NAM-08-21-2014

AG Mag Rooted in Family Central Iowa

The family farm is rich in history.

How is the next generation being prepared to carry on the traditions?

Corn still king? It is, but soybeans are being worked more into the mix on Iowa farms.

Raining supreme: Spring and summer rains seem to have put an end to drought.

A Publication of Shaw Media

Capitol gains: The 2014 Iowa Legislative session was positive for agriculture.

Summer 2014 AG Mag

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Index

AG Mag Central Iowa

Publisher Dan Goetz Advertising Director Jeff Holschuh Managing Editor Mandi Lamb Magazine Editors Larry Lough, Jeff Rogers

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Page Design Jeff Rogers Reporters & Photographers Pam Eggemeier, Dave Fox, Zach Johnson, Kate Malott, Matt Mencarini, Mike Mendenhall, Alex T. Paschal, Ty Rushing, Jake Waddingham, and Christi Warren Published by News Publishing Co. 200 First Avenue East Newton, IA 50208 641-792-3121 Articles and advertisements are the property of News Publishing Co. No portion of the Central Iowa Ag Mag may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Ad content is not the responsibility of News Publishing Co. The information in this magazine is believed to be accurate; however, News Publishing Co. cannot and does not guarantee its accuracy. News Publishing Co. cannot and will not be held liable for the quality or performance of goods and services provided by advertisers listed in any portion of this magazine.

COVER STORY

The finish line For farmers, retirement is a process that can be overwhelming. What should you consider?

Getting started Recent Newton High School graduate Ellie Rethmeier hopes to prepare the next generation of farmers.

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Index 16

Seed store still going strong

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What’s the secret that has kept Newton Seed Store in business in the era of big box stores?

The personal touch.

Exports ensure the future

Environmental studies

Many factors are keeping the prices for Iowa soybeans and corn high. Among them is the international market.

Students at Grinnell College have a place to engage in service at the Center for Prairie Studies.

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Meet and eat Central Iowa farmers markets are great places to buy local produce. They’re also hot spots for connecting to your community.

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How to thrive, rain or shine

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Is there such a thing as drought-proof farming? Iowa and Illinois farmers share how they beat the heat.

The inside of Brock Hansen’s tractor cab shows how committed he and many other farmers are to technology.

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AG Mag

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ONGOING BUSINESS, OR ASSET FOR SALE?

Illustration by Alex T. Paschal/ Central Iowa Ag Mag

Estate planning: Determining goals, distributing assets

BY KATE MALOTT AND MATT MENCARINI For Central Iowa Ag Mag

W

hen it comes to retirement, letting go of the farm is no easy task.

There are many things to consider: determining assets’ value, understanding state and federal taxes, and managing family dynamics. It’s a process that

6 Summer 2014

can be overwhelming.

“There are three questions advisers ask land owners when they meet to talk about estate planning,” said Kelvin Leibold, farm and ag business management specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

“How big is the estate? Most estates are going to be small enough that there is no need to worry about federal estate tax or federal gift tax.

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Who is going to get your estate? If it is children or a charity, then there is no worry about the Iowa Inheritance tax.

“When do you to get rid of your estate plan? If you want to get rid of it before you die, well, we call those gifts. Or you may want to transfer it at your death, called a bequest. Or you may decide the you want to transfer it some time after you have died, and we would look at a trust or a life estate.”

The most common challenge, Leibold said, is to figure out whether the farm is going to continue as a business or be a landholding investment.

After the value of assets are determined, the next step is to determine how to divide them up. If a couple want to keep the farm in the family, the difficulty often lies in establishing an equal or fair transfer.

Darlene Thomas is a mother of two who is preparing an estate plan for her children who will eventually acquire about 2,000 acres in Marshall County.

She is managing the assets and communicating with her children about their options after they inherit the land.

“I have learned to get my own things in order to pass on to my children, and that’s the big problem,” she said.

“I have two children that do not farm.

My son may probably want to at some time, but my daughter has no interest.’

Farming is a good income, she said, and she and her ex-husband have discussed the benefits with their two children. Like many parents, Darlene hopes that her children keep the farm because of the family investment – time and money – in the land. But she knows her children might have a different viewpoint.

“If you don’t have a lot of sweat equity [invested], sometimes it becomes meaningless,” she said. “They have to manage it well, and that’s why a lot of younger people today would rather sell, because they don’t want that responsibility. They’d rather take their check, put it somewhere else and invest it.”

Leibold said that when land values are high and a child isn’t farming it, the land is more likely to be sold. If the land is inherited by several children, one of them may want to sell, and it might force the others to sell if they don’t want to buy out their sibling, he said.

Whether selling or keeping the farm in the family, set goals and start planning for retirement sooner rather than later, Leibold said. It’s a process that doesn’t happen in one day, or one week, which is why couples should begin collecting all financial and estate paperwork, as

Photo from Iowa Family Farms Facebook page

The Gardner family has been farming in Jasper County for five generations, since 1886. Denny and Vicki are raising the fifth generation of Gardners on the farm and have changed the name of the business to Iowa Family Farms. A son, Travis, works full time at the office handling the accounting duties among other daily operations. A daughter, Taryn, is a certified nursing assistant while continuing her education for nursing and helps out in the office part time.

‘‘

My advice would be to start to plan for your retirement today. If you have a farm business that you want to continue on, you need to be working on a succession plan.

’’

Kelvin Leibold, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach

it takes time to obtain all needed information.

“My advice would be to start to plan for your retirement today,” Leibold said. “If you have a farm business that you want to continue on, you need to be working on a succession plan. That would include the transfer of labor, management and some assets.

“It may impact the way the land is owned or the way the land is controlled after your death, either by using a business entity or by using a trust or life estate. Think about retirement planning, estate planning, succession planning and business planning as all part of putting together a plan that meets your goals.”

Communicating your needs to your partner, accountant, an adviser and your family is the most important key to having peace of mind in the end, he said. If everyone is informed about goals and decisions, it will make a com-

plex process more bearable.

“It really takes a lot to communicate to keep it on an even keel, to have it work out to be in the best interest for both of them,” Darlene Thomas explained of her situation. “If everything is taken care of correctly, and it comes to them, they shouldn’t have a great deal of stress about it.”

The Iowa Farm Bureau launched a program last August called Take Root, said Nathan Katzer, the farm bureau’s farm business development manager since February.

Katzer said the idea for the succession planning program came from farmers.

“We have a very strong, grassroots organization,” he said. “And we did a strategic planning process prior to me being hired on. The demand for special resources [for succession planning] was clear.”

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The average age of a principal farm operator in the U.S. is 58, according to the 2012 U.S. Census of Agriculture, which is the most current data.

In Iowa, the average age in 2012 was 57.1, up from 56.1 in 2007 and 52.3 in 1997, according to the census.

Katzer agreed that succession planning needed to start “today,� whether farmers are young or old, because a successful succession plan involves a lot of conversations with many different people – family, business partners, advisers, lawyers and accountants. “I think people I’ve interacted with and listened to view this as such an integrated process if they want to be successful,� he said.

Marc Lovell, the assistant director of the University of Illinois Tax School, said establishing objectives of the succession plan and the children is a good starting point. “When it comes to children, there is some sense of fairness,� he said. “But that can be a really tough thing for farmers.

There isn’t a lot of liquidity to split up.�

The planning process should include consideration of current tax structures, Lovell said, to ensure the maximum amount can be passed to the descendants.

Gifting can be a way to do that.

Generally, an individual can give a tax exempt amount of up to $14,000 a year

to a person, Lovell said, and a couple can give $28,000. And it isn’t just cash.

There just has to be valuation to an asset, he said.

The descendant is also entitled to a tax exemption on inheritance, Lovell said, which is $5.34 million for this year. Passing down assets through spouses can also help ease the tax burden on the next generation.

Without some sort of estate planning, the state’s default rules will be used when a farmer dies. “You generally don’t want that with a farm, because it can get messy,� Lovell said.

While understanding tax structures and putting a value on the family farm as a business can be a difficult conversation to have with a lawyer or accountant, it might be no more difficult than family discussions about the family’s history on the farm, the family investment, and desires for the future.

But those discussions are important to ensure that the next generation doesn’t run into the “curse of wealth� when land is passed down that they are not interested in farming or a large amount of money is realized from the assets of the farm business. “If people don’t understand where the family inheritance is coming from, they’re going to squander it, nine out of 10 times,� Katzer said.

It’s important for succeeding generations to know the legacy that’s attached to the assets or inheritance, he said, because from a responsibility standpoint, when someone gets a windfall of assets, the temptation for immediate liquidation might be strong.

Most family farms have survived several generations. There are stories to tell about the people – parents, grandparents and great-grandparents – who kept the farm and the family business afloat.

Those stories and that history, Katzer said, need to be told as part of the succession-planning process so the objectives and wishes of the older generation are considered.

Once a farmer makes the decision to start planning for how the farm and assets will eventually pass down, the process can move at the pace the family is comfortable with.

It’s more important that the process start than it continue along a generic timeline. But it can start only after a realization – that a farmer’s working life may be coming to an end.

That realization is tough to come to, Katzer said, and can lead to difficult conversations about the future. “Some farmers are terrified of not having anything to do,� he said. “They want to die with their boots on and have the farm be their legacy – and not the next generation.�

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What agricultural event or farm show are you most excited about for the summer, and why?

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I am looking forward to the Farm Progress Show in Boone. It’s an opportunity to see the new developments in agricultural technology.

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The Iowa State Fair is one of my favorite events. My wife and I have been helping students out with FFA shows at the state fair.

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The Farm Progress Show in Boone is one of my favorite events because I like to see the new developments and booths to see what’s out there.

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Preparing for the future Recent Newton grad hopes to prepare next generation of farmers

BY KATE MALOTT For Central Iowa Ag Mag

Kate Malott/Central Iowa Ag Mag

Ellie Rethmeier feeds her market sheep on her family farm near Laurel. What began with four orphan lambs has grown into a sheep flock of one ram, 12 ewes and 30 head market lambs in the past five years.

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From serving as FFA president to expanding her sheep flock, Ellie Rethmeier is an exemplary young agriculture student and leader in the Jasper County agriculture education circle because of her discipline, farm experience and entrepreneurship.

The youngest of four children of Ron and Jeannie Rethmeier, Ellie has lived on a farm between Baxter and Laurel her entire life. She was homeschooled by her parents, recently graduated high school, and plans to leave the comfort of Jasper County in the fall to attend Dordt College in Sioux Center, where she will major in agriculture education.

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In high school, Ellie participated in the dual enrollment program with the Newton Community School District, which allowed her to take agriculture course work and be involved in extracurricular activities such as the swim team and Newton FFA Chapter. Before that she was an eight-year member of the World Changers 4-H Club. “I’ve got to do a lot of leadership conferences and training through both FFA and 4-H, which has been a really great experience,� she said.

During her freshman year of high school, she received the Star in Green Hand Award for being an outstanding freshman; her sophomore year, she received the Star in Agriculture Placement Award for her Supervised Agriculture Experience project; her junior year, she received the Star in Farmer Award for her success with the sheep flock; and her senior year, she received the Iowa FFA degree, Chapter High Point Award and the Dekalb Agricultural Accomplishment Award for her overall excellence in academics, leadership and agricultural work experience.

The Rethmeiers grow corn and soybeans, conventionally, and raise whole steam market steers, where they obtain calves from a local dairy and sell them later. She enjoyed raising bucket calves

as a young girl and has always had a love for animals.

In 2007, Ellie started working for pay as a hired farm hand at a neighbor’s sheep farm and later started making barn management Ellie Rethmeier decisions on the farm.

The farm helped Ellie get started with her own sheep flock.

What began with four orphan lambs has grown into a flock of one ram, 12 ewes and 30 head market lambs in the past five years. “The hardest thing for me, and I think anybody who farms, is to work really hard, and maybe it doesn’t end up showing a profit, but you just keep going and hope it turns next year,� she said. “Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t.�

For example, Ellie has had to change what she feeds her ewes three of four times based on corn prices.

Ellie sells lambs through Colfax Sale Barn, and oftentimes sheep get sent to the East and West coasts; however, one of her goals is to create a local market, she said. “The trouble is, especially within the Midwest, is that there really isn’t much of a demand for it,� she said.

Ellie recently helped to judge the

Sheep and Fleece Festival in Colfax. “It’s very interesting to learn there are other markets besides meat production you can get into with sheep,� she said.

Ellie, with the help of her parents, will maintain the flock while she is at school by adjusting scheduling and workload.

Ellie will still be in charge of production and records. She plans to use those records to help her obtain an FFA American Award.

After college, Ellie would like to become an FFA adviser mentor and educate youths entering a changing field.

With the number of controversial issues in agriculture rising in an industry that is becoming more specialized, Ellie thinks it’s important to educate and inform future farmers about those issues, their options, and how to adapt to adversity. “We can’t control what other people think, but we can do our best to present ourselves the best we can,� she said. “I think that is going to be key to the future of agriculture. “My goal as an ag adviser is to teach kids what they will be faced with, prepare them for the future, and to teach them their best weapon is to represent themselves as hard-working citizens who want to do their best to produce a quality product for consumers. That is where I’d like to have an impact.�

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Policymakers focus on quality, state infrastructure

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BY JAKE WADDINGHAM For Central Iowa Ag Mag

he 2014 Iowa Legislative session saw a lot of positives for the future of agriculture across Iowa.

Lawmakers approved $7.9 million for the Iowa Water Quality Initiative and an additional $14.4 million for other conservation programs.

They also almost doubled the total capacity of credit programs available to new farmers and increased the ways a beginning farmer can qualify for those programs.

“I look back and I think we have done some good things, especially with beginning farmers,” said Iowa State Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield. “Farm-

‘‘

At the Statehouse

’’

I think we have done some good things, especially with beginning farmers. Farmers are getting older, and the time is coming to turn their operation over to a younger family member or someone that wants to get involved in farming.

State Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, on legislation passed during the 2014 session that impacts Iowa farmers

ers are getting older, and the time is coming to turn their operation over to a younger family member or someone that wants to get involved in farming.”

Matt Steinfeldt, a state policy adviser for Farm Bureau, said the Iowa Legislature has been reasonably friendly to farmers over the past few sessions. But once election season is over, Steinfeldt said, attention will turn to water quality, soil conservation and improving Iowa’s infrastructure.

Steinfeldt said the Farm Bureau was working to keep programs like Iowa’s

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nutrient reduction strategy voluntary and well-funded to keep participation high.

“The cost-share program currently has a waiting list of more than $18 million,” Steinfeldt said. “That shows the backlog of unfunded requests and the demand to get a lot of these practices on the ground.”

During the upcoming session, the Legislature will try to tackle how to improve Iowa’s infrastructure, especially in rural areas. Currently, 26 counties in Iowa have been forced to sell bonds to pay for secondary roads and bridges.

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“We feel there needs to be an increase in the user fee, or the gas tax,” Steinfeldt said. “It is constitutionally protected, and out-of-state drivers contribute. The user fee is preferred because, right now, as a consequence of inaction, lawmakers have inadvertently increased property taxes, which is an inadequate way to fund our roads.”

Of Iowa’s $166 billion gross domestic product, a quarter is estimated to be tied to farming. Protecting that industry is one of the Legislature’s biggest focal issues.

“Something that at least needs to be talked about very seriously is this ‘superweed’ that is in five counties in Iowa,” Baudler said. “We don’t know enough about it yet to say what we are going to do. We may need to devote tax dollars to this research to get ahead of it. It could hurt food production in Iowa.”

The weed – Palmer amaranth – is fast-growing and can carry millions of seeds. It is resistant to glyphosate herbicide and has the potential to choke out more than two-thirds of a row crop’s yield potential.

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Powered by the sun

Photo submitted to Central Iowa Ag Mag

Joey Van Kooten and his wife, Michelle, run the family’s farming operation in Kellogg after his parents, Dean and Betty, let him take the reins last year. The Van Kootens have the largest collection of privately owned solar panels in Iowa. Combined, they produce enough energy to power the entire farm operation, including the family home.

Van Kooten family farm runs completely on solar power

BY TY RUSHING For Central Iowa Ag Mag

Last year, the Van Kooten family added to its farm in Kellogg two sections of solar panel arrays – the largest privately owned installation in Iowa.

After visiting Europe, Dean and Betty Van Kooten came up with idea to install the solar panels, which produce so much energy they supply power to the entire farm – including the

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home, both hog barns, grain bins, the machine shops and other structures.

“Dean saw how well it worked for them over there, and we started checking around here,” Betty said.

She said they talked with neighbors who had solar panels built on their farm by North Libertybased Moxie Solar.

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“They never built anything like this before,” said Joey, Dean and Betty’s son.

Betty and Joey both said that after meeting Moxie CEO Jason Hall and Operations Manager Tim Brodersen, they felt comfortable enough with the company to move forward with the project.

“He [Hall] was very good about describing everything on the best way to set it up, not the cheapest way,” Joey said.

Brodersen said the south and north arrays each had a 60-kilowatt system: the south array held 201 solar panels, and the north array had 204 panels.

“It’s 100 percent offset. We had to meet the farmer’s needs,” Brodersen said. “They’ve got all kinds of machinery out here. Our goal was to stay out of the way [with the location of the panels] and to meet all of the farmer’s needs.”

The Van Kootens received tax credits from the state and federal governments for the project and expect $50,000 in rebates from Alliant Energy. The panels also will save the family a projected $18,000 a year in electricity bills.

When they began the project, the Van Kootens said, they had no idea it would be the largest private collection of solar panels in the state. Betty said it was just

Ty Rushing/Central Iowa Ag Mag

The Van Kooten family farm in rural Kellogg has the largest privately owned collection of solar panels in Iowa. One section is on the north end of the farm and the other on the south. Combined they produce enough energy that the entire operation, including the family home, is powered by them. what was best for them.

Joey encourages other farmers who are combating high energy bills to consider alternate forms of energy to save money.

“You’ve got to look at in the long run

as far as what you are going to have for savings,” Joey said. “Basically, they say it’s a 25-year warranty on them. I mean, the only thing that can really go bad is the panels, and it’s easy to work on [them].”

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‘We know our gardening’ Personal touch keeps Newton Seed Store going almost 70 years

BY TY RUSHING For Central Iowa Ag Mag

Ty Rushing/Central Iowa Ag Mag

Gary Grimes has owned and operated Newton Seed Store with his wife, Connie, for nearly 40 years. Gary said the personal touch they provide to customers has helped the store to stay alive in the era of big box stores.

16 Summer 2014

The Newton Seed Store has been the go-to spot for Jasper County farmers, gardeners and nature lovers since 1945.

Gary Grimes and his wife, Connie, bought the building and business from its original owner, and since 1977 they have been the helpful faces guiding local green thumbs. The Grimeses sell farm seed, plants, pet food, bird seeds – including some of Gary’s custom mixes – and, of course, plant and vegetable seeds.

“We sell a lot of garden products. Probably our biggest draw is our garden seed, which is kind of a lost thing [these days],” Gary said. “People just don’t come in and buy a few seeds of this or that. We make it convenient for people to buy for small gardens.”

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In the almost four decades since they bought the store, Gary said, they’ve had to evolve with the times.

He said changes in agriculture forced them to focus less on that aspect of the business because people don’t plant really big gardens anymore. They also started offering specialty pet foods, which keeps them afloat during the winter months.

Gary said one thing that has kept this family-owned business alive in the era of big box stores is the personal touch they provide to customers. He studies various horticulture and agriculture magazines to stay up-to-date on the latest trends. He welcomes questions and sagely doles out gardening advice to rookies and veteran gardeners alike.

Customers also can’t get enough of “Cat” – the store’s friendly black cat.

“We know our gardening,” Gary said.

“We hand pick all of our plants when we go to the greenhouses so that we know the quality of them. We have certain varieties we have raised just for us, so you can’t buy them at a lot of other places.”

While Gary said he doesn’t believe he and Connie will pass the business down to their children when they retire, he’s glad it helped to get their three daugh-

Ty Rushing/Central Iowa Ag Mag

The back room of Newton Seed Store is used for storage. The building has been around since before World War II, and the back room contains everything from bird seed to soil. ters through college.

Gary isn’t certain about what’s next for the seed store. For now, however, he doesn’t plan to stop giving customers the great service and unique offerings

that they expect – and that large retailers can’t match – anytime soon.

“If they want one plant, they get one plant,” Gary said. “If they want 200 plants, they get 200 plants.”

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Exports ensure future for Iowa corn, soybeans; price, soil among factors in planting decisions

BY MIKE MENDENHALL AND PAM EGGEMEIER For Central Iowa Ag Mag

O

ver a fresh taco salad at Goldie’s Ice Cream Shoppe and restaurant in Prairie City, Gordon Wassenaar says both corn and soybean popularity in the U.S. market is here to stay.

“Some farmers go with what makes the most money, and there are other people that stick with a straight corn-soybean rotation,” Wassenaar said. “If you live near an ethanol plant or a good market, you might favor corn over soy. Those things vary by where you’re at.”

Wassenaar farms about 1,300 acres south of Prairie City on the Jasper-Marion county line. This season, just less than 600 acres are soybeans. He always strives to have an even rotation, dedicating half his land to corn and half to soy. He notes not all farmers aim for that balance, but each has a different driving factor: some geographical, some market-based.

A newer factor of corn and soy prices is dry distilling. Mike Gannon is an agronomist for Heartland Co-op in Jasper County and farms soy, corn and alfalfa and raises cattle northeast of Mingo.

He also has worked as Wassenaar’s agronomist for more than two decades.

Gannon explained the refined ethanol from corn crops is adding to its list of uses. Apart from the more pure form Iowans are used to seeing at the gas pump, ethanol is now an additive for cattle feed enrichment.

Both men agree that market prices are only one factor in a farmer’s field diversity.

Wassenaar has a unique interest in international agricultural markets, each year hosting more than 100 industry professionals from abroad for a dinner at his farm during the World Pork Expo in Des Moines.

He said that increased consumption by China is the largest driver of U.S. and world soybean prices. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates 40 percent of domestically produced soybeans are shipped abroad, including products grown in Iowa.

As China’s demand grows, and as world populations strive to improve public health, Wassenaar believes soy protein derived from Iowa beans will be an essential component and demand will increase.

18 Summer 2014

GRA WAV

AIN VES

Both Wassenaar and Gannon explained that a good soy-corn rotation is better for the soil, but which crop succeeds in different regions of the state depends on the soil type. According to Wassenaar, glacier soil that is thick and rich in nutrients is more prevalent in the northern parts of the state, making it easier for corn’s thick and fibrous root system to penetrate.

Gannon added that soy is more prone to diseases in northern Iowa, making corn the row crop of choice. The opposite is true in central to southern Iowa.

“Some guys up north could never raise as good of beans as we can down here,” Wassenaar said.

Record yields predicted

Photo from iowacornstalk.com

Gordon Wassenaar farms about 1,300 acres south of Prairie City. He said he always strives to have an even rotation of corn and soybeans. He said that not all farmers aim for that balance, however, because of geographical and market-based factors.

Several factors indicate that demand should remain high for corn and soybeans, but the June 30 USDA acreage report exceeded March expectations, sending prices on a downward spiral. Illinois and Iowa had the largest gap in soybean forecasts from March to June, both running about 500,000 acres above earlier expectations.

Darrel Good, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois, said current crop and weather conditions have the nation on track for record corn and soybean yields, perhaps resulting in surpluses that could send prices plummeting in the 2014-15 market year.

“The sharp decline in corn prices following the release of the USDA reports put December corn futures about 35 cents [7.6 percent] below the spring crop insurance price,” Good said.

“Crop revenue insurance will provide some revenue protection for those with high levels of coverage if prices continue to decline.”

Soybeans could see a more precipitous drop than corn, Good said.

“Soybean prices also declined sharply following the reports, with November futures moving within about 20 cents of the spring crop insurance price,” Good said. “There appears to be more downside potential for soybean prices,” he said.

Good said soybean stockpiles could exceed 400 million bushels

by Sept. 1, 2015. That kind of surplus could mean a substantial year-over-year decline in the average price of soybeans, from CONTINUED ON 20

In the photo A soybean field runs next to a corn field on a research plot east of Creston. In the past, when farmers didn’t have the tools and commercial herbicides that are available today, more crops were rotated. Today, farmers have anhydrous ammonia and fertilizers that allow the soil to handle rotating only soybeans and corn.

Photo by Jake Waddingham/Central Iowa Ag Mag

AG Mag

19

CONTINUED FROM 19

Demand remains strong Corn and soybean demand should hold steady, as fewer farmers feed the world. Good said soybean demand in China continues to grow.

“Nationwide, we export about half of the soybeans we produce, and about 60 percent of that is exported by China,” Good said.

The U.S. ranks third in soybean meal exports, behind Brazil and Argentina. Brazil is ranked first in soybean oil exports, followed by the U.S. and Argentina. American soybean producers keep a close eye on South American production, especially since the U.S. has become an importer of their crops.

“In 2012, South America has some production problems, but they rebounded with very large crops the last 2 years,” Good said. “Historically, you’ll see about 10 [million] to 15 million bushels from them, but this year 90 million bushels are projected from South America.”

Alternative energy continues to boost demand for corn and soybeans, but profitability still is the main consideration.

“Ethanol and biodiesel definitely help keep prices strong,” said Emerson Nafziger, professor of crop sciences at the University of Illinois. “We’ve always had more corn in Illinois, and I really don’t see any big shifts between corn and soybeans.”

Nationally, biodiesel production was up 37 percent from 2012 to 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Industry estimates show that biodiesel demand has increased soybean value by 74 cents per bushel between 2006 and 2012.

Despite the rapid growth, biodiesel still has a long way to go to catch up with the ethanol industry. Infrastructure and geography still largely determine how much alternative energy factors into farmers’ marketing plans.

Nafziger agrees that demand for soybeans is growing on the world markets.

Unlike ethanol, the biodiesel industry has been relatively unscathed by the argument that using grains for fuel causes food inflation.

“An overall strong world economy is important in demand for all commodities,” Nafziger said. “It helps soybeans that there is a demand for high-protein diets. Also, the food versus fuel argument hasn’t touched biodiesel like ethanol.”

Iowa farmers break up corn In Jasper County, Randy Van Kooten 20 Summer 2014

Photo submitted to Central Iowa Ag Mag

Randy Van Kooten, who farms near Lynnville, is active in many soybean organizations, some on a global level. Still, Van Kooten plants about 75 percent corn and 25 percent soybeans because, he said, “we’re on river bottom land, and corn responds well to river bottom.” said he and other farmers in his area were focused on rotating their crops.

“A lot of people had corn on corn here, and they are planting more beans to get the rotation where they need it to be,” Van Kooten said.

Van Kooten, who farms near Lynnville, Iowa, is active in many soybean organizations, some on a global level.

He is a former president of the Iowa Soybean Association, and still serves on its board. He also is a member of the World Soy Foundation, and the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health.

His advocacy of soy is driven by more than business decisions – he also has a philanthropic incentive to eradicate poverty and malnutrition around the world. His work in soybeans has brought him to the same committee tables as representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Despite his passion for the role soybeans can play in feeding the world, geography dictates that he stay heavily weighted in corn.

“We’re on river bottom land, and corn responds well to river bottom,” Van Kooten said. “I have about 75 percent corn and 25 percent beans, which is pretty typical.”

Even for Van Kooten, rotation is paramount to his business plan.

“Rotation is the most important consideration for most people,” Van Kooten said. “At the end of the day, you have to go with what’s most profitable

on your land.”

In southern Iowa, world demand for soybeans has not gone unnoticed by the area’s farmers. Several grain producers there say they are working a few more beans into the mix, but working the rotation seems to be the biggest driver there as well.

Cliff Mulder raises corn and soybeans near Pella in the south-central part of the state. Mulder also is a director with the Iowa Soybean Association. In his area, he is seeing the ratios of corn to beans swing a bit more toward beans.

“I’ve been seeing more soybeans that normal around here,” Mulder said. “In this part of the state, normal is anywhere from 60 to 75 percent corn. Some people are going 50/50, especially if they haven’t changed the rotation every other year.”

Many farmers who didn’t rotate last year were disappointed with their corn results, Mulder said.

“Corn on corn didn’t yield so well this year,” Mulder said. “With world demand for soybeans up, it fits into the rotation quite well.”

Mulder is a big backer of biodiesel – he was an original investor in the Renewable Energy Group plant in Newton, Iowa, that started production in 2007.

“REG is only about 30 miles away from me,” Mulder said. “In this area, ethanol and biodiesel play a big role in farmers’ marketing plans.”

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AG Mag

21

Alex T. Paschal/Central Iowa Ag Mag

Randy Faber actively uses test plots for his Pioneer seed corns on his farm in rural Sublette, Illinois. Faber said seed corns that are drought tolerant help to protect crops from dry growing seasons. “In a dry year, our yields don’t suffer too much, and that has to do with seed companies doing an excellent job protecting us,” he said.

AN END TO THE

DRY RUN?

Iowa’s drought likely quelled, strong crop yield expected

P

BY MIKE MENDENHALL For Central Iowa Ag Mag

ulling an orange raft by rope from an overpass on the South Skunk River, Tyler Orkes with the U.S. Geological Survey said the waterway near Highway 117 in Colfax is higher than average.

“This part of the river is staying up higher than our gauge in Ames,” he said. “Normally, there are a few sand bars near the bridge.”

22 Summer 2014

He measured the depth and velocity of the river as it crept up in late June. Spring and early summer rains effectively ended the state’s 3-year drought and gave Iowa farmers adequate – if not excess – moisture.

But is there a potential to return to drought before the year is out? John McLaughlin, chief meteorologist for KCCI Channel 8 in Des Moines, won’t rule it out, but he says the outlook is much better than a year ago.

“In the near term, I think the situation will continue to improve as western Iowa and eastern Iowa are getting more rain,” McLaughlin said.

CONTINUED ON 25

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AG Mag

23

Drought-proof farming?

Hybrids help crops to survive prolonged dryness

BY CHRISTI WARREN For Central Iowa Ag Mag

No one would suggest that the Midwest is in a drought this growing season; in fact, Randy Faber, a farmer in Sublette, Illinois, said recently that fields might be a little too moist – thanks to summer storms that have swept through the area.

But how do farmers prepare for drought, just in case?

Faber uses a cultimulcher, which helps to seal moisture in his soil after tillage.

He’s lucky, though, he says. The soil near his farm in Sublette is denser, capable of holding moisture better than other parts of Lee, Whiteside, and Bureau counties, where soil can be sandier.

In those areas, farmers are more likely to install complicated irrigation systems, which – with corn prices as high as they’ve been, he says – pretty much pay for themselves.

Science, too, is positively affecting the crop yield during times of drought. Both Pioneer and Syngenta offer drought-tolerant hybrid seed selected specifically for their dry-weather traits, like roots that dig deep into the soil, or stomata that close early in the growing cycle – thus retaining moisture. Combining plants with those more drought-tolerant traits with other, high-yield corn varieties makes for crops that are better able to perform well during stretches of drought.

Emerson Nafziger, a professor of crop sciences at the Univerity of Illi-

Alex T. Paschal/Central Iowa Ag Mag

Randy Faber, who farms in rural Sublette, Illinois, has as many as 120 varieties of corn planted on his 900 acres. With cross pollination, that number jumps to about 400, he said. nois, explains: trait, Nafziger explains, incorporates a “Today’s hybrids are improved for gene that causes the plant to cut down stress tolerance, which includes toleron water loss rate for a certain period ance to lack of soil moisture, in part of time – when it’s dry just around polbecause they are selected and grown lination time. under high populations, which confers The Droughtgard corn is targeted the ability to compete better for water,� mostly toward farmers in drier regions Nafziger says. “Hybrids are more vigorof the country, and not in the corn belt ous and they grow faster, with larger much at all, Nafziger says. root systems. This makes them better When it comes to livestock farmers, the able to extract water.� best way to prepare for drought is to stockFaber uses Pioneer seed corn. pile, Faber says. (In addition to corn and “There are a lot of seed corns getting soybeans, he has a herd of stock cows.) to be drought tolerant, and they cer“I’m super conscientious about trying tainly do work,� he says. “In a dry year, to have enough feed around in case it our yields don’t suffer too much, and does turn out dry,� he says. “We’ve had that has to do with seed companies some concerns in the past few years, doing an excellent job protecting us.� so we’ve got plenty of pastures, and I Monsanto offers a different, genetialways carry enough feed. You get precally modified approach to droughtpared by stockpiling enough feed to get proofing their crops. Its Droughtgard you through a dry year.�

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The meteorologist was expecting a normal summer weather pattern. He believed that any surplus soil moisture would be taken from the soil by corn crops as the growing season continued.

Long term, McLaughlin said, there’s always a chance for drought to return to the state. But historical data, plus current computer models, led him to conclude the forecast El Niño pattern would be weak, having more detrimental effects in the western part of the U.S. than in Iowa. Particularly if the pattern develops in the late summer to early fall, McLaughlin predicts Iowa will keep a normal and seasonal weather pattern.

In June, the Iowa State University Department of Economics released a U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast that predicted a 2014-15 corn yield of 165.3 bushels per acre and 45.2 bushels per acre yield on soybeans.

By midseason, the state

was dealing with rainy conditions, and waterways throughout the state were either at flood stage or threatening to leave their banks.

But an Iowa Department of Agriculture report showed soil conditions favorable, with topsoil moisture for a majority of Iowa 68 percent adequate with 28 percent holding a surplus. The subsurface moisture showed a similar reading, with 71 percent adequate and 16 percent with a water surplus.

But Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said strong progress persisted in the state’s row crop condition.

“Parts of the state, especially northwest Iowa, are dealing with excess water resulting in pockets of damage from recent severe weather,” Northey said in late June. “Overall, a large majority of our corn and soybeans crops continue in good to excellent condition.”

In the midseason report, 79 percent of Iowa’s corn was in good to excellent condition and 76 percent of soybeans in similar shape.

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Tyler Orkes with the U.S. Geological Survey measures discharge, a product of water volume and velocity, in the South Skunk River in Colfax on June 25. Severe rain events ended Iowa’s drought in May and June.

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25

‘Kind of like a family’ Farmers markets help to build community

BY KATE MALOTT For Central Iowa Ag Mag

Farmers markets are a place for local citizens to find regional organic foods, along with a wide variety of products at affordable prices, as well as a place to participate in the community.

In Grinnell, the downtown farmers market, like many markets, is a gathering place built around food, arts and family. The city hosts the market on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings.

The market, with nearly 30 vendors, is a popular place to socialize since it coincides with the city’s Music in the Park, a free live music event . “The people are very encouraging, and there’s such a nice atmosphere,� said Deana Cook, owner of Wholly Goats soaps from Newton.

The farmers market offers a variety of goods, including fresh produce, crafts, homemade soaps and baked goods.

Brian Olson of Olson Farms, located three miles west of Grinnell, offers 12 varieties of squash and is working toward 40 different types of tomatoes. “People come for the variety, all the things you can’t buy at the store,�

Olson said.

Olson is a bank examiner during the week, but his side job is working on the farm and selling his crops. He comes from a line of farmers, as his parents have owned a small farm in Marengo called Hillcrest Garden Market for more than 40 years.

Olson said his farming family attends the Grinnell Farmers Market because

Kate Malott/Central Iowa Ag Mag

Deana Cook describes how she makes homemade soaps to visitors at the Grinnell Farmers Market. Cook owns Wholly Goats, a soap business that sells products that are made from organic goat milk and cured for six weeks. Cook offers a vegan product made from vegetable puree. it’s fun and they enjoy meeting locals at the market.

Vendors are friends with other vendors, and they buy from each others’ stands and help each other with set-up.

Locals become well acquainted with the vendors and get to know each other better. Whether it’s a place to run into a co-worker or meet a neighbor, the market is a friendly and inviting community within a community.

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Karen Kline, a vendor from the Brooklyn/Tama/Chelsea area, attends both the Grinnell and Toledo farmers markets, selling a variety of produce and homemade pies. She feels a good sense of community when she attends Grinnell’s Farmers Market. “Everyone here is really friendly and helpful to each other,� Kline said. “It’s kind of like a family.�

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Central Iowa markets by county BENTON COUNTY Vinton Farmers Market Train Depot, 612 Second Ave. Open: 5 to 7 p.m. Thursdays, June to September Products: Organic food, fruits, vegetables, crafts and local specialties (319) 472-4164 IOWA COUNTY Homestead Farmers Market 4125 V St., in front of Henry’s Village Market Open: 4 to 7 p.m. Fridays, May to October Offerings: Live music, grilled food, and homegrown fruits, vegetables, breads, pies and more. Visitors can buy local meat, cheeses, eggs, grain, dried herbs and spices.

(319) 622-3931 JASPER COUNTY Newton Farmers Market 501 W. Third St. S. Open: 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, June 7 to Oct. 4 Products: Organic food, fruits, vegetables, crafts and local specialties (641) 792-9192 Prairie City Farmers Market Garden Square, Main Street Open: 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturdays, May 18 to Oct. 13 Products: Organic food, fruits, vegetables,

crafts and local specialties (515) 994-2310 KEOKUK COUNTY Sigourney Farmers Market North side of Keokuk County Courthouse Open: 5 to 6 p.m. Mondays Products: Organic food, fruits, vegetables, crafts and local specialties (641) 622-2288 MAHASKA COUNTY Oskaloosa Tuesday Farmers Market East side of City Square Park, South First Street Open: 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, May to October Products: Organic food, fruits, vegetables, crafts and local specialties (641) 673-6683 Oskaloosa Saturday Farmers Market 110 D St. Open: 8 to 11 a.m. Saturdays, May to October Products: Organic food, fruits, vegetables, crafts and local specialties (641) 673-6683 MARION COUNTY Knoxville Farmers Market West side of Marion County Courthouse, South Second Street

Open: Noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays, May to October Products: Organic food, fruits, vegetables, crafts and local specialties (641) 943-2223 MARSHALL COUNTY Marshalltown Farmers Market North side of Marshall County Courthouse, Main Street Open: 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursdays, May 29 to Oct. 9 Offerings: Musical events, children’s activities and nearly 20 vendors with produce, crafts, baked good and meat.

(641) 844-2001 TAMA COUNTY Toledo Farmers Market East side of Tama County Courthouse Open: 5 to 7 p.m. Fridays, May to October Products: Organic food, fruits, vegetables, crafts and local specialties (641) 691-9710 POWESHIEK COUNTY Grinnell Farmers Market Central Park, Broad Street Open: 3 to 6 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays, May to October Products: Area fresh produce, baked goods and beautiful homemade arts and crafts.

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According to Grinnell’s website: “The Center for Prairie Studies uses Grinnell’s location as a teaching and learning resource and a place to engage in service. The center’s diverse programs encourage the exploration of large themes as they play out in this particular setting: human interactions with nature, food and agriculture, artistic responses to place, immigration, and links between the local and the global.”

A unique benefit of partnering with the center is that it can provide students with a number of internships for various careers in the ag industry. Historical, environmental, public affairs, and straightforward ag internships are available.

Students at the center also work closely with the Grinnell Area Local Foods Alliance to promote local entities in buying locally grown food. Under this collaboration, local co-ops, community gardens, community support agriculture programs and the Grinnell Farmers Market have flourished.

In order to earn an environmental studies concentration, students must earn 24 credits in classes that fall into that category and take a senior seminar course on the topic.

The college believes that having “an environmental studies concentration can prepare students for graduate school or a career with environmental, political, and research organizations and private-sector companies.”

‘A place to engage in service’ Ty Rushing/Central Iowa Ag Mag

The Center for Prairie Studies at Grinnell College isn’t just a name; the building has actual prairie grasses growing just outside. The center helps to engage students in a deeper level of community service.

Grinnell College offers useful environmental programs

BY TY RUSHING For Central Iowa Ag Mag

Sustaining the environment is going to be a key for the future of agriculture, in not only the United States but the world.

And students at Grinnell College have the opportunity to make environmental studies a concentration, which is like a specialization within a major.

Grinnell is one of the leading liberal arts colleges in the nation. Despite having a student enrollment of less than 2,000, it has an endowment of more than $1 billion. Thanks to its superb academics, the college’s environmental studies program is staffed by two full-

time professors, three associate professors and one assistant professor.

The program’s chairman, Dr. David Campbell, has been at Grinnell since 1991.

He is in charge of more than 50 study sites in Central and South America and southern China. Those sites afford Grinnell students the opportunity to expand on their research on a global scale.

However, the college’s Center for Prairie Studies, headed up by Dr. Jonathan Andelson, is probably more suited for students interested in a future in the agricultural industry. Andelson has been chairman of the center since 2000 and was a co-founder of the program in 1999.

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Market volatility a challenge Particularly this year, marketing mistakes can prove costly for farmers operating the farm like a true corporation, capturing market opportunities while they exist.

Traditional breakeven analysis will not cut it, either. We don’t need to know that $8 corn is need- Dustin Johnson ed to turn a profit if Says true hedging your farm yields only is all about 50 bushels an acre. looking at the Half the time these entire “matrix” of formulas produce possibilities for profitability erroneous breakeven values because they don’t account for projected indemnity payments. True hedging is all about looking at the entire “matrix” of possibilities. You need to know where your profitability will stand whether corn is at $8 or $3, and at the same time if your yield is a record or the worst ever.

Once we know future revenue at

BY DUSTIN JOHNSON For Central Iowa Ag Mag

There is no doubt that this year has been one of the most challenging marketing environments that farmers have ever encountered. This summer has been particularly volatile.

Up until the June report, soybean acres were largely under-reported, which created an artificial premium and complacency in both the corn and soybean markets. Regardless of what the market was telling us, as producers it was allowing the opportunity to lock in profitability through forward cash sales, futures/options, and crop insurance at the time.

But how do you know when to pull the trigger on grain sales, or what strategy to implement? The truth is no one can predict what the market will do, just as no one has perfected the long-term weather models. That is the reality of farming; we have to take what Mother Nature gives us. Knowing that the market cannot be “beat” is the first step to

every scenario, we can perfect it using “what-if” strategy testing before implementation. With the price of corn suppressed, many producers are close to receiving an indemnity payment.

Those producers may benefit to know where and how much to expect from these payments to avoid panic selling if corn gets oversold.

Testing strategies is one of the best ways to avoiding serious marketing mistakes that can cost big dollars and lost opportunities. Developing a plan that fits your risk requirements and overcomes your marketing shortfalls is invaluable.

We challenge every farmer to become better marketers, and hopefully, we can smooth out the volatility that has plagued our markets in recent months. There is a more stable way of doing business using today’s technology.

– Dustin Johnson is a senior analyst for AgYield.

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Not great for grapes Cold, rainy weather proves problematic

BY MIKE MENDENHALL For Central Iowa Ag Mag

When signs of statewide drought turned to surplus soil moisture, Iowa row-crop farmers breathed a collective sigh of relief. But for Iowa growers producing fruits for the state’s expanding wine industry, there is a feeling of nostalgia for the drier, warmer days of 2012-13.

Just north of Prairie City on Highway 117, grape grower Jason DeVries recently finished herbicidal maintenance throughout his vineyard. His vines are just beginning to leaf out, and they are a bit behind schedule.

DeVries planted his vines in 2007, and the vineyard is in its seventh season of production. The vineyard is just over an acre, and during a good season should be able to produce nearly six tons of grapes.

Since 2009, inconsistent weather patterns have made it difficult for Iowa growers like DeVries. In a wet year like 2011, there is a risk of rain knocking the pollen off grape blooms, hurting yields. “It’s much easier to control the system without rain,� he said. “Rain is the enemy to most grapevines.�

The Prairie City grape grower explained that root systems on most vines go down nearly seven feet and can extract deep ground water, allowing them to prosper with intermittent rain. If there is too much water, the vines can develop “wet feet� and run the risk of fungal growth. DeVries, in fact, has never watered his vines. “I’m able to get the correct sugar content with less water,� he said. “[Rain] waters drown the berries, and you’ll get a neutral wine. It’s actually performed better in drier conditions. The pH level goes to where you want it.�

Adam Nunnikhoven is assistant vineyard manager at Tassel Ridge Winery in Leighton, near Pella. He said the Tassel Ridge grapes also saw increased sugar

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content during the drought but did see a significant drop in yield.

Tassel Ridge has 68 acres of vineyard, with 58 in production. Nunnikhoven likes to see 175-200 tons of grapes harvested each year. In 2012, Tassel Ridge saw 49 tons, and in 2013, the vineyard saw a slight rebound to 105 tons.

Nunnikhoven said in years with poor yield, his company will buy juices from New York and California to bottle their wine, but ferment and produce the product in Iowa.

Nunnikhoven pointed out that ideal growing conditions for grapes is 85 degrees with a good shower every two weeks. “What’s good for people is what’s good for grapes,� he said.

Both growers indicated that this year’s cold and rainy start has delayed growth of Iowa grapes. “Harvest will be in September this year,� Nunnikhoven said. “It’s due to the weather. It’s been cold, cloudy and crappy and everything in between.�

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New tech, old trade

Photos by Ty Rushing/Central Iowa Ag Mag

Inside the cab of Brock Hansen’s John Deere tractor, you can see the various monitors he uses while planting his crops. One of the monitors is his iPad, which has an application to upload his statistics straight to a cloud storage site.

Digital age eliminates much of the guesswork in farming

BY TY RUSHING For Central Iowa Ag Mag

These days, nearly everything has gone high tech, including agriculture.

Brock Hansen, a fifth-generation farmer who runs a family farming operation with his wife, father and mother, does his best to keep up with all the latest and greatest in farming technology on their farm in northern Jasper and southern Marshall counties.

Inside the cab of his John Deere tractor, Hansen has a collection of monitors – including an iPad with the FieldView app to make planting more precise. It also gives a better indicator of seed population.

“This monitor here is our John Deere monitor, and this is what my guidance is giving me,” Hansen said. “[The iPad] gives me sub-inch accuracy, so I can come back and put the seed in the same trench where I applied my fertilizer to get the best updates and whatnot.”

The cab of the tractor also contains a business band radio, which has been

Brock Hansen plants corn earlier this year on his farm in Jasper and Marshall counties. Hansen uses a variety of gadgets to ensure that he is getting the best crop yield and making the best use of his land. collecting dust since Hansen uses an app on his phone that works as a walkie-talkie. Hansen uses his cellphone’s hot spot capability – the ability to create a portable wireless Internet network – to upload information directly to the cloud.

Because of the cloud, a virtual storage place for data that can be accessed remotely, he said his dad can monitor

what he’s doing on his end of the operation without riding along in the tractor. It also collects data from that day’s work automatically and backs it up.

“It’s fairly expensive, I guess, when you look at Brock Hansen it, but it also helps the support system here,” Hansen said of the tech purchases.

“With my planter monitor, it tells me how many seed per acres, but it’s also shutting stuff off when I come into end roads.”

Hansen said there are pros and cons to farming with so much technology.

While he saves money by not wasting as much seed and being more precise, and has seen some higher crop yields, the upfront costs for the technology taps into those newfound savings.

“In one way, I cuss it,” Hansen joked, “but then the other way, I embrace it.”

AG Mag

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A first in the field

Dave Fox/Central Iowa Ag Mag

Calvin Standley perfected the design of the grain tillage cart, which he believes is the first of its kind. Neither he nor his attorney could find any other such contraption on file, so a patent has been filed. A chisel plow operates smoothly behind the cart and front disc because the uneven tires on the rear take the stress of movement off both parts of the implement.

Illinois farm features unique grain tillage cart

BY DAVE FOX For Central Iowa Ag Mag

Deep in the heart of Bureau County, Illinois, past Princeton and near Cherry, just across the tracks from Zearing, is the town of Malden. It’s surrounded by farmland, far as the eye can see.

Just outside Malden is Calvin Stand-

ley’s grain farm. This is where the only known grain tillage cart in existence was invented by Standley, with help from his son, John.

The cart is actually a grain wagon, with a disc on the front and uneven tires on the back which separate it from an attached chisel plow. It’s pulled by a

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separate tractor alongside the combine that harvests the grain.

Neither Standley nor his patent attorney could find any other such contraption on file, so a patent has been filed.

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Standley’s wife, Beth, operated the cart, “and the entire harvest went without a hitch,� Standley said. “The way it performed far exceeded our expectations.�

Benefits are numerous, he said. “There’s much less soil compaction, for one thing,� he said, “since we’re making only one pass over the field instead of two or three.

That means more water is going down into the ground instead of running off and causing erosion.�

Fuel savings are expected to be a big plus for the same reason, Standley said. “The tractor pulling this thing uses more fuel than just a tractor pulling a standard grain cart, but still less than running equipment over the same field several times,� he said. Actual statistics and figures will be combined and analyzed this fall.

Additionally, more nitrogen is redeposited into the soil using this method.

Obviously, the longer nitrogen sits on top of the soil, the more of it is lost in the environment and in run-off. With this process, though, much of it is put back into the soil immediately, effectively reducing fertilizer costs as well.

Microbial degradation – the breakdown of cornstalks and other plant parts back into the soil – needs to be done within

two weeks of harvest for maximum effectiveness as well, and that process also is greatly aided here. “The benefits just keep piling up for us,� Standley said, “and so far we haven’t found any negatives at all.�

Increased quality of life is a plus, too, he said. “Obviously there will be less time spent in the field,� he said, “and that allows more family time and time spent on other things.�

This fall he also plans to run a farrow and fertilizer application on the same piece of equipment, to test their effectiveness. He expects good results. “The patent is very broad-based,� he said, “so we’re going to try lots of things with it.�

Two companies already have shown interest in the new implement, he said.

Woods Brothers in Oregon, Illinois, “came out and looked,� Standley said, “but they deal more with short-term equipment like mowers and things, so it didn’t really fit with what they do.�

Case-IH also gave consideration to the cart, he said, “but their contract had way too many clauses in their favor to suit me.�

So what does the future hold? “We’re taking it one day at a time,� Standley said with a smile, “but so far it’s all been good and we’ve had no drawbacks at all. We’re excited and hopeful for the future.�

Dave Fox/Central Iowa Ag Mag

Calvin Standley is watchful as he moves his grain tillage cart to a field for a brief demonstration. The cart actually is a grain wagon, with a disc on the front and uneven tires on the back to separate it from an attached chisel plow. It’s pulled by a tractor, alongside the combine that harvests the grain.

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AG Mag

33

When ‘waters of the U.S.’ aren’t even waters

F

rom unpredictable and uncooperative weather to high input costs, successful farming takes a thick skin, perseverance and the ability to work around obstacles.

One obstacle farmers hope to never have to work around – or fight against – is the federal government.

Still, for the past three years, Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) members have overwhelmingly said the federal government and over-regulation are their biggest work-arounds and threats to long-term profitability.

And that government over-regulation talk is about to ramp up again – not only for farmers, but for a variety of small businesses – with the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest try at a government land-grab: Its proposed rule changes the waters of the U.S. outlined in the Clean Water Act. Since it was created in 1972, the Clean Water Act has helped to make significant strides in improving water quality in this country. The act regulates so-

called “waters of the U.S.� Until now, those have been defined primarily as waters that can be navigated. State and local governments have jurisdiction over smaller, more remote waters such as ponds and isolated wetlands.

However, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seek to expand the definition of “waters of the U.S.� to include not only navigable waters, but also puddles, ponds, ditches, small wetlands and even land that resembles a stream during a rainstorm but is dry otherwise.

If the expanded definition is allowed, permits and other regulatory roadblocks – having to hire environmental consultants, for example – would stand in the way of conducting routine business activities like building fences, removing debris from ditches, spraying for weeds and insects and removing unwanted vegetation.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns report indicates that 640 businesses in Bureau County,

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Illinois, employ 100 or fewer people.

Among them are homebuilders, real estate agencies, aggregate producers and related small businesses.

They also would be negatively impacted as the proposed role would increase federal regulatory power over private property. The definitions would create confusion and because they were intentionally created to be overly broad, could be interpreted in whatever way the federal agencies see fit.

Agencies like the EPA and the Corps of Engineers are not charged with writing the laws of the land – Congress is. And when Congress wrote the Clean Water Act, it clearly intended for the law to apply to navigable waters. Yet these agencies seek to stretch the meaning in order to gobble up privately owned and managed lands.

Is a small ditch navigable? How about that dry ditch that fills with water only during a rainstorm? Or even that puddle in your backyard? Those bodies of water don’t sound navigable to farmers, either.

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Land values drop; demand still high

BY ZACH JOHNSON For Central Iowa Ag Mag

A growing trend of decreased value in cropland has started across Iowa, but at the same time the demand for cropland remains high.

“The reason for the trend of decreased value is due to low crop prices, and the high demand for land is due to the growing trend of farmers passing land down to relatives rather then selling the land,” said Joe Nelson, USDA agricultural loan specialist for Jasper County.

The Land Trends and Value Survey, presented by the Iowa Farm and Land Chapter No. 2 Realtors Land Institute, has seen cropland values decrease by 4.2 percent from last year.

Ruhl & Ruhl Realtors manager and land consultant Eric Schlutz said in a news release that demand remained strong for certain kinds of land.

“Although lower commodity prices have put some downward pressure on low- and mediumquality farms, we are still seeing strong demand for high quality farms and have seen a renewed interest in non-tillable land,” Schultz said. “Strong beef prices have increased the demand for pasture land along with the strong investor demand for recreational parcels.”

The New Farm Program is being implemented in 2015 to aid farmers in crop marketing strategies in hopes of raising cropland value.

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AG Mag

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