The week of June 10, Farm Journal is celebrating the next generation of American agriculture. Our goal is to encourage you to plan for the future and cultivate multigenerational success through the transfer of skills and knowledge. Think tomorrow, act today to align your asset, resource and financial legacy.
Bigger ain’t always better. When does a farmer drop almost 3,000 acres and not look back? Ask Alex Harrell.
In 2023, Harrell got skinny-fat — as in less ground but booming yields. Cold turkey, he slashed his row-crop operation in half and went in hot pursuit of high management and yield per acre, searching for the sweet spot with rent, equipment, labor, time and insurance.
Sign or Walk
After the 2022 season farming in a partnership alongside his father, Rodney, in Lee County, Ga., Harrell faced a fork in the road when a landlord approached with a higher lease on a 2,800-acre farm that typically produced middling yields. Harrell was under no illusions about the rent rate: Someone would grab the acres; someone would pay the ask. However, it wouldn’t be him. Rent on irrigated ground in his area runs $260 to 330 per acre.
Adios to 2,800 acres, leaving him with 3,000 acres of predominantly red loam to grow corn, soybeans, watermelons and wheat. He immediately sold some equipment, but the basic structure of his operation stayed the same.
“Certainly, variable costs went down with fertilizer, seed and fuel, but my fixed costs — equipment, labor and insurance — when divided by acreage, suddenly almost doubled,” he explains.
Overall, fewer acres mandated higher profit and yield per acre.
“For us, 6,000 acres was too much, and I was determined to find the ideal amount of ground,” Harrell explains. “There’s a fine line between too much and too little. You’ve got to have enough land to stretch your payments and costs, but if you overextend, you ruin the balance the other way, and yields go down. Yield instantly became even more crucial when we cut acres.”
Without coincidence, Harrell was about to grow the highest yielding soybeans in agriculture history.
Bull’s-Eye of Efficiency
On Aug. 23, 2023, Harrell watched 206.79 bu. per acre flash across his yield monitor in the Georgia Soybean Production Contest.
Although the 206 bu. contest soybeans were on a tiny fraction of acreage, they were indicative of Harrell’s overall high-management approach.
“In the next two to three years, we want to average 300 bu. on irrigated corn, 100 bu. on full-season soybeans, 80 bu. on double-crop beans, and 100 bu. on wheat,” he says.
In 2024, Harrell’s operation climbed to 4,500 acres — the bull’s-eye of efficiency, he says, with assistance from his father, Rodney, two local hands and five workers from South Africa.
“For us, we’ve got so much spraying, watering and land prep that 4,500 acres is just right to keep our intense yield focus,” he explains.
This year, Harrell has 250 acres of watermelons, with the remaining ground in two-thirds corn, a third in wheat and double-crop soybeans and 300 acres of full-season soybeans.
“Another goal is I’d like to get to a point where I’m 90% corn,” he says.
Tech to the Rescue
At 4,500 acres, Harrell’s management has a major new boost: drones.
“I got rid of our ground sprayer and bought an older one to do nitrogen applications in corn when the crop is taller, but last year I used all drones and had no ground rig,” he says.
With two drones, Harrell covers 400 acres per day.
“We’ve almost eliminated our airplane bill. I’m the Southeast drone dealer for AgriSpray, and we mix and spray everything ourselves,” he says.
Timeliness is supreme when it comes to high-yield corn and soybeans, Harrell emphasizes. Mother Nature never reveals her calendar.
“Take away timeliness and it doesn’t matter how you spray or what fertilizer, products or snake oils you use because they will not work right,” he adds.
What advice does Harrell offer when considering an acreage shift?
“Go gradual to the sweet spot to avoid the problems I had with fixed costs per acre going up. Again, you might not have the choice to go slow. If that happens, focus on the acres you keep and stay extremely timely because when it’s time to go, it’s time to go.”
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