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Above you will see some lovely pictures of crop circles – almost exclusively in Wiltshire not far from where my father farms. They are amazing structures and like many things in life, hard to fathom at first glance. Fortunately, we know exactly how they are produced. Doug Bower and David Chorley admit to hoaxing approximately 250 circles. There is a thriving community of crop circle makers out there. They even produce circles to order as they did for heavy-rock band Korn who then recorded a concert within it. You can read all about this here and even watch the full two-hour concert at the bottom of the page (worth it if only for the drummer who’s kit appears to be about to eat him and the rest of the band).
On a more serious point, farmers do not take kindly to having their crops stomped so please don’t try it. There are enough difficulties growing wheat successfully given the vagaries of the British weather and the uncertainty of the markets without having a few tonnes of grain stomped into the soil. You may notice in the Korn pictures that they used the ‘less good’ end of the field for their circle (although I am sure the farmer was handsomely compensated) where much of the crop was already ‘lodged’. This refers to the tendency of wheat and barley to collapse under its own weight if it grows too fast. This often happens if too much nitrogen fertiliser is used encouraging excessive growth. Nitrogen (found as nitrate in the soil) is the number one plant fertiliser as it is needed to make amino acids and hence proteins. Too little and plants will not grow well and show obvious signs of distress such as discoloured leaves; too much and grasses such as wheat and barley will grow too quickly and be more susceptible to wind damage.
Some farmers use satellite navigation systems on their combine harvesters to measure the rate that grain enters their hoppers. They can load this up to a computer so that when they are spreading fertiliser the following year, they spread it more heavily where the yield was previously low and more lightly where the yield was high. Although farmers are often criticised for their use of agricultural chemicals, I have never known one who would not rather use less (and spend less) than more.
Questions…
- Wheat grains contain a store of food for the developing embryo. Which carbohydrate are wheat grains likely to contain?
- Can you suggest a way other than artificial fertiliser in which nitrate can get into the soil?
- Plants need nitrates to make amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. What do we call the code needed to build a single protein?
- Name a food rich in protein.
- What function does protein serve in the human diet?
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