What to do with all this corn

Aug 132010
 

It’s not harvest yet. Don’t get alarmed. I was just reading about Poet harvesting some stover and corn cobs down in Texas, and it got me excited. Now I’m thinking about how much corn there is going to be coming off the Blank Slate in October.

We’ve been selling small chunks of our 2010 corn crop and even marketing some of the 2011 corn crop for our farm recently. July and August 2011 have offered some pretty nice pricing opportunities recently. We have chunks sold for earlier months already. Talking to one of the ethanol plants we sold corn to and they mentioned that for next summer they already have purchased half the corn they need. That tells me many of you are thinking the same way I am. It’s a pretty good price level and worth locking in a percentage of the crop.

Growing up, my dad always said to think about this. When you’re selling something and there’s a willing buyer, you have to consider that the buyer may know more than you do. You have to think about why they are willing to buy at this price before you agree to sell.

Dad’s right about that. The corn buyers could have information that the crop is less than we expect or the demand will be even higher. Maybe corn will go considerably higher. My thought at $3.70 to $4.00 corn is that we can be profitable on the farm at those levels. Sure, it’s not my dream price of $5/bushel. That’s why I don’t want to sell the whole crop. If I can get 170 bushel corn (could be a little optimistic considering some drownouts and 20 cow/calf pairs)and get $3.70+ for it, that’s about $630 gross revenue per acre. That would far surpass my expectations for Year 1.

Is it the Wensman corn, the Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizer, the weather, good management, or just God’s grace? I think it’s a little of all of the above, and wondering what to do with all this corn should be a nice problem to have.

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Cattle in the corn

Aug 102010
 

If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, you know the Blank Slate 60 acre field has a number of fertility trials on it. The purpose is to show how a piece of land that is truly a blank slate in terms of fertility (none), topsoil (none on the hilltops), and organic matter (hardly any) can be turned around in nearly every way. With all this going on, the worst call you can get regarding the field is that something has damaged the crop. In the last few days, I got such a call.

With all the rain and storms in the area this year, I wouldn’t have been surprised if bad weather had done in the crop. It did catch me off guard when my neighbor called to say his cattle had gotten into my field. As he began to explain what had happened, I held my breath hoping that the damage was minimal and that it didn’t encroach upon the fertility trials.

There were about 20 head of cows along with their calves that ate their way into the south central portion of my field. Nearly all of the damage, as far as I could tell, was contained in the end rows of the field (less than an acre). What luck for my neighbor and for me. It appears as if they broke out during the day and my neighbor found them in the evening.

I really appreciate having such a good neighbor. He called me right away. We went out to the field to assess the damage together. All in all it was a good deal to get to know him better and come up with a solution together.

I hope I never have cattle in my field during the growing season again. I hope I never have a problem where I damage a neighbors pasture or crop across the fence. After this experience, though, I’m confident we’ll work together amicably to find the best solution.

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Aug 032010
 

I can hardly believe it’s been 2 weeks since my last post. What a whirlwind the end of July was!

We had a field day on our farm with over 1500 people. Thanks to all who attended, and I especially appreciated the questions and comments about the Blank Slate field. It’s been fun visiting with so many people about the decisions we’ve been making on this uniquely challenging piece of farm ground. There are so many possibilities and management choices that can get me to the same end point.

The rains have kept coming and we’ve been very fortunate to miss the bad stuff.
While Sioux Falls is only 10 miles south of our farm, they’ve probably gotten twice the rain or more in recent weeks. Just in the last week or so, areas south of us have had 10 inches of rain or more! Without the volume and frequency of rain the Blank Slate has gotten, I have no doubt that the hilltops would have suffered more from the extreme heat this summer has brought. I have to thank God for his blessings on the farm so far. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been very fortunate.

The end of July also included a brief trip to Haiti. My thanks to Steve Nuest and all the Jesus in Haiti Ministries folks for making it an educational and rewarding adventure. We saw firsthand the problems Haiti faces. We witnessed the tent villages, the poverty, and the lack of safe water and plentiful food. We also saw how the hope of Jesus Christ is being well received. If you’re looking for a mission opportunity, Haiti could certainly use your time and efforts.

I’ve visited with a number of other people in the agricultural industry who have done mission work in third world countries. We have all shared the same idea that agriculture is one of the answers to the problems these countries face. There is almost always land available to produce food, and with high unemployment there are plenty of people who need jobs. With some help from American farmers to provide crop growing tips and advice, we can really make a difference.

Back to the Blank Slate, things look very good. The Sure-K and Pro-Germinator we used have performed even better than we expected. I can’t wait for the yield monitor to show us the results of the fertility trials. It will be by far the best crop this ground has ever produced.

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