Farmer Resilience

Caleb Ragland Named Pro Farmer's 2025 Person of the Year

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 21:32:20 GMT

Caleb Ragland , president of the American Soybean Association (ASA), was thrust into the national media spotlight in 2025, where his steady demeanor and devotion to fact-based arguments made him an effective advocate for all farmers as they fought their way through the trade fire storm. That’s why Pro Farmer selected Ragland as its 2025 Ag Person of the Year.

“If you could pick a word to describe the year, uncertainty would be it,” says the Kentucky-based farmer. Following the trade ructions of President Trump’s first term, Ragland told Pro Farmer he knew another trade disruption was possible. Like most farmers, though, he was caught off guard at the sheer scale of the trade war and the lack of a firm deal with China before harvest began.

With commodity prices suffering as harvest began, ASA knew action had to be taken. Their approach was to “respectfully, but firmly” communicate the plight of soybean farmers to the general public and lawmakers in Washington.

“We’re not presenting ourselves as victims, we simply want to make a living and let the markets work like everyone else,” Ragland says.

The lack of soybean demand made waves far beyond the reach of traditional agricultural news outlets, with nearly 45,000 pieces of online media mentioning “soybeans” since September of this year. Ragland shares he sees those efforts paying off in smaller ways. Just last week, while traveling, he had an interaction at an airport when two fellow travelers noticed his ASA hat and struck up a conversation about soybeans after hearing about them in the news.

During today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, ASA President Caleb Ragland (KY) urged Congress & the administration to take immediate action to reduce #farm production costs & prevent additional family farm closures. https://t.co/wPUdObCxyC #AgEcon #AgPolicy #Soybeans pic.twitter.com/hkBqgUghWs
— American Soybean Association (@ASA_Soybeans) October 28, 2025

Over the course of 2025, Ragland had direct contact with legislators, administration officials and other policymakers. He spoke at Congressional hearings to push for lower tariffs on farm inputs, policy changes to bolster demand for soy and direct assistance to farmers impacted by ongoing policy decisions. Progress has been made with some tariffs on fertilizer dropped in December, and a $12 billion bridge payment to support crop producers was announced earlier this month. Despite movement in the right direction, Ragland knows more work remains.

“We really don’t want to leave anything out there on the table, and the rules around biofuels and renewable fuel standards is one practical area we could still see improvement,” he says.

Ragland finishes up his term as president this month, and will move into the role of chairman for his final year on the board in 2026. He remains optimistic the trade deal with China will be honored going forward, but reserves some uneasiness due to the complex political situation between the two countries. His key takeaway from his time in the spotlight is the importance of farmers banding together to influence policy.

“If we’re not unified we have very little influence, but there’s a lot of strength in numbers when we come together to point to common goals,” Ragland says.

In addition to a Person of the Year, Pro Farmer also selects an Event of the Year and a Story of the Year . In 2025, there was a distinct theme. The trade war and its disruptions to both exports and inputs made it a shoo-in for Story of the Year. Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on April 2 , and the volatility that shook global financial markets in its wake, made it a clear choice for Event of the Year.

—Bill Watts and Hillari Mason contributed to this article.

4 Natural Disasters in 13 Months Leave Florida Dairy Strong as Ever

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 20:30:17 GMT

As Hurricane Helene ripped through northern Florida in fall 2024, one farm in its path was Full Circle Dairy, home to the Watts family, 3,900 lactating cows and 50 employees.

The Category 4 hurricane, moving at over 120 miles per hour through several southeastern states, would deliver devastation throughout the region — something the dairy had been all too familiar with in recent months.

Helene came on the heels of Hurricane Idalia in August 2023, a tornado in May 2024 and Hurricane Debby in September 2024. Being the fourth disaster to hit the farm within 13 months, Helene found the Full Circle Dairy team as prepared as they could be, but it still left the worst damage.

(Full Circle Dairy)

“Hurricane Helene caused three-fourths of one of our freestall barns, which houses 800 cows, to collapse,” recalls Philip Watts, operations manager and fifth-generation dairy farmer. “We were in the middle of milking two groups in that barn. Thankfully, the gates were open and most of the cows were able to walk out of the barn when it started to collapse, reducing the number of animals in the barn.”

Throughout the storm, Watts says they maintained normal milking operations as long as they could. As soon as it became unsafe for employees, they paused to ride out the hurricane. Helene left significant damage to the commodity barn, too, meaning much of the extra feed they’d had delivered ahead of time was also lost.

From the previous storms, the farm had learned to prepare by securing any small items that could blow around and by adding extra sand to the plastic covering for the hay and straw to prevent feed from being ruined or blown away.

“Due to losing several fans from previous hurricane winds, we went through and zip-tied nearly 900 fans to prevent damage,” Watts says. “We were fortunate to have experienced Helene last in having learned ways to better prepare the farm.”

(Full Circle Dairy)

The days and weeks following the storm were challenging to say the least, but a positive mindset made all the difference.

“When the disaster hits, understand this is temporary and this will pass. Most likely, when you get past this, you will be stronger and better in the future,” Watts says.

Backup power kept milking equipment, water and barn fans operational, maintaining essential cow care despite power loss.

“We relocated heifers after the barn collapse and retrofitted a heifer freestall barn to house lactating and dry cows after the storm,” Watts says.

“The farm also received a tremendous amount of support from local agricultural groups offering to assist with storm cleanup,” he adds. “The Florida commissioner of agriculture, along with other local representatives, made a visit to the farm post-storm to assess damage.”

Beyond the Storm

Just weeks after the storm passed was a ribbon-cutting for a new RNG facility, a full-scale dairy manure to pipeline quality RNG operation expected to produce an average of 100,000 dekatherms annually. At full capacity, the emission reduction will be equivalent to powering 3,500 homes for a year.

(Full Circle Dairy)

“This project is another milestone into the sustainability practices that we implement at Full Circle Dairy,” Watts says. “Our use of technology on the farm is to gain efficiencies for our team members as well as our animals to prioritize their comfort and care.”

Watts’ parents, Greg and Cindy Watts, are the founders of Full Circle Dairy, and together it’s their goal to provide an opportunity for the next generation on the farm. Integral to the farm’s sustainability efforts is their approach to involving not only their own families but also the local community.

“We welcome school groups, FFA chapters, 4-H groups and more for scheduled tours throughout the year,” Watts says. “We also share our dairy farming story at numerous local community events.”

With the natural disasters moving further into the rearview, Watts says, “Over the next five to 10 years, we will continue to focus on progressive, sustainable and profitable practices.”

Their work in sustainability, resilience and innovation has truly come full circle, several times over.

Your Next Read:
Beef-on-Dairy Silver Linings in the Current Margin Equation

China's Trade War Playbook Keeps U.S. Soybeans Sidelined

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 18:35:25 GMT

As combines roll across soybean fields at the start of harvest, exports typically pick up. Vessels ladened with the U.S. oilseed usually begin heading to China, with the bulk of shipments made between September and January.

That’s not shaping up to be the case this year.

Not a single order for the U.S. soybean crop was placed by China at the start of harvest in September.

At about the same time, Brazil set a record for shipments to China – with sales of 2.474 billion bushels of soybeans – from January through August 2025, reports Michael Langemeier, Purdue University ag economist.

Brazil soybeans have accounted for approximately 93% of China’s total soybean imports this year, to date, according to Brazil’s National Association of Grain Exporters.

‘A More Reliable Source For Soybeans’
Langemeier expects Brazil to continue supplying the majority of China’s import needs for soybeans, a transition he says has been underway since the last round of U.S.-China trade tensions in 2017-18.

“Brazil has become a more reliable source for soybeans, if you will, than the U.S.,” Langemeier says.

He does anticipate U.S. soybean exports to China will resume eventually but not at previous levels.

“I don’t believe it’s going to go to zero – people ask me that all the time – but it’s going to be something less than what it was prior to 2025,” he says.

A large percentage of U.S. ag economists agree with Langemeier. In the latest Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor, when they were asked, ‘Do you believe U.S. agricultural exports to China will return to pre-trade war levels (e.g. 2017) in the future,’ 88% of economists responded no. Learn more here: Ag Economists Warn of Lingering Farm Economic Strain: ’Not the 1980s, But Close’

The ability of Brazil to capture more of China’s soybean business and improve its government policies pertaining to agriculture, in general, frustrates Steele, N.D., farmer Chase Dewitz.

“There’s so much progress going on there in agriculture in Brazil, outside of all the market share they’ve taken from us,” says Dewitz, referencing the country’s ethanol industry. “And here we just sit. We just keep getting backed into a corner here.”

China Prioritizes Its Own National Interests
Sandro Steinbach says China’s refusal to buy U.S. soybeans this fall is less about economics and more about politics.

“China is making a calculated move to limit its dependence on the United States,” says Steinbach, associate professor and director of the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies at North Dakota State University.

“If Chinese leaders see Washington as a strategic threat, they have the resources to pay a little more for Brazilian soybeans or draw down state reserves,” he contends. “It’s about control and national leverage, not about getting the cheapest beans.”

Steinbach adds, in an effort to not be overly reliant on either Brazil or U.S., Beijing is also working to reduce its overall need for imported soybeans through domestic feed policy changes.

“Our latest analysis shows Chinese feed mills are exploring ways to lower the share of soybean meal in livestock rations, with limited pilot programs already underway in several provinces,” he says. “If those efforts expand, even small cuts in feeding intensity could trim import needs, but they come at a cost. Lower-protein rations reduce feed efficiency and could hurt China’s livestock productivity over time.”

Faith Parum, American Farm Bureau Federation economist, points out that the ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China aren’t limited to soybeans. She says China has not “purchased any U.S. corn, wheat or sorghum this year, and pork and cotton exports continue only at reduced levels.”

USDA projects that U.S. agricultural exports to China will total $17 billion in 2025, down 30% from 2024 and more than 50% from 2022. In 2026, exports to China are expected to fall to just $9 billion, the lowest level since the 2018 trade war, Parum adds.

Trade Talks Next Week Offer Hope
Jacquie Holland, American Soybean Association economist, says upcoming meetings between President Trump and China’s Xi Jinping at next week’s APEC summit in South Korea offer farmers some encouragement that trade between the two countries will resume soon.

“If we see a de-escalation of tariffs, then China will have financial incentive to buy cheap U.S. soybeans,” Holland says.

She adds that if Brazil farmers have any delays harvesting their crop early in 2026, the Chinese could face a potential supply crunch and move to source U.S. soybeans to bridge the gap.

“But our research suggests those volumes could be minimal, based on the high volume of South American purchases China has made so far in 2025, the capacity of their state reserves, the timing of China’s hog production cycles and negative Chinese crush margins right now,” Holland says.

Farmers across Brazil have begun planting the 2025/26 crop season, with expectations for another record in corn and soybean acreage, report Purdue Ag Economists Langemeier and Joana Colussi.

“In its preliminary estimate released on October 14, the National Supply Company (Conab) projected that Brazil’s soybean acreage will increase by 3.5%, reaching 121 million acres – the largest area on record. For comparison, U.S. farmers planted 81 million acres of soybeans in the current crop season,” Langemeier and Colussi write here .

If Trade Doesn’t Resume Soon, What Then?
Unfortunately, there is no one country or market that can absorb China’s lost U.S. soybean purchases.

“There are certainly opportunities for some market expansion, as evidenced by Japan’s sentiments to increase trade on Wednesday, but the biggest constraint is that demand outside of China is limited in the short-run,” Holland says. “Long-term, we are hoping to develop these markets, but that takes time and doesn’t provide immediate relief to U.S. farmers now.”

Looking ahead to next spring, farmers are likely to plant another huge corn crop if a trade agreement isn’t reached and soybean prices remain in the basement, Langemeier anticipates.

“In that scenario, if we have two big years of corn production back-to-back, you’re going to be looking at some very sick corn prices in the fall of 2026,” he says. “That’s a big concern. That worries me.”

Holland adds there are other factors to consider, as well. She believes soybean acreage next spring will also depend on usage factors like how quickly EPA finalizes 2026 and 2027 renewable volume obligations for biofuel blendings and how fast the U.S. can expand domestic livestock consumption and export sales for soymeal.

“With all of that uncertainty and sticky input prices, I wouldn’t blame farmers for picking lower risk acreage options next spring, and I’m guessing 2026 acreage allocations are going to rightly reflect that level of risk aversion,” she says.

Holland discusses the soybean trade outlook with China in detail with Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk, here:

From Corn to Cattle: Farmers Pivot to Create Profit

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 21:03:47 GMT

With commodity prices under pressure and input costs on the rise, many row-crop farmers are evaluating their options and looking for new revenue opportunities in the process.

For Troy and Stacy Hadrick, that required making a bold shift in their farming operation about four years ago. They started converting much of their South Dakota cropland to pasture and expanding their cowherd.

It’s a path no one would describe as easy. But as Troy puts it, “You’re going to do something hard if you’re in agriculture, so choose your hard.”

The Hadricks, based near Faulkton, say moving away from commodity corn, soybeans and wheat to a more direct, value-added beef production model is giving them more control over their product and their bottom line.

“We want to take ourselves out of the ebbs and flows of the commodity market, and we believe our beef business is viable long-term,” says Troy.

The Hadricks’ business includes selling beef direct to nine restaurants, a caterer, grocery store and even to a gas station that sells high-end meat. Learn more at hadrickranch.com/

Farmers Put Marginal Crop Ground Into Grass
As the Hadricks tried to decide whether to focus more on their beef business, and less on commodity grains, two things encouraged them to move forward with cattle: the marketplace and some of their land that’s prone to erosion.

“We started thinking about what could we do on some of this crop ground to be better stewards of that land – to think about it in a different purpose,” Troy recalls.

When the Hadricks learned about a Ducks Unlimited (DU) program that fit with their goals, they signed on to convert an additional 250 acres of cropland to pasture to feed cattle.

“They help cover the cost of that land while it’s sitting idle for a couple years, allowing the grass to establish,” Troy notes.

Bruce Toay, manager of DU conservation programs in South Dakota, says the organization is working with 58 farmers across the as part of its Working Grasslands Partnership.

DU provides annual payments to farmers for the first three years of their participation in the program, based on local CRP rates. After establishment, cooperators are able to utilize the forage by haying or grazing for the remainder of the 10-year commitment.

Payment rates reflect the land quality: in southeast South Dakota, where soils are more productive, rates can be $200 or more per acre. In the northwest part of the state, rates are usually $20 to $30 per acre.

“We can help install pipelines and tanks, and sometimes drill wells—whatever it takes to ensure a reliable water source,” Toay adds. “You can’t have a good grazing plan without water.”

Currently, South Dakota farmers have enrolled 12,000 acres with DU, which aims to expand the program to 25,000 acres. The program goes through 2029.

“We’re really pushing to find more interested cooperators and get more acres back into grass,” says Toay.

Beyond DU, other organizations investing in habitat restoration in regions of the U.S. include Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever .

More Short-Term Opportunities Wanted
While the Hadricks are finding success in a long-term strategy of moving to beef production, most U.S. farmers are exploring short-term revenue streams rather than a permanent exit from row crops.

Jay Parsons, an agricultural economist at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, says that for most farmers, converting cropland to permanent pasture rarely pencils out—unless the goal is to leave row-crop farming altogether and sell off equipment.

“Otherwise, it makes a lot more sense to go with annual forages, because it’s easier to switch back to crops when markets change,” he notes.

In some scenarios, farmers rent their ground in the fall for cattle to come in and graze cornstalks, adds Mary Drewnoski, UNL professor and beef systems Extension specialist. Another common practice is to charge beef producers a fee to graze cattle on cover crops.

“That’s probably the simplest thing for a farmer to do – have somebody else come in with cattle and graze the fields,” she says. “Basically, you give them access and get a paycheck.”

Grazing rates can vary significantly. Drewnoski says going rate in the eastern part of Nebraska is $10 to $15 an acre. In the western part of the state, farmers can charge in the neighborhood of $30 an acre.

“It’s a matter of supply and demand, and there’s more demand there,” Drewnoski explains.

She believes row-crop growers based in any area that also supports cattle production can likely find ways to add revenue from grazing cattle, either their own animals or through leasing ground to local beef producers.

The one thing she says is of utmost importance to do in the process is to develop a clear, written lease agreement spelling out the details that can keep everyone on the same page and relationships intact.

Key terms to define in a lease agreement include the rental rate, payment schedule, specific stocking rate, along with a clear outline of responsibilities for fencing, water, and general pasture maintenance. The agreement should also cover conditions for renewal or termination and any provisions for insurance, recommends Purdue University Extension.

When executed well, Drewnoski says partnerships between row-crop growers and livestock producers can be mutually rewarding. “There can be real beauty in this if you’re a crop farmer and you find the right cattleman to partner with,” she says. “It can open up doors for you both to benefit.”

Your next read: Breeding for New Markets: How University of Minnesota is Working to Boost the Oil Content in Soybeans

From Despair to Hope: Why a Farmer on the Brink of Suicide Chose to Keep Going

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:41:23 GMT

It’s starting to feel similar to the 1980s. Not only are farmers on the brink of financial collapse, but there’s another grim reality setting in: The number of farmers dying by suicide is on the rise, and it could be at a rate U.S. agriculture hasn’t seen since the 1980s.

Even though statistics on suicides among farmers aren’t reliable from the 1980s because many were deemed “accidents” during that time, some estimates point to more than 1,000 farmers dying by suicide during that crisis.

“Unfortunately, it just almost seems like it’s a pandemic situation. I mean, there’s a lot of it, and it’s sad,” says Brent Foreman, a farmer in Shelby County, Mo., who knows the impacts of farmer suicides all too well.

“From an agricultural perspective, there’s a lot of stress in this industry, especially now,” Foreman says. “And somebody that’s contemplating this. I would say, we as farmers, we like to try to fix things, and we’re pretty good at it, but you can’t fix everything. If you get to a point like that, please reach out to someone, a family member, a good friend. Just please try to get some help.”

Touched By Suicide Three Times

Foreman isn’t just a fellow farmer concerned about the number of farmer suicides today. He’s a life-long farmer who’s been impacted by farmers dying by suicide three times, and the first loss happened when he was just 12 years old.

“My grandfather was a wonderful man, the most important male figure in my life,” Foreman says. “It happened 54 years ago, and it leaves a heck of a hole in your heart still today.”

Sixteen years later, his younger brother died by suicide, another sudden and tragic loss where there were no signs something was wrong.

“And then just a little over two years ago, my brother-in-law, who was 68, took his life,” Foreman says. “I’m telling you, it’s a devastating thing for loved ones to have to go through. It is tough. It’s really tough.”

Foreman says with his brother-in-law, there were signs he was struggling. He tried to take his life one time, but didn’t succeed. That’s when the family tried to get him help, which he agreed to, even going in for treatment.

“We thought that things were getting better, but they weren’t,” Foreman says. “At the beginning, I consulted our preacher, and I said: ‘I need some prayer and I need some advice.’ And he said: ‘Well, I do want to tell you something. I want you to be able to be prepared if you fail. Can you handle that?’ And I said: ‘Well, what I can’t handle is if I don’t try. I have to try.’

Experiencing three suicides, all by loved ones he was extremely close to, has been devastating. Foreman says the emotions are still raw today.

“It’s tough to live with, going through that so many times,” he says. “When I was a youngster I always told myself, the hurt, that’s something I would never do to anyone else. I just made like a pact with myself that I would never do that, because I’ve seen and lived firsthand how it affects you. From a family’s perspective, the pain goes on and on; it doesn’t quit. My wife, from her perspective, I can just see it in her eyes almost daily, the devastation.”

‘When We Lose Hope, It’s a Dangerous Place to Be’

When a person loses hope, that’s when the situation turns bleak.

“Sadly, that is the end all for a lot of people,” Jolie Foreman, executive director at Shelby County Cares , says. “Hope is key. If you have hope, you can keep going. When you lose hope, it’s just a very dangerous place to be.”

Lafayette County, Mo., farmer Ethan Daehler has been there.

“It was actually 2019 was kind of my low point,” he says.

Just six years ago, this Missouri farmer hit rock bottom.

“I was pretty much just down in the dumps, ready to just give up on life,” he says. “Thank the Lord something happened that kind of changed my way of thinking.”

In his early 30s, Ethan Daehler knows what it’s like to be on the verge of suicide. In 2019, he hit a low point. But something saved him, and he hopes by sharing his story, he will reach other farmers in a similar state of mind, reminding them that life is worth living.

(Ethan Daehler, Missouri Farmer )

Battling ongoing pain from an accident and stress of work, as well as struggles with the dynamics of a family farm, it all compounded the issue and pushed Daehler to a breaking point.

“I had a full-time job at the time working for another farmer and trying to do my own small operation,” he says. “We had family issues, which happens to a lot of farmers. There is a lot that compounds into thoughts, it’s just not financial problems, and I think that’s what people need to understand.

Daehler is now proof that it’s worth finding a reason to live, and he is only sharing his story to possibly save someone who’s in a similar spot as he was in 2019.

“There’s more to life,” he says. “I’m in a tractor now, baling hay, this is my fourth cutting. This is what I kind of dreamed of. Find something you love doing.”

A Mission to Prevent Farmer Suicides

That pain is something that fueled his daughter-in-law’s work. Jolie Foreman is the executive director at Shelby County Cares , a nonprofit whose goal is to improve the quality of life for children, youth and adults.

“I knew that we were very resource poor,” Jolie says. “So when I heard that this opportunity was available, we jumped on it, and we’ve just grown from the bottom up. We are definitely grassroots. They had faith in us in what our vision was, and they invested in it.

Through a grant,Jolie’s initial focus wasn’t suicide, but as she started doing research, she discovered there was a desperate need to provide help.

“My family had been impacted by suicide, and that’s kind of why I had jumped on board in the beginning,” she says. “But once we sat down at the table and really started to dive into the names and being in a small town, we know all of those lives that have been lost to suicide up here, that the producer was the one that was struggling.”

Fall Typically Heightens the Stress and Struggles

Jolie says they are currently seeing an increase in the number of farmer suicides happening across the country. Some of that is due to the various stresses involved with farming, but she says the fall is typically when the number of suicides in agriculture rises even more.

“In the spring, there’s a lot of hope,” Jolie says. “You’re planting, you’re coming off of the year that may have been good, may have been bad, but there’s always hope in the spring. And come September, I think the stark reality starts to set in either the pricing and the yields.”

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month , and when it comes to agriculture the facts are startling. Farmers are 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. The suicide rate among male farmers, ranchers and ag managers is 43.7 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the National Rural Health Association.

The mounting financial pressures unfolding across the agricultural economy are adding another layer to an industry that already faces one of the highest rates of suicide compared to any other profession.

“Suicide is one of those things that’s hard to put on a scale,” Jolie says. “I mean we know the lives we’ve lost. We unfortunately can’t see the lives that we’ve saved, but I do know from talking to the local ambulance district that the calls have definitely increased; 988 is a huge resource here, and those calls have gone up and increased exponentially. And just through conversations I know that that rural agricultural piece is pressing behind it.”

She says one of the most startling discoveries she’s made during her research and work is the desensitization to death among farmers. She says through various conversations, it’s a reality that’s sad but true.

It’s Not Just Financial Stress That Causes Strains on Farmers’ Mental Health

Jolie says it’s not just financial stress that causes these struggles. It’s also the fact farming comes with many stresses, and for the most part, many farmers are so isolated and might not have access to adequate healthcare.

AgriSafe says if you’re a farmer, rancher, or farmworker, you already know that your work can expose you to a variety of hazards. They believe that with proper education and access to knowledgeable health professionals, farmers can live a long, healthy, and productive life.

(The Total Farmer Health Model, AgriSafe)

According to AgriSafe’s Total Farmer Health , the financial factor is one that can compound mental health struggles, but there are other factors that lead to the risks of farmer suicides including:

Weather
Sleep
Cognition
Social
Diet
Hazards
Spirituality
Healthcare
Fitness

Signs to Watch

And for family and friends, there are signs to watch out for, including neglect of the farm or ranch or even an individual who makes a big financial moves.

“Financial moves are also huge, which is why we’ve talked to attorneys, and we also talked to the financial providers like different banks,” Jolie says. “Are they moving their money? Are they giving away prize possessions? Are they changing their wills? Are they creating a sudden will? We just want to give those resources the tools that they need just to be like, ’Are you okay?’

Daehler says his message for someone in a dark place is you’re not alone. That message is something the Foremans also wants farmers to know.

“I want them to know that we care. I want to know they feed and fuel the world, but if their bucket is empty, they can’t pour into others,” Jolie says. “It’s OK to not be OK, to talk about it, to reach out, to ask your neighbor, to not afraid if you do see something or change in behavior or more isolation. Don’t be afraid to have that conversation. And there are a lot of people that care.”

Suicide Prevent Hotlines

It’s important to remember no matter where you are, there is help. 988 is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline .

And for farmers, there is a specific farmer crisis hotline you can call that is toll-free at 866.586.6746.

The American Farm Bureau also has a Farm State of Mind campaign which builds awareness to reduce stigma and provides access to information and resources that promote farmer and rancher mental health wellness. You can visit that list of resources here .

Bridging the Gap: How Land O’Lakes Supports Veterans Transitioning to Civilian Career

Wed, 07 May 2025 13:54:35 GMT

Every year, many U.S. service members face the challenge of transitioning from military to civilian life. The life-altering change can be intimidating as they integrate into society and carve new career paths.

Among them is Col. Patrick Schlichenmeyer, who completed a 34-year career with the U.S. Air Force in 2023 and found himself facing a future he hadn’t initially focused on during his service years.

A Lifetime of Service

Schlichenmeyer’s journey began when he entered the Air Force Academy in 1989 at age 18. During his career he served as a pilot, participated in staff assignments and held command positions in combat. By summer 2022, as his mandatory service time came to an end, he started contemplating life outside the military.

“When I entered the military, I wanted to serve where my country needed me,” Schlichenmeyer says. “I served as long as I could, and then I had to transition to civilian life. I didn’t start thinking about my future until about a year before.”

Schlichenmeyer was certain about one thing: a desire to permanently return to Minnesota’s Twin Cities, where his wife resided in a suburb of St. Paul. While eager to reunite, the change also brought an element of uncertainty.

“I entered the academy at 18, so that was all I knew,” he says. “I had some idea of civilian culture through my spouse, but there were many unknowns.”

Discovering SkillBridge

Schlichenmeyer wouldn’t forge a new path alone. With a transition focused on the Twin Cities, he began exploring the SkillBridge program, which helps service members explore new career fields and gain experience. Land O’Lakes, which participates in the program, emerged as a potential destination for Schlichenmeyer’s skills.

SkillBridge offers a support system to help military personnel find civilian workforce opportunities. The program connects service members with corporate partners across the country and provides up to 180 days of “permissive duty” for them to get on-the-job training as interns for a company, with the goal of providing full-time job opportunities. SkillBridge helped nearly 8,500 service members find work with around 5,000 companies nationwide in the third quarter of 2024, according to the program website.

Once connected with someone at Land O’Lakes, Schlichenmeyer explored job openings and assessed if the company’s culture matched his aspirations.

“From there, I started looking at the employee website and was extremely surprised at how open Land O’Lakes is about their people, their mission, what the executive leadership team believes in,” he says. “The more that I read and understood what the company stood for, that’s something that I felt would be a good fit. I was surprised at how open Land O’Lakes is about their mission and values. The more I learned, the more it felt like a good fit.”

Embracing a New Role

Schlichenmeyer joined Land O’Lakes in February 2023 as a SkillBridge intern. He now serves as operational excellence manager at the company’s Melrose, Minn., dairy plant and was recently appointed as an expert project manager at headquarters.

Schlichenmeyer’s story is one example of the many benefits of SkillBridge. Julie Sexton, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Land O’Lakes, emphasizes the value veterans bring.

“It’s about recruiting broadly across diverse talent pools,” she says. “Post-COVID, we expanded our recruitment strategies.”

Sexton describes the partnership with SkillBridge as both successful and fulfilling, reflecting Land O’Lakes’ mission to support those who have served.

“It’s rewarding to help service members transition to the next phase of life,” she says. “It’s a way of giving back to valuable community members.”

Land O’Lakes’ involvement with the SkillBridge program has yielded numerous success stories, with 13 current interns and 25 veterans completing internships — seven of whom secured full-time roles.

“I was looking for some place where I could go to work with good people who care about each other that are doing something important for this country,” Schlichenmeyer says. “That’s Land O’Lakes.”

His journey from a seasoned Air Force colonel to a leadership role in the civilian sector not only demonstrates the adaptability and impact of programs like SkillBridge, it serves as inspiration for other veterans embarking on their own transitions.

Your Next Read: Finding Strength in Adversity: A Wisconsin Farm Girl’s Inspiring Journey

From Farm to 'Shark Tank:' One East Coast Dairy’s Eco-Friendly Pitch

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 13:58:58 GMT

In an unconventional yet charming spectacle, Amanda Freund, a Connecticut dairy farmer, packed her innovative spirit and two crucial items — a shovel and an inflatable cow costume — before heading west to make her vision a reality. Her destination: “Shark Tank,” where she aims to propel her creation, CowPots, into the mainstream.

Canaan View Dairy: The Beating Heart of Sustainability
Freund’s Farm, a diversified farm, with three farming enterprises, is not your average farm. Located on the bustling East Coast, their operation thrives on cutting-edge sustainability practices. Currently decked with 1,200 solar panels, the farm matches its own electricity needs through renewable energy. In fact, it boasts the longest continuously running methane digester in the country, turning biogas into another source of eco-friendly power.

(Amanda Freund)

Beyond merely generating power, manure from Canaan View Dairy serves multiple roles including transforming into fresh cow bedding and nutrient-rich fertilizer to sustainably grow crops. Perhaps its most innovative transformation, however, is into CowPots, biodegradable, plantable pots crafted from digested and composted manure, forming the backbone of Freund’s “Shark Tank” pitch.

A Revolution in Planting: The CowPots Story
CowPots emerged as a significant leap forward in eco-friendly innovation. These biodegradable staples are designed to turn composted manure into a planter for flowers and produce. This innovation ensures a sustainable cycle that supports the farm’s operations and enriches the community.

“We have been marketing CowPots for 18 years now, so we’re not a startup or new business like a lot of the entrepreneurs on the show,” she shares with Dairy Herd Management. “But as a small business, we have relied heavily on grassroots marketing. There have been a few exciting opportunities over the years, including features on “Dirty Jobs” with Mike Rowe and a spotlight on the “Martha Stewart Show.” As with any product and all marketing, it’s an ongoing and continuous endeavor to have our product in front of prospective customers.”

(Amanda Freund)

Not just stopping at innovation, the CowPots are employed at Freund’s family retail store, Freund’s Farm Market & Bakery, where they foster the produce and flowers enjoyed by both the family farm and surrounding community through the vibrant summer months. This synergy embodies the sustainability ethos propelling Freund’s pitch on the national stage.

All Eyes on “Shark Tank”
Freund’s journey culminates on an episode of “Shark Tank” airing Friday, April 4, at 8 p.m. on ABC. The Sharks, renowned for offering entrepreneurial hopefuls like Freund an avenue to exponential growth, wield the power to elevate CowPots into a household name.

Believing strongly in her family’s dedication to environmentally sound farming, Freund steps into the tank with an unwavering goal: to secure a deal that could transform her family’s sustainable dream into national success. Freund shares that nothing was guaranteed from initial casting to filming, and whether her pitch would make it on the air was uncertain, but the potential of getting on that stage in the “Shark Tank” was an exciting new opportunity to showcase their products.

“In the two months leading up to filming, it was very time-consuming providing all the required details, financials, graphics and pitches needed for the show,” she shares. “And so, now that I’ve done all the work, and on April 4, all I have to do is sit back and watch as everyone else gets to see whether or not I made a deal. I’m really excited about that. I’m proud to be able to showcase the ingenuity and sustainability of dairy farms on a national stage.”

(Amanda Freund)

As Freund takes center stage on “Shark Tank,” her journey underscores the transformative power of ingenuity and farming rooted in sustainability. CowPots are more than a pitch, they are a testament to what the future of farming could embody. As this Connecticut dairy farmer makes her case, viewers nationwide will bear witness to an inspiring eco-friendly narrative unfurling in front of the Sharks. And who knows, perhaps by the end of the episode, they too will become part of this sustainable story.

Your Next Read:
California Dreams: Transformation Through Innovation

$10 Billion in ECAP Aid Now Available to Qualifying Farmers

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 19:34:08 GMT

Applications are now open through August 15, 2025, for farmers interested in participating in the $10-billion Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP), which is being administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA).

The aid comes available at a crucial time as farmers are experiencing low commodity prices, high input costs and a variety of trade uncertainties going into the 2025 production season.

The American Relief Act of 2025, which was passed by Congress late last year, authorized the $10 billion for ECAP payments to help offset losses growers incurred during the 2024 crop year.

Payments will be made to farmers on a flat per-acre rate on 100% of planted acres, or 50% of those prevented from planting, Paul Neiffer, Farm CPA, told AgriTalk Host Chip Flory earlier this week.

“Eligible farmers are those planting commodity crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, legumes, dry peas, oilseeds,” Neiffer said.

Acres planted for harvest, grazing, haying, silage or other similar purposes in the 2024 crop year also qualify. In all, a total of 22 different crops are included in the program (see list below).

Neiffer addresses many of the questions farmers are asking him about ECAP in his discussion with Flory on AgriTalk. Listen here:

Specific Requirements For Eligibility
To be eligible, farmers must meet the following requirements, according to Betty Resnick, American Farm Bureau Federation economist:

Be actively engaged in farming.
Have an interest in input expenses for a covered commodity.
Have reported acreage of eligible commodities to FSA for the 2024 crop year planted and prevent plant acres to FSA on an FSA-578, Report of Acreage form.
Have reported acres that were prevented from being planted to FSA for the 2024 crop year on an CCC-576 Notice of Loss form (if applicable).

Producers who have not previously reported 2024 crop year acreage or filed a notice of loss for prevent plant crops, must submit an acreage report by the August 15, 2025 deadline.

Notably, the initial round of payments will only amount to 85% of the per-acre payment to ensure that enough funding is available for all farmers who sign up for the program, Neiffer told Flory.

After the ECAP application period closes on August 15, a second payment may be issued with the remaining funds up to the additional 15% of the per-acre payments. Farmers can estimate their total expected payments using an online calculator available at fsa.usda.gov/ecap.

Producers can also contact their local FSA offices with additional questions.

Farmers can use the ECAP calculator provided by USDA-FSA to get an idea of what their payment could be potentially.

(Lori Hays)

Eligible Crops And Rates
Commodities included in the program are:

Wheat: $30.69
Corn: $42.91
Sorghum – $42.52
Barley – $21.67
Oats – $77.66
Upland cotton & Extra-long staple cotton – $84.74
Long & medium grain rice – $76.94
Peanuts – $75.51
Soybeans – $29.76
Dry peas – $16.02
Lentils – $19.30
Small Chickpeas – $31.45
Large Chickpeas – $24.02

Eligible Oilseeds:

Canola – $31.83
Crambe – $19.08
Flax – $20.97
Mustard – $11.36
Rapeseed – $23.63
Safflower – $26.32
Sesame – $16.83
Sunflower – $27.23

Your next read: What USDA Corn and Soybean Acreage Estimates Would Shock the Market On Monday?

Bayer President Views Agriculture Through a Lens of Optimism

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 14:27:11 GMT

Take a few minutes to talk with Brian Naber, and you quickly realize he has a glass-half-full outlook on the state of U.S. agriculture and the crop protection industry specifically.

As president of Bayer Crop Science for the North America and Australia/New Zealand Region for nearly a year now, Naber says growing up in a farming family in southwest Minnesota helped prepare him for the rigors of leading through the current economic and regulatory challenges.

“I think if you’re in agriculture, you have to be an eternal optimist,” he says.

Naber is speaking specifically to the challenges of controlling tough weeds like waterhemp and Palmer amaranth. While dry soil conditions continue to persist in the Midwest this spring, he remains optimistic Mother Nature will send moisture.

But if she doesn’t, Naber is also confident U.S. corn and soybean growers will adjust. He thinks they’ve learned during the past few years of tough weather and supply chain hiccups to have herbicide Plans A, B and C at the ready.

“We don’t know how the environment is going to play out in any given season or what the environmental scenario is that a farmer will face, so they have to be prepared,” he says.

The same is true for crop protection companies, he adds, reflecting on EPA’s decision to vacate product labels for over-the-top applications of dicamba in dicamba-tolerant soybeans for 2025. Bayer XtendiMax, Syngenta Tavium and BASF Engenia are dicamba-based products impacted by EPA’s decision.

Future Focused for Dicamba
Despite the regulatory setback with dicamba, all three registrants applied for new labels with EPA last spring, though approval is not anticipated until later this year at the earliest.

Naber says Bayer took a proactive approach in letting its customers know dicamba would be unavailable for use this season.

“We were very forthright about this with farmers back in August and September,” he recalls. “We said, ‘get the highest-yielding germ plasm in your field, and then let’s put an effective weed-control program together with the fundamentals in place. We’ve got to get multiple modes of actions out there. Let’s make sure we can handle wet, dry or any scenario in between. We just have to do it in 2025 without the benefit of dicamba.’”

He says the company has a stable of herbicide products that it is using to help farmers address tough weeds this year and steward their ground in the process.

“Farmers are excellent stewards of their land and the ultimate entrepreneurs,” Naber says. “I love this relationship we get to have with them as a company, because we get to do what we do best, which is innovate, and we get to work with them on how to realize that innovation on their farm.”

Technology on the Way
New innovations must always be relevant to farmers’ needs and provide value, Naber says, referencing several products the company expects to introduce during the next couple of years.

One of those is Vyconic soybeans, a new trait technology that will be the first to feature five herbicide tolerances — dicamba, glufosinate, mesotrione, 2,4-D and glyphosate — all in one trait package.

“We’ll be delivering high-yielding germplasm for soybean growers. Plus, we’re excited to think about the flexibility that will give them by putting five modes of action into a single soybean seed,” he says.

Vyconic soybeans have an anticipated market introduction in the U.S. and Canada by the 2027 planting season. In the meantime, Naber says Bayer will continue to work on the development of proprietary herbicide formulations to optimize its weed management offerings.

Another upcoming Bayer product is Convintro herbicide for use in corn and soybeans. The Group 12 herbicide features the active ingredient diflufenican, which will be a new mode of action herbicide for preemergence use in corn. European farmers have used diflufenican for weed management in cereals and lentils for several years. Bayer plans to introduce the herbicide to U.S. growers in 2026, pending EPA approval.

“It’s a specialist for waterhemp and pigweed control, something farmers are looking for,” Naber says. “Farmers are telling us, ‘bring me more innovation faster,’ because they need a full toolbox to handle those weeds.”

Taking Challenges in Stride
Tariffs and the possibility of tariffs are ongoing concerns for the agriculture industry this spring. While Naber says the company is sensitive to the impact tariffs could have on Bayer’s business this year, he says the company is ready, domestically, for the 2025 season.

“I don’t see any concerns,” he says. “From a seed perspective, most of it’s domestically produced so it’s staged and sitting in the marketplace for our farmers, and our crop protection products are out there as well.”

He says one of the factors that has contributed to Bayer being more proactive in the marketplace is farmers’ use of larger, faster planters.

“We don’t have the luxury anymore of a planting season that lasts six or seven weeks. Farmers could get it all done in a week or two now. So, it’s encouraged us to get everything out there ahead of time,” Naber says.

“We know Mother Nature is demanding that farmers are timely with their decisions,” he adds. “We want to be good partners with our customers, so we have to be ready, too, and we are.”

Your next read: What USDA Corn and Soybean Acreage Estimates Would Shock the Market On Monday?

The Ultimate Gift: Dairy Farmer Becomes Lifesaving Hero by Donating Both His Liver and Kidney

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:58:23 GMT

When one thinks of a dairy farmer, the image often conjured is that of a hardworking individual, dedicated to the care of their cattle and land. Brian Forrest, who leads with a kind-hearted and giving spirit at his family farm, Maple Ridge Dairy near Stratford, Wisconsin, epitomizes this image and so much more.

Forrest works tirelessly alongside his wife, Elaine, and their five children, tending to roughly 2,000 cows and farming 4,000 acres. Although farming is undeniably a demanding job, Forrest thrives on the mixture of hard work and familial teamwork it entails.

Leadership Beyond Farming
Away from the hustle and bustle of farming, Forrest dedicates his time in boardrooms and volunteering on various committees and organizations. His contributions as a leader have not gone unnoticed as he was awarded the Dean Strauss Leadership Award at the Professional Dairy Producers (PDP) Annual Meeting earlier this year.

“Ask anyone who knows Brian and they’ll tell you he’d give you the shirt off his back without blinking, as his track record clearly shows,” Shelly Mayer, Executive Director of PDP, shares. “I’ve had the opportunity to work directly with Brian for several years and I can say firsthand that he is one of the most thoughtful, compassionate people one could ever hope to work with.”

Maple Ridge has earned recognition on state and national levels, including Focus on Energy’s 2022 Energy Efficiency Excellence Award and platinum-level recognition in 2020 from the National Mastitis Council for the dairy’s consistently low Somatic Cell Count. Forrest was also named a 2021 Wisconsin Agriculturist Master Agriculturist. Forrest serves as Board Chair of Dairy’s Foundation and also served on the PDP board of directors for six years, acting as treasurer for three years. He’s an FFA alumnus and regularly supports the FFA.

A Selfless Donor
Forrest’s generosity extends beyond his time and expertise. In July 2019, he served as a living liver donor for his cousin Richard Gillette, who was battling end-stage liver disease.

“Richard is one of five brothers who I had always looked up to when I was a kid,” Forrest fondly recalls. “When they were young, all five of them came up from Illinois during the summer to help out on my dad’s farm in Stratford.”

Two of the five brothers died in their 50s - and Forrest didn’t want to see a third Gillette brother die before his time. And, as sick as Richard was in the spring of 2019, he was unlikely to receive a new liver from a deceased donor in time to save his life. Too many patients were ahead of him on the transplant list - and most of them were even sicker. Forrest offered to see if he could be a match.

“I thought maybe I could be a donor. I’m older, but I have O-negative blood.” After discussing it with his wife and giving it careful thought, he decided to go through with the donation.

A football fan at heart, Forrest knows that when it’s game day, rivalries don’t matter. Or least this was the case for the fourth-generation dairy farmer.

“He’s a Bears fan. I’m a Packer fan. But we were united the morning that we both met with our incredible surgeons,” Forrest remembers back to the day of live transplant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical Hospital. We joked together right before the surgery that after he gets part of my liver, he very well may come out a Packers fan! He beamingly shares that his cousin recovered well. “It was a tough road for a while, but it was all worthwhile.”

Four years later, Forrest donated a kidney to an anonymous recipient, demonstrating his willingness to help those in need yet again.

The kidney he donated went to a person in Virginia. The surgeon showed Forrest a picture of his kidney functioning perfectly inside the recipient the evening after his surgery.

“It was pink inside the recipient and doing its job,” Forrest shared emotionally. “It is all so remarkable.”

Both surgeries required others to pick up the ‘slack’ from Forrest back at the dairy. He proudly shares that he is lucky to have such a great village that could help out while he took 6-8 weeks to fully recover from both surgeries.

“I would do this again in a heartbeat,” he shares. “There is no price tag for giving someone life and the whole experience brought my family closer together.”

A Farmer’s Faith
Forrest says the feeling of helping someone else is hard to describe but incredibly fulfilling.

“I know God is driving the way,” he says. “I’m not sure what direction we are heading, but I know he is in the driver’s seat and I’m in the backseat.”

When it comes to farming, Forrest—like most farmers—believes in a better tomorrow. Before his surgeries, Forrest had to undergo a mental health evaluation, ensuring he was prepared for all eventualities, even the possibility of the surgery not resulting in success.

“I go back to the highs and lows of farming. With milk prices and Mother Nature, you must be okay with not being in control,” he says.

Forrest’s mindset of focusing on what can go right instead of what could go wrong is just his natural way of thinking. This positive attitude has helped foster a healthy and positive culture at Maple Ridge Dairy, where 34 full-time employees work in harmony.

“Our mission and values are communicated, and we all work towards the same goal,” he shares.

In an industry full of challenges and unpredictability, this Wisconsin dairy farmer stands out not just for his farming practices but for his exemplary character and unwavering optimism. Whether on the farm, in the operating room, or during acts of heroism, Forrest truly embodies a spirit of selflessness and resilience.

“I try to make more deposits than withdrawals,” he says. “There are good days and bad days, but we really need to focus on the good. My hopes are that others who hear my story also consider organ donation. UW Madison is an incredible resource and I’d be happy to talk to anyone whose heart has tugged on them regarding organ donation. I have no regrets.”

An Ode to the Grain Cart Driver

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 14:42:59 GMT

I watch in awe as my small-framed, five-foot, seven-inch daughter drives our John Deere 8345R, pulling the 1,050-bushel grain cart like it’s her business. Which is good because that was her job this past weekend. And, when she pulled up next to the semi-truck and trailer that her father and I were in to unload it, I nervously said to her father, ‘She is so close.’ He assures me she is exactly where she needs to be.

I then watched Cassie evenly unload the grain cart into our hopper bottom trailer and quickly make a mad dash, driving away to hustle back to the combine. Once again, she is only a couple of feet away from the 8-row corn head with one hand steering and the other one taking another a call from the combine driver. Her grandfather.

Stubborn and a tad grouchy with rain on the horizon, Grandpa Jim gives her orders on where she needs to go. She sternly replies, “I know where I need to be.” Not too many people get away with talking to my husband’s 68-year-old father like that, but his 17-year-old granddaughter does. After all, she kinda runs the show.

Cassie is reliable and quick, and her driving skills have always turned heads. At age 11, she helped her grandfather haul round bales off a field. Cassie drove the dully and flatbed trailer around the field as her grandfather stacked round bales on the trailer. The twosome did this for hours, and then when they were done, Cassie pulled up around the barn and backed the truck and trailer in between two semi-trailers and dropped the trailer. The men watched her in awe. Soon after she was promoted to grain cart driver.

As a grain cart driver, Cassie must be a great mind reader. She must understand all those hand signals that are hard to interpret and hard to see when the sun is blaring through the window. Grandpa Jim likes to communicate with radios; Cassie does not. The day those radios mysteriously went missing, Cassie received 20 phone calls.

Those who have ever had this job understand all too well that the grain cart driver often is the person that takes all the blame. “Why is corn on the ground?” And demands you to speed up, then slow down and don’t drive through that. And, yells where the heck are you? That’s when my Cassie replies, “Grandpa, I can only drive so fast.”

Over two days, Saturday and Sunday, Cassie clocked in more than 20 hours. Only farmers will understand that isn’t a typo and only a farm kid will appreciate those long hours equal a heck of a paycheck, making it all worthwhile.

Paul Harvey said, “God made a Farmer,” but what he didn’t say, is that God also made a grain cart operator who can stand the toughest situations. Even when the operator is a high school senior, who I remind if you can successfully run the grain cart, then you can do anything.

The Life of the Iconic Butter Cow Lady

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 13:34:32 GMT

The Iowa State Fair in Des Moines is known for its corn dogs, livestock shows, and one particularly unique tradition—the iconic butter sculptures. Today, many people think back to “The Butter cow Lady” when going by the fair’s iconic butter sculptures.

Norma “Duffy” Lyon was more than okay with being known as the “The Butter Cow Lady.” Afterall, for nearly a half century, Lyon sculpted the butter cow and other creations at the Iowa State Fair. Her last sculpture was in 2005 and her creations over the years have included just about everything—from cows, Garth Brooks, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Elvis and even Jesus and his disciples. She even once made a cheese bust of David Letterman.

Away from the fair’s limelight, Lyon enjoyed life on her family farm in Toledo, Iowa with her husband, Joe, and their nine children. Known for their nationally recognized herd of Jerseys, the Lyons were well-known figures in the dairy industry. Lyon’s butter cow status broadened that recognition even further.

Breaking Barriers
Before Lyon wowed fairgoers with her butter creations, she attended Iowa State University with the intent to study Veterinary Sciences. Her plans were thwarted, though, by a ban on women in the program. Instead, she pivoted to animal science and took up sculpture under the guidance of Christian Petersen. These skills would later serve her well in life.

Lyon’s journey with the butter cow began in 1960 when she took over from Earl Dutt. Known for her supreme standards, she famously remarked on Dutt’s work, “It was a good farm cow, but it wasn’t a show cow,” she once said to the Associated Press back in 1999. Her drive for perfection solidified her status as a fair icon.

An Enduring Legacy
The tradition of the butter cow at the Iowa State Fair dates back to 1911, but it was Lyon who truly brought it into the hearts of Iowans. In 1960, Lyon brought a new level of artistry to the Butter Cow, that was well admired from all corners of the earth, crafting it from U.S. Grade A salted butter.

Lyon was well-known beyond the Hawkeye State. She once publicly backed Barack Obama for president and appeared in campaign ads for him in 2007. She also appeared on the Today Show, Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman.

Sarah Pratt took over for Lyon in 2007 after an apprenticeship under Lyon starting when she was 14-years-old.

Lyon passed away in 2011 at the age of 81. Her daughter, Michelle, once said her mother loved for people to know her work and said simultaneously it was good public relations for the dairy industry, too.

2024 Iowa State Fair
The iconic Iowa State Fair butter cow will share her cooler with notable nighttime personalities this year. Long time Iowa State Fair butter sculptor Sarah Pratt, along with her apprentices Hannah and Grace, will be sculpting the likenesses of Iowans Johnny Carson and Steve Higgins as well as a sky glider seat to commemorate the 50th year of the Main Sky Glider. Steve Higgins is the announcer on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, so Jimmy Fallon will be joining the crew too.

The butter cow, along with butter versions of Iowans Steve Higgins and Johnny Carson and To-night Show host Jimmy Fallon, will be featured alongside an iconic sky glider chair as the main Sky Glider celebrates 50 years in 2024.

The butter sculptures will be on display in the John Deere Agriculture Building from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., during the Iowa State Fair, August 8-18, 2024.

Tale Of Survival: Kentucky Farmer Shares About His Rescue From A Grain Bin

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 21:42:05 GMT

On a mild summer day in mid-June, Doug Omer enjoys a few minutes in the shade with his family just outside Morganfield, Ky. It’s a precious moment he nearly missed during a life-threatening, nearly seven-hour ordeal back in 2022.

“We thought we were being safe, and we let our guard down for a second, and it almost cost me my life,” Omer says.

Omer and his father, Mike, started that day hauling corn. While he waited for Mike to return, Omer went to the top of the bin to look at the farm below.

“The bin was a little over half full, and we were on red alert because we had a little bit of a scum starting to form on top of the grain,” Omer explains. “We were afraid a chunk might flow down over one of the floor holes and choke everything up and so I was using a length of 1.25" pipe, 20' long, to smack the clumps when they came down.”

It wasn’t his first time doing this, and he knows it’s common in farm country.

“When I pulled in on the second load, he was sitting up top and said I’m going in the bin,” Mike recalls. “I said, OK!”

Typically, loading a semi is just an eight-minute job. Omer eased into the bin to watch for clumps while Mike turned on the auger to load. A rope was there, but, for whatever reason, Omer didn’t tie off.

“We were running for probably 20 seconds, and I hear this shh behind me,” Omer says. “I was standing about the top of my boots deep in corn but when it hit me, I dropped to the bottom of my pockets and the collapse moved me roughly 20' over the hole.”

A Sound He Will Never Forget

Luckily, Omer was next to the bin wall.

“I’m not real smart, but I knew I didn’t have enough Doug hanging out to last eight minutes, so I was beating on the wall,” he says. “As I sunk to my chest, the pressure started squeeze the life out of me. Jesus and I had a good talk, and I thought, Doug, this is how you’re going to die. In this freaking bin of corn.”

The realization gave him the strength to gather his breath for one last frenzy of banging on the bin wall.

“I heard a big bang, and I thought a bucket had come off the leg,” Mike says. “Then I heard another bang, and I knew the bucket hadn’t come off the leg because I’d already shut the leg down.”

“I got down to about my chin, and I laid my head back to give me a few extra seconds,” Omer recalls. “I still hear it in my dreams almost every night, that breaker kicked off at the top of the bin.”

All Hands On Deck

Everything stopped. Omer was trapped, buried and fighting for breath as the pressure continued to squeeze the life out of him.

“It’s 66 steps to the top of the bin, and my dad was 72 years old, but it seemed like a split second and he was up there,” Omer says. “He said, ‘I’m coming in,’ and I said, ‘If you come in here, it’ll bury me. You have to stay outside.’”

Doug Omer Rescue

(Doug Omer Family)

Mike called 911 and raced up the hill to grab Omer’s nephew. When the much younger Logan jumped in the bin, the grain indeed slid down covering Omer. He carefully dug the corn away and helped Omer catch his breath.

Once he wasn’t buried, Omer wanted to call his wife.

“I answered it, and it was Doug,” recounts his wife, Samantha Omer. “He said, ‘I just called to let you know that I’m drowning in the grain bin,’ and I said, ‘what?’ He told me again, and he said, ‘I just wanted to call and tell you I love you.’”

That started the clock on a six-hour race to save Omer’s life. More than 200 emergency personnel, neighbors, family and friends worked to pry him from grain’s grip and death’s door.

Emergency crews brought the only two bin rescue tubes in the county. Two bucket trucks showed up to help ferry tools, people and medical supplies from the ground to the top of the bin.

Two hours of rescue efforts went by.

“The way I was sitting, I wouldn’t fit in the tube, and they hit my right kneecap with the auger,” Omer says.

The team had to add a second set of tubes and move even more grain. Meanwhile, medical experts decided Omer needed IV’s and oxygen. By hour five, he was ready to do anything to be free.

“I wanted to cut my legs off,” Omer says. “I told them I’ll end this. I’ll just stick a saw down there and cut until something pops off. I was hurting that bad.”

At the six-hour mark, a team finally grabbed Omer’s harness and pulled.

“I went to screaming, you moved me, you moved me,” Omer says. “Instantly they hit me again, and they moved me about 6". They hit me a third time, and on the third pull I was standing up inside the tube.”

His hips, knees and ankles were dislocated from the pull’s force. They lifted him to the top of the tube, and his joints were pushed back in socket. Omer climbed on all fours to the top of the bin and was helped out of what nearly became his tomb.

“Everybody started cheering, and it took him a while to get down the steps, but he walked down each step,” smiles Samantha remembering the moment.

“We were just glad he was alive,” says an emotional Mike as the wave of relief crashed over him once again.

Omer’s family met him at the bottom of the bin, and he was ferried to a life flight helicopter standing by in the field. While in the air, the quick change in elevation sent his body into shock. The hours of pressure mimicked deep sea diving.

“I ran my hand up my headset, and it was full of blood,” Omer says. “I told the medical crew, this can’t be good.”

He had the bends or decompression sickness. The helicopter dropped elevation, flying as low as possible to Evansville, Ind. Doctors rushed Omer into the hospital. There, he was stabilized, his joints were reset, his vitals monitored, and at 11:30 p.m. that night, he walked out of the hospital and headed for home.

Doug Omer Family

(Clinton Griffiths)

Take Time to Slow Down

Two years later, the gift of life, continues for Omer thanks to hundreds of unnamed hands.

“Everything just worked out so perfectly,” Samantha says. “Some folks don’t think your hometown people can be heroes, but they were our heroes on that day.”

If you ask them their advice for other farmers working around grain bins, they’ll say you can never be too careful.

“Don’t think it can’t happen to you because he was 54 years old, and he’s been around them all of his life,” Samantha says. “It was that one incident that almost got him.”

Omer admits he was just in too much of a hurry that morning on what was typically a quick and simple job. He should have stayed out of the bin or at least tied himself off with the rope.

“Just stand back and look at it before you bale in there,” Omer says. “I mean, most farmers just get wound up and are in a hurry.”

He says if his story does anything, maybe it will encourage others to take a moment to think about safety, even on small jobs. That extra few seconds could be the difference between a quick end and a long and happy life.

Mental Health in Rural America: Prioritize Self Care, Focus on What You CAN Control, and Take a Deep Breath

Mon, 03 Jun 2024 14:41:36 GMT

As national Mental Health Awareness Month (5/1-5/31) comes to a close, Farm Journal reached out to a leading mental health expert to ask about specific recommendations tailored to farmers and rural Americans who may be struggling with mental health issues.

Colleen Marshall, head of clinical care, Two Chairs, spoke with us about how farmers and their friends and families can better manage their mental health. Two Chairs is a mental health startup offering in-person and virtual therapy services throughout California, Florida, and Washington.

You can learn more about Two Chairs here: https://www.twochairs.com/

Farm Journal (FJ): Farmers experience heightened stress and anxiety when compared to other occupations according to recent studies from the CDC. What are some useful strategies to combat stress and anxiety?

Colleen Marshall (CM): There are ways to manage these feelings and improve your mental health. The key is to try different strategies and find what works best for you.

Here are some common methods to consider:

Practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, or yoga.
Stay physically active with regular exercise.
Connect with others through social support networks, like friends and family.
Prioritize self-care by getting enough sleep, eating well, and taking breaks when needed.
Focus on things you enjoy like hobbies or passions.
Focus on your thoughts, what are you grateful for, what brings you joy?
Seek professional help from a therapist or counselor if needed.

Remember, managing stress and anxiety is an ongoing process. Don’t hesitate to try new tactics or seek support when needed. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health.

FJ: Financial issues are often cited as the top stressor for farmers. Yet commodity prices and extreme weather have a direct impact on financial outcomes but are completely out of the farmers’ control. How should one deal with stressors that are completely out of their control?

CM: Acceptance is key. Accepting that there are things outside of our control and not focusing our energy on those areas can help. Instead, it’s important to get clear about what is in our control so we can focus on those areas. One thing we can always control is our response to a situation, even if we can’t control the situation itself.

By accepting what we can’t control and focusing on what we can, we can reduce stress and anxiety. So, take a deep breath, accept what you can’t change, and focus on what you can.

FJ: According to recent statistics, more than 60% of rural Americans reside in areas with a shortage of mental health providers. Are there remote/virtual resources available to farmers?

CM: Teletherapy is a more accessible and easier option for therapy than in person care. It removes barriers like transportation and additional travel time. Research is even showing that teletherapy is as effective as in person care. There are lots of providers that now offer teletherapy.

Start by reaching out to your primary care doctor, insurance company or local mental health authority. You can also contact the NAMI HelpLine to find out what services and supports are available in your community. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

FJ: What are some warning signs that a farmer should recognize as needing to be addressed by a mental health professional?

CM: Common signs of mental illness in adults and adolescents can include the following:

Excessive worrying or fear
Feeling excessively sad or low
Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning
Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria
Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger
Avoiding friends and social activities
Difficulties understanding or relating to other people
Changes in sleeping habits or feeling tired and low energy
Changes in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
Changes in sex drive
Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person experiences and senses things that don’t exist in objective reality)
Inability to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior or personality (”lack of insight” or anosognosia)
Overuse of substances like alcohol or drugs
Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)
Thinking about suicide
Inability to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress
An intense fear of weight gain or concern with appearance

FJ: How do we encourage farmers to reach out for help?

CM: Most adults will experience struggles in their lifetime. We all need support from each other at some point. Know that you are human and being human means we have wins and struggles and we are social creatures that need each other. Asking for help can feel hard but it is normal and common for all of us. Think about who is someone you trust that can help you get the help you need.

One way to think about that is what does help look like for you? What is actually helpful? Maybe it is asking someone to come with you to your next doctor’s appointment to help you explain what you are experiencing, or maybe it is someone that has had a similar experience that can share what helped them. Maybe it is calling someone you don’t know like your insurance providers or your local Mental Health support center or NAMI to have a trainer person help you decide what support and help works best for you.

Winter Canola Offers New Income Potential to Mid-South Farmers

Fri, 10 May 2024 17:15:59 GMT

Sometime in the next two or three weeks, Brandon Whitt says his winter canola crop will be ready to harvest.

In North Dakota, where the bulk of the popular oilseed is grown in the U.S., this would be nothing unusual. But Whitt is based in central Tennessee, a part of the mid-South where corn, cotton, soybeans, wheat and hay crops rule.

Winter canola might soon be added to the list, thanks to a joint venture between Bunge and Chevron (Bunge Chevron Ag Renewables) and Corteva Agriscience. Corteva (Pioneer) offers canola seed and is providing farmers with agronomic support.

The companies are working with about 20 farmers in Tennessee and Kentucky this year to give winter canola a leg up in the region. The crop could provide an additional revenue stream for growers there and help meet the increasing market needs for renewable fuel.

Western Kentucky and Tennessee are what Chad Berghoefer calls the “current epicenter” in the mid-South for winter canola production.

“From there, we could see it being grown about 150 to maybe 200 miles from that point – up into southern Illinois, down into northern Alabama, Mississippi, and over into Arkansas and Missouri as well. Those will be the number of states, as we grow out the project year over year,” says Berghoefer, global product director of biofuels for Corteva Agriscience.

The three company partners estimate winter canola acreage could go from the 5,000 acres in production this year in Kentucky and Tennessee to millions of acres across their target region within the next decade.

Farmer Preserves The Past, Embraces The Future

Whitt says when he was approached by his Pioneer field agronomist, Kyle Holmberg, about trying winter canola, he was excited to give it a go on his family’s eighth-generation operation, Batey Farms. The farm was established in 1807.

The prospect of growing winter canola fit well with the family’s motto, “preserving the past and embracing the future.”

With that in mind, Whitt ripped out a 6-acre field of U-pick strawberries on his farm, located along a highway near the city limits of Murfeesboro, Tenn., population 162,000. He planted the small plot, which is considered a research location for the mid-South, last September.

“We wanted to put this in an area that the general public could see and ask questions about what winter canola is and what we’re doing with it,” Whitt says.

The crop garnered considerable local attention from passersby when it flowered this spring. Some local high school graduates took their senior pictures in front of the crop. In another instance, at least one couple took some of their engagement pictures in the field, using the crop as a backdrop.

Whitt says the crop has been “pretty easy” to manage. His experience with wheat and barley made growing canola a similar experience.

“It’s really not very different as a winter crop for us,” he says.

Pioneer has provided production guidelines for winter canola here .

The Status Of Canola In The U.S.

Farmers currently grow about 2 million acres of canola in the United States, according to the U.S. Canola Association (USCA).

There are two types of canola: spring and winter, named as such for when they are planted. Spring canola is planted in early spring (March) and harvested around September. This type accounts for the majority of U.S. canola production, the association reports on its website .

Winter canola is planted in September. It overwinters and is then harvested in late May or early June. Typically, winter canola will yield 20% to 30% more than spring canola.

In the U.S., the ratio of supply versus demand of canola oil is about 1:4, which presents a huge opportunity for farmers to grow more canola, USCA says.

The biofuels market could potentially be even more significant. In 2021-22, the association says approximately 1.4 billion pounds of canola oil were used annually in biofuels.

Profit Margins And Logistics Play Important Roles

One potential hiccup for farmers in newer production areas is getting the crop to market. That’s a factor for the Whitt family.

“I’d definitely like to expand the crop acreage, but logistics will come into play,” says Whitt, whose 1,800-plus acres of crops currently include non-GMO yellow and white corn, barley, wheat, oats and soybeans.

He says the current delivery point Bunge has available this first year of the program is too far from his farm. However, he adds, he is hopeful Bunge will add a delivery location in northern Alabama.

“If that happens, then the sky’s the limit for growers in my area to add winter canola into their production as an alternative crop,” he says.

If Whitt decides to grow canola on a large scale, he anticipates using it in a double-crop practice. This year, for example, he plans to plant either sunflowers or soybeans after the canola is harvested.

“We always try to find ways to evolve as farmers,” Whitt says. “I’m producing crops to make money and also because of the passion we have to feed, clothe and fuel our community around us and our world. I think this is one of the best projects I could be involved with right now.”

Looking forward, Whitt says he looks forward to learning more about winter canola. “I’m really curious to see the project through its fruition, to understand better how to grow it, and how do we manage the crop as a quality grain moving forward to get it to the end market.”

Winter Canola Program For 2024/25

The three partnering companies – Corteva Agriscience, Bunge and Chevron – say there are five potential advantages for farmers who participate in their winter canola program:
1. Increased total farm profitability
2. The opportunity to participate in the growing renewables feedstock market
3. Improve soil through plant diversity and water filtration
4. Maximize productivity through a multi-year crop rotation
5. Access to federal crop insurance for qualified participants

Farmers who want to participate are able to contract acres of production at a fixed price based on the July 2025 Canola Futures, +/- local area basis. ‘Act of God’ clause is included and additional pricing alternatives are available, according to literature the companies have developed jointly.

Growers will deliver all canola production to a river loading facility and get paid by Bunge Chevron Ag Renewables. Grain delivered is subject to quality grading standards.

Pioneer has provided production guidelines for winter canola here .

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Stop the “If Only This Would Happen” Game Now

Tue, 07 May 2024 21:09:35 GMT

You need to do what you need to do to make your life better. Is it really that simple? Ted Matthews, a mental health practitioner with Rural Minnesota Mental Health Support , told AgriTalk’s Chip Flory that far too many people hear mental health and immediately think mental illness.

For many farmers that Matthews talks to, it’s “not that bad.” Farmers say they can handle the stress, Matthews says. This works until it doesn’t.

“We’re constantly pressured into this concept that it has to get to a certain point before we take care of ourselves,” Matthews explains. “And that’s absolutely stupid.”

Instead, farmers need to take care of themselves now, so they don’t have to worry about going down that road later.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Not only is it a time to address the challenges faced by millions of Americans living with mental health conditions, but it’s also a reminder to take care of your mental health.

“Everybody’s different,” Matthews says. What drives one farmer crazy may not phase another farmer at all. He encourages people to take a step back when stress sets in and evaluate what’s under their control and what’s not.

“We can’t control the water. We can’t control the sun. We can’t control a lot of different things,” he says. “But we can focus on the things we can control. That will give us enough energy to get those things done. Far too often I see people get so wrapped up in all the things that they can’t do, that they end up not doing the things they can do because they’re so stressed.

Knowledge, however, doesn’t always result in the stress going away.

“Just because I know something, doesn’t mean I’m not going to get stressed,” he explains. “That’s something that we always need to look at. I always tell people, be nice. Take care of yourself. Do what you need to do to make your life better.”

Click here to download the eBook “Your Guide to Mental Health.”

Matthews says if you want to be more supportive of a farmer, say, “It must be really hard,” and let them tell you how they’re feeling about it. Don’t tell them what they should feel. Let them tell you what they do feel.

Everyone is always racing around like they’re at the Indy 500, he adds.

“I’m not saying it’s not important to get the crop in, but if you can take an extra half hour to have a cup of coffee, take an extra 10 minutes to talk to your wife or your kids or both, it will help,” Matthews says. “Take care of that end so it does not become an overwhelming stressor.”

Remember that your thoughts matter. When stress sets in, ask yourself these questions:
-What can I do to make life better?
-How can I listen better?
-How can I take care of myself better?
-How can I look at my mental health in a way that says, ‘I’m feeling better, and if I’m not, I’m responsible to make myself feel better.’

It’s time to stop waiting on others to step in, he adds.

“If only they would do this. If this happened, then I would (fill in the blank),” Matthews says. “Stop thinking those thoughts because we have no control over them. Focus on the things you do have control over, and you’re going to be a healthier person.”

Read More:

Mental Health on the Farm: One Swine Production Manager’s Story

5 Ways to Work Through Difficult Times

By Her Own Hand: A Farm Girl’s Miraculous Journey from Death to Hope

Pay Attention to Warning Signs of Stress

Lack of Understanding Leads to Loneliness in Farmers

Toxic Grit: Is Our Greatest Strength Our Greatest Weakness on the Farm?

Stress: Action is Key

Farmers, Ranchers Have Ways to Manage Stress

Suicide Prevention: Your Worth Isn’t Measured By The Markets

Don’t Let Social Distancing Lead to Social Isolation

Connect With Farmers In-Person On Mental Health

Simple, Daily Habits to Help Manage Stress

Pay Attention to Warning Signs of Stress

When Your Trampoline Breaks: Avoid Isolation

7 Steps to Reduce Farm and Financial Stress

How and Why to Laugh, Even When it’s Hard

Watch for Signs of Suicidal Risk on Your Farm

A Big Future for Texas Dairy

Fri, 03 May 2024 20:42:21 GMT

Head to the Lone Star State, and everything is bigger, or so they say. That doesn’t only refer to big hats and big hair, it also applies to dairies, as the average size in the Panhandle hovers around 4,000 cows.

Beyond cow numbers, the theme of growth is consistent, although for some operations that doesn’t necessarily equal milking more cows. Many producers plan to increase cow numbers, while some share growth revolves around efficiencies.

The growth Texas has seen in the past two decades in terms of milk production is noticeable. Jennifer Spencer, AgriLife Extension dairy specialist and assistant professor in the Texas A&M Department of Animal Science, says Texas produced 1.65 billion pounds in 2023.

According to Juan Piñeiro, assistant professor and Extension dairy specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, the Lone Star State will continue to increase cow numbers and milk production, especially in the Panhandle, over the next five years.

“When business is good, dairies continue to expand,” Piñeiro says. That’s why we have seen an increased rate of consolidation in the dairy industry, especially in the past 15 years in the U.S.

70% of Cows Live on 5% of Dairies

Net profits tend to be lower in smaller herds, Piñeiro points out, which is why 70% of the cows in the U.S. live on 5% of the dairies.

“This certainly holds true in Texas,” he says. “This statistic will continue to grow.”

But to grow, processing plants must also expand. With more than $7 billion in planned processing investments in the pipeline, including in states such as Texas, growth
is promising.

Spencer says four processing facilities are just opening or under construction in the state, which could increase demand for Texas milk:

Cacique Foods, a cheese plant, opened in May in Amarillo.
Great Lakes Cheese Plant in Abilene is scheduled to be completed in late 2024.
A milk processing plant in San Antonio to support H-E-B is under construction and scheduled to be completed in summer 2025.
Phase 1 of a Lubbock-based Leprino Foods cheese plant is scheduled to be completed in early 2026.

Piñeiro says it is difficult to predict what the future of Texas dairy will be with all the challenges facing dairies today.

“Although I do think there is room for growth in Texas with all the upcoming processing plants,” Piñeiro says, adding he believes most of the milk to fill the upcoming processing plant needs in the state will come from Texas dairy producers, but some might come from neighboring states such as southwestern Kansas or eastern New Mexico.

Labor Costs Eat into Profits

With oil industries, among others, competing for labor, finding workers is also a challenge for Texas dairy producers. This has led some to incorporate technologies and automation to reduce labor needs.

Although Tom Alger, one of the owners of A-Tex Dairy in Friona, Texas, says his dairy has fared well with labor. He says their challenge with labor has been the overall costs it takes to pay for workers.

“That’s inflation, though,” he says.

Originally from Chino, Calif., Alger and his family moved to Friona in 2007. The family decided to move east after the southern California dairy they rented was sold. Alger and his brother Ray went into partnership together and built a 3,200-cow dairy in the Texas Panhandle to provide an opportunity for the future generation to dairy.

“We have a larger dairy than I ever dreamed of,” Alger says, adding that the operation is in the process of slowly purchasing his brother out.

With God’s blessing, he says dairying has been mostly successful for them. They now milk 5,300 cows and continue to look at how to improve efficiencies to sustain the family dairy operation.

“We’ve gotten a little bigger in terms of cows and land, and we will see where the next generation goes,” Alger says, adding that they currently farm with his son Derek and his nephew Jeff.

Water Scarcity Presents a Hurdle

While Texas has more than doubled its cow numbers in two decades, the biggest challenge to push the needle and continue the steady growth curve is water scarcity. Piñeiro says this is the largest hurdle facing producers in the state.

“The Panhandle is a semi-desert, with roughly 12" to 18" of precipitation a year,” he says. “Improving water efficiency with the use of new irrigation technologies, drought-tolerant crops, hydroponic systems and management practices considering soil health, among other strategies, will be key in the future.”

Water was an issue when Alger moved to Friona in 2007, but now he says it’s a major challenge.

“The wells’ average flow rate is 400 gal. per minute, and today they might get 150 to 200 per minute,” he explains. “I’ve got some wells holding, while others are dropping quickly.”

They have plenty of water for the cows, but when it comes to the feed side of the equation, Alger says that is another story.

“It’s obviously a concern every year,” he says. “We look at what water we have available before we make the decision what crop go into the ground.”

Combating water issues, A-Tex Dairy grows fewer acres of corn and more drought-resistant crops, such as sorghum or wheat.

“Double cropping is not an option anymore,” he notes.

They own 3,500 acres and rotate crops to help feed their cattle. He says they’ll likely allocate 900 acres for corn silage this year.

Factor in limited rainfall, especially if you look at the past two summers in the High Plains area, and it is no surprise water is a main concern for its producers. A-Tex Dairy works with neighboring farms to purchase additional feed, and Alger believes they are well positioned for their 2025 feed supply. In addition, the dairy feeds a lot of gluten and distiller grain, along with some cottonseed.

Beef-on-Dairy is a Blessing

One area that has been a blessing for A-Tex Dairy is beef-on-dairy calves. The family started dabbling in this alternative profit source seven years ago, and for the past four years, the majority of their cows have been bred to sexed semen or Angus.

“We have very few Holstein bull calves,” Alger says.

They retain the beef-on-dairy calves at different weights.

“We sell some at 450 lb., some at 750 lb., and we retain ownership on some all the way down to the kill floor,” he adds.

Strong beef-on-dairy prices have helped keep the dairy in the black for the past couple of years.

“Milk certainly hasn’t done that,” Alger notes. “Right now, beef-on-dairy has been by far the most profitable for our operation.”

Looking to the future, Alger says they plan to start hedging prices for their beef-on-dairy calves.

“We need some protection because they are worth too much right now not to protect the high prices,” he says.

Another profit opportunity A-Tex is looking into is carbon. Alger admits they have had a couple of offers, but being a drylot facility, the offers aren’t as enticing as some of the modern dairy facilities.

“We are still exploring our options,” he notes. “I know there are opportunities out there. We are generally not the first to jump on something but typically not last either.”

This holds true with investing in technology, as Alger says they, of course, expect a return on investment when incorporating any technology into their dairy.

“Our focus is improving efficiencies,” Derek Alger explains. “We utilize EID tags and FeedWatch and are looking to incorporating a monitoring system.”

Producers have taken a hard hit with falling milk prices in 2023. Spencer says the uniform milk price fell from $23.68 per cwt in 2022 to $18.98 per cwt in 2023. The price of cheese averaged about $2 per cwt below both of those.

At the end of the day, Alger thinks dairy is still a good industry to be part of and says he believes, at this point, 2024 will be a decent year, especially considering feed prices are significantly lower than last year.

While there are several dairies in Texas that are positioned to grow in terms of cow numbers, Alger isn’t planning to grow his herd. For now, they will continue doing what they do best, which is striving to produce the most efficient milk possible to help set the farm up for the next generation of dairy farmers.

Oklahoma Tornadoes Destroy Landscape, But Not Community Spirit

Wed, 01 May 2024 15:15:49 GMT

Not much was left in the communities of Sulphur and Holdenville, Okla., after killer tornados struck the towns located southeast of Oklahoma City on April 28. In Holdenville, two people died in the twister, including an infant, The Weather Channel reports . One victim was found in the hard-hit town of Sulphur. One death was confirmed in Marietta. The tornado, determined to be at least an EF3, caused widespread damage to homes and businesses. Oklahoma Pork Council immediately stepped up to help the state through an unimaginably challenging time by providing free pork meals.

At Robinson Family Farms in Holdenville, the storms caused structural damage to several barns. This disruption has affected not only the physical infrastructure but also the daily operations and well-being of the animals housed there, explains Kylee Deniz, executive director of the Oklahoma Pork Council.

“The extent of the damage underscores the challenges faced by our producers in the wake of such natural disasters,” she says.

^{Devastating scenes like this dot the Oklahoma landscape this week. Photo by Oklahoma Pork Council.}

On Sunday, Joe Locke, Oklahoma Pork Council president-elect, had the Oklahoma Pork Council smoker rolling by noon to serve food in his hometown of Marietta, Okla. He continued to cook pork until dinner on Monday, providing much-needed meals to the community that is still grappling with power outages. This act of service underscores Oklahoma Pork Council’s commitment not just as an organization but as individuals deeply rooted in and dedicated to the well-being of their fellow Oklahomans, he explains.

“It’s crucial for the pork industry to embody the role of good neighbors due to our significant presence in Oklahoma’s agricultural landscape, where pork ranks as the second largest enterprise. More importantly, we are integral members of the communities surrounding our farms. Our farmers strive to exceed the expectations of merely being good neighbors; they are vital contributors to the fabric of rural Oklahoma communities,” Locke says. “We are more than pig farmers — we are proud Oklahomans, deeply committed to the welfare of our animals, our people, our communities and our land.”

^{Pork producers hand out meals to storm victims in Sulphur. Photo by Oklahoma Pork Council.}

On Monday, Oklahoma Pork Council showed up with food truck partner, Newman’s Firehouse BBQ, in Holdenville to hand out 1,600 free pork meals.

“Within 50 miles of the Holdenville community, there are 80,000 sows within the Tyson Foods system. The majority of these sows are cared for by local farmers who contract with Tyson Foods,” Deniz says. “Behind our large pig footprint in western Oklahoma, around Holdenville would be the second most prevalence of pigs in the state of Oklahoma.”

^{Oklahoma Pork Council collaborated with Newman’s Firehouse BBQ to serve free pork meals in Holdenville. Photo by Oklahoma Pork Council.}

On Tuesday, they served 800 free pork meals in partnership with Operation BBQ Relief and Newman’s Firehouse BBQ at the WalMart in Sulphur, Okla.

Ben E. Keith and the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, along with Operation BBQ, arranged for an additional fresh pork product delivery to Sulphur. The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma’s CEO, Jeff Marlow, arranged for a refrigerated truck loaded with vegetables to be driven to Sulphur and staying on site at the Walmart in Sulphur through the week. Ben E. Keith’s Emily Melton arranged for a special delivery of pork purchased by Oklahoma pig farmers via Oklahoma Pork to fill the reefer truck. As well, Oklahoma Pork purchased 10 cases of pork loins and 10 cases of pork butts, meaning thousands of more meals for Sulphur residents to be prepared by Operation BBQ tonight for dinner and through the balance of this week.

^{Oklahoma Pork Council Executive Director Kylee Deniz hands out meals to volunteers in Sulphur. Photo by Oklahoma Pork Council.}

“The Oklahoma Pork Board and staff recognize the urgent needs of communities affected by the recent storms and are actively fulfilling them. Sulphur and Holdenville, dense pork-producing regions of Oklahoma, have received significant support from local communities, which is vital for our producers’ daily operations. In response to the crisis, our board members and staff were compelled to band together to assist these areas,” Deniz says. “By doing so, Oklahoma Pork and its partners are not only addressing immediate needs but also reinforcing the bonds of the community. This effort exemplifies the spirit of ‘One Oklahoma,’ characterized by unity and collective resilience.”

^{Community members grabbing a sandwich and drink in Holdenville. Photo by Oklahoma Pork Council.}

Locke says Oklahoma Pork Council’s commitment to Oklahoma informs and inspires every aspect of their organization’s operations.

“For our farmers, being good neighbors is fundamentally about caring for our friends and family, which naturally includes our neighbors. This approach fosters a strong community spirit and ensures that our practices reflect the values we cherish as Oklahomans,” he says.

Read More:

Texas Tornado Destroys Ag Shop, But Doesn’t Stop FFA Members From Helping Community

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The Untold Farmer Stories Of Ukraine: Q&A With Howard Buffett

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:15:15 GMT

As a farmer and global philanthropist, Howard Buffett and his namesake, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, work where others can’t or won’t to address food insecurity, mitigate conflict, combat human trafficking and improve public safety.

After 10 trips to the front line in Ukraine (the first of which was April of 2022), Buffett shared key insights and takeaways to the attendees at the 2024 Top Producer Summit.

As Ukrainians are living day-by-day and the country’s farmers face instability in inputs, destruction of their infrastructure and the threat of landmines scattered in their fields, Buffett encourages U.S. farmers to see the threat to global food security and view this conflict through the eyes of a farmer.

Q: How do you describe your experience in Ukraine?
A: “It’s hard to imagine the amount of destruction. Many farmers lost everything they’ve had. Think about if you were to go home today and your machinery shed is completely shelled, all your equipment is burned, and you don’t know when you’re going to be able to go back in the field because there are hundreds of landmines.”

Q: How has the timing of this war affected global food security?
A: “If we didn’t have the largest corn crop we’ve ever harvested, a five-year high carryover in corn and a four-year high carryover in soybeans, and if South America didn’t have strong yields, the impact of Ukraine would be so much greater than it has been. The timing is such that we’ve avoided a serious crisis around the world with food insecurity so far, but that doesn’t mean it will stay that way.”

Q: How have you seen the support from the U.S. government show up in Ukraine?
A: “We have spent a majority of the money for Ukraine in this country in 31 states, 71 cities and 130 some production lines. We’re emptying out warehouses of ammunition that if we went to war with, we’d be surprised or disappointed with, and we’d be in trouble. I’ve been in a howitzer site, where 40% of the 155 shells firing came from the U.S. misfire, either because the ammunition is old or the electronics are corroded. We’re also replacing very old weapons systems with higher tech weapons systems, so we as the U.S. will be better prepared to fight if we have to fight.”

Q: How is the way this war is being fought different?
A: “Drones are the most important thing right now in this war. Ukraine is lacking air superiority, and that’s been a huge deficit for them and has caused a lot of casualties. The U.S. would not understand how critical drones are today if it weren’t for Ukraine. And I don’t think we’re just learning from a military standpoint; if you look at the resiliency and the commitment and the courage of Ukrainians, they’re teaching us something. After two years of the fight, sometimes you forget how it all started. This is Russia, who’s one of our biggest enemies. They would destroy America tomorrow if they could; they would take away your farm tomorrow if they could; they would take away our freedom and our democracy. They are our enemy, period.”

Q: What is the effort and timing of rebuilding?
A: “I have seen hundreds of villages in rural Ukraine that are completely leveled — there’s nothing left, there’s no families, no one can live there. They’re all mined, and you can’t even go into them. I learned a lesson in Afghanistan, seeing buildings get rebuilt, roads rebuilt in the middle of war. A Navy Seal told me, if you don’t rebuild while the war is still going on, people have no hope. If people cannot see to the future, if they cannot have any faith things are going to change, and they’re going to get better, they give up, and it gets hard to go on. So, in Ukraine, we are building schools, and we’re building police stations.”

Q: What do farmers need?
A: “As part of the Victory Harvest program, we have sent 74 combines, 84 tractors, drills and auger wagons. And so now we’ve helped get 260,000 acres of crops harvested and close to 160,000 acres planted. Some of you guys have had your own experiences with fertilizer shortages, but these farmers don’t get to buy fertilizer or walk into a bank and get an operating loan.”

There are a few groups Buffett recommends to farmers wanting to help other farmers. Farmerhood was started by a Ukrainian woman whose husband was fighting on the front line. Others include Save Ukraine and Super Humans .

Q: How can agricultural equipment be used for de-mining?
A: “There are hundreds of thousands of acres to de-mine. There are still farmers dying every week because of land mines. Our new project is to take what we know about equipment and apply it to de-mining with both verification and clearance. We’ve got about 11 acres and four bulldozers and four tractors dedicated to our testing — focused on using what we have and using GPS to map where we’ve run and verified where there are mines or not. The idea right now is to take a tracked John Deere 8360R, put a LaForge three point on it and build a protection plate with two rollers in the front and a big roller behind us. We are going to bring efficiency, safety and speed to this by taking technology and applying it in a completely different way.”

Q: What about the grain successfully grown and harvested in Ukraine?
A: “Of the wheat harvested in Ukraine this year, 28% of the crop is from occupied territories, which means Russia stole it. We’re putting out fires trying to figure out how to move grain out of the country. We’ve bought thousands of Ag Bags and are buying more. And we’re working toward structuring something to make it easier for Ukrainian farmers to move grain — but it’s not simple.”

Q: What are the consequences to U.S. agriculture if Russia wins?
A: “If Russia wins, they will export all the fertilizer and the crops they can as cheaply as they can to compete with us. And then worse than that, Russia will fuel all the conflicts so they are able to maintain control of the Black Sea.”

In his latest book , Howard Buffett documents the atrocities committed against Ukrainians, as well as their suffering, resilience and courage. “Courage of a Nation” documents the first two years of war in Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and showcases a compilation of the thousands of images Buffett has captured over the 10 trips he has taken since the start of the war.

Hay, Feed, Fencing Supplies Needed to Support Panhandle Wildfire Victims

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 16:08:51 GMT

Donations of hay, feed, fencing supplies, cow feed and milk replacer are needed to support livestock owners impacted by the devastating wildfires that have scorched ranchland across a large portion of the Texas Panhandle.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is establishing Animal Supply Points in several locations in the region to accept the donations. The purpose of the Animal Supply Point is to meet area producers’ most critical needs such as providing feed for cattle while they assess their individual operation’s other needs.

The ongoing wildfires, fueled by dry, windy conditions, have exceeded 1 million acres, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service . The Forest Service will continue to update the size and containment of these and other fires in the Texas Panhandle.

“These donations will go directly to those who need them as soon as possible,” said Monty Dozier, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension Disaster Assessment Recovery, DAR , program director, Bryan-College Station. “Texans are known for their generosity and deep values of Texas agriculture during times of need. This is certainly a situation where our neighbors and friends are needing assistance after these fires have threatened their livelihoods.”

Supply points for livestock and money donation information

Several Animal Supply Points are being set up through AgriLife Extension’s DAR program. Those with hay, feed or fencing materials to donate, or with equipment to help haul hay, should contact the following supply points and coordinators:

Gray County Animal Supply Point: Clyde Carruth Pavilion, 301 Bull Barn Drive, Pampa. Contact Marcus Preuninger at 806-669-8033 or 325-728-0477.
Hemphill County Animal Supply Point at Canadian AH&N Ranch Supply, 100 Hackberry St., Canadian. Contact Andy Holloway at 806-323-9114.
Donations of hay can also be made through the Texas Department of Agriculture Hay Hotline . And, a relief fund has been established through the STAR Fund Disaster Assistance through the Texas Department of Agriculture .
Direct monetary donations in Gray County should be sent to: City of Pampa – Attn: Finance, Box 2499, Pampa, Texas 79066-2499, reference 02/27/2024 Fire, or made by phone or in person at FirstBank Southwest-Pampa at 806-669-8007. Reference City of Pampa donation for Smokehouse Creek Fire.
To make donations for people who lost their homes in Hemphill County, go to First Baptist Canadian at http://fbccanadian.org/firehelp/ .

Continuing outreach and education

AgriLife Extension will provide more educational information as it becomes available on the losses and needs of those affected by the wildfires.

More preparedness and recovery information may be found on the Disaster Assessment and Recovery website . Safety tips and wildfire resources are also available on the Texas Ready website and the Texas A&M Forest Service website .

She Found Her Fiancé Clinging to Life After a Major Anhydrous Leak and Then Miraculously Helped Save Him

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 23:04:13 GMT

This story originally aired on U.S. Farm Report in December 2023. One year after the accident occurred, we are once again sharing the miraculous rescue during our 2024 Harvest of Thanks Special.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

It was calm across the rolling fields of central Iowa on Nov. 19, 2023. It was a Sunday, and Kendra Vander Leest says it was prime for fall fieldwork.

“Before lunch, Joe decided it was fit to pull ammonia,” Kendra says.

Her fiancé, Joe Rempe, spent all afternoon in the field that day applying anhydrous ammonia.

“When evening rolled around, I checked on his Life360 and everything seemed fine at that point.

About 7:30 p.m., she heard the tractor crawling toward the house. She thought it meant Joe was calling it quits for the night.

“I was in the kitchen making our daughter Josie’s bedtime bottle and prepping her bottles for daycare on Monday. I went to put her bottles in our daycare bag and happened to look up, out the window, and I saw the tractor and a plume of anhydrous smoke. At that point, it was like time started moving really slowly,” Kendra says.

A Giant Plume of Smoke

Seeing that plume of smoke, and knowing what it was, her heart dropped.

“I knew it was Joe,” she recalls. “I knew instantly it was Joe. I knew what I was seeing, but it was just surreal.”

Full of fear, she rushed to grab her phone.

“As I’m running up the steps, I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s gone. There’s no way.’ As bad as that is, I thought there’s no way [he’s alive].”

She decided to call him, knowing Joe might not be alive to answer.

“I knew I couldn’t run out there into the plume. Otherwise, I would wind up dead or hurt. So, I called him and he answered,” she says.

“I think she said, ‘Joe!’ All I could say was ‘help me,’” he remembers.

“I hung up and called 911, but I knew by the way he said ‘help me’ he was badly hurt,” Kendra recalls.

The 911 Call

Farm Journal was able to track down the 911 call Kendra made that day.

“Pella 911, where’s your emergency?” says the dispatcher.

“We have an anhydrous ammonia accident,” Kendra says. “I need an ambulance. I need a HazMat crew. This is bad, bad.”

The 911 call even captured the moment Kendra ran outside her house and found Joe.

“I’m on the phone with 911. You need water? Oh, God,” you can hear Kendra say. “Just lay down. I’m going to get water. Lay down. I’m going to get water.”

“All right, he inhaled?” you can hear the 911 dispatch operator ask.

“Yes, his lungs are burned. He said his lungs are burning,” Kendra says.

“The tank is completely unloading, but there’s no houses nearby for anyone to get hurt. It’s, it’s bad,” she says.

Kendra Found Joe Clinging to Life

Kendra says when she rushed outside her house, she found Joe crawling on the gravel road, which was about 200 yards from the tractor. She says he was fighting for his life.

“I could hear him coughing. He was crawling toward the house, and as soon as he heard me, he just collapsed,” she says.

Kendra says the second she saw the plume of smoke, she immediately knew it was anhydrous. That’s because her full-time job is with the Iowa Department of Agriculture in the Feed and Fertilizer Bureau. Part of her job is conducting anhydrous ammonia inspections at retailer facilities across the state. From her training and experience, she knew exactly how bad the damage could be.

“He didn’t have any burns on his skin, so the water I grabbed didn’t really do any good. There was nothing for me to dump the water on. All his burns were internal in his nasal cavities, his throat, his lungs, those were all burned,” she says.

“I was badly luck burned inside,” Joe says.

Fire and rescue responded, and a Life Flight carried Joe to Des Moines. From there, he was transferred to Iowa City.

The Anhydrous Accident

As Kendra was driving to the hospital, she still didn’t know what had just transpired in the field. All she knew is Joe was applying anhydrous, something he’s done for nearly 30 years.

“I had just got hooked up to a new set of twins [anhydrous tanks],” Joe says.

Typically, the anhydrous tanks have a hose holder, but he says that pair of tanks they had received did not.

“So, I tried to put a loop on the hoses. Well, my hose must have come loose. And when I was turning on the corner, the left front tire of the twin tank must have run over my hose and then broke the front or pulled the threads out. And the hose came apart,” he says.

He was toward the back of a nearby field when he heard a pop, and gas immediately started shooting straight toward tractor.

“Gas was blowing right at me. It was hitting the back of the cab, the vapor, and going around the tractor,” Joe says.

He tried to turn different directions to change where the smoke was shooting, but he says there was no wind that day. So, it didn’t do any good.

“The whole field was turned into fog, and I knew I had to go to Plan B. I did not know what to do,” he says.

That’s when Joe decided his only option was to head toward the house, all while he couldn’t see and was losing his ability to breathe.

“I knew where the bottom terrace would come out, so I knew I could follow the terrace,” he remembers.

But as he got to a crossing that was in a low spot of the field, he says he couldn’t see anything.

“I lost where I was. I just drove by feel,” he remembers.

Somehow, Joe made it past the crossing, and at that point, the smoke cleared enough to see a gravel road.

“I came east towards the house, and when I crested the hill I was blacking out, because I was losing air. And I really thought I was pretty close to dying,” he says.

At that point, the tractor stopped moving. Inside the cab of the tractor, Joe’s eyes were already so badly burned, he couldn’t see his phone to call 911 or Kendra.

“And I remember I was so darn scared to get out of the tractor. I only pulled 1.1 acres off that tank, so I knew that sucker had a lot of anhydrous in it, and it kept blowing at the tractor. I was so scared to get out, but I knew I had to because it was my only choice.”

At that point, Joe put on a sweatshirt he had with him, as a way to protect his skin. He also grabbed a bottle of water he knew he had on the floor. After he climbed out of the tractor cab, he tried to run toward the house, but he quickly ran out of air.

“And I went down, so I started crawling,” he says.

Diagnosis: Extensive Internal Burns

When Joe was airlifted to a Des Moines hospital, Kendra says she still didn’t know if he was going to survive.

“Two doctors came in and told us what was going on. They told us they could not intubate him because his throat was swelling shut. And so they cut in a cricothyrotomy, which is an emergency trach, to get air to him,” she says.

The doctors used saline bags with tubes to try and flush his eyes out. Once in Iowa City, Kendra learned even more.

“When I got to Iowa City, they said that he had grade one to grade two burns in his sinus cavities, throat and deep into his lungs,” says Kendra. “It basically burnt his vocal cords, his voice box, and his mouth and tongue were completely swollen.”

Kendra says the anhydrous burned the outer-most layer of his eyes, and even today, Joe can’t see enough to read, nor can he stand bright light.

“The only thing the eye doctor said he can’t fix is the dry eyes. So, he’ll just take gel eyedrops forever, but considering everything that happened, we will take that,” she says.

Kendra Nursed Joe Back to Health

Joe spent 10 days in the hospital, but the real work for Kendra started when they sent Joe home.

“I have taken about a month off work, and the nurses trained me how to take care of him, how to administer his meds, and crush medications,” she says.

It’s something Kendra does every 45 minutes. A home health nurse comes twice a week, but the best nurse, Joe says, is Kendra.

“She’s…. good,” says Joe.

“She Saved Me.”

In this Christmas miracle, Joe knows Kendra is his angel.

“She saved me, there is no doubt in my mind,” he says.

In Joe’s eyes, November 19, 2023, is filled with many miracles, including Kendra seeing that something wasn’t right.

“If she was over there, or another spot, she wouldn’t have seen me. She had to be right there, and she happened to be looking [outside]. I would say there was about 15 to 20 miracles from that tractor to the corner of the yard, to Des Moines and to Iowa City.”

Joe fought for his life that day and now shares his story of survival.

“I started yelling to myself, in my head, ‘You cannot die. You cannot leave Kendra by herself,’” he says.

Joe’s story of survival is also thanks to Kendra, who’s cherishing the fact she can celebrate this Christmas with all their family.

How a Dramatic Grain Bin Rescue in Rural Minnesota Sparked An Idea For R3, a First of Its Kind Rescue Tool

Sat, 16 Sep 2023 02:24:58 GMT

Through a series of Beck’s Day Ever videos , Beck’s Hybrids is raising awareness about grain bin entrapments by sharing stories of survival and hope.

In 2019, in Minnesota, fire and rescue departments dealt with 12 grain bin entrapments, 11 of them ending in loss of life. One of those entrapments occurred on a farm near the small town of Gibbon.

On Oct. 8, 2019, local farmer Jerry Schwarzrock was entrapped in his grain bin. His sons were the ones who found him.

“We’ve always helped my dad farm. On that day, the augers were running at the farm, figured corn was transferring, but I didn’t see my dad’s truck, so we thought that maybe he went to town and left it,” says Paul Schwarzrock, Jerry’s son. “We came back out and heard that the augers were running empty. And I’m like, ‘Something’s going on.’ And all of a sudden I heard light helps—'help, help.’ We ran up the bin and there he was. And the corn was up to his neck with just his head was sticking out. And I called 911.”

“The page came across with an address and that there was an individual trapped in his grain bin,” says Nate Firle, Gibbon Fire and Rescue Volunteer and Regional Agronomy manager for Becks Hybrids. “I knew the address, like many rural fire departments, you pretty much know who you’re going to help. So, the worst did strike my mind, obviously, because, it’s not very often there’s a successful rescue from a grain bin entrapment.”

“We arrived on scene and I immediately climbed up to the top of the bin to see what was needed. And then I saw Dana in there working on Jerry,” says Jason Redig, Assistant Chief, Gibbon Fire and Rescue

“They wanted me inside that bin and next to him and do patient care,” says Dana Lietzau, EMT, Gibbon Fire and Rescue. “He was pretty much chest on down. We were just trying to dig him out to start with. We put on oxygen right away. That dust in the bin got pretty out of control and I just told him, you have to keep talking to us. I don’t know your state of mind or where you’re at, but as long as you keep talking to me, I know that you’re with us.”

People on the scene describe it as a nonstop rollercoaster for two couple hours.

“Your mind is just spinning. We were cutting holes. We were making sure everything’s off,” says Lietzau.

Firle says there was so much grain on the opposite side of that grain bin that the grain continued to flow down toward them like an avalanche.

“There was a couple times that we had to stop and just say, ‘We’re not winning, what are we going to do?’”

“I remember him looking at me saying, ‘My foot is in the auger.’ And that was probably the most helpless feeling,” says Firle. “We knew right then and there that we had a lot of grain to move to get to the point where we could work on detangling him from that.”

Then, the rescuers had an idea: try to use a grain vac to help get the grain out.

“I gave a good buddy of mine a call and said, ‘We need your grain vac. Bring it over to Jerry’s,’” says Redig.

“That grain vac was the key in working right around the victim. It was so fast. It sped that process up by easily 30 if not 45 minutes,” adds Firle.

An Idea for R3- Rural Rescue Response

With help from God, the first responders and the community, Jerry’s life was saved. Due to this harrowing experience, and the high percentage of entrapment fatalities, Gibbon Fire and Rescue realized they needed a grain vac of their own—and a means of transporting it quickly to a scene. They called the project “R3”—Rural Rescue Response.

“The machinery is getting larger. The bin storage, the farms are getting larger. Rescue squads, fire departments need to grow with that,” says Kurt Burns, a Gibbon, Minn. resident

“During the rescue, t basically went from us wanting to get a grain vac to help with grain bin rescues to, okay, we need some storage, and if we’re going to have storage, why don’t we use this storage for other types of rural rescues, from tractor rollover to somebody caught in a piece of equipment, says Redig.

Firle says from discovering what would have been great tools to have on hand, that’s how R3 was born.

“We put our visions on some papers and some drawings,” says Redig.

“I made a little sketch on my computer just using Publisher with shapes and really kind of a cheesy initial model, but it did the work of painting the vision. And finding somebody to build it, and getting those quotes, getting the dollars so that we could then go to fundraising,” adds Firle.

The department turned to their community raise the funds to build the trailer.

“Our target was $105,000 total, but $55,000 was going to trigger the order of this thing. And we hit that within three months,” Firle says.

Having placed the order, the community continued to raise funds for tools and equipment to handle a variety of rural rescues. In March of 2023, they were notified that the R3 was ready for pickup.

Later in March, the Gibbon community gathered at the fire house to officially celebrate their achievement with an in-service dedication. Fire and rescue teams from nearby communities were also invited to see the new R3 that would be available to help save lives.

“This is going to draw a lot of attention to area farmers knowing there’s a grain vac available if this should ever happen again,” says Myron Schwarzrock. “Let’s hope we don’t have to use it.”

“Our goal is that any department that needs one can have one. And so, we’re not done here,” adds Lietzau.

“This is a first of its kind, to our knowledge today. Nobody has built a custom trailer that has a vac mounted to it for the grain bin entrapments, and the storage capacity to hold all of those tools for rural rescues. But I don’t want it to be one of a kind. I want it to be the first of its kind,” says Firle.

Beck’s Hybrids supported Gibbon’s R3 project and is dedicating this season of Beck’s Day Ever to exploring the stories of rural rescuers who protect and serve their communities saying a true Beck’s Day Ever is one where everyone gets home safe.

If you know a local fire and rescue department interested in a R3 trailer , they can do so through a quick and easy grant process, one designed to get the necessary equipment to as many fire departments as possible.

Angels In Blue Offer Helping Hands To Farmers In Crisis

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 12:33:13 GMT

When Brad and Megan Pifer and their two young sons walked up the stairs from their basement after an EF3 tornado tore through their farm, they normally would have opened the door and stepped into their dining room.

Instead, they found themselves standing outside. The tornado had destroyed their home and swept most of it away. Also destroyed were the family’s grain bins, sheds and equipment.

“Every shed was down with all of our equipment parked in them, and we were ready to go plant,” Brad told Zach Johnson, aka Millennial Farmer, during an interview. “We had everything hooked up and were just waiting for the fields to dry out. We went from that to not having basically a single piece of equipment we could run for planting season.”

Within a day or two of the March 31 storm, Pifer says family, friends, the local John Deere dealer, Alliance Tractor, and a nonprofit organization called Farm Rescue stepped up to help with spring planting and made plans to harvest their winter wheat crop. (Above, Bret Pifer talks with Zach Johnson, aka Millennial Farmer.)

1,000 Farmers And Counting

The Pifers were the 1,000th farm family that Farm Rescue has provided assistance to since its inception in 2005, notes Terry Johnston, development officer.

He says the organization’s mission is to help farmers and ranchers who have experienced a major illness, injury or natural disaster by providing the necessary equipment and volunteer labor – free of charge – to perform time-sensitive services. The organization’s volunteers are often described as angels in blue – for the blue apparel they wear while lending a hand – who have hearts of gold.

“We’re based on the premise of neighbor helping neighbor,” Johnston told Chip Flory, AgriTalk host, on Monday. “We provide farm families and ranches with planting services, harvesting, livestock feeding, and hay hauling in eight states.”

The states include Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska North Dakota and South Dakota. 2023 is the first year Farm Rescue has provided support to farmers in Illinois.

Generosity Helps Nonprofit Expand

Johnston says the ability of Farm Rescue to expand its helping hand is the result of the generosity of many individuals, business sponsors and grantors.

“We have around 500 volunteers that are active and that help us with those farms and ranch families throughout the year,” he says. “We probably average somewhere between 80 and 100 families that we assist each year.”

In Illinois this spring, along with the Pifer family, Farm Rescue helped two of the family’s neighbors who were also impacted by the severe storm and tornado.

“Farm Rescue came and planted a little bit of our beans, but they did more planting for the other two farms. We were really concerned about our wheat crop because both of our combines were in the rubble, so they set up their main help for us by coming back to harvest our winter wheat,” Pifer says. His discussion with Millennial Farmer is available via YouTube here .

Easy Application Process

Farm Rescue is currently accepting applications for assistance throughout its entire eight-state service territory. Any farm family experiencing a major illness, injury or natural disaster is encouraged to submit an application at farmrescue.org or by calling 701-252-2017. Referrals are also welcome, Johnston says.

“It’s a very simple application process. They just need to let us know who they are, where they are, and what they need help with, and then we will come out and do a site visit,” Johnston says. “Often we can get things happening in as little as 24 to 48 hours and get them on the schedule to make sure we can get them taken care of in a timely fashion.”

You can listen to the discussion between Johnston and Flory on AgriTalk here:

Indiana Dairy Farmers Excited to Be Part of the Indy 500 Winner Circle

Wed, 24 May 2023 16:02:10 GMT

A winning tradition unfolds in the midsection of the country each Memorial Day weekend as engines rev up for the biggest motorsports event in the world. As Indy cars circle the track at top speed, all eyes turn to the winner’s circle for the big splash, victory celebration.

While every sport has its traditions, the winning Indianapolis 500 driver celebrates with an ice-cold bottle of milk. The rich tradition began in 1936, which includes the winning driver taking a sip or two of milk before pouring the entire bottle on themself.

2023 Veteran Milk Man

It’s a tradition that Indiana dairy farmers get to help orchestrate. Dairy farmer Kerry Estes is looking forward to the Indy 500 winner grabbing the bottle of milk from his hands as he serves as the 2023 Veteran Milk Man for the race at the 107th Indy 500.

“It was my dream from when I was a boy to be able to be a dairy farmer,” the first-generation dairy farmer shares. “Not growing up on a farm made that reality quite a challenge. But God made my dream become a reality in an amazing but difficult way.”

Estes shares that to represent Indiana dairy farmers at the Indy 500 is a humbling, yet meaningful experience.

“It carries with it the thrill of being in the middle of such a huge event, but also the responsibility to carry the message of all the great things that dairy farmers provide,” he says.

Estes purchased his farm on a contract from an older farmer, then built their dairy operation from there.

“We have quite the startup story,” he shares. The family milks 150 crossbred cows on a hybrid grazing and confinement dairy southeast of Indianapolis.

The strong message Estes hopes to be a champion for is “Winners Drink Milk,” the same slogan that American Dairy Farmers of Indiana share.

“By shining a light on the sustainable practices that dairy farmers are already doing, how much we care for our cows, and how nutritious and safe milk is, the consuming public can see the truth of how valuable dairy is in their lives,” he says.

All of Estes’s family will join him at the big race.

“My wife will be with me, and my four kids will be coming later, after they get the milking chores completed,” he says. “We do not have any hired help, so our kids getting to the race on time will be quite the challenge. But fortunately, we live very close to Indy to make it possible.”

2023 Rookie Milk Man

Alex Neuenschwander, a fourth-generation dairy farmer from Bluffton, will also be at the Indy Speedway on Sunday, serving as the 2023 Rookie Milk Man, learning the ropes from Estes on how it all works.

“Obviously growing up in Indiana, I’ve always enjoyed watching the Indy 500,” he says. “After church on Sundays, we would watch the race at my grandpa’s house.”

Neuenschwander says he started taking his sons one at a time to the race a few years ago. As the cars raced around the track, his middle son told him that he should be the one that hands over the milk in the winner circle.

Estes shared with Neuenschwander that the winner circle is an electric atmosphere.

“He told me it’s mayhem and there’s really no way to be ready for that,” Neuenschwander says, sharing that his job as the rookie is to hand milk to the winning team.

“I was told to find the owner first,” he adds, stating that it is a true privilege to represent Indiana dairy farmers.

“It’s just a gigantic stage for milk for dairy farmers to highlight the hard work that the men and women of the dairy industry put in every single every single day,” Neuenschwander says. “Everything that goes into the passion of dairy farming and producing high-quality milk for families and taking incredible care of our cows.”

Neuenschwander’s entire family, including boys, Adler, 15, Case, 12 and Wyatt, 8, will also be at the Indy 500 this year with his oldest son sitting in the box with him.

“My sons are teenagers, so I’ll take that moment when they think I’m kind of cool,” he says.

The 107th Indy 500 is set for Sunday, May 28 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Recognizing the Power of Peace Through Agriculture

Sun, 21 May 2023 12:00:00 GMT

By Kornelis ‘Kees’ Huizinga: Mankivka Rayon, Cherkassy oblast, Ukraine

A familiar slogan during the Cold War was “Peace through Strength.” Today in Ukraine, as Russia continues its unwarranted aggression, we’re declaring a new refrain: “Peace through Agriculture.”

We have an incredible partner in Heidi Kuhn , an anti-landmine activist who was announced last week as the 2023 recipient of the World Food Prize . She’s the founder and CEO of Roots for Peace , a nonprofit group that for more than 25 years has sought to turn minefields into farmland.

As brave Ukrainians struggle to push an invading army out of our country, farmers like me are trying to grow the food that our nation and the world needs. For too many, the fields they work are polluted with landmines—and as you can see from this video , my fellow farmers have come up with some clever solutions.

Yet the problem is huge, and we need help. Thankfully, we are not alone. We have the sympathy of people around the world as they support our broad efforts to defend our nation from would-be conquerors. Many of them understand and appreciate the particular work of farmers who try to plant, grow, and harvest in a war zone.

Kuhn sees the whole picture, and last year she responded to the plight of Ukraine by collaborating with the Rotary E-Club of Ukraine and starting to raise money for a project to remove landmines from the winemaking region of Mykolaiv , near the Black Sea.

“May we turn mines to vines and replace the scourge of landmines with bountiful vineyards in Ukraine,” said Kuhn when she launched the project in December. “This is a call to action.”

In an interview with Food & Wine magazine, she called it “getting ready to do battle for peace.”

This new cause rests on a quarter-century legacy of practicing “Peace through Agriculture.” Kuhn started her group in the basement of her home in California, in response to the wars surrounding the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. In Croatia , she helped remove landmines from 500,000 square meters of land.

She also came to understand the vast dimensions of a global menace. Today, more than 50 countries suffer from the contamination of landmines. These remnants of war kill or injure more than 5,000 people per year, half of them innocent children who often have merely wandered into fields.

The murderous devices also have wrought economic devastation, taking untold acres of land out of productive use. Nobody knows how many unexploded mines are out there, but one estimate claims that as many as 100 million of them could lay hidden, ready to deal death.

Mines are so numerous because they are cheap to make and expensive to remove—about $3 to produce and $1,000 to eliminate safely.

Farmers have been essential in the effort to restore these blighted lands to productivity. My colleague in the Global Farmer Network, Motlatsi Musi of South Africa, once described what it’s like to drive a tractor through a minefield.

Yet farmers can’t do it alone. We need help from people like Kuhn. “Roots for Peace serves no flag; we serve the farmer,” she has said .

Her group has worked longest and hardest in Afghanistan , and claims that its various programs have created 20,000 jobs and generated nearly $500 million in export revenue. Roots for Peace also has stories from Angola , Guatemala , and Vietnam . On the day when the news broke that Kuhn would receive the World Food Prize, she was in Azerbaijan , helping to detonate six anti-tank mines in former vineyards.

“The blast of the landmine was an act of peace,” she wrote in an email to a friend.

Kuhn will formally receive the World Food Prize this fall in Iowa, along with its purse of $250,000. Kuhn said that “she plans to use the award’s cash prize, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of agriculture, to challenge Google, Facebook, and other Silicon Valley tech leaders to donate to remove mines in embattled Ukraine.”

As she is recognized for this important work, I and my fellow farmers in Ukraine hope to be harvesting wheat in a war-torn land and ready to welcome whatever help she can provide in her mission to deliver “Peace through Agriculture.”

Kornelis ‘Kees’ Huizinga has farmed in central Ukraine for 20 years, growing onions, carrots, wheat, barley, canola, sugar beet, corn, sunflowers, and navy beans. They also have a modern dairy farm. Kees was recognized as the 2022 GFN Kleckner Global Farm Leader award and is a member of the Global Farmer Network www.globalfarmernetwork.org

Bomb Cyclone: Not Helpful in Ending California's Drought

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 18:33:00 GMT

The bomb cyclone has sucker punched California—flooding homes and roads and knocking out power. While many farmers have prayed for rain to end the ongoing drought plaguing the state, a leading expert says that the bomb cyclone will not end California’s persistent drought.

“The short answer is no, this bomb cyclone will not end the drought in California,” Dr. Thomas Borch with Colorado State University says.

Borch shares that consistent rain patterns throughout the year are needed in order to end the drought facing the Golden State.

“Not these fast and heavy storms,” he says. “Also due to the increase in temperature, we see higher evaporation rates than previously and combine that we are rapidly increasing the demand for water and you end up with water scarcity.”

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the downpours facing California are expected to bring short-term relief. A month ago, around 85% of the state was in the midst of a ‘severe drought,’ which has fallen to about 71% since the bomb cyclone made its way to the Golden State.

Richard Heim, a meteorologist with the National Centers for Environment Information says, “We need this stuff to happen this month, February, March, April — every month to really build up the snowpack, fill up those [water] reservoirs and knock down those [precipitation] deficits. “Unfortunately, a lot of it is coming too fast, too heavy.”

Borch agrees with Heim, adding, “Most stormwater runs into small bodies of water like creeks and streams, although it will likely head to whatever water source is close by,” he shares. “Eventually, that water will travel to other larger bodies of water, like river, lakes, or oceans.”

Broch shares that currently a lot of focus is set on trying to treat and reuse stormwater.

California Farmer: The Worst We’ve Ever Experienced

Located in Lodi, Calif., 40 miles southeast of Sacramento, dairy farmer Hank Van Exel says that the main cause of drought is that California has not built any dams.

“Especially on the Cosumnes River,” he says. “It runs wild. This dam was voted on years ago, but never built.”

Van Exel says he bets 75% of the extra precipitation that comes out of the “Bomb Cyclone” will go to the ocean.

As of Monday afternoon, Van Exel says that terrible winds up to 60 mph have taken hay barns and he just learned that a neighboring dairy’s freestall barn is gone.

“They are saying that area might have to evacuate,” he says. “A lot of the plastic of the silo pits have been blown away and it got 3 inches of rain on it.”

Last week Van Exel received 10 inches of rain and was out of power for 36 hours but shares that so far, he has not had to dump any milk.

“By far this is the worst we have ever experienced,” Van Exel says. “The problem is that this storm is relentless. We get a 6-hour break and then you lose everything you gain the next night.”

Major Flooding: Bomb Cyclone Storm Causing Havoc to California Dairy Farmers

Fri, 06 Jan 2023 17:02:55 GMT

While normally any moisture to the Golden State would be welcomed with open arms by farmers, the massive “Bomb Cyclone” storm hitting California is far from normal. A “Bomb Cyclone,” by definition, is a low-pressure system that experiences a fall in pressure of 24 millibars in 24 hours.

High winds, heavy rain and snow, and power outages have impacted California this week. Dairy farmer Hank Van Exel shares that he has received more than 10 inches in the past week. And, it is still raining at his farm in Lodi, located 40 miles south of Sacramento.

“It has been pouring for the last couple of hours,” he stated yesterday afternoon. “I’m sure we’ll have another inch and a half today.”

Van Exel says massive flooding is occurring around his farm, as well as in areas north.

“I have about 500 acres under water,” he shares. “Most of which we have drained out, but it is all filling up again. It remains to be seen how much feed I will lose but it doesn’t look good.”

In addition to the rain, 49- to 60-mph winds have hit Lodi, causing Van Excel to re-bed freestalls over and over.

“We use rice hulls for the calves and the area to the north where we get that from is flooded,” he says.

Van Exel counts himself fortunate, as so far, his farm has not lost power. Neighboring farms have not fared so well, many of which have been out of power for 24 hours.

“A lot of dairyman have flooded corals and have had to move [cows] out,” he says.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a statewide emergency declaration earlier this week to help agencies send aid and resources where needed.

Dams Needed

Geoff Vanden Heuvel, the director of regulatory and economic affairs with the California Milk Producer Council, shared on a 2022 National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) podcast that the California water issue is complex and long-standing. The state was developed without any regulations on groundwater. He also states that between 85% to 90% of California’s milk supply hails from the Central Valley.

“It’s a vast groundwater basin, millions and millions of acre feet of water reside under the ground, and it was never regulated,” he shares. “Dairyman found large tracks of ground that were available and as long as there was water underneath you, you could put wells in and construct the dairy and began to milk cows and grow feed around the dairy and all was well. California always depended on the Central Valley, a combination of groundwater and surface water.”

Vanden Heuvel says that surface water mainly comes from the rain and snow that occurs in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which is directly to the east of the Central Valley.

“For many years, it was a combination of surface water and groundwater that sustained agriculture in California and created really what is an agriculture marvel in the world. I mean, we grow about 250 different agricultural crops and became home to the nation’s largest dairy industry. Water, it was there, there was a lot of it and there wasn’t a huge barrier to accessing it. So, it wasn’t something we spent a lot of time thinking about,” he says.

Van Exel says that the main cause is that the state of California has not built any dams.

“Especially on the Cosumnes River,” he says. “It runs wild. This dam was voted on years ago, but never built.”

Van Exel says he bets 75% of the extra precipitation that comes out of the “Bomb Cyclone” will go to the ocean.

“The worst is the wind,” he says. “The power companies are having a terrible time trying to restore power and so many of the areas can’t even try to get their pumps going. So, I guess this extra rain is not necessarily a good thing.”

California dairy producer Steve Maddox, located 160 miles southeast of Van Exel, says he has received 3 inches of rain in the past two weeks.

“That’s nearly the same amount we received all season long a few years ago,” Maddox says.

Maddox owns and operates Maddox Dairy, home to 4,000 cows and equal number of replacement heifers, and farms 1,600 acres of almonds and 3,000 acres of wine grapes, as well as cropland to supply feed for their cattle. In 2021, Maddox made the hard decision to fallow a third of his 1,800 acres of corn silage cropland due to water restrictions. He says undoubtedly more dams are needed on the reservoirs.

“Our state needs to be able to store more water. From here on out, just give me snow,” he says.

One Year Later: New Jersey’s Largest Dairy Rebuilds After Being Leveled by Hurricane Ida

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 19:39:27 GMT

On September 1, 2021, cows were being milked and corn had just started getting chopped at Wellacrest Farms, the largest dairy in New Jersey. Around 6 p.m. that evening, as the cows were standing in line waiting their turn to get milked, a tornado touch down in Mullica Hills.

For three generations, Wellacrest Farms, owned by the Eachus family, has been in operation. The farm is home to 600 cows and an equal number of replacements. However, in 60 seconds a tornado spawned from the remnants of Hurricane Ida and completely devasted the family farm.

The Eachus family, who had all taken cover, walked out, shocked by the overwhelming destruction, and somehow through the grace of God, they were able to put one foot in front of the other and went to work.

Their chopper was wrecked, as was other equipment. Debris was all over. Cows were crying. Steel was ripped off barns, including their double-14 parallel parlor, but the actual milking units and wiring still were intact.

“It’s a miracle,” Marianne Eachus says.

A local company brought a generator, helping restore partial power and milking started back up around 1 a.m.

The cows were exhausted and so was the family, but once the generator restored power, the cows came through the parlor, one by one, until they were all milked.

“Everybody continued to get milked, fed and watered and taken care of,” Marianne says.

Earlier that day, Marianne’s husband and son headed to the field and began chopping corn. Only two loads were completed before the tornado came through.

“We didn’t get back to chopping until almost a month later,” Marianne says. “Everything was pushed back.”

A domino of pushbacks continued to this day.

“We had a later wheat crop and we had to hire someone to come and spray because our sprayer got demolished,” she says.

Supply chain headaches delayed getting equipment relocated and made finding supplies to rebuild a challenge. Marianne says that she and her family were already exhausted before the tornado ripped through.

“We had just come off of COVID-19, and thankfully we didn’t have to dump milk, but we were only getting paid for 85% of our milk,” she says. “We had two years of struggling and we had talked about downsizing.”

In addition to milking 600 cows, the Eachus family farms 2,000 acres of crops and owns a 500-acre hay farm in New York, along with custom farming.

“We’re very diversified and truthfully, that’s the only reason our farm made it through the pandemic,” Marianne says.

The Adrenaline Effect

When the sun peaked up the following morning, true devastation was revealed.

“We knew that cows were hurt, and my husband and I embraced, cried and then were like, ‘Where do we start?’” Marianne says.

The thought of rebuilding was so overwhelming, as it wasn’t like they just needed a roof and windows; 90% of the buildings were completely gone.

The farm was purchased in 1943 by Marianne’s husband, Ward’s family. The family milked cows and delivered milk from doorstep to doorstep. Ward is one of eight kids and many of his siblings have their own farms.

“Dairy is in our blood. My kids grew up here. My grandchildren are being raised here now,” Marianne says.

Donations began pouring in. People were walking down the lane to offer a lending hand or a case of water. A GoFundMe account raised more than $120,000, which later the Eachus family used to help rebuild their heifer barn.

“The outpour of help was overwhelming,” Marianne says.

In addition to food and water, big equipment, like excavators came in and more people, all willing to roll up their sleeves and help pick up the debris, came down the driveway.

Marianne says that she looked to her husband and said, “We have to move forward now.”

Learning that the largest dairy in New Jersey had been hit by a F1 tornado drew waves of people in.

“The outpour of help redeemed my faith in humanity,” Marianne says.

Still emotional talking about what unfolded more than a year ago, Marianne says the devastation that hit the family farm was like a death in the family.

“We hold onto all the great memories and somehow just move forward,” she says.

The total loss is estimated at $2 million, although the Eachus family is still battling with insurance companies today.

“It all had been an emotional financial struggle,” she says.

Community Support

The community support was widespread. Local restaurants donated food to ensure the family and all their employees were fed.

A few days after the tornado came through, a couple of Amish men stopped in and offered to volunteer their time to help with the rebuilding process. From a metal roof to hammering 2 x 4’s, installing windows, whatever they could do to help, they did. What they wouldn’t do was except pay. The only payment they would accept is having a meal provided. Which the local restaurants and families made sure the entire work crew – family, employees and those volunteering, including the Amish, were fed, day in and day-out.

“If I had to pay all that labor, I know we wouldn’t have been able to rebuild half of what we did,” Marianne says.

As promised, for 10 weeks the Amish work crew showed up, rolled up their sleeves and worked. Somedays it was a handful, other days, nearly 25. Their ages ranged from 14 to gentlemen in their 70s.

“What one crew started, the next crew came in and just started up where they left off,” Marianne says. “They were amazing help.”

The destruction was massive. Four harvesters were blown down. 45 cows died. And, so much more. Harvest continued until December. Their combine was destroyed, and the fields were covered with debris.

Despite the massive blow Wellacrest Farms experienced, the Eachus family feels blessed. With three generations on the farm today, Marianne says she hopes that her grandchildren will want to continue the family farm someday.

“The farm is in better shape than it has been in probably the last 10 years,” she says.

“Everything the color blue on our farm is a sign of rebuilding that happened from the farm. Which was a lot,” she shares.

Wellacrest Farms’ feed company offered a 0%, $100,000 loan, to serve as a line of credit, to begin the rebuilding process. Factor in the GoFundMe, and all the cash donations, and the Eachus family feels blessed for the outpouring of support.

Marianne says it’s hard for her to watch the news on television with all the devastation that Hurricane Ivan brought to Florida this fall.

“It’s just too hard,” she says. “It brings back all that we have gone through.”

Her 5-year-old grandson gets hysterical when weather alerts come across the television.

“He’s a tough guy, but as soon as it starts to get a dark cloud, he begins to cry,” she says.

The tornado has affected the entire family, but more than anything, it has made them feel grateful.

“I wish I could write a thank you note to every single person who offered help in any shape or form,” Marianne says.

Letters from California to Florida and everywhere in-between came, but one letter that came from an older gentleman in a nursing home still sticks with Marianne a year later.

“He wrote me a beautiful letter, saying his grandparents had a dairy farm when he was younger and they had to take the milk and put it in the cans and take it to the dump station with his father,” she said crying. “He sent me $20 and that was what meant the most to me.”

Resilient, a year later the Eachus family, their herd of cows and their employees all have been through so much. They’re thankful for the outpouring of support from their community to help them rebuild. Without them, Marianne says she doesn’t know how her family would have rebuilt.

“Everyone helping us out gave us strength to take it one day at a time,” Marianne says.