photo challenge day seventeen: technology

this here blog is being hijacked by my smokin' hot hubby for this edition of the photo challenge. i was talking to him about technology and how i knew the obvious ones but i wanted to do something a little different and this is what he came up with:

how seed corn is technology

in order to get the corn that we see in the field today there is a long drawn out process of research and development in order to get the correct cross between two different germ plasms that will produce a hearty, vigorous plant that will yield to its greatest potential. encapsulated in all of this there are many genes that are bred into each kernel through years and years of research and test trials. the average seed corn hybrid today is in research and development for 7 -10 years before it is released into commercial production. thanks to this technology we do not have a food shortage in our country like many other countries do. i am personally grateful for agriculture in general as it provides for our family as well as the many generations before me.

it's me again: here are a few "bonus" pictures for you! do you see the long tower like thing in the background of the above picture? that is a pivot... a little piece of technology we are grateful for as it water the corn much for quickly and effectively than other methods.

can you believe those straight rows? i know jon is amazing and he has had lots of practice planting corn over the years and he is pretty close to a perfectionist, but i don't think anyone could get an entire field of corn perfectly straight. thanks to auto steer, he doesn't even need to steer the tractor. he just pokes a few buttons and off it goes. (he is convinced that it's so simple that i could do it... i'm not so sure about that!)

and last but not least... a little piece of technology that i thought was a bit "old school" at first. this spring we had two way radios installed in all of our equipment, vehicles, and in the house. i remember this technology as a little girl at my grandparents house. it kind of seemed to phase out for awhile and now its back!! i am very thankful for this technology when i am up in the hills and our modern technology fails (i.e. no cell service) and i need to figure out where in the world i'm going!

so there you have it... technology: red neck edition! ha! just kidding! maybe i should call it agriculture edition.. there, that sounds better!