Colorado Sunflower Fields?

There is a farmer's field near Longmont, CO that I like to go to every year to shoot the sunflowers. I went there last weekend and found that the farmer planted corn this year (darn ethanol production).

Has anyone else spotted any big fields of sunflowers in the Boulder area this year?

Thanks,
-David

I don't know of any fields near Boulder, but there are some sunflower fields near Garden of the Gods and many sunflowers on the road to Great Sand Dunes NP. Yep, that ethanol production is a raw deal. E85 gives you worse "gas mileage" (25% less efficient than gas) and it costs more. Corn prices are through the roof and folks in Mexico and Central America are starting riots over the surge in tortilla prices. It is not an efficient form of energy and GM is investing heavily in it. Farmers are making a fortune off the corn production, so don't expect to find too many sunflower fields anytime soon.

Ah, unintended consequences. And watch what happens when someone finally perfects a mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell. Right now the familiar refrain is, "All it emits is water vapor." When reality sets in and people start realizing that cars are emitting millions of tons of excess water vapor into the atmosphere - the most common and prevalent "greenhouse gas" - watch as the shiat hits the fan.

Not just Colorado! I made the drive from Denver to Wichita and back a little over 2 weeks ago. Usually this time of year there are a lot of sunflower patches to stop and photograph but this time I only saw 1 tiny little field of the giant sunflowers we all love. Corn, however, was everywhere. I think they are even sacrificing some of the wheat fields to grow corn. Greedy capitalist bahstahds!

Todd, I wouldn't be surprised if they found a way to capture the H20 exhaust from hydrogen cars. Regardless, I agree with you: the economic and environmental consequences are not often given proper consideration prior to mass production. My current vote is for photovoltaics, but it could be a while (especially with the increasing demand for semiconductors and chips).

I say we use the fuel cells that run on brewery waste water. We should require every town to have a brewery on every corner, and mandate free beer for everyone on weekends. I'm going to make this my presidential platform in 2024

I vote for President Rose!!!

Scott Borger wrote:
Farmers are making a fortune off the corn production...

Scott, I'm going to have to call you on this one...
My father-in-law is an independent farmer in NE Iowa growing corn and soy on about 800 acres. I can GUARANTEE he is NOT making a fortune. He drives a semi truck and my mother-in-law works a full-time job to supplement their farming income. They are both in their 60's.
Big, consolidated farm companies and seed companies may see big profits from increased corn production. But the life of today's independent farmers are much akin to that of a full-time nature photographers. You do it because you love it, not because you're going to get rich.

There was a wedding photography seminar at the Embassy Suites off of Tower Road near DIA. This photo was taken by Autumn, one of the attendees. The field which is right behind the Embassy Suites is solid sunflowers. They weren't in bloom yet, but will be soon. There are numerous prominent “No Trespassing” signs saying the field is the property of Fullenwider or something like that.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e179/abphoto/bamjerr.jpg

I thought I would see a couple fields this morning on my drive through Longmont on 66. No sunflowers. Lots of corn though. And don't even get me started on the ethanol scam.

Scott, my intention was not to suggest that every single farmer was making bank. I was looking at the industry from a macroeconomic level. Just as in other industries, there are any number of reasons (like weather patterns) why one farmer might be doing poorly while another is doing well. Regardless, there is no doubt that the demand for corn has increased significantly from the demand for corn ethanol…and many farmers are making significantly more money than they did before by growing corn. I would imagine that the farmers that have benefited the most are those who have the greatest scale economies and scalable operations. I know several farmers that have found fortunes in California from the increased demand for corn. I have no problem with those who are or are not "making a fortune". I also have no problem with corn farmers. If I was a farmer, I too would grow corn (unless I found some ethical/philosophical reason that trumped my capitalist intensions). I wish your father-in-law the best with his efforts as a farmer. It’s a high risk/high reward business where one great year can easily be offset by one bad year. That said, so long as the weather and other natural forces cooperate and corn prices stay high, perhaps now is as good a time as any to be a corn farmer.

Below are a few links to articles that describe the macroeconomic effects (“fortunes”) of the increased demand for corn (and a partial basis for my reasoning). I don’t believe everything that I read, but the articles make sense to me: According to one of the articles, the price for corn has doubled since 2005 (from $2 to $4 per bushel). If costs remained relatively stable while revenues doubled, profits should increase many times over. Now if subsidies were dropped or corn production costs were raised significantly since these articles were written (many of them are very recent), the situation would look different. With heavy investments in ethanol production by companies like GM and Bush’s stamp of approval, analysts are expecting the demand for corn to be high for several years into the future. Scott, perhaps our perceived differences are on the basis of what we mean by “fortunes.” I am viewing them in light of the substantial increase in profit margins and the advent of a greater number of wealthy farmers. I believe that the authors of the following articles have a similar view. FWIW, one of the articles mentioned that Iowa was a net importer of corn, which I found interesting (CVBT article). Other articles (Reuters) explain how weather differences have affected profits for some farmers in Illinois.


Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/17/AR2006021702109_pf.html

Business Week:
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2007/pi20070110_921098.htm

Central Valley Business Times: http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=5774

Reuters:
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2007/06/22/corn-farmers-look-to-skies-for-bumper-profits/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2FdomesticNews%2FidUSN2241050020070622%3FfeedType%3DRSS%26rpc%3D22%26sp%3Dtrue&frame=true

Scott, I hope that these articles help clarify my position. If you want to talk about it more, I’d be happy to do so…but let’s take it offline. I appreciate how most posts on RMNP stick to the topic of photography and I’d like to see it stay that way. Thanks for starting RMNP with such a focused/classy group of people. This is hard to find on many forums.

Ya, this one got way off topic.
I hope you know that I meant no offense by calling you out, and think/hope none was taken. I only wanted to rebut the statement with my personal experience knowing an independent corn farmer. I now understand where you are coming from, macroeconomics and all (which I know nothing about). Thanks for clarifying.

Scott, no offense was taken. Anybody got any good pics of sunflowers?

Wow, I never meant to start a heated political discussion.

I guess I'll just have to wait for sunflower bio-deisel to become popular.

I shot this in Oct 2003 in Longmont and they haven't beem back since.

http://www.mikebartonphoto.com/Favorites/Gallery1/images/lake3_lrg.jpg

There used to be some sunflower fields on Hwy 52 east of Hudson, and off of some of the county roads in that area, but I haven't been back down that way this year, so I don't know if they are still there.

I will be crusin 287 on Saturday. I will have to take a look.

Mike

I haven't shot any sunflowers in several years, but the last time I did I found a nice field near Berthoud. I took the Berthoud exit and drove west and the field was right before the cut off for Carter Lake I believe. There was a new home development right across the road, so for all I know it's new homes these days...

Not sure if this counts as a good shot, but it was one of my favs from that morning...

Biodiesel! - I'm hoping to go that direction after my move to GJ (hopefully make it myself).
All of CSU's diesel fleet runs on at least B20, not sure what their original oil stock is though.

As for Ethanol, isn't switchgrass more cost effective (and environmentally friendly) than corn? I'm not "up to date" on ethanol.

The economics of large-scale biodiesel useage and production are probably similar to the ethanol scenario though. Canola I think would be the crop of choice for that. Sunflowers probably wouldn't cut it (that's my link to the original thread ) .
CSU is working on research growing an algae with a very high oil yield believe it or not. Now that would be something.

Sorry for taking it of topic again but it's an interesting subject. Maybe needs a new OT thread.

After all, the first "gas" engine ran on ethanol and the first diesel engine ran on peanut oil.

I was on the way home from the airport via 104th, and there was a nice field out probably 10 miles east of tower road. Not many blooms as of yet, but I remembered this thread as I drove past...

Anywho 2Cents

DIA area:
Pena Blvd to Tower Road South. Near the Embassy Suites and a Bennigans...

LOL Dave was that you this AM early out in that field? I stopped and took a few shots, but I was shooting the sunrise behind Days Inn, there is a lil patch of Sunflowers there, maybe 150 of em. Anyways, saw a photo out there in the field clickin away and thought to myself as I was shooting, "Hey wonder if that is someone from the boards!" lol Here is the only shot I have processed so far:

http://www.zoto.com/kkart/img/original/e48b2432b7067952be565fc9fea5dcef.jpg

I left Denver this morning on I-76. There are a couple of fields right off the interstate at about mile marker 35 (between the Hudson and Keenseburg exits). They looked pretty nice. Other than that, I only saw them in the ditches all the way into Nebraska...