Create a Feast for Your Crops, Too Next week many of us will sit around the table with family and friends, enjoying a plentiful Thanksgiving meal. Our national holiday dates back to the feast held by the Pilgrims and the Indians to celebrate the colony's first successful harvest. Although our world of agriculture looks very different when compared to the Thanksgiving of 1621, there are also many commonalities. Farmers remain good stewards of the land, and we remain thankful for our rich soils. The health of our soils and our production practices truly are reflected in the nutritional value of the food we produce. We also can be thankful for today's advanced seed genetics and trait combinations that help produce a crop even in difficult growing conditions. A walk through the genetic garden we planted in Alexander this year showed just how far today's hybrids have come from the maize first hand-planted by Indians for food. Many of the corn varieties in our " living museum of corn " didn't even produce ears, while some of the more modern hybrids produced ears as large as a can of Pringlesr potato chips. Today new scientific developments allow us to springboard, from the past production practices and plant diets, into the new designer nutritional diets that include a deep look at soil, available nutrients, and application timing -- all of which are components of Latham's Seed-to-Soilr program . Just as people look forward to traditional Thanksgiving recipes that are pleasing to their