorologists are telling us the growing conditions just aren't favorable. It doesn't have to be some career-ending thing to do. Everything is set up for putting in spring wheat. Put in spring wheat, watch it fail as being not worth harvesting, collect the check, plow and plant winter wheat. Risks to everything; it's like a casino; lower the risk with the insurance; it is tax-payer subsidized.

Steve

 

[canesisters]

I just asked one of my truck drivers who also farms. He said that it might be a few things.
If the area is wet/boggy, he might be using the corn to build up the 'fiber' in the soil so it will be suitable for other planting later.
If they are under an 'alotment' situation, then he might be planting it as insurance against loss in his 'primary' fields. Which would explain why it goes un-used. If the primary fields do well, he is not able to sell the 'extra'.

Still, wouldn't it be nice if he IS unable to sell it for some reason that he could put up a sign "Free Corn - U-Pick".

 

[hoodat]

Corn has the highest government subsidies of any farm crop followed by soybeans.

 

[jackb]

Now being more curious I went into the field and pulled a representative ear. The plants and corn are puny compared to previous crops I have seen. The plants are about five and a half feet high and the corn looks OK, I am not an expert, but it looks small to me. This spring when the corn sprouted we had a really wet period and parts of the fields looked more like a rice paddy than a corn field. I guess farming is a risky business.

Jackb

 

[canesisters]

I'd have been HAPPY with corn like that.
Mine was about 4" had about 12 kernels per ear.....
The chickens liked it.

 

[hoodat]

At first I thought he might be trying to clean the land of chemicals so he could grow organic crops (that can take a few years) but you said he was spraying between rows so I guess that's out. Could it be he's running an experiment for some company like Monsanto? That would explain the tight lip about what is going on.

 

[bobm]

Just 1 mile from our ranch in Cal. is a 800 acre rolling hill farm that grows winter wheat. Wheat is sold on a contract allotment of number of acres to be harvested. The 800 acres are disced and planted in the fall. When the wheat is in the dough stage, 400 acres are disced under, the other 400 acres are harvested and sold. Next year it is rotated. The disced crop is used as green fertilizer for better yield the following year.