Iowa

Why High GDUs Aren’t Guaranteeing Quick Emergence This Year

Tue, 12 May 2026 20:35:28 GMT

While farmers keep a close eye on the thermometer and their favorite weather app during planting season, Phil Long says the most important metric right now might be the one they can’t see: the temperature beneath the soil surface.

Long, a regional agronomist with Liqui-Grow, says growers in north-central Iowa are reporting sluggish emergence for corn and soybeans. That’s despite the fact the region accumulated roughly 197 Growing Degree Units (GDUs) from April 10 to May 1, outpacing the 30-year average of 121 GDUs.

“It takes about 130 or so GDUs to get corn or beans out of the ground,” says Iowa-based Long. “So why aren’t more crops emerged?”

The discrepancy, he contends, lies in the difference between air GDUs and soil GDUs. While air temperatures are important, seed reacts almost totally to the heat of the soil surrounding it. For a seed to germinate and push through the soil surface, it requires consistent warmth that hasn’t materialized during recent chilly conditions in some areas.

“What’s most important to the corn and beans out there in the ground is soil GDUs,” Long says. “Even corn up to V6 is regulated primarily off the heat in the ground.”

Why Some Crops Have ‘Just Sat There’

The formula for calculating GDUs relies on a base temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit and a ceiling of 86 degrees. When nighttime temperatures dip into the 30s, as they have recently in Iowa and parts of the Eastern Corn Belt, the soil temperature can linger in the 40s and 50s. At those levels, the “heat engine” for the seed essentially stalls.

“We’re not getting that soil temperature up there very far,” Long explains. “That does not stack up GDUs very quickly.”

Long notes that along with the chilly weather conditions, two additional factors can act as “buffers” against soil warming: crop residue and cloud cover.

While heavy residue is often a benefit in the heat of July, it can act as an insulator in the spring, preventing the sun from reaching the soil. In some cases, high-residue fields can see a 50% reduction in GDU accumulation compared to conventionally tilled ground, Long notes.

Furthermore, a stretch of overcast days will rob the soil of solar radiation.

“If there’s heavy cloud cover, that can reduce solar radiation by 80%,” Long says. He explains that even on a cool 55-degree day, direct sunlight can push soil temperatures much higher. But persistent clouds have kept the ground locked in a cool cycle.

As planting continues into the heart of May, Long advises farmers to look beyond the air temperature and keep in mind the micro-climate of the seedbed as they plant.

“Although we’re ahead in terms of air temperature GDUs for this year compared to the ‘average’ year, we’re probably behind in terms of those seeds sitting in the ground,” Long says. “That soil GDU is a big factor when it comes to getting crops out of the ground.”

Soybean Gall Midge Emerges As Top-Tier Threat

Mon, 11 May 2026 20:19:27 GMT

Soybean gall midge is no longer just a curiosity or annoyance for many Midwest farmers. The pest is chewing into yield and profitability for soybean growers across parts of at least seven states – Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota.

Iowa State University Entomologist Erin Hodgson reports the pest’s footprint is significant, present in at least 42% of the 45.4 million acres of soybeans farmers harvested across the seven states in 2025.

“At least 19 million soybean acres are potentially impacted by this pest,” Hodgson says, noting that the pest continues to spread. Eight new counties were confirmed in 2025, with five of those being in Iowa .

According to a recent farmer survey led by University of Nebraska Entomologist Doug Golick, the pest has become a major threat in parts of Nebraska. “In the last year or two, soybean gall midge is approaching as near high of concern as herbicide-resistant weeds for survey respondents,” Golick says.

Since 2018, the soybean gall midge has spread to 185 total counties in seven states, including five new counties in Iowa this past year, according to Erin Hodgson, Iowa State University Extension entomologist and professor.

(Erin Hodgson)

Look For Small Orange Or White Larvae

Damage from the insect starts at the base of the soybean plants, largely out of sight. Adult midges emerge from the ground in May and June, then seek out tiny fissures in young soybean plants near the soil line to lay eggs, according to Thales Rodrigues da Silva, a master’s student at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

The larvae cause severe, localized yield losses from 20% to 100% loss along field edges and 17% to 50% reductions in entire fields average under heavy infestation, according to University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Extension. The larvae – small, orange worm-like pests – feed inside the base of the stem, causing plants to wither, die, and lodge (break), with damages sometimes extending 100+ feet into fields. Scouting for the pest should occur after the second trifoliate (V2) growth stage, according to the Crop Protection Network.

This damage in a soybean plant at the soil level shows the result of soybean gall midge larvae feeding.

(University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension)

Because the pest often feeds along field edges, the damage in affected plants is often mistaken for issues caused by compaction or herbicide injury, according to Stine Seed Company .

To confirm the pest’s presence, Stine agronomists recommend digging up compromised soybean plants and splitting open the stem. If white or orange larvae are found feeding within the inner layers, growers should check the Soybean Gall Midge Alert Network tracking system to determine whether the pest has been reported in their area. Next, they should contact their local Extension specialist to help confirm the diagnosis and report the finding if their county is not yet documented in their area.

Cultural Practices Show Promise

Unfortunately, there are few strategies to manage and control soybean gall midge, according to Tony Lenz, Stine technical agronomist.
With no labeled, consistently effective in-season insecticide program and no established treatment threshold, researchers are testing cultural and mechanical tactics that might give farmers at least partial relief.

Tillage ahead of planting — a tough sell in no-till systems — shows some promise in reducing early infestations in current-year soybean fields.

“Turns out that disking alone, at least in (our) study… did reduce infestation,” says Justin McMechan an entomologist and associate professor at UNL.

“There’s a significant reduction as we move from no-till to that… where it’s just disked and planted into, and then disking and hilling (a practice used in growing potatoes), which really is effective, because you’re covering up the infestation site,” McMechan adds.

He notes that even subtle changes in seedbed shape may help by covering fissures or altering microclimates at the stem base.

On planters running row cleaners, McMechan says adjustments at field edges might be one of the more accessible tools.

“There are not huge differences, but they are statistically significant,” he adds.

Field edge management has been another area of experimentation, including mowing or managing dense vegetation next to infested fields. Results are mixed, but McMechan says there are situations where mowing modestly cuts pressure.

“Nebraska saw on occasion where mowing would reduce infestation and lead to marginal yield benefit… we’re talking like 6-bushel differences,” he says, adding that weather and nearby corn canopy can override those gains.

There are no insecticides currently available to control soybean gall midge. A combination of cultural practices and mechanical efforts is likely the best option, for now, to stop or slow the pest.

(Justin McMechan)

Scientists Evaluate ‘Out-Of-The-Box’ Practices

Other work by researchers is pushing even further outside the box to find control measures. At UNL, graduate research assistant Kristin Heinrichs Stark is testing whether a biodegradable surface barrier called BioWrap can physically trap larvae in the soil and prevent emergence.

The work is early-stage and raises reasonable questions about cost and field-scale application rates, but it points to the kind of layered, non-chemical tactics Extension researchers say will likely be needed to address the pest.

Even as these cultural and physical strategies are developed, Hodgson reminds farmers that the ag industry still lacks any clear control option once larvae are inside the soybean stem.

“We really don’t have a treatment threshold, or a rescue treatment option at this time,” she says. “We know that the soybean gall midge certainly can cause yield losses, plant death, and that directly relates to yield. But we don’t really have great answers on like, how many plants does it take? How many larvae per plant (causes yield loss)?”

For now, farmers dealing with soybean gall midge are being asked to combine careful field scouting, crop rotation, and targeted cultural tactics to address the pest as the research community races to find answers and close those gaps.

Specialists from three Midwest universities provided the latest updates on soybean gall midge (SGM) this spring in a webinar, available at the link below:

A Frustrating Spring: Spotty Spring Rains Push Southwest Iowa Planting Slightly Behind

Wed, 06 May 2026 18:33:19 GMT

USDA’s latest Crop Progress Report showed as of Sunday, 22 percent of Iowa’s corn crop is planted, which is right in line with the five-year average. Soybean planting sits at 11 percent, which is just slightly behind. But those statewide numbers don’t tell the whole planting story this year. In southern Iowa, spotty spring showers are creating a far more uneven planting picture for farmers trying to make progress in the field.

In the far southwestern corner of Iowa, farmer Pat Sheldon is finally back in the field and relieved to see planters rolling again after a stop-and-start spring.

“We’ll be 25 or 30 percent done with the beans by the end of the day,” says Pat Sheldon, a farmer from Percival, Iowa.

While Sheldon prefers to be wrapped up planting by now, this season is running just a bit behind his typical pace.

“Usually we like to try to have almost everything done by now. We’re shooting for the end of April, but we usually don’t make it. So we’re a little behind where we normally are,” Sheldon says.“For no sooner than we started, we’ve come right along.”

About 80 percent of his corn is already planted, but some acres remain too saturated to finish, especially on his heavier ground.

After being out of the field for much of the past week due to wet conditions, Sheldon says the moisture hasn’t been as severe as in other parts of the region, but still enough to delay progress.

“We’re not as wet as it’s been east and south, but just enough to keep you out,” Sheldon says.

Even so, he is confident that progress will accelerate quickly if the forecast holds.

“The forecast looks good for here anyway, dry weather for a week or so, and I can get a lot done on the bottom when it’s dry,” Sheldon says.“ Just need dry weather and sunshine and let us work. It won’t take long. It’ll go in fast once it stays dry like this for a few days.”

Input costs have been a concern across agriculture, but Sheldon says his operation avoided the worst of recent fertilizer price spikes by planning ahead.

“We had all of our dry on last fall and over half of our anhydrous before it got too nasty for us to keep going, and we finished it up this spring,” Sheldon says. “We had it all pre-bought before all the prices went crazy, so we were fortunate on that aspect.

With planting back up and running this week, Sheldon says their operation is “in good shape,” and it’s that sense of stability is a stark contrast to conditions just seven years ago.

Sheldon’s family farm is situated next to the Missouri River. It’s fertile ground that’s been in his family for generations. But in 2019, Sheldon’s farm was devastated by flooding along the Missouri River, with water levels reaching several feet high in areas that are now being planted.

“There was probably three feet of water where we’re standing. Nothing got planted in the bottom ground. There was some stuff in the hills, but that was about it,” says Sheldon.

The floodwaters lingered for months, leaving lasting reminders still visible today.

“The water was here about 100 days. It was late June, I think, when they closed the breach,” Sheldon says.

And he says for the water lines still stained on the rain bins, it’s a constant reminder of what the Missouri River can take away, often without warning.

“You have a reminder every day,” says Sheldon. “You see it every day.”

Farming along the Missouri River means managing both risk and resilience. Despite the challenges, Sheldon says recent years have brought more favorable growing conditions, and he’s hopeful this year is shaping up to be the same.

“Are you optimistic about this growing season,” we asked.

“Very, very, as far as raising a crop,” Sheldon says of his outlook for 2026. “We’ve got decent moisture, probably better than we had going in last year. We’ve been lucky the last two or three years—timely rains, not a lot of rain, but at the right time—and we’ve raised really good crops. We’re hoping for more of the same.”

Are You Planting Second-Year Soybeans And Skipping Corn?

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:26:56 GMT

As input prices and markets fluctuate, many U.S. farmers are considering a shift from corn to soybeans this season. For some, like northwest Missouri farmer Todd Gibson, continuous soybeans aren’t just a one-year pivot—they are a long-term strategy to capture ROI on challenging soils.

Gibson, based near Norborne — a farming community that proudly bills itself as the “Soybean Capital of the World” — keeps a traditional corn-soybean rotation on his Missouri River bottom ground. But most of his fields with tougher, gumbo-type soils haven’t seen a corn planter in two decades.

“Growing corn on some of this heavy ground just doesn’t pay,” Gibson explains. “I’ve got some fields that have been in continuous soybeans for 20-plus years now.”

More Second-Year Soybeans In U.S. Farmers’ Plans

Gibson says he will grow more soybeans this season and on his better ground. “I’m going to cut my corn acres maybe in half. I’ll have more beans on the better dirt this year, mainly because of input prices,” he says.

Other U.S. farmers – many without Gibson’s experience – are looking to grow second-year soybeans. The Allendale Report released March 18 says private acreage estimates point to a shift toward more soybeans this season, notes Rich Nelson, chief analyst. He estimates U.S. corn planted area at 93.678 million acres, down about 5.1 million acres from 2025, while soybean acres are pegged at 85.659 million acres, up roughly 4.4 million acres over last year.

In southern Illinois, farmer and broker Sherman Newlin says the conversations he has with farmers these days are dominated by input costs and fertilizer availability concerns. While some tell him they’re sticking to their corn-bean rotations, others are considering a 100% shift to soybeans. Newlin is keeping his options open.

“I’m not planning on switching, but we’ll see,” he says. “We’ve still got a few weeks to go where we can swap out seed if we need to.”

Iowa Soybean Association Agronomist Lucas DeBruin says the farmers he works with in the state are sticking with their regular rotation and planting corn if that’s what the original plan was for this season.

“We use a lot of fall anhydrous here, so most guys are pretty locked into growing corn,” DeBruin says. “A lot of them also need the corn for livestock feed. Sometimes you can still squeeze a little bit more margin out of corn than the soybeans,” he adds, “and guys like growing corn more than soybeans. It’s more fun to pick corn.”

Look Before You Leap: The Ferrie Checklist

For farmers looking to change their seed order, Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie suggests taking a hard look at your balance sheet and your fields first. Here are some of his key recommendations:

Consider What You’ve Invested To Date: If you’ve already applied fall anhydrous or dry fertilizer for a corn crop, the “switch to beans” math doesn’t work. “You can’t afford to go to beans, because you’ve already spent the money,” Ferrie contends.

Account for the Yield Penalty: In a beans-after-beans scenario, Ferrie tells growers to expect a 5-to-7-bushel yield drag due to more stress from potential disease, insect and weed pressure. His question: “If you take 7 bushels off your bean yield, does it still cash flow against your corn APH?”

The Management “Claw Back": You can potentially mitigate some of the yield penalty in second-year soybeans by moving your planting date up from May to April, Ferrie says. Early planting helps the crop get an earlier and longer flowering period which can help recover some of the lost potential.

One morning this past week, Ferrie noted that the market was leaning back toward corn and that the see-saw between crops could continue this spring — another factor to keep in mind.

“Looking at the markets this morning, I think a lot of guys would prefer growing corn at $4.90 than beans at $11.10,” he contends.

The Continuous Soybean Playbook

For Gibson, success with continuous soybeans works based on a disciplined management system he relies on every year:

Fertility is Foundational. Even if you shift from corn to soybeans, Gibson says be aware that the beans could require more nutrients. He monitors his soil fertility closely, noting that continuous beans often require extra sulfur, phosphorus and potassium. He also keeps a close eye on micronutrients to ensure the crop won’t hit a hidden yield ceiling.

Non-Negotiable Seed Treatments: In continuous soybeans, the soil is more likely to become a reservoir for pathogens. Gibson hasn’t put a bare seed in the ground in 20 years. “Seed treatment guarantees me 100% replant,” he says. “It lets you sleep better at night knowing that if you get a heavy rain, you have that insurance to fall back on.”

Row Spacing and Canopy: Gibson plants in 15-inch rows at a rate of roughly 130,000 seeds per acre. The goals are quick emergence and a quick canopy. He believes a fast-closing row is your best defense against weeds and helps preserve soil moisture in the heavy gumbo. Seed treatment use and regular scouting help him feel confident in using narrow rows.

Keep Your Boots In The Field: In a corn-bean rotation, the “break” in the cycle helps farmers manage various diseases, insects and weeds. In continuous soybeans, you lose that advantage.

Gibson compensates by routine scouting and being prepared to address problems. “If you hear your neighbors have bug pressure, assume you will, too,” he says. “Don’t have the attitude that you can ‘get by,’ because you probably won’t.”

He has similar thoughts regarding weed pressure – “be proactive.” His program typically starts with a pre-emergence/burndown or early post application, with residual herbicides used to hold back weeds. If weeds break through, he is prepared to return with a post pass.

“We kind of wish sometimes we didn’t have to worry about weeds so much,” he says. “But if you don’t, then next thing you know, you think, ‘Oh, I wish we would have sprayed.’”

The Genetic Advantage: The final piece of the puzzle for Gibson is the advancement in soybean technology. He recalls the days when he says Williams 82 was his only real option for continuous soybeans. Today, advanced traits have made managing weeds and disease in continuous systems much more manageable, he notes.

On his continuous soybean acres, Gibson consistently sees yields average in the 50-to-60-bushel range. When he factors in the lower input costs compared to growing corn on heavy gumbo ground, he believes the decision to go with continuous soybeans is a good one. For Gibson, it’s not about following a trend— it’s about knowing what his land does best and having the management practices in place to succeed.

7 Lessons from the 2025 Retailer of the Year: River Valley Cooperative

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 03:04:42 GMT

At the surface level, River Valley Cooperative has 39 locations in eastern Iowa and western Illinois and is owned by 3,300 farm families and has annual sales total $1.1 billion. The coop has a team of 400 full-time employees, and it’s been around for more than 120 years.

So what sets them apart and led to River Valley being named the 2025 Retailer of the Year by the Agricultural Retailers Association?

Two leaders from the co-op, Culley Medley and Jake Williams joined The Scoop podcast to tell a bit of their story themselves.

1. Investment in a Customer Portal

“We invested five years ago to enhance the customer experience and create ‘stickiness’ with the grower,” Williams says. Since then, the portal has evolved to allow customers to enter offers and access or sign grain contracts, simplifying business with River Valley.

2. Prioritizing Transparency

Williams notes that transparency has been the biggest transformation during his 13 years at the co-op.

“Customers can access real-time data 24/7. They can view statements, enter grain offers, and sign contracts instantly. Thirteen years ago, this was a paper process reliant on the mail.”

Medley adds that this accessibility improves relationships.

“I used to joke that the hardest question at the farm gate was, ‘What do I owe?’ Now, I can show a grower their real-time invoices on my phone, which deepens our communication,” he says.

3. Internal Efficiency

“The internal difference comes down to position management,” Williams says. The team uses the portal daily to manage fertilizer positions with real-time data. Additionally, River Valley transitioned to central dispatch for all equipment and is migrating to a “hub” footprint to reduce product travel time.

4. Continuous Technology Upgrades

In three years, River Valley overhauled its application fleet. “Instead of buying one new sprayer for a specific area, we moved to three-year leases for all equipment to ensure every customer has access to the latest technology,” Medley says. The fleet now includes 30 John Deere ExactApply and 11 See & Spray machines. Medley notes this also aids retention, as applicators prefer operating newer equipment.

5. Growth Through Private Labels

Last year, the co-op launched YieldVance, a proprietary line of adjuvants (AdjuVance) and fertility products (GrowVance). “We identify products that are a win for both the producer and the co-op,” Medley says. The portfolio continues to expand, supported by a loyalty program to drive long-term growth.

6. Team-Driven Success

“Our employees make us who we are,” Williams says. The co-op utilizes engagement surveys to ensure staff have the resources to succeed. Williams believes the Retailer of the Year award validates their team’s forward-thinking mindset: “It’s not about today; it’s about how we provide solutions for our member-owners for the next 100 years.”

7. The Whole-Acre Approach

Medley describes their strategy as connecting the grain side (the farmer’s paycheck) with input sales. “How do we take that paycheck and turn it into a bigger one by producing more bushels?” This approach requires constant communication between sales and operations teams to serve the grower’s entire operation.

Iowa Farmer Battles Today's Pests While Eyeing Tomorrow's 'Mean Sixteen' Threats

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 18:55:16 GMT

For Worth County, Iowa, farmer Sarah Tweeten, the list of high-priority agronomic threats isn’t a political abstract — it’s a harsh reality she deals with every season.

Farming with her parents, Brian and Julie, and her uncle Roger, Tweeten has been steering the partnership toward more resilient cropping practices since joining the operation in 2021. This includes shifting from conventional tillage to strip tillage and splitting nitrogen applications.

The changes are part of a broader mindset: Protecting yields today from weeds, disease and insects while aggressively preparing for the next generation of agronomic threats. This forward-thinking approach is what led Tweeten to Washington, D.C., earlier this week as a Farm Journal Foundation farmer ambassador to help introduce a new report: “ The Mean Sixteen: Major Biosecurity Threats Facing U.S. Agriculture and How Policy Solutions Can Help. ”

Today’s Battles and Tomorrow’s Warnings
Researched and developed by Stephanie Mercier, PhD, the report takes an in-depth look at 16 significant pest issues U.S. farmers face now or could realistically in the future.

Tweeten is already battling a couple of the problems that underpin the urgency behind the research. For example, Palmer amaranth (pigweed) is gaining ground in her fields and across Iowa. The pervasive broadleaf weed can drastically reduce yields, with studies showing corn yield reductions between 11% and 91% and soybean yield reductions of 17% to 68%.

“We’ve struggled with pigweed as it continues to establish more resistance to our herbicides in our toolkit,” Tweeten says.

Two additional agronomic issues the report details include:

1. Asian Soybean Rust. First detected in the U.S. in Louisiana in 2004, this fungal disease has spread to southern states like Georgia and Mississippi. Scientists warn that warming winters could enable its migration to the Midwest, adding to existing disease pressures.

2. Corn Ear Rot. It can lead to aflatoxin production, making corn unmarketable and posing risks to humans and livestock. Aflatoxin is an issue Pickens County, Ala., farmer Annie Dee says is an ongoing problem for corn growers in her area.

“If we have aflatoxin, it can be impossible to sell the corn,” says Dee, also a Farm Journal Foundation Farmer ambassador.

A more recent threat she references is the impact of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (bird flu) on local poultry farms.

Since January 2022, HPAI has been confirmed in a commercial or backyard poultry flock in all 50 states.

(USDA)

“An important market for us is poultry feed meal, so that’s a constant worry. The trickle-down effect is if we can’t move our corn then we can’t meet our financial obligations,” Dee adds.

Despite agricultural R&D offering a high ROI — $20 in benefits for every $1 spent — the Farm Journal Foundation report notes public funding for ag research has been declining over the past two decades.

“Farmers urgently need sustained support for aflatoxin research and prevention because these risks threaten our yields, our markets and the trust consumers place in American agriculture,” Dee says.

U.S. public spending on ag research and development has been falling for two decades.

(USDA-ERS)

African Swine Fever Has ‘Devastating Potential’
Looking to the future, Tweeten says she is concerned about African swine fever (ASF) and its potential to impact crop farmers as well as hog producers. The highly contagious swine disease hasn’t been detected in the U.S. mainland, but it isn’t far away. ASF has been confirmed in the Caribbean countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, roughly 700 miles from Miami, Fla.

“Being a farmer from Iowa, where we have probably eight times the amount of pigs as we do people, an outbreak of ASF would be just devastating to our state,” Tweeten says.

Hogs are among the biggest customers for the corn and soybeans Tweeten and her family grow. If African swine fever were to shut down hog production or exports, it wouldn’t just be a blow to livestock producers – it would hurt the entire agricultural community, she contends.

Read about 5 livestock diseases that could impact U.S. food security and economic stability.

Food Security Is National Security
When it comes to justifying funding for ag research, Tweeten knows there’s competition for every federal dollar. But she believes agriculture deserves a front-row seat — not only because of its economic weight and impact on farmers, but because of its role in national security.

“There’s that argument that food security is national security,” she says. “If there’s one thing COVID made us aware of, it’s that a disruption to our food chain can be terrifying, quite frankly.”

The pandemic made consumers and policymakers more aware of supply chain vulnerability. In 2020, the shock to the supply chain came from a human disease and logistical bottlenecks.

(Sarah Williams Photography)

Next time, Tweeten says, the disruption could just as easily come from animal or plant disease — whether African swine fever in hogs, Asian soybean rust or some other pathogen in crops. She worries about scenarios where farmers could face a fast-moving disease or crop pest while critical tools are still hung up in regulatory delays.

Her message: Farmers need a full toolbox, not one that’s half-built by the time a threat arrives.

“Ag needs to be in a good position when these sorts of emerging diseases and pests come into the country,” she says, “to have the tools in our toolbox ready for farmers to pull out.”

About the Farm Journal Foundation
The Farm Journal Foundation is a farmer-centered, non-profit, nonpartisan organization established in 2010. It works to advance agricultural innovation, food and nutrition security, conservation, and rural economic development.

Five Star Cooperative Wins The Scoop’s Business Innovation Award

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 22:57:41 GMT

Five Star Cooperative, headquartered in New Hampton, Iowa, has been named the 2025 recipient of The Scoop’s Business Innovation Award, sponsored by AgVend. The award was presented Dec. 3, at the Agricultural Retailers Association Conference and Expo in Salt Lake City.

The Business Innovation Award recognizes ag retailers who demonstrate digital transformation in their business. These include outstanding examples of how ag retailers are taking their enterprise resource planning, agronomics and business data to elevate customer service and build a sustainable business. The award is presented to a single ag retail location and its team in the U.S.

“Especially in volatile economic times, farmers need partners they can rely on, and increasingly, technology is fortifying how those relationships grow,” said Margy Eckelkamp, editor of The Scoop. “With greater transparency, real-time data sharing and easy-to-use communication tools, retailers such as Five Star Cooperative are rewriting the playbook for being a business in which it is easy to do business.”

Five Star Cooperative is a farmer-owned agricultural supply cooperative that serves rural communities across northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. Their client base includes individual farmers and farms of all sizes, providing quality products, expert service and a commitment to long-term success for each and every member. One of the paths to that success is Operation Easy, an implementation of internal processes to increase efficiency and improve every aspect of the customer experience for the farmer.

“Digital innovation at Five Star Cooperative isn’t about adopting technology for technology’s sake, it’s about listening to our members and responding with real solutions that make their day easier,” said Scott Black, CEO of Five Star Cooperative. “Operation Easy gave us direct, honest customer feedback, and our team used that input to build tools that improve transparency, access and the overall experience of doing business with us. Receiving the Business Innovation Award from The Scoop is a meaningful recognition of that work, but the true reward is hearing from our farmers and team members that these tools are making a difference. This is only the beginning of where we’re headed.”

Learn more about Five Star Cooperative.

“Digital transformation isn’t about replacing the fundamentals of ag retail; it’s about protecting them,” said Alexander Reichert, CEO at AgVend. “The retailers leading this industry forward are modernizing their business to give their teams more time, more clarity and more capacity to serve their growers, especially when markets turn. Innovation isn’t a luxury in tough cycles; it’s how great retailers stay resilient, aligned and relentlessly focused on their customers.”

Operation Easy: How Five Star Cooperative's Digital Journey Earned Top Innovation Honors

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 16:00:00 GMT

With a legacy dating back to 1889, Five Star Cooperative has more than a century of service as an ag supplier, but its focus is keenly on the future.

For achievements in digitizing its business, Five Star Cooperative and its headquarters in New Hampton, Iowa, is the 2025 Business Innovation Award winner, which is sponsored by AgVend.

This past year, the team retooled and recommitted to a digital journey. The northern Iowa-based company launched Operation Easy with the goal of becoming the easiest place for customers to do business.

(Michelle Skarpness)

“The best ideas come from our team, the best ideas come from our customer base. And so, as we introduced Operation Easy, we went around, talked to customers, talked to team members,” says Scott Black, CEO of Five Star Cooperative. “And it became quite obvious to us, right out of the gate, that digitalization was of utmost importance.”

The result was the co-op partnering with software vendors AgVend, AgVance, Kahler Automation, Smartwyre and others to integrate systems, automate data whenever possible and give real-time transparency to the customer. Benefits for the business have been:

Directly meeting customer needs.
Stronger team and department collaboration.
Giving customers greater visibility and timely communication.

Five Star Cooperative CEO Scott Black, center, is shown with board members Shana Cash, Casey Schlichting and Scott Glaser.

(Michelle Skarpness)

Customer-Centric Focus

From customer interviews, surveys and more research, the mandate from the customer was clear: They want quick, self-service options available to them on their phone while they are on the go.

To directly meet customer needs, Five Star Cooperative launched real-time grain data with auto-uploading scale tickets, inbound grain offer management tools and Five Star Link, a customer portal.

“Uses of Link are varied, everything from our growers to home heat customers,” says Nick Sawyer, agronomy director. “We’re using it for digital signatures on contracts. We’re using it to let growers know when their fields had an application done. So, if they’re waiting with a piece of tillage equipment to get out in that field until after we put the fertilizer on, they know instantly when our applicators pull out of that field, so they can pull in.”

The Five Star team alludes to a previous customer portal launch that floundered at 8% adoption over five years. When they launched Five Star Link, early goals were set at 25%, but the adoption quickly climbed above 47%.

“A lot of the feedback we’re getting from customers right now is how much they enjoy being able to access their accounts at any given time,” Sawyer says. “Having that instantaneous access to their operation and their relationship with Five Star has been very impactful and very well received.”

Sawyer says the portal is a business tool that allows the co-op to be wherever the farmer is. In addition to account access, the communication tools are used by the co-op and the customer.

“I think availability is the biggest thing for us. We don’t expect anybody to be available every hour of every day, but just being able to have a touch point when we need it, when we’re busy in the field, knowing that the people at Fiver Star are there to support us,” says Michael Tupper, Poppe Farms TK.

Marc Throndson, grain director at Five Star, says the quick sharing of information has been a customer satisfaction driver. Cutting out a five-to-10-minute phone call to get an answer is a time-saver for the customer and the co-op.

“People want to be able to quickly see anything from bids to scale, tickets to contract balances, all those types of things at the palm of their hand,” Throndson says. “They can just do it at the palm of their hand, whether it be setting their GPS after they turn around, taking a quick peek, or maybe they’re at night and something crossed their mind.”

(Michelle Skarpness)

Improvements Pay Dividends

Five Star’s divisions span grain, agronomy, feed and energy across 19 locations and 15 counties in northern Iowa. Operation Easy had the goal of making the internal work for its 220 team members more efficient and more accurate.

“Some of our processes that we came up for Operation Easy was doing things smoother internally. If we do things smoother internally, then it can affect positively on the outside circle to our customers,” says Sara Jerdee, grain accounting assistant.

The team says they’ve crossed the threshold of having more than 50% of all contracts e-signed. Throndson describes the new tools and greater visibility as a win-win.

“This has been a great journey for us, as far as tying something together that allows our customer to easily do things, whether it be in the field, at their desk, at home at night,” he says. “It’s doing the same on the flip side for our employees to be able to be a little bit more accessible to our customer; they aren’t spending time finding information for the customer because the customer can find it themselves.”

Throndson gives examples such as soybean moisture levels and grain settlements, which required a lot of one-off phone calls and conversations to share information.

“And in the heat of the battle of harvest, it’s improved the efficiency of our staff greatly,” he says.

The work done in bringing forward the technologies to improve business continues to be impactful with customer conversations. For agronomy sales and operations, the tools put the emphasis on where the co-op adds value.

“Five Star Link has done a really good job of making our meetings with the grower much more impactful, because we can concentrate on what matters, not necessarily the busy work. We can utilize Link to get the contract signed, to send quotes out, to show the farmer what the plan could be,” Sawyer says. “We really want our salespeople’s time with the grower to be spent talking about the farming operation and what we’re going to do to make it better, not just getting something signed or stopping out to get this paperwork done. We’re going to utilize our digital solutions for that so that when we’re face-to-face with a grower, we can talk about what matters to them.”

Jerdee says a key feature is having a mirror image of what the customer sees, so when everyone gets acclimated to the system or walks through where to find something, the staff and the customer are seeing the same screen.

The digitization journey has also been in line with labor and efficiency trends.

“Our grain department runs a lot leaner on staff than we did five years ago and, frankly, will run leaner in five years from now than we are today,” Throndson says. “How we become more efficient can be hard to measure, but we have to do it because there’s constant pressure to become more efficient.”

(Michelle Skarpness)

Digital is a Baseline

The third goal was to improve customer communication and visibility. The team at Five Star acknowledges customer engagement expectations have evolved with the customer base itself. For example, three years ago, the largest number of customers were aged 65 years or older. Today, customers aged 45 and under make the same proportion.

“For our customers, for Five Star to be easiest to do business with is [that] they know that Five Star is going to get them their answer correct — and the first time — that they know we have a good relationship with them and we know what they want for their business operation and can help them make the process easier for them,” Jerdee says.

And the effort has been noticed by customers.

“The suppliers that we have, whether it be another seed company or something like that, they don’t have an app that has all this information tracked, where we have it at the palm of our hands like Five Star does,” Tupper says. “To me, it’s head and shoulders above any other businesses that we currently work with.”

Tupper says he might log into the portal every three hours to check on different things, and its toolset has dramatically improved his workflow. For example, in doing the hog closeout paperwork, it previously took him three hours to export feed tickets into a spreadsheet and do the analysis. Now, it’s a 30-minute project.

Team Effort

On receiving the Business Innovation Award, Black says credit goes to the team in how they drove the customer-centric approach from concept to execution.

“The reason why we’re here having this conversation is because of our team, and so we’re very proud of what we’ve been doing and where we are today,” he says.

“To me, it is a never-ending initiative because you can be great today, and we can be delighted with where we are today with our digital transformation, but we can never be satisfied,” Black says. “We have to continue to evolve and adapt. We’ve done it for 136 years. We have to do it for another 136 years.”

Guru Groups

The team at Five Star Cooperative use a concept they call Guru Groups to bring forward new ideas or procedures in the business. This was core to how they implemented Operation Easy and how they continue to evaluate technology.

“We like to take things in small bites,” Sawyer says. “So, when we try to launch a new initiative or bring something new to the market, we’ll go to some of our professionals within our organization and have them work through the problems with the new software with a new plan. By doing that, we can work out a lot of the kinks before we roll it out to the organization as a whole.

Guru Groups were pivotal to ensuring the rollout was smooth and provided the solutions promised to customers and the internal team.

“While there’s a lot of good software out there, we needed something that worked for all departments and could really tie everything together,” Throndson says.

Once confirmed, the new procedures and tools were introduced to the team with training so they could feel confident about using them and be enthusiastic about sharing them.

Black says this team approach is part of an ongoing strategy.

“A couple of years ago, we made it a focus to be on top of effective use of emerging technologies,” he says. “To me, this isn’t about today. This is about tomorrow. With artificial intelligence, all the things were coming. We have to be able to stay ahead of that if we’re going to maintain relevancy in today’s world. We have to be able to adopt and change and make decisions maybe we’re not comfortable with going forward, and that’s the key, in my mind. This is just a journey that never, never ends for us.”

Record-Breaking Sale: Iowa Farmland Sets New High for State at $32,000 Per Acre

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 05:22:18 GMT

An Iowa farmland auction in Sioux County, just outside Orange City, is resetting the top of the market. A 35.5-acre tract sold on Dec. 1 for $32,000 per acre, and Jim Rothermich of Iowa Appraisal says it’s the highest auction price he has recorded in the state.

“It is a 35-and-a-half-acre tract that goes for $32,000 an acre,” Rothermich says. “As far as my data goes, I keep track of all the land auctions in Iowa, that’s the highest. It set a new record yesterday in Iowa.”

He says the previous record was $30,000 per acre, also in Sioux County, set in November 2022, and he’s quick to point out that while Sioux County regularly posts some of Iowa’s biggest numbers, this one still stands apart.

“ The last record is $30,000 an acre , and that is in Sioux County also back in Nov. 11, 2022,” Rothermich says. “So it’s not unusual to see those huge prices in Sioux County. It’s a heavy livestock and dairy county. They need those acres to apply animal waste, and they need the corn production to feed those animals. So it’s not unusual to see that, but that is definitely a high price — no doubt about it.”

A Farmer Bought the Land, Not an Investor

At a time when producers are watching margins and questioning who is really driving top-end land prices, Rothermich says this record isn’t attributed to a Wall Street fund or an out-of-state investor. According to the auctioneer, the winning bidder is a farmer, and the land is positioned to fit directly into an existing local operation.

“According to the auctioneer, it is a farmer buyer,” Rothermich says. “And the highest and best use of this farm is to raise corn and soybeans. I understand it is an adjoining landowner, and there again, it’s a heavy livestock area and dairy area. There’s some large dairies just right around there, and they’re going to use that land.”

No Comment......SOLD! SOLD! SOLD! $1.13+ million or $32,000/acre; purchased by local farmer to produce corn/soybeans. pic.twitter.com/hMeCFJjvjx
— Jim Rothermich, MAI, ARA, ALC (@theLandTalker) December 1, 2025

That adjoining landowner angle matters in competitive auctions, where neighbor value — operational fit, access and scale — can turn into aggressive bidding when a tract comes up for sale.

According to a local source, that dynamic played out in this sale and helped drive the final price higher. The source told Farm Journal the winning bidder operates a large Holstein dairy heifer replacement business, and the tract for sale was located near their existing operation. But competition for the land, and the reason the price went so high, is there was a bidding war with another farmer whose property borders the 35.5-acre parcel, pushing the price well above expectations.

Investor Pressure is Still Real, Amplifying the Top End of Farmland Prices

Rothermich says he can’t say for certain whether investor bids help push the Dec. 1 price to a record. But across Iowa, he says auctioneers describe a consistent trend: Investors, often with local ties, are showing up and competing hard, sometimes forcing farmers to dig deeper for high-quality acres.

“I don’t know if that is the case [in this auction],” he says. “But just visiting with different auctioneers across the state, they’re telling me these investors with local ties, they’re in the market, and they’re pushing these farmers to buy land. Some of those investors are getting them bought, but those local farmers on high-quality land are competing with those guys, and it’s making a difference on high quality.”

In other words, even when a farmer has the winning bid, the bidding atmosphere can still be shaped by investor presence particularly on ground that fits the region’s strongest operations.

Not many $30,000+ sales, but Plenty of Big Numbers in Iowa and Surrounding States

Rothermich says he doesn’t see other Iowa auction results above $30,000 per acre so far this year, but he does track multiple sales above $20,000, including county records.

“I haven’t seen anything over $30,000 this year,” he says. “Now we have several over $20,000 an acre. As a matter of fact, in Mitchell County on Sept. 10 of this year, there is a short 80-acre tract that brings $24,400 an acre, and that is a new price record for that county.”

And Iowa isn’t alone. Rothermich says he’s collecting late-year auction results around the region that show strength continuing across multiple Corn Belt states.

“It’s not just Iowa; we’re seeing these strong prices,” he says. “South Dakota has one farm sell for $18,200 an acre. One in Illinois is $20,150 an acre; I’ve seen several over $20,000 in Illinois. Missouri: $20,000 an acre. Minnesota: a couple tracts bring $17,000 an acre. So it’s not just an Iowa thing; it’s around the surrounding states of Iowa.”

Tight Margins, Strong Land Values Comes as a Surprise

Even with improved commodity prices compared to last year, many producers still describe the current environment as belt-tightening territory: Inputs remain high, and margins are pressured.

That’s why Rothermich says the late-year auction strength, especially the steady stream of standout sales, is catching his attention.

“It does surprise me,” he says. “I am very surprised at the volume. November is typically our busiest month for land auctions, and I’ve been surprised every week in the month of November — some of the strong prices coming out.”

Key Divergence Between High Quality and Lower Quality Farmland

Rothermich says there’s no clearer evidence of a two-speed land market than what’s happening on the lower-quality end, where more auctions are failing to meet seller expectations.

He says he tallies 10 no-sales in Iowa in November, which he calls a high number for the month that typically dominates the auction calendar.

“One area where we are seeing some weakness is the lower quality farms,” he says. “Those are being affected; there’s no doubt about that. And as I say, I keep track of all the land auctions in Iowa; there are 10 no-sales in November. That’s a high number for no sales in a month. So there’s no doubt lower quality farms are being affected.”

When asked directly whether the Dec. 1 record sale signals a widening gap between premium and marginal ground, Rothermich says absolutely.

“The people that have the money to buy that high-quality ground, they’re going after it. There’s no doubt about it,” he adds.

And when it comes to why lower quality farms are more likely to stall at auction, he says the buyer pool changes, especially the presence (or absence) of investors.

“They’re on those lower quality farms,” he says. “You don’t have those local investors competing with the local farmers on that. So those local farmers are kind of driving that market on that, and they’re definitely pulling back. There’s no doubt about it.”

He ties that pullback directly to economic pressure with the weaker performance in some land values a sign of current economic stress.

What to Watch Over the Next Six Months

Rothermich describes today’s auction environment as a market with two tails: a premium segment with strong competition and a lower-quality segment facing resistance. That split makes the overall market feel uneven, even when the headlines are bullish.

“It’s kind of got two tails right now,” he says. “The high quality is selling very good, and the low quality is being affected by the current economy. So it’s kind of a choppy market. That’s how I’d describe it right now.”

Still, he says two fundamentals support stability over the next six months: lower auction volume, which tends to firm prices, and grain prices higher than last year.

“Looking at the number of auctions for November, December, we’re going to be down for the year,” he says. “And that’s been a three-year trend. Lower auction volume is supportive to prices. So as I look at current grain prices, we’re higher than we were last year. So with those two fundamentals, it’s signaling we’re probably going to have a stable market the next six months.”

He adds that good yields, though not necessarily record yield, also help underpin buyer confidence in the near term.

“The lower volume of sales, good harvest … yields are good but not as good as last year,” he says. “Grain prices are higher than they were last year, and we still have buyers out there wanting to get their hands on some high-quality farm ground.”

The $32,000-per-acre Sioux County auction isn’t just a number; it’s a marker of how aggressively buyers are pursuing top-end Iowa farmland, particularly in regions where acres fit into livestock- and dairy-driven demand. The fact Rothermich says the buyer is a farmer adjoining the tract reinforces that operational value is still a powerful force.

At the same time, the record sale lands in a market that’s increasingly divided: Premium farms draw competition while lower-quality farms see more no-sales, signaling that economic pressure is shaping buyer behavior — just not evenly across all acres.

With More Eye-Popping Sales, The Surprising Strength in Iowa Farmland Values

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 18:43:06 GMT

In a year marked by plunging grain prices and rising financial pressure, you might have expected Iowa’s farmland market to finally crack. But a closer look at recent sales data shows a market that remains remarkably resilient — and, in some cases, still setting records.

Jim Rothermich, vice president at Iowa Appraisal , shares his perspective on the surprising stability of Iowa land values, what’s driving demand and where some stress fractures may be starting to show.

2024 in Review: Rising, But Slowing

Even though commodity prices have been cut in half in just a few years, the farmland market has proven to show extreme resilience. According to USDA’s “Land Values 2024 Summary,” the average U.S. farm real estate value (which includes land and buildings) rose to $4,170 per acre, up 5% over 2023. Cropland values averaged $5,570 per acre, a 4.7% increase from the prior year.

These increases in values continued a multi-year stretch of rising land values, even though the pace of growth has clearly moderated. Still, considering the sharp drop in commodity prices, it would make sense for land values to also see pressure. But when you look at it as a whole — especially quality cropland — values are holding strong.

Tight Supply Keeps the Market Firm

One key factor is supporting land values: there simply isn’t much land for sale.

“As you can see, the number of acres going to auction has been trending lower the past four years — same for listings,” Rothermich says. “Most of the volume is from estate sales. There may be a couple of auctions from financial stress but not enough to influence volume. Lack of volume is supportive to market conditions.With fewer tracts hitting the market, buyers have fewer opportunities — keeping competition intense and prices supported.”

Farmers Still in the Driver’s Seat

Despite investors showing up at auctions, local farmers continue to dominate bidding wars. Just this month, a piece of farmland in Black Hawk County sold for $20,238 per acre.

Black Hawk County rings the bell this week with a $20,238/acre sale (including 5% buyer fee). It’s amazing how fast harvest happens with good weather – crops are disappearing fast! https://t.co/q90dgZFPjQ #IowaLandAuctionPrices pic.twitter.com/bNFPfL6cvo
— Jim Rothermich, MAI, ARA, ALC (@theLandTalker) October 13, 2025

That’s in addition to the notable sales last month. Rothermich says September saw several eye-popping sales across the state, including:

Mitchell County (north central Iowa): 80 acres sold for $24,400/acre — a new county record — after two local farmers battled for the tract.
Dallas County: 140 acres went for $20,100/acre.
Cedar County: 160 acres sold at $19,000/acre.
Osceola County: 70 acres fetched $18,400/acre.
Cherokee County: 160 acres brought $17,000/acre, purchased by a local farmer.

“Investors are still attending auctions but are being out competed by locals,” Rothermich explains. “No sales are not an issue currently. Where I do see price drop off is for low quality land. Investors don’t want low quality. If locals are the only bidders, they are discounting farms with issues.”

“Investors are still attending auctions but are being out competed by locals.”

Jim Rothermich, The Land Talker

Rothermich himself recently bought two “wet” farms, planning to enroll them in CRP for a 4% cash return — a sign strategic buying opportunities exist even in a tight market.

Rents Steady, But Financial Stress Emerging

Cash rents, according to Rothermich’s data, have held steady from last year. But beneath the surface, financial pressure is building.

“Financial issues are surfacing. I have had an uptick for appraisals with high-risk lenders on sizable operations. I have not had to do those appraisals since pre-COVID,” he notes.

He’s also hearing more chatter about sale-leasebacks, where financially stressed farmers sell land to investors but lease it back to keep operating — a trend not seen since before the pandemic. Still, a unique factor continues to underpin stability: 84% of Iowa farmland has no debt.

“It is under-capitalized,” Rothermich says. “Most people think Iowa will have a good crop despite a lot of disease pressure. [There are] still strong balance sheets in rural Iowa. The farmers who rent most of their land are really being affected by current economics. Working capital is shrinking.”

Echoes of the 1980s — But Not a Repeat

Some have drawn comparisons to the 1980s farm crisis. In the September Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor, 91% of ag economists said the row crop side of agriculture is currently in a recession. Of the economists who said ag currently isn’t in a recession, the major reason was simple: strong land values.

“The U.S. crop sector is losing working capital, but cropland values are showing little weakness, either in terms of rents paid or cropland prices. Until the latter two start to weaken, the sector is not in a recession,” said one economist in the anonymous survey.

While Rothermich acknowledges signs of stress, he says the market backdrop is fundamentally different.

“My auction data suggests Iowa land market conditions are down around 8% from the peak in 2022. Grain prices are down almost 50%. [It’s] remarkable the market has not been affected anymore than that,” he says.

Unlike the 1980s, widespread over-leveraging isn’t a problem.

“So far, I am not seeing anything like the ‘80s was and have no concern due to the equity positions that have been built since then,” he says.

“My auction data suggests Iowa land market conditions are down around 8% from the peak in 2022. Grain prices are down almost 50%. Remarkable the market has not been affected anymore than that.”

Jim Rothermich, The Land Talker

The one trend that does give him pause? Retirement auctions.

“It seems a lot of people are exiting the business — much like happened in the 1980s,” he observes.

The Bottom Line

Despite economic headwinds, Iowa’s land market has shown remarkable resilience. Tight supply, strong farmer demand and minimal debt are keeping prices elevated — even as grain markets falter.

But the rise in retirement sales and early signs of financial stress suggest the landscape could shift in the months ahead. For now, though, the surprise story in Iowa land is not decline — but durable strength.

John Deere Layoffs Continue Amid Sales Downturn, 142 Iowa Employees Notified

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 15:57:38 GMT

Farm equipment giant John Deere has confirmed it is laying off 101 employees at its Waterloo Operations (last day on October 17) and 41 employees at the Des Moines Works (October 31) plant, according to an official statement emailed to Farm Journal.

It is a little over a month since the last round of layoffs , which affected over 200 employees across factories located in the Quad Cities region of western Illinois and eastern Iowa.

Deere says in the statement: “Production schedules at each John Deere factory vary to align with seasonal farming needs. When fewer orders come in, each factory adjusts accordingly.”

Despite the layoffs and an overall tough farm economy that some think will stretch well into 2026, Deere still intends on moving forward with its $20 billion investment strategy here in the U.S., according to the statement.

During John Deere’s earnings call in August, the company issued a warning that tariff costs could total $600 million for fiscal year 2025. The company’s share price dipped 6% immediately following that call. Deere’s net income for Q3 also sank 26%, and its total net sales decreased by 9% compared to Q3 in 2024.

At the beginning of August, John Deere addressed long-standing Right To Repair concerns with a new digital diagnosis and repair product for John Deere machines and Hagie STS high-clearance sprayers. That tool costs $195 per tractor for farmers and $5,995 per year for independent service technicians.

And in May, Deere acquired Minneapolis-based drone and sensor provider Sentera . Financial terms for that deal have not been disclosed.

John Deere also just dropped a new commercial featuring injured San Francisco 49ers quarterback and Iowa State Cyclone Brock Purdy cooking meals for farmers with tractor influencer @JustAJacksonThing. You can check that out below.

Additional Information

Deere shares the following bullet points regarding compensation benefits available to laid off employees:

Affected employees are eligible to be recalled to their home factory for a period equal to their length of service. Those laid off are automatically placed in seniority order for openings they are qualified to perform at the factory.
Weekly supplemental unemployment benefit (SUB pay), dependent on number of years of continuous employment.
Transitional Assistance Benefit (TAB) pay, which may cover up to 50% of their average weekly earnings for up to 52 weeks. 
Profit sharing, calculated based on hours worked, average earnings and the company’s profit margin.

Healthcare benefits employees can receive during a layoff include: 

Employees can keep healthcare coverage for at least six months, or as long as they are eligible for SUB pay.
Weekly Indemnity (WI): Employees who become disabled while on layoff can get WI benefits for the same duration as their SUB pay.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Employees and their household members can access EAP services for the duration of their recall rights. EAP provides up to eight sessions of in-person or virtual therapy per year.

Other benefits laid-off employees may receive include: 

Life insurance
Legal assistance
Tuition reimbursement and job-placement assistance.

Your next read: Why a Farmer on the Brink of Suicide Chose to Keep Going

5 Critical Insights From The Southern Rust Rampage In Midwest Corn

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 18:34:36 GMT

Northeast Iowa farmer Elliott Henderson sprayed a fungicide on part of his corn crop three times this season and nearly all of his crop twice, battling to break the chokehold of southern rust in his fields.

Henderson, who farms in Buchanan County, wasn’t alone in his struggle to contain the disease. Iowa State University (ISU) Extension estimates southern rust reached all 99 counties in the state.

Most corn growers were aware of the disease but hadn’t experienced the ruthless destruction it could cause.

For many, that changed this season.

The farmers Henderson routinely connects with are finding extreme yield losses now, as they start combining a corn crop that in many cases dried down and died prematurely. What occurred is common to southern rust – the disease pustules ruptured corn leaf surfaces, making it hard for plants to retain or regulate moisture.

“I made some calls around to see what guys are getting, and yields are down. I mean, we’re talking 30 to 60 bushels,” says Henderson. “We’re seeing guys with a 240-bushel APH, and they’re talking 180-bushel corn.”

An update on this field. The kernels are many but extremely small. The cob is almost rubbery. One ear doesn’t tell the full story, but this field did not handle southern rust well. #ISUCrops https://t.co/QDDtBWHa0r pic.twitter.com/fiYUboKN1E
— Meaghan Anderson (@mjanders1) September 12, 2025

Yield losses of up to 45% can occur from southern rust in severe cases, according to the Crop Protection Network (CPN).

Along with the yield loss, Iowa test weights are also taking a hit and could result in lower prices for growers. The official minimum test weight in the U.S. for No. 1 yellow corn is 56 lbs. per bushel and for No. 2 yellow corn is 54 lbs. per bushel, according to Purdue University Extension.

Henderson says he’s hearing farmers share test weight numbers well below those.

“We’re seeing lows in the 40s, some upper 40s, so it’s definitely being affected,” he says.

A Perfect Storm Of Disease Pressure
Plant health issues were the biggest challenge many corn growers in the Midwest encountered this season, Randy Dowdy contends.

“It was not a pollination issue. It was not a kernel development issue. We didn’t see the tight tassel wrap. It was disease pressure — that was by far the limiting factor for growers this year,” says Dowdy.

When he participated in the Pro Farmer Crop Tour in mid-August, Dowdy says he saw corn crops from Ohio to Iowa that were affected by multiple diseases. The four main ones were southern rust, gray leaf spot, northern corn leaf blight and tar spot — sometimes all four were on the same leaf in Iowa.

“Those growers that sprayed and stayed on it and understood that a fungicide couldn’t last but for 21 days at best, and made multiple applications, I think they’re going to reap the benefits,” says Dowdy in this week’s Breaking Barriers With R&D podcast.

You can watch this episode of the podcast on YouTube: Breaking Barriers with R&D: Late-Season Wins and Soil-First Strategies

The Crop Protection Network map shows where southern rust was confirmed in counties across the U.S. as of September 16. Notice how far north the disease traveled in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

(CPN)

Both Dowdy and David Hula, business partners in Total Acre , lament that many Midwest growers didn’t take a cue from their southern brethren and spray fungicides multiple times this season.

“Industry, in general, says if you spray at VT or tassel time, you can get by with one time. That is mostly accurate under a normal weather year,” Hula says. “But this year [some Midwest states] just had that explosion of southern rust, so they were dealing with a disease that’s historically not been a problem. You just had the environment for it.”

With growers beginning to plan what to do next season, Dowdy and Hula spent some time this week considering how growers can build an effective agronomic management plan for 2026.

Here are five of their key takeaways:

1. Formalize a plan to address disease (and pests, too).

“You have to stay proactive with your scouting and be willing to go with earlier fungicide or multiple applications, depending on what shows up,” Hula says.

In the process of being prepared to make multiple applications, keep in mind that you might not need all of them. While tar spot overwinters in stubble, southern rust doesn’t. The latter might not be a severe problem next season, as it is blows in from warmer climes.

Dowdy believes the weather system bringing southern rust to the Midwest this season originated in the Delta.

2025 Colfax County Nebraska Crop Tour results: 12 dryland fields, 207.5 bu. 2nd highest yield on record (2021 was 214). Stands were slightly lower than expected. Tar Spot lighter than expected. Southern Rust probably will reduce this yield. #25croptour pic.twitter.com/72VZCFMdZQ
— Chris Clausen (@ChrisClausen34) September 11, 2025

“Let’s face it, the incubator for you was the fact that you were wet and then had high, nighttime temperatures. It was hot, and you had corn everywhere, and you had a perfect environment,” he says.

Henderson agrees, noting moisture at the wrong time and too much heat were factors.

“We had a lot of heat right after pollination into that blister stage. We were stacking GDUs up really fast on that early-planted corn,” he recalls. “I do think some of this later planted corn is probably going to have a better experience finishing out.”

2. Work with like-minded farmers, agronomists and industry experts.

Be aware of disease pressure that is around you or headed in your direction by tapping into a local agronomist or groups such as the Crop Protection Network, and stay abreast of what’s happening in other regions.

“Everybody here is on pins and needles about southern rust every season, and we are constantly getting feedback from county [Extension] agents and industry, who are pushing the information out to the farmer, because everybody is well aware of the ramifications of southern rust,” Dowdy says.

Henderson, who works with Dowdy and Hula via their Total Acre program, also has a network of farmers in Iowa that he connects with on a regular basis.

“It’s a network of dozens of us farmers that call each other, bounce ideas off each other,” he says. “The things we’re talking about are often time-sensitive. It can be a daily thing.”

3. Understand how to use fungicides for maximum ROI, if you have given them little consideration in the past.

“It’s all about coverage,” Dowdy says. “Drone applications can be fine, but no matter what you do, if a guy is spraying two to three gallons, and you compare it to a ground rig spraying 15 to 25 gallons, I mean, there’s just no comparison in that coverage.”

Another aspect of coverage, Hula adds, is making sure the fungicide gets into the plant canopy far enough to have the desired effect.

“Fungicides have a tendency to work from the leaf they’ve come in contact with and move up,” Hula says. “So, if you’re trying to protect at least that ear leaf – and I like to protect the leaf opposite and below the ear – you’ve got to get penetration with that product.”

For a drone application, Hula says growers might have to spend a couple extra dollars to get sufficient volume for the product to get down below the canopy.

“If that’s what needs to be done, let’s do it,” he encourages. “If I’m spending $30 or more an acre, then I want to at least have the success that I’m paying for.”

4. Use products labelled for the disease issue you face.

That sounds like a no brainer, but in the heat of battle the wrong product can get applied, or you can select a product that isn’t up to the task.

With a tough disease like southern rust or tar spot, using newer chemistries with more than one active ingredient is also a plus.

5. Stay with your crop throughout the season; don’t walk away.

Today’s corn genetics tend to have more back-end potential to add yield through kernel fill.

It’s a key reason to evaluate what a fungicide application can do for a crop that’s advanced into one of the later reproductive stages, say Hula and Dowdy.

Brian Herbek, who farms near DeWeese, Neb., has leaned into their advice the past few years.

“I found out a couple of years ago, there’s a lot of hidden yield out there that a lot of us leave on the table,” Herbek reports.

What he learned from Hula and Dowdy is corn has the genetic ability – some hybrids more so than others – to pack starch into its kernels late-season to create higher test weights.

He scouts corn late-season to decide where to make “the finishing pass,” an application of fungicide or nutrients or some combination of the two.

“It’s not for every field. I’ll tell everybody that right now, there are certain fields that don’t deserve that attention,” Herbek says. “But if you know what you’re looking for, and you have that potential, that application does makes sense, but you’ve really got to know what’s out in your field.”

Dowdy and Hula share additional thoughts on how farmers can improve next season’s corn crop in the face of disease pressure in the latest edition of their Breaking Barriers With R&D podcast on Farm Journal TV and YouTube .

More ideas and recommendations are available from the two corn yield champions on the Tuesday morning edition of AgriTalk with Host Chip Flory. Catch their discussion here:

Your next read: Farmer Finds A Silver Bullet For High Corn Yields

New Data Supports Stable Farmland Market

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:30:31 GMT

Year over year, Iowa farmland values are down 2.2%. That’s the latest result from The Realtors Land Institute Iowa Chapter survey, where participants were asked to estimate the average value of farmland as of September 1, 2025.

(Realtors Institute, Iowa Chapter)

In the past six months, the statewide average showed a 1.2% decrease. The six months before that resulted in a 1% decrease. This is all for tillable acres.

Iowa Realtors say this continues the sideways trend for land values since the market spiked in 2021 and 2022.

“The market is continuing to confirm it’s stubbornly stable,” says Matt Vegter, Hertz Farm Real Estate. “To post the numbers we did with the uncertainty in the market with tariffs, the price of corn and soybeans, it’s really a bright spot in the farmland market.”

Survey respondents say the market is stable despite bearish corn and soybean prices.
What’s helping stand up the market are:

Lack of inventory
Expectation for an above average crop for most of Iowa
Strong cattle prices

Vegter says for his area of business, central Iowa, listings are down 10% to 20%, and that holds true across most of the state.

“The summer is normally slow, but this was extra slow,” he says. “Typically inventory picks up in the fall through the winter, and we are expecting an average season ahead.”

Pasture acre values across the state trended flat or up for every reporting district, ranging from 0% to +6.8%. Per acre average values range from $4,498 to $5,504 per acre.
Looking ahead through the winter, which is traditionally a time for higher volume in transactions, the Realtor respondents are watching how farmland values could be effected.

“The strongest values are in northwest Iowa and northeast Iowa, where you have the most cattle feeder,” he says. “But those strong values can be attributed to how profitable cattle have been in the last year or two.”

All states in the Chicago Federal Reserve district, average a 3% percent increase in dollar value of “good” farmland from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025. And by state:

Illinois 0%
Indiana 3%
Iowa 4%
Wisconsin 11%

“We say that eight of 10 farms we sell are bought by a local farmer,” Vegter says. “That trend won’t change.”

Landus Names Next CEO: Eric Heismeyer

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 21:29:26 GMT

Announced September 3, Eric Heismeyer has been named the next CEO of Landus. The Iowa-based cooperative has been searching for a new CEO since earlier this spring.

“Eric is not joining Landus to reset the course, but to accelerate the progress already underway,” Tim Kolder, Board Chair of Landus said in the company’s announcement. “His experience leading complex agricultural businesses and building cultures of accountability makes him the right leader at the right time for Landus. We’re excited for what’s ahead.”

To start, the board of directors have enlisted Heismeyer to execute on the cooperative’s 2026 operating plan, which has five key points:

Serving farmer-owners to get the most out of every acre
Enabling employees to be their best
Executing with operational rigor across the enterprise
Operating with financial discipline to improve performance
Driving sustainable, long-term growth

“I’m honored to step into this role and eager to lead the team at Landus,” Heismeyer said in the company’s announcement. “The board and leadership team have developed a focused, actionable plan to launch into our 2026 fiscal year and I’m excited to stand shoulder to shoulder with them to drive results that matter for our farmer-owners and communities.”

Heismeyer continued saying, “Landus is poised to deliver for our farmers—through disciplined execution, consistent service, and a sharp focus on what matters to our farmers.Together, we’ll grow a stronger, smarter, more connected cooperative, driving unparalleled value and opportunities for those we serve.”

Sam Caton had been acting CEO in the interim period since Matt Carstens’ departure. Caton will resume his role as executive vice president of sales at Landus.

Southern Rust Set To Take Big Bite Out Of Midwest Corn Crop?

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 21:56:59 GMT

If one picture is worth a thousand words, then the video Iowa farmer Dan Striegel shot last week must be worth thousands more. In the video, Striegel is shown harvesting a field of emerald-green corn enveloped in a cloud of orangish-red southern rust.

“We were just getting that field opened up, and I looked over and saw that dust boiling up out of the chopper, so I shot the video,” Striegel says.

Southern Rust? Never heard of her.
What Cheer, Iowa. USA. #pftour25 #harvest25 pic.twitter.com/tiIsUc2CHl
— Dan Striegel (@djsinseia) August 21, 2025

To date, Striegel’s video has garnered more than 48,000 views on X, formerly Twitter.

“We’re in southeast Iowa, Keokuk County, and I think the southern rust is as bad here as it is anywhere,” Striegel adds. “Every field you walk in, if you’re wearing a white T-shirt, you’ll come out of there red.”

A Red Path Of Disease Mars The Midwest

Expect to see more red T-shirt-clad farmers walking out of cornfields across the upper Midwest, based on what the Crop Protection Network (CPN) southern rust map is showing.

The CPN continually updates its online, interactive map showing the counties by state where southern rust infections are confirmed. Now, in late August, the counties look like red steppingstones. They form a checkered path from southwest Michigan through northern Illinois and Indiana, into southern Wisconsin, across all of Iowa and nearly two-thirds of the way across Nebraska. Eastern South Dakota is also lit up with a string of red counties, as are parts of southern to central Minnesota.

The amount of southern rust present in the upper Midwest is worrisome to Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist. In severe cases, the disease can wipe out 45% of the yield potential in a field, according to the CPN.

“At most, one in 10 growers in northern Iowa and Minnesota have seen the kind of southern rust some of them are seeing this year,” says Ferrie, who was working last week with corn growers in both states.

“It was a problem in probably eight out of every 10 fields I was in, and they’d all been sprayed at least once,” he says. “Minnesota has a corn crop that’ll knock your socks off – yield potential of 250, 270. I encouraged every grower to spray their field a second time except for two fields. One had been knocked down by hail, and the other had a hybrid that was clean.”

I spoke with a good friend of mine from Iowa yesterday that is an agronomist and farmer. He said the southern rust in corn across Iowa and much of the Midwest will take 9 to 12 bushel/acre off corn yields on average from what his team and himself are seeing. pic.twitter.com/Ad1VJ9oQBg
— Captain Cornelius1 (@ISU145) August 26, 2025

Hybrids Have Little To No Resistance To Southern Rust

A combination of early-season moisture, heat and wind formed the perfect storm for southern rust this season, allowing the disease-causing fungal spores (Puccinia polysora) to move from southern climes up to the Midwest, according to Kurt Maertens, BASF technical service representative for eastern Iowa and western Illinois.

“We’ve seen it all – southern rust, tar spot, northern corn leaf blight, gray leaf spot. Our corn has been inundated with all these fungal diseases, and we started seeing them early,” says Maertens.

If there’s a silver lining to southern rust, it’s that it does not overwinter in corn residue like tar spot does. But like tar spot, southern rust takes advantage of hybrids that have no built-in resistance. For many growers, that was an Achilles heel this season.

“When you’re dealing with a 117-day hybrid like they grow in southern Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky, you don’t grow corn that doesn’t have good southern rust resistance, because they deal with it every year,” Ferrie notes. “When you move to Minnesota, and you’re planting 102- to 95-day corn, you’re probably not going to find hybrids with southern rust resistance.”

Striegel says that was true for his neighbor’s cornfield, which he custom chopped for silage. “That field had two hybrids in it, one was worse than the other, and the field had been sprayed with a fungicide,” he says.

He adds that he also sprayed his own cornfields with fungicide, but they are still inundated with southern rust.

“We’ve had southern rust before, and it’s not usually something we have to worry about, but this is really bad,” Striegel says. “I’m standing on my deck looking at the cornfield next to my house, and you know, all of the leaves from the ears down in that field are covered with it.”

Southern rust is real in eastern Nebraska. Fungicide 3 weeks ago, 2nd app today with some potassium acetate pic.twitter.com/WZubU6IBwz
— Trent Mastny (@TrentMastny) August 21, 2025

How Late Is A Fungicide Application Still Worthwhile?

Ferrie says the fields he scouted last week were at late R3 to early R4 and had already been sprayed with fungicide at least once, but the disease was rebuilding.

“Any field where farmers had sprayed two weeks previously, the southern rust and northern corn leaf blight, to a lesser degree, were coming back, especially the southern rust. It was resporating,” he says.

The intense disease pressure from southern rust, tar spot and others have kept fungicide use at high levels this season, despite poor commodity prices.

“Because of that [amount of disease pressure], we have seen increased demand for our fungicides this year,” says Maertens, who encouraged customers to get applications made at the beginning of tassel.

Maertens says he has fielded a lot of questions this summer from farmers, asking how late they could go with a fungicide application and still benefit.

“Our recommendation is to get in front of disease,” he says. “Generally, we stop applications before we get to dent (R5). That’s not to say a later application can’t have some benefit, but our best results have been before infection was able to take place.”

Southern rust is a yield enemy farmers routinely face in the Southeast, reports corn yield champion Randy Dowdy, Valdosta, Ga. He participated in the Pro Farmer Crop Tour last week and said on U.S. Farm Report he believes many Midwest farmers still have time to address disease.

“We need to implore the fungicides, the technologies out there and get after it and protect this crop, especially that crop that still has not reached dent,” he says.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Missy Bauer likes to see farmers complete their fungicide applications on the front side of dough (early R4). “Once we get to early dent, I think it’s a little more challenging to get the payback consistently, though we’ve applied at early dent (R5), and seen a nice response,” says Bauer, who is based in south-central Michigan.

Under the tough disease pressure farmers are facing this year, Bauer is telling growers to scout fields and evaluate what growth stage their crop is in before they walk away or pull the fungicide trigger one last time.

She adds that farmers need to check the label to make sure the product used is able to address southern rust effectively. She describes these as “Cadillac” products containing the newest chemistry.

“When it comes to some of these diseases, especially southern rust and tar spot, I do believe a little bit of a Hail Mary pass can be effective,” she says. “Will it be as effective as an application you could have made on a more timely basis? Well, no, you could have made more money doing it timely, but you’re still protecting bushels and gaining ROI at the end.”

Ferrie adds that farmers might want to do the late-season fungicide application to keep their corn crop standing until they can put their harvest plan in place.

“Be doing the push test to check stalk quality,” he advises.

Southern Rust/Silage Alert!!

Southern Rust has been aggressively advancing in many fields, especially those without a fungicide treatment. In some situations the plants are shutting down prematurely and plant material is senescing rapidly.

While we typically want to get down… pic.twitter.com/aK3hGgZE19
— Pioneer Troy (@deutmeyer_troy) August 26, 2025

Striegel says some of the farmers around him are heading to fields to harvest their silage corn sooner than later, because of standability concerns. “Some of this corn got planted early, and we had a lot of heat. The crop matured quickly, and the diseases are kind of shutting it down. It’s just dying out, and guys are going to go get it,” he explains.

That’s the strategy Ferrie encourages farmers to use in regular production corn, too.

“Harvest the fields most at risk first. But if a field of corn goes down, go combine the fields where the corn is still standing and come back to that one later,” he recommends.

The reasoning is you don’t want to risk more corn going down while you’re harvesting the field of corn that already has.

“While I was driving through Iowa last week, I kept thinking that if I built corn reels to pick up down corn I’d bulk up my inventory, because I know where they’re going to get used,” Ferrie says, only half joking. “Yes, harvesting corn at 25% moisture is expensive, but down corn will kick your butt.”

Your next read: Revenge Applications: Why They Don’t Work, Cost You Money and Bushels, and Are Frankly Illegal

High Iowa Water Nutrients Come Down to (and With) Rainfall

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 20:32:49 GMT

The equivalent of 70 nurse tanks of nitrogen per day and one truckload of phosphorous per hour is flowing through the confluence of the Des Moines and the Raccoon rivers in central Iowa. This represents an estimated $50 million annually in agriculturally valuable nutrients lost as water pollutants. So says the “Currents of Change” analysis recently released by Iowa’s Polk County.

“Those nutrients would be much better spent as fertilizer applied to crops that are actually helping our plants grow and producing food that feed people,” says Eliot Anderson of University of Iowa, one of the analysis’ 16 contributing scientists, who spoke at a livestreamed public event presenting the findings.

The analysis highlighted several key findings about the central-Iowa watershed that supplies drinking water to the Des Moines metro area. These included ecological issues like declining biodiversity, fish kill events and harmful algal blooms and water safety problems like antibiotic-resistant, disease-causing pathogens, PFAS and pesticides.

But excessive nutrients, namely agriculturally-sourced nitrogen and phosphorous, were a key focus.

Awash in Nutrients

According to both the analysis and the scientists who presented the findings, the watershed’s normal nitrate levels sit at around 6 to 8 milligrams per liter. While this is lower than EPA’s nitrate standards for drinking water at 10 milligrams per liter, it still ranks the rivers as having among the highest nitrate concentrations of the country. The analysis and presenters note nitrate concentrations regularly spike up to double that level, especially following rain events. Too-high nitrate concentrations in drinking water can have severe health consequences, including “blue baby syndrome” and various cancers.

Concentrations of total phosphorus in the watersheds ranged from roughly 0.2 to 0.7 milligrams per liter depending on location. These levels were above the national average for comparatively sized watersheds. High total phosphorus can result in harmful algal blooms.

Jerald Schnoor of the University of Iowa, another of the analysis’ contributing scientists who spoke at the public presentation of the findings, says stakeholders might well ask where the nutrients are coming from.

“Most of it is from agricultural land — roughly 80% — and of that, 40% of the nitrate is coming from fertilizers applied directly onto the land, about 20% is coming from manure onto the land, and another 20% from soybeans and other legumes that can fix nitrogen and make more nitrate available to run off into tile drainage,” he answers for nitrogen.

For phosphorous, roughly three-quarters of what is in the rivers came from “the state’s extensive corn and soybean production,” overwhelmingly from applied fertilizers, according to the analysis. It cites 2019 data from the U.S. Geological Survey sourced from monitoring sites across the Midwest in identifying the sources of nutrients in the waterways.

However, the problem of high concentrations of nutrients in the Des Moines and the Raccoon rivers is not new. The analysis itself shows nitrate concentration rates regularly getting into current ranges going back to the early 1980s. A 1992 essay from Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture notes high nitrates was a long-running problem at the time. It points out that concentrations going back to the early 1980s were quite close to those of the mid-1940s, back before commercial fertilizer use.

A History of Nutrient Control Efforts

Agricultural efforts to curb nutrient runoff in the area isn’t new either.

Greg Wandrey, director of sustainability at the Iowa Corn Growers Association, points to the 2013 Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy as just one example.

“The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy goal for phosphorus has been met,” he says. “Farmers have done a tremendous job reducing soil erosion with different practices like cover crops and less tillage and strip-till.”

Wandrey also describes the work of the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative , a public-private partnership run by Iowa State University. The initiative does on-farm trials to try to determine the agronomically-optimum application rate. He says the results of the hundreds of trials is the realization that application rate recommendations of a couple of decades ago — roughly 1.2 lb. of nitrogen per bushel produced — are too high for modern corn production practices and needs.

“The number of pounds of nitrogen per bushel is down to about 0.85 to 0.9,” he says. “The nitrogen use efficiency of farmers has improved dramatically over the last 15 to 20 years.”

And those improvements shouldn’t be surprising, he points out.

“[Farmers] don’t just put on a bunch of nitrogen just for the fun of it because nitrogen is, if you own your land, probably the second-highest input cost behind seed. And if you rent, it’s probably the third-highest behind rent and seed,” Wandrey says.

Iowa corn growers aren’t the only ones involved with controlling nutrient runoff into the watershed.

“Iowa pig farmers care deeply about clean water and clean air, and we always have, because we live here too,” says Pat McGonegle, CEO of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, in a public statement. “We’re constantly improving how we manage nutrients and care for the environment, from using advanced manure management practices to investing in research and conservation partnerships.”

Ag retailers also have been working on fertilizer best practices for some time. In a news release celebrating its 25^th year, the Iowa-based Agriculture’s Clean Water Alliance (ACWA) announced its official adoption of the 2025 Fertilizer Code of Practice . It describes the code as “a voluntary agreement between 12 ag retailers statewide to prohibit sales and application of nitrogen in early fall when conditions make nutrients more volatile.”

“Over the course of 25 years, we as an ag retail community have adopted numerous practices like nitrogen stabilizers, cover crops, reduced tillage, the 4R’s and many other practices to maximize the nutrients we are applying to be as efficient as possible,” says Dan Dix, ACWA board president. “The Code of Practice is just one tool we collectively implement to meet these nutrient goals.”

Dealing With Weather Problems

With these long-running efforts at reducing nutrients in the central-Iowa watershed, why do the levels continue to be so high? Wandrey points to weather when it comes to nitrogen.

“The single biggest factor in nitrate moving is rainfall,” he says, explaining nitrates are mobile in water, meaning that rain leads to more ending up downstream. “The last couple of years when we had literally no rainfall after June 15, there were no nitrate problems just because it wasn’t moving. It was staying in the soil and being used, and it wasn’t leaching down out of the fields.”

The inverse is also true, Wandrey notes.

“When we had all of this rainfall this year, way above average rainfall, you’re going to get more leeching,” he says. “Rainfall is the No. 1 factor.”

The analysis notes: “The greatest episodic nitrate events tend to occur in the days or weeks following heavy rain in the spring and summer.” It also highlights that, during the same time as improving farmer nutrient efficiency, climate change has meant more and more intense rain during that time, increasing 16% over the past 30 years. Not only can rainfall mobilize nitrates, the analysis notes it can increase erosion, a major contributor for phosphorous in the watershed.

Since rain cannot be controlled, farmers are working with what they can control. Wandrey points to shifting trends in nutrient application times as one example of farmers adapting to changing needs.

“We’re seeing farmers go to more in season [application] because during mid-May to July 1, that’s when that plant is rapidly growing,” he says. “Getting that nutrient, nitrogen in this case, applied when the plant is using it at that rapid rate has been found to be much more effective compared to just a fall application.”

Crops vs. Foliar Diseases: A High-Stakes Race Underway in Midwest Fields

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 02:17:44 GMT

Two words sum up the concerns Pro Farmer Crop Tour scouts expressed about the corn and soybean crops they evaluated on Thursday in Minnesota and northeast Iowa: disease pressure.

Corn crops infected by southern rust and tar spot were a common sight in fields across both states during the fourth and final day of the tour.

“We saw disease in all of the fields we sampled today, though one of them really wasn’t too bad,” says Lane Akre, host of the eastern leg of the tour. “We saw a lot of early stages of tar spot, and we saw a lot of southern rust throughout.”

So it was no small surprise to the crowd attending Thursday night’s live broadcast when the final tally showed Pro Farmer’s corn estimate for Minnesota actually surpasses USDA’s 202-bu.-per-acre yield projection made August 12.

Pro Farmer estimates the Minnesota corn crop will average 202.86 bushels; that’s up 23.02% versus 2024 and up 13.41% versus the three-year average, according to Emily Flory Carolan, Pro Farmer Crop Tour data consultant.

“This crop is huge; it absolutely is,” Carolan says. “Minnesota is the only state on tour where we have recorded over a 200-bu. average this year. It is a record-year yield for the state.”

She adds that scouts recorded the longest grain inches in the crop that have ever been measured on the tour. “That’s definitely what pulled up that yield average for us,” she says.

Minnesota soybeans show similar yield promise, with final numbers pegged at 1247.86 pods in a 3' x 3' area. That’s up 20.38% versus last year, and up 19.9% versus the three-year average, Carolan reports.

(ProFarmer)

A Much Better Growing Season, So Far
The findings in Minnesota were a pleasant change from what scouts found in 2024, when weather seemed to jog between two extremes – drought and flooding – for much of the season.

Jaden Serbus, Pro Farmer tour scout and farmer based near Renville, Minn., says he was relieved to see Mother Nature had course corrected.

“Last year, the corn crop was only as high as my head, all yellow and stunted with very, very poor yields with all the rain,” Serbus recalls. “This year, many areas are like a garden spot.”

Minnesota District 8 & 9 (10 stops)
Nicolett, Le Sueur, Waseca, Steele, Dodge, Olmsted counties
🌱 Avg Pods in a 3X3 - 1262.80
🌽Avg Yield- 208.35#pftour25 @Feckersbrad73 pic.twitter.com/IklmOxDOTA
— McKenzie Feckers (@MFeckers) August 21, 2025

Northeast Iowa Crops Look Good, But…
As Akre and his team of scouts moved into northeast Iowa on Thursday morning, early yield estimates had Akre concerned results there could bring the state’s overall averages down.

“We saw a lot of drowned-out parts of fields, and that’s limited some of the ear size and counts as populations are down due to skips,” he says.

Despite some agronomic challenges, scouts recorded strong numbers that put the Iowa corn crop at 198.43 bu.-per-acre yield average for 2025. That’s up 2.93% versus last year, and up 6.4% versus the three-year average.

“This Iowa crop has a very, very strong ear count, great grain inches — just a very consistent equation putting that corn yield together,” Carolan reports.

Iowa soybeans are also looking to break yield records. The 2025 crop delivered a 1384.38 pod estimate average in a 3' x 3' area on Thursday; that’s up 5.49% versus last year and up 12.94% versus the three-year average.

(ProFarmer)

Linn Co. Iowa. Lots of tar spot and rust. 46 avg ear count, pretty light, but made some big ears. Yield est 208.53 but still a long way to go grain fill wise#pftour25 pic.twitter.com/efDDM6sbBG
— Lane (@iwatchcorn) August 21, 2025

“For the most part, the Iowa beans are pretty lush and the pod counts have been there, the soil moisture is up, so the potential is pretty high on beans...I think that’s been the real story the last couple of days — how many pods are out there,” Akre says.

But foliar diseases rearing up in Iowa fields have the potential to put the kibosh on record yields between now and harvest, reports Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk and lead scout on the western leg of the tour.

That concern is one reason he reminded crop tour listeners on Thursday that Pro Farmer’s current yield estimates could change before combines roll.

“When we put the corn yield estimate out, it comes with a plus or minus 1%. The soybean crop estimate comes with a plus or minus 2%, and that’s because things can change. We all know that,” Flory says.

“The other thing is the yield models that we use give us a range, and then, based on conditions, we can move within that range with the yield estimate that we’re going to pull,” he adds, noting that he wonders whether the soil moisture currently available will offset some of the discount scouts put on the crops because of the disease pressure that’s present.

At the end of the day, August 21, no one knows how the final corn and soybean yields will net out. As Flory notes, while there’s optimism about better yields coming in this harvest versus a year ago, the outcomes depend on how well the crops cross the finish line.

Watch On-Demand: Pro Farmer Crop Tour Day 3 Results from Illinois and Iowa

Watch On-Demand: Pro Farmer Crop Tour Day 2 Results from Indiana and Nebraska

Watch On-Demand: Pro Farmer Crop Tour Day 1 Results from Ohio and South Dakota

Iowa Corn Has High Potential, Illinois Crop Looks Average and Soybeans Shine in Both States

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 23:58:45 GMT

Bright orange is a great color for pumpkins but not so much for corn. Nonetheless, that was the prevailing color Brent Judisch reports seeing as he evaluated crops Wednesday morning in northwest Iowa’s Harrison County.

“Our first six or seven samples were terrible with southern rust,” says Judisch, a Pro Farmer Crop Tour scout and Iowa farmer. “We saw three fields in a row that were actually gross. I walked out of them just covered with it. After that, while we’ve seen it all day, it’s been more in the lower leaves and not nearly as drastic.”

Chip Flory, lead scout for the western leg of the tour, says the northwest Iowa crop is the best and worst he’s ever seen.

“In the snapshot that we took of it, and the measurables we saw in the field today, it is the best corn crop,” Flory reported during the tour’s nightly live broadcast.

But the disease pressure in the Iowa crop has Flory spooked.

“Disease pressure is putting a lot of bushels — a huge number of bushels — at risk,” he adds. “You can take 20, 30 bushels off of corn yield with what southern rust can do to the crop, even at this late stage in the game. It’s a dangerous crop that we’re looking at out here right now.”

Chip Flory says he was surprised to see corn that was well into R5 (dent) in northwest Iowa. “I can’t tell if it was this mature because of pressure from the southern rust, or if it was because of higher nighttime temperatures at pollination,” he reports. “I am concerned about how much disease is out here, and what it’s going to look like in another week or two.”

(Chip Flory, Host of AgriTalk)

Can The Iowa Corn Crop Still Hit A Record?
The Iowa corn results were a big shocker on Wednesday, given the amount of disease pressure scouts saw, according to Emily Flory Carolan, Pro Farmer Crop Tour data consultant.

“I would say all three districts were setting new records. They were consistently high in all measurements for corn in ear count, inches long and kernels around,” she says.

Carolan’s summary of the results scouts tallied in Iowa revealed some high yield estimates, despite the disease pressure:

*District 1 was 197.89 bushels, up 12.06% versus 2024 and up 9.89% versus the three-year average.

*District 4 was 207.25 bushels, up 5.82% versus last year and up 14.01% versus the three-year average.

*District 7 came in at 195.03 bushels, up 1.80% versus 2024 and up 6.35% versus the three-year average.

(ProFarmer)

Flory is concerned southern rust will impact standability in the Iowa crop, which he says is starting to dent in areas, and cause some of it to go down.

“I’d want to keep an eye on the stalk condition of this crop, because if this disease pressure continues, farmers are going to want to get out and prioritize fields for harvest before we get there,” he adds.

Illinois Corn Crop Looks Average
Scouts report the Illinois corn crop appears lush from the road, but once they walked out into fields, picked ears and pulled back husks, most described finding an average crop.

“We’ve seen some good corn, we’ve seen some average corn and we’ve some stuff that’s got a long way to go,” tour scout Jake Guse told U.S. Farm Report’s Tyne Morgan on Wednesday morning.

That perspective played out in the total results tallied and shared during the nightly tour meeting. Illinois corn averaged 196.19 bushels per acre, down 2.24% from last year but up 1.72% from the three-year average.

(ProFarmer)

Ninth and final stop 4 miles North of Roseville, IL. Population was very good at 34,000. The yield is 213. Kernel depth is just under a 1/2 inch. Some disease was showing up here including tar spot! Soybeans had 1778 pods in 3X3 area. #oatt #pftour25 pic.twitter.com/xAcDSxJL0q
— Darren Frye (@Frye_WSS) August 20, 2025

USDA-NASS estimates released August 12 project the Illinois corn crop will come in averaging 221 bu. per acre for the state, up 4 bushels over 2024.

That’s outside what Guse’s expectations are for the state.

“As you’re driving along the road, you can see ears that are already tipped over. I just don’t see it reaching [USDA’s projection],” he says.

Lane Akre, Pro Farmer economist and host for the eastern leg of the tour, agrees with Guse. He reports pulling several samples of corn that exceeded 200-bu. per acre as well as one that only hit 143 bushels.

“The Illinois crop just wasn’t what we’d hoped,” Akre says. “USDA is anticipating a 1.7% jump from a year ago, and we’re actually down 2.2%.”

Akre’s leg of the tour went through three Illinois counties that are typically heavy hitters for corn yields: Bureau County, Henry County and Rock Island County.

“There’s really good dirt through that area, and the farmers there are very good at actively managing their crops and what they do with fertilizer, herbicide and fungicide,” Akre notes. “We saw some poor emergence and that might’ve weighed on the samples we took.”

Soybeans Could Be the Star of the Season
Soybeans offered a better yield picture for Illinois farmers than the corn crop, Akre notes.

“We didn’t have a single sample in the state that was south of 1,300 pods in a 3’x3' square. We saw a lot of pods and a lot of potential out there,” he says.

The average counts Illinois scouts recorded was even higher than what Akre found, with an average of 1,479.22 pods in a 3’x3' square area. That is up 4.24% versus 2024 and up 12.65% versus the three-year average.

(ProFarmer)

Iowa soybean results across the three districts were equally impressive.

“This year’s crop is better than last year by far,” Greg Lehenbauer, Pro Farmer crop scout, told AgDay’s Michelle Rook. “They’ve had adequate rain across this part of Iowa almost all summer long.”

#pftour25 Day 3. Stop 2 Plymouth Co. IA. #Soybean pod count 816. @AgDayTV @FarmJournal @USFarmReport pic.twitter.com/GgmulwJ8UI
— Michelle Rook (@michellerookag) August 20, 2025

Carolan’s data confirmed the excellent soybeans that crop scouts found on Wednesday in all three districts:

*District 1 soybeans: 1,279.25 pods, up 15.38% versus 2024 and up 15.05% versus the three-year average.

*District 4 soybeans: 1,376.15 pods, up 9.73% versus 2024 and up 13.63% versus the three-year average.

*District 7 soybeans: 1,562.54 pods, up 14.37% versus 2024, and up 24.66% versus the three-year average.

(ProFarmer)

While Flory is cautiously optimistic about the Iowa soybean crop, he says stem rot and sudden death syndrome is taking root in more fields and threatening yield outcomes.

“Some of the routes through southern and west-central Iowa have seen a tremendous amount of disease issue on the soybeans, so I’ve got a feeling it’s going to look a lot different in a week than what it does right now,” he predicts. “Now, if it was September 10, that’d be one thing. But it’s August 20, and there’s still time for those bean diseases to take some yield away.”

Flory’s sentiment about what fields revealed in Iowa was shared by scout Brent Judisch.

“What it’s going to come down to here in the corn and the beans is, does the crop mature faster than the disease moves, or will disease outpace the crop?” Judisch says. “We won’t know for sure for another two or three weeks.”

Watch On-Demand: Pro Farmer Crop Tour Day 3 Results from Illinois and Iowa

Watch On-Demand: Pro Farmer Crop Tour Day 2 Results from Indiana and Nebraska

Watch On-Demand: Pro Farmer Crop Tour Day 1 Results from Ohio and South Dakota

About the Pro Farmer Crop Tour
The Pro Farmer Crop Tour is taking place Aug. 18-21, 2025. Simultaneously, the tour follows an eastern and western route, with the two culminating in Rochester, Minn. Nightly meetings in each location review daily results, scouting observations and historical comparison data. Attend nightly meetings in person or watch the nightly broadcast online at AgWeb.com/croptour .

Be Prepared: Intense Storm Cluster With 75+ MPH Winds Working Through Upper Midwest Monday Evening

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 19:57:58 GMT

A powerful cluster of storms is forming in the Upper Midwest with a chance for crop-damaging winds and potential tornados in central South and North Dakota as well as southwestern Minnesota, warns The National Weather Service and meteorologist Bret Walts with BAMWX.com.

Walts expects the cluster will release a lot of wind energy this afternoon and this evening as it gathers steam moving east through the upper Great Plains. It could even intensify into a rare derecho storm with hurricane force winds.

UPDATE: The Weather Channel is now reporting a “derecho is likely to strike the Northern Plains.”

“We’ve got a stronger (atmospheric) jet stream moving in with a lot of instability in place still with the heat and humidity across parts of Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota,” he says.

Walts is paying close attention to how quickly the individual storm cells merge together. He says the faster that formation occurs the more intense the storm has the potential to become.

7/28/25: Intense severe storms are expected to form this afternoon in SD and spread southeastward into MN and IA through tonight. Swaths of damaging winds, potentially 75-90 mph, are the main concern. Be prepared to take action if watches and warnings are issued for your area. pic.twitter.com/wf2rH7eUdD
— NWS Storm Prediction Center (@NWSSPC) July 28, 2025

Walts forecasts the timing as 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. CT for parts of South and North Dakota, while 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. would be the time frame for the most intense winds in northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota.

“If that initial cell to the north shoots out of a lot of boundaries it could lead to the setup becoming a little bit messier,” Walts says. “We’ll know by five or six o’clock that if this thing is not getting organized, then we have an idea it is not going to be that intense. But I don’t anticipate that happening because the environment is very, very unstable and there’s a lot of wind energy. That combination this time of the year normally is not a good thing.”

NOAA says it expects these storms will move very quickly, and it is important to take action when warnings are issued locally. Do not wait until you see or hear signs of a strong storm because by that time it might be too late.

Your Next Read: Insights From Seed Companies on Tackling Tassel Wrap Challenges

Insights From Seed Companies on Tackling Tassel Wrap Challenges

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:47:15 GMT

Probably no crop has been scouted better through pollination than in 2025 says Austin Schleich, a technical agronomist with Channel. Across his geography in western Iowa, Schleich says the phenomenon of “overly tight tassel wrap” has agronomists, farmers and scouts walking the rows, looking up, and evaluating from stalk to tassel.

“In the last two weeks, it’s really blown up and had a lot of questions about it [overly tight tassel wrap,]” he says. “Myself alongside the Channel seed professionals I work with are out in the fields, monitoring our pollination pretty intensely. We are extremely happy with our pollination progress so far. However, we have seen the tight tassel wrap in other products within the geography outside the Channel lineup.”

Overly tight tassel wrap has been reported by farmers and agronomists from Ohio to Nebraska and Missouri to Minnesota. Matt Montgomery from Beck’s Hybrids says this agronomic issue “does not, at the moment, appear to be at epidemic levels but at elevated levels.” The agronomic issue is attributed to many factors including environment, genetics and rapid growth stages.

Regarding this year’s growing season, Corteva provided this statement: “The weather conditions we have seen this year have really been an anomaly – in some areas we’ve seen as much as double the normal rainfall with sustained, higher-than-normal temperatures. These same conditions can lead to the presence of disease-causing pathogens. Our field teams and agronomists are working with customers to proactively monitor and manage the potential for disease development and treatment.”

Identify The Issue

Montgomery and the team at Beck’s are encouraging farmers to make two scouting passes this year.

“We are telling farmers to conduct at least two scouting tours where they find tassel wrap,” Montgomery says. “If they detect the issue and do some preliminary scouting, they should follow that visit with a second visit a few to several days later. In many (but not all) cases, we have found that the wrapped portion of the tassel eventually does emerge.”

“The best thing we can do this year is get out in your fields and scout and evaluate your pollination,” says Lance Tarochione, agronomist with Dekalb in Western Illinois. “If the tassel was wrapped up a month ago, you weren’t really going to know that if you weren’t there at the right time to see it because the tassel gets unwrapped eventually.”

He provides this scouting guide:

Do you see long silks?
Do you see clipped silks, for example from insects?
Do you see strange pollination patterns on the ear?
Do you see kernels on the ear that are in vastly different stages–most of the kernels on the ear are at the same stage, but if you’re having pollination problems and the pollination window gets strung out longer, you might have kernels of different sizes on an ear
Did the tip fill?
Did the butt fill?
Does the tassel look normal, small, have only one spike and no branches?

“We’ve observed that tassels with a big flag leaf are more likely to wrap,” he says. “And perhaps tassels with a hybrid with a tassel with a single spike and no branches might be more prone to tassel wrap. Hybrids that don’t exert the tassel well up above the leaves in the corn plant might be more prone to tassel wrap. There’s a lot of hybrids that have a very upright leaf structure.”

What to look for is one aspect, and equally as important is how to scout for pollination issues.

Brian Weihmeir, sales agronomist with AgriGold in central Illinois says, “Do scouting in the right way. We don’t want to go out and shuck back one ear and think you have a problem. Take multiple samples. Look at multiple hybrids. Multiple planting dates. Make sure we get a handle on what we are seeing.”

Weihmeir says his geography across central Illinois has not seen an overabundance of tassel wrap.

In western Iowa, Schleich says he’s seen a field where a majority of the plants were exhibiting tight tassel wrap—tassels gripped by the flag leaf to where pollen will not shed to reach silks below.

Is it Genetics or Environment?

Tarochione says opinions vary widely as to what is causing overly tight tassel wrap. But he believes undoubtedly it’s a function of genetics and environment and he strongly affirms there are more pollination issues in 2025 than just tight tassel wrap.

“Obviously, it’s ‘G by E.’ We talk a lot about how genetics and environment interact in all things agronomy. This is no different. But I don’t know that I feel confident we have a good handle on if there are specific environmental conditions that are causing it,” Tarochione says.

Genetics

Weihmeir points to plant characteristics exhibited by hybrids—pointing to hybrids with more inline tassels—less branching.

“It’s a more condensed tassel structure,” he says. “We have hybrids with condensed tassel types, but I haven’t seen tight tassel wrap in our portfolio widespread.”

In western Iowa, Schleich has observed the most consistent observation for tight tassel wrap has been in hybrids with tassels having a single branch.

Planting Dates

Schleich says he’s seen the tassel wrap phenomenon across a wide variety of planting dates–from April 15 to May 7.

Tarochione adds, “I don’t think that there is a specific planting window. It’s been observed in many states as pollination has progressed northward in the corn belt. I do not think it is restricted to a particular planting date window. I’ve seen May planted corn doing it. I’ve seen early April planted corn doing it. To me the planting window is the 2025 growing season.”

Other Pollination Issues

While tight tassel wrap brings a novelty interest in pollination issues, there are many other agronomic concerns during this important time in the corn crop.

“The tassel wrap phenomenon itself is a little bit unique based on my experience, but there’s other things that are causing pollination issues that are not unique,” Tarochione says. “In some cases a little bit too much attention is being paid to tassel wrap when there’s other things that can cause pollination issues.”

He points to timing issues such as when hybrids miss the nick, and silks aren’t adequately pollinated. Additionally, he reports many fields with smaller than average tassels and tassel development issues.

“Tassel development happens at about V6 in a corn plant. So we’re talking a long, long time ago that the tassel was formed in the corn plant long before you could see it. I see lots of very small tassels. I see lots of tassels with no branches. I see tassels with skeletonized branches. I see tassels that are probably producing less pollen than a normal healthy tassel would. So I think that can be playing into the pollination issues as well.” He says.

Schleich agrees says timing is paramount for successful pollination—from the emergence of silks, the length of silks and the spread of pollen once it sheds. In his geography—but not necessarily within Channel hybrids—he’s seen elongated silks which also cause pollination issues.

“If you are seeing pollination issues now, go back in a couple of weeks and evaluate pollination success with overall ear development to see how any of these problems contribute to overall yields,” he says.

What could tight tassel wrap mean for yield?

Tarochione says you can have tight tassel wrap and acceptable pollination.

“You can have tassel wrap and have acceptable pollination in a field with tassel wrap. And you can have poor pollination in fields that aren’t struggling with tassel wrap,” he says. “So it’s more complex than just does it have tassel wrap or not when it comes to pollination. Because if you’ve got two hybrids in a field like in a split planter scenario where you had hybrid A on the left side hybrid B on the right side of the planter. It might pollinate just fine, even with a wrap tassel, because the other hybrid will pollinate it.”

What does this mean for next year?

Clayton Robinson, Channel Corn Brand Portfolio Lead says, “ultimately, our breeding organization is very aware of that this issue [tight tassel wrap] is going on in the industry, and we are probably looking at this with a finer tooth comb moving forward. We’re really happy with how Channel corn products have pollinated in the field this year, but it’s always a good reminder to continue to be vigilant, to look for potential genetic issues that can present themselves when the environment is right.”

And for next year’s seed selection, AgriGold’s Weihmeir says this agronomic phenomenon highlights the need for genetic diversity across the corn hybrids planted.

“Every year is different. With our research, it’s important to have genetic diversity to mitigate risk and maximize yield,” Weihmeir says.

Farm Journal reached out to all major corn seed companies who supply the Corn Belt. Some did not respond. Stine Seed and Wyffels Hybrids said their agronomists are not seeing the tight tassel wrap in their portfolio and therefore chose not to comment further.

A Trio of CEO Announcements From Across Ag Retail Cooperatives

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 21:24:56 GMT

In late May, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) selected Duane Simpson as its next President and Chief Executive Officer. At the NCFC’s annual Washington Conference on July 143, Simpson will officially start the new role.

Simpson joins the association after 17 years at Bayer in government relations and was also previously the Chief Operating Officer of the Kansas Grain & Feed Association.

“I am humbled and honored for the opportunity to lead NCFC and to work alongside the dedicated professionals throughout the cooperative family,” said Simpson. “NCFC’s mission, to advance the business and policy interests of America’s cooperatives and other farmer-owned enterprises, is as vital today as it was when NCFC was founded nearly a century ago. I look forward to building upon the strong legacy of advocacy for agriculture that Chuck Conner has established.”

Earlier this week, CVA’s board announced it had named the cooperative’s next CEO, Nic McCarthy. In making the announcement, the board said: “This leadership change signals an exciting new chapter for CVA, reaffirming its dedication to serving the agricultural community with vision and purpose.”

McCarthy has held many different roles at the co-op: applicator, field sales agronomist, location manager, regional operation manager, and VP of operations.

Landus is officially opening a nationwide search for its next CEO with Medallion Partners. Interim CEO Sam Caton along with the board of directors have met with farmer-owners since April’s leadership change-up.

“Landus is at an important turning point,” says Matt Chambers, Board Chairman. “Sam’s leadership has given us a strong foundation to navigate this challenging transition and move forward with confidence. While our search for a CEO is nationwide, one thing is non-negotiable — the core of our business is here in Iowa, and the success of Landus’ farmers must be at the heart of cooperative decisions.”

From Omaha to Georgia: Inside the Farm Machinery Reshoring Boom

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 19:38:03 GMT

After releasing our “Where Farm Equipment Is Made” 2025 update in February , we circled back with farm equipment manufacturers to get a read on how tariffs will affect where machines are made.

Many companies across a wide range of industries are considering or even moving forward with plans to reshore production from overseas back into the United States. We’ve learned this process involves long-term, strategic investments in new facilities and/or expanding factories already established here in the States.

Although each manufacturer shared differing visions for how, when and where it plans to build out additional manufacturing capabilities in the years ahead, a common theme did emerge: farm equipment builders are investing big dollars into reshoring, and many have been for quite some time now.

Let’s hear what the machinery companies are planning:

AGCO Corp.

(AGCO Corp.)

The Duluth, Ga.-based equipment manufacturer says its dedication to American farmers and its own strategic investment plans are “key drivers of our overall growth strategy,” according to an AGCO spokesperson.

The rest of the statement from AGCO, which builds the Fendt and Massey Ferguson equipment brands along with its own AGCO machines, regarding U.S. expansion plans can be found below:

Since 2020, we have invested just under $3 billion in the U.S. across new and expanded manufacturing facilities, product innovations and the largest ag tech deal in the history of the industry. Our commitment has extended across our various brands, locations and Research & Development (R&D) efforts, including the notable 2024 joint venture establishing Colorado-based PTx Trimble, the inauguration of Fendt Lodge – the North American headquarters of Fendt – in Minnesota, a new precision ag production facility in Illinois, modernization of systems and technologies in one of our Kansas plants, and U.S.-based R&D for new sprayer and planter technology.

These investments, AGCO says, will not only enhance production at its U.S. facilities for years to come, but also ensure AGCO remains at the forefront of ag innovation around the world.

Claas

(Matthew J. Grassi)

Claas is still a somewhat fresh face to the North American farm equipment market, but the company has deep roots in Europe. It was founded over 100 years ago in a small German farming town, and today the company has global headquarters in Harsewinkel, Germany.

But you may not be aware that Claas has also built a significant manufacturing operation in America’s heartland. The company opened its Lexion combine production campus, located just south of downtown Omaha, Neb., in 1997. This year marks 10,000 Lexion combines rolling off the main production line inside the 120,000 sq. ft. facility.

(Photos: John Deere, Matthew J. Grassi, AGCO, Kubota)

Claas has significant expansion plans in place for its Omaha campus, including doubling its overall production footprint for the main manufacturing building as well as adding a new training and apprenticeship building.

Here is the statement Matthias Ristow, president & managing director of business administration – Claas Omaha, shared regarding the company’s expansion plans:

Claas is investing significantly in its production hub in the United States, and not only recently. Over the last five years, we have added to our production facility to provide a better location for our rework and reconfiguration areas, as well as a dedicated work area for our quality control department for the pre-delivery inspections each machine must go through before being shipped. This is part of our comprehensive quality assurance program.

We also have built a new service academy where we train all the technicians from our U.S. dealer network (we have a similar location in Canada) so we can keep their skills up to date and make sure they have the proper certifications to work on our machines. Technology updates and changes are trained there as well.

Furthermore, our new service academy houses our apprenticeship program where we train the future assembly technicians in a three-year rigorous training program, managed by the German Chamber of Commerce. The program has several advantages. Technicians receive a regular paycheck (“earn while you learn”), receive an associate’s degree from a community college we partner with, receive a certificate from the German Chamber and have a job when they graduate from the program debt free.

Farm Journal recently had the opportunity to tour Claas’ Omaha operation, where we learned the manufacturer is also expanding its partnerships with domestic material and component manufacturers. For example, it recently began working with a finished parts supplier local to Nebraska to fabricate the grain spout for each Lexion combine.

CNH Industrial (Case IH and New Holland)

(CNH Industrial)

Although short on specifics, CNH Industrial (Racine, Wisc.) confirms it plans to “continue to expand our footprint through capital investments in our U.S. facilities, partnerships with local suppliers and programs that strengthen the communities where we live and work.”

CNH adds it currently employs more than 9,000 people across 17 U.S. states, with 14 manufacturing facilities and 22 R&D centers active throughout North America.

And approximately 70% of the components used in CNH Industrial’s U.S. plants are sourced from domestic suppliers while 95% its steel is purchased from U.S.-based mills. It says this approach to domestic material sourcing supports thousands of suppliers’ jobs and reinforces its investment in American-made quality.

John Deere

(John Deere)

The farm equipment manufacturer with global headquarters in Moline, Ill., was first to share its future investment plans with Farm Journal. Back in May, the company announced a 10-year, $20 billion outlay plan for its U.S. production base. This year alone, Deere says it will pour $100 million into its U.S. operations.

John Deere says this initiative includes:

A 120,000 sq. ft. expansion of the company’s remanufacturing facility in Missouri.
Construction of a new excavator factory in Kernersville, N.C.
Expansion of its Greeneville, Tenn., turf equipment factory.
New assembly lines for 9RX high-horsepower tractor production in Waterloo, Iowa.

John Deere plans to invest a total of $22.5 billion into its U.S. manufacturing network once the 10-year project is complete.

Kubota North America

(Kubota North America)

Kubota Tractor Corporation (KTC) established its North America headquarters in Grapevine, TX., in 2017. The Japanese equipment manufacturer shared the following statement regarding U.S. expansion plans.

North America is critical for Kubota, and the U.S. is our largest market. We firmly believe in local production for local consumption and have made more than $1 billion in U.S. infrastructure investments in the last couple years to meet the growing needs of our dealers and customers. For example, we recently announced the opening of a new loader facility in Gainesville, Ga., (invested $190 million), a new Western Distribution Center in California (invested $72 million), and an R&D facility (invested $100 million) that’s also in Georgia. We have other network investment announcements in the works, and we plan to continue to invest over the next five to 10 years as we respond to market demands. Today, we are more than 7,000 American workers strong who market and sell, and fabricate, weld and assemble equipment with domestic and global parts.

Want to learn more about where your favorite farm machines are made? Check out “From the Factory to Your Fields: Where Farm Equipment Is Made”.

Your Next Read: The 20 Embarrassing Problems that Make Your Farm Truck Unique

No, John Deere is Not Freezing Production or Stepping Away From its U.S. Factories

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:48:46 GMT

An online report last week claimed John Deere is shutting down ALL manufacturing in response to the ongoing tariff situation in the U.S.

But we looked into it, and we’re here to tell you: don’t take the bait — or, as the kids say, feed the trolls — because it’s simply not true.

An article authored by Kieran Schalkwyk and titled “John Deere Freezes U.S. Manufacturing in Unprecedented Shutdown” appeared on MSN.com and was aggregated by Google News feeds last week, claiming the manufacturer is “making a radical move that some might think is ‘un-American.’”

John Deere shared the following LinkedIn post Friday afternoon. You can also visit Deere.com for more information on the company’s U.S. manufacturing presence.

The MSN.com post has since been taken down and brings up an error page:

MSN.com screenshot

(MSN.com)

It’s somewhat bewildering timing for this particular misinformation ploy.

John Deere recently put out a blog post outlining its commitment to U.S. manufacturing. The statement says John Deere will invest $20 billion into its U.S. footprint over the next decade, which includes major expansion projects in Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Today, the company has 60 manufacturing facilities in more than 16 U.S. states and employs over 30,000 American workers.

What is true is over the past 18 months, the company has been forced to lay off some employees , and it strategically slowed manufacturing at some production facilities in Iowa in response to depressed farmer demand for new tractors and combines.

Of course, John Deere is not alone navigating a treacherous global farm economy. Machinery rivals AGCO and CNH also made the tough choice to layoff factory workers over the past 12 months. CNH even completely shutdown its overseas machinery imports during the first few days of the tariff policy rollout, although that pause was only temporary.

In February, we updated our popular “Who Makes What Where” feature showing where major farm equipment is manufactured around the world.

Our analysis of John Deere’s global factory network shows that of the 60 John Deere machines relevant to U.S. farmers, 50 of them (83%) are manufactured here in North America. Of all the major farm equipment manufacturers we polled, John Deere has the largest U.S.-based manufacturing footprint other than Canadian-based Buhler Industries, which is 100% North America based.

So, it feels safe to say we can put this rumor to bed once and for all: No, John Deere is not shutting down its factories. Myth Busted. Shutdown the rumor mill.

Your Next Read - All The Details: Inside John Deere’s New F8 and F9 Forage Harvesters

Mo Technology, Mo Problems? 2 Farmers Sound Off on Unreliable, High Maintenance Farm Equipment

Fri, 16 May 2025 03:54:27 GMT

Northeast Iowa farmer Tim Burrack is getting a little taste of Murphy’s Law this spring, and he’s not too thrilled about it. The same goes for Kansas farmer Matt Splitter. Both men are dealing with farm equipment that is breaking down more often than it is getting the job done.

It’s easy to see why such a situation would be so frustrating from the farmer point-of-view: the ag technology they’ve invested in to keep things on track this spring has basically done the complete opposite. And when the ideal planting windows are as compressed and as brief as they are today, stalled equipment is more than just a little problematic.

“There’s been a lot of problems for me — that’s a reason I’m not done planting yet — there’s just all these issues slowing us down, and more often than not, it’s (a problem with) the technology,” Burrack told “AgriTalk” host Chip Flory this week during his appearance on the weekly Farmer Forum segment.

Just yesterday, Burrack says, one row on his planter completely shut down. He took it down to the local dealership, but even the dealer technician was stumped. Lucky for Brook, the dealer’s IT guy was in the office that day and he figured out how to get his planter back up and running.

“He said let’s do an ISOBUS shutdown. Now, I’d never even heard that term before, but it’s when you shut everything off, you unplug the planter from the tractor, and then you start the tractor, back it up, and then plug the planter back in while the tractor is running,” he says. “That ended up solving my problem, but then something else shut down, and we sat there for another hour and a half before we figured that out. Stuff like that — as a farmer it makes you want to pull your hair right out.”

Kansas farmer Matt Splitter considers himself an early tech adopter, but even he is feeling a bit of tech-fatigue after having to do more “hard resets than I can count on all my extremities” this spring.

“There’s just something coming at us every day, all the time,” he says. “You get error codes. You get warnings. We’ve got a tractor down right now because of (an issue with) wiring, and we’ve got planters shut down. We can’t go a full day without some kind of technology issue, and what’s crazy is it’s not something that completely stops you in your tracks, just something that makes you want to pull your hair out. And there’s nothing you can really do other than chase down a mile of wires or do a hard reset.”

Splitter puts the onus for the dodgy tech and machinery squarely on farm equipment and ag tech providers. He believes they are not perfecting new products and machines before releasing them for sale, and then they simply move on to the next new product in the pipeline.

“And the technicians at the dealerships are not being properly trained, either,” he adds. “They’re at a loss for how to fix a lot of these problems, as well.”

Your Next Read: Advice From a Rural Banker - How to Navigate Today’s Uncertainty

Midwest Farmers Dodge Spotty Rains as Planting Season Jumps Ahead of Schedule

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 21:03:31 GMT

Timely rains and great conditions have farmers racing to put seeds in the ground. USDA’s latest crop progress report shows 24% of the corn crop is now planted. That’s 2% ahead of the five-year average. For soybeans, 18% is now in the ground, which is 6% ahead of normal.

The weather and soil conditions are cooperating for the farmers on the “Plant Your Independence Tour” this spring. In Iowa, despite some rains, corn planting is 6% ahead of the five-year average at 34% complete. Soybeans are a quarter of the way done.

Jeff Reints farms near Shell Rock, IA

(Wyffels)

Jeff Reints farms in northeast Iowa near Shell Rock and has received 5" to 7" of rain across his ground since Easter Sunday. Right now, he still has about half of his acres left to plant. He’s hoping to get back in the field later this week to get back on schedule.

“We could still be completed with planting by May 10, which is a good, normal goal for us,” Reints says.

Ward Hunter farms in Ogden, IA

(Wyffels)

In Ogden, Iowa, farmer Ward Hunter said planting got off to its earliest start ever, but dry weather had him concerned. Now things have flipped. Hunter says he didn’t turn a wheel last week, and his fields have seen anywhere from 2" to 4" of rain.

In Minnesota, corn planting stands at 26% done, which is 5% ahead of average. Soybean planting sits at 13% this week and 7% ahead of normal.

Mike Madsen farms in Heron Lake, MN

(Wyffels)

Mike Madsen farms in Heron Lake, Minn., and saw 1.5” of rain between Friday and Monday. He’s planning to resume planting this week and expects to finish the last of the corn.

“Our farm has 150 acres of corn left to plant. No soybeans are in yet,” Madsen explains. “We have a little way to go, but it’s OK. It’s still April.”

Six hours southeast in Whitewater, Wis., Casey Kelleher says the ground is warm and working up beautifully. He says once they got started, the crop is going in quickly.

Casey Kelleher farms in Whitewater, WI

(Wyffels)

“About 50% of our corn, or roughly 1,200 acres, is in,” Kelleher says. “We’re just getting going on soybeans, and we’re in our first field now.”

Across the border in Illinois, some farmers were able to plant around the rain. Brent Johnson says they planted Wednesday, Thursday and over the weekend around Ashland, Ill. He has about 22% of his soybeans left to plant and 45% of his corn.

Brent Johnson farms in Ashland, IL

(Wyffels)

USDA says overall, 22% of soybeans are in the ground across Illinois. That’s 2% ahead of average. Corn is at 16% planted, which is 10% behind the usual pace.

The shift in planting pace is happening as more farmers put soybeans in first for agronomic reasons.

That’s a similar story for the Parkinson farm in Wataga, Ill. Their beans are done despite dodging storms on their way toward completion.

Rod Parkinson farms near Wataga, IL

(Wyffels)

“We’ve had a little over an inch of rain in the last week,” says Brian Parkinson.

He farms with his brother, Rod,, who says rain on April 17 kept them on the sideline for a few days.

“We hadn’t planted any corn, and I have a lot of friends, neighbors and customers in the same boat,” Rod says. “They got their beans planted but are waiting to start corn.”

The Parkinson brothers are the fifth generation on this family farm. Rod’s son, Austin, is the sixth generation.

“There’s been a lot of generations and a lot of hard work and effort to get to where we are today,” Austin says as the trio checks soil conditions once more. “This ground condition isn’t far off. It really just needs a full day of sun, and then guys will be able to get back in.”

With beans done, their focus is turning to corn, which currently offers better potential for returns.

“Corn does pencil a lot better this year,” Rod says. “With beans, you need an 11 in the front of them, and I don’t know that we’re going to get there. So, we did switch an 80-acre parcel to corn.”

This year their operation is roughly a 60/40 split between corn and beans.

As morning grey turns to midday sun, corn planting on their corner of Illinois commences.

“This winter was different than last because we had a lot of freezing and thawing. That’s why the soil is so good,” Rod says. “A year ago, we never had one freeze, and it stayed heavy all spring.”

Even with the delay, they’re in good shape agronomically.

“Last year, our Wyffel’s data showed April corn through May 15 corn really had no yield drag,” Austin says. “After May 15, you have a little bit. But it’s really all about planting conditions. If you can plant when the conditions are good that’s going to be the best way to go.”

Patience with the planter is key as the Parkinsons dodge raindrops.

“I think guys are feeling pretty optimistic right now,” adds Rod as he watches Brian put the first corn rows into strips.

He’s optimistic the planting will get done, even as the growing season is just beginning.

Research to Results: Salin 247 Robot Advances Iowa Corn Strip Cropping Knowledge

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 20:10:50 GMT

A former Corteva Agriscience research scientist and the CEO and founder of Salin 247, an ag tech startup focused on autonomous planting and spraying equipment for corn and soybeans, have joined forces in Iowa to advance research on strip cropping corn and cover crops.

Using Salin 247’s four row, autonomous planting robot, Bob Gunzenhauser is planting strip crop test plots in a field near Corydon to evaluate the practice and collect data on its potential to boost corn yields.

The concept is rather interesting, especially if you’re farming corn and raising livestock: corn is planted in strips at two different seeding rates with cover crops interseeded in opposite strips, and then the plan is to push fertility via in-season nitrogen application at V4-V6 with drop nozzles.

In a real world scenario, a farmer could harvest the corn and leave the cover crops and corn stalks behind to graze livestock on. Soil health would be one ancillary benefit, as would reduced compaction via the lightweight, battery-powered robotic planter.

Here are some videos of the Salin 247 robotic planter Gunzenhauser shared:

Small plots with varying seeding rates and shut offs for alleyways built in thru the prescription, cruising along at 2 MPH. @ptx_trimble pic.twitter.com/emAgf7T0WE
— Bob Gunzenhauser (@BobGunzy) April 16, 2025

Salin247 autonomous running a test plot outside of Corydon, IA today. Including corn/cover strips and Nitrogen x Seeding Rate small plots. @jasonmauck1 @zebulousprime @PfanstielJunior pic.twitter.com/MdWLY4eR9w
— Bob Gunzenhauser (@BobGunzy) April 16, 2025

Gunzenhauser says the trial will also variable rate apply zero to 240 lb. of nitrogen per acre and three different seeding rates to demonstrate the Salin 247 autonomous planting technology and how it can enable small plot research. The data will also be used to build economic, optimum nitrogen rate response data for south-central Iowa farmers, he adds.

“Mainly I think Bob is doing this to get the data and to show the value of strip cropping, which is increasing corn yield because of the sunlight effect,” says Dave Krog, CEO and founder, Salin 247. “There’s data out there that shows generally the outside two rows of a corn strip benefit from extra sunlight, but we want to advance this research.”

In 2023, Salin 247 commissioned a similar experiment on its own test plots, and the total average yield on the check rows came in at 235 bu. per acre. The corn strips ended up yielding just over 300 bu. per acre, and Krog says August was very dry that year, so theoretically the plot could have had higher yields if it were irrigated.

(@BobGunzy/X.com)

Gunzenhauser also invited some students from the local Mormon Trail high school ag program, he has a connection with the student’s teacher, to show them how applied research is conducted in field trials. He is also hoping to enlist their help in harvesting the small plots this fall.

While a small, robotic Salin 247 planter was showcased in planting this trial, Krog says his system has applications beyond small plot seed sowing.

“Strip cropping is just one example of something unique you can do with small, autonomous equipment,” he says. “Our platform, we’ve built a small, autonomous toolbar. We can take the planter off and put a liquid or dry system on, we have a cultivator for the organic guys, and we’re working with Yetter on a strip-till pressure study.”

Gunzenhauser and Krog will lean on the local cooperative to deliver some mid-season sprays for the plots, and then return in the fall with the high school students to harvest the plots and calculate the yields. He says he plans to keep us updated on the results.

Your Next Read: Elevate Your Corn Planting Game Instantly With 7 Proven Tips

John Deere Challenge: Watch a New York Tech Journalist Farm 20 Acres of Corn for $20 Profit

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 13:52:49 GMT

You might recall this viral stunt from when it was announced last spring: John Deere and tech influencer David Cogen (@TheUnlockr) joined forces to set the New York-based journalist up as a row crop farmer for an entire growing season. Using 20 acres of prime Iowa farmland, Cogen’s mission was to find out if he could accomplish what farmers must achieve to put food on America’s dinner tables: turn planted crops into cold, hard cash.

Unlike most farmers, though, Cogen was basically given every cheat code in the game: He had guidance from John Deere experts throughout the crop journey, all of the latest John Deere equipment with all the tech bells-and-whistles any farmer could dream for —not to mention a blank check for seed, crop inputs, fuel and labor.

Cogen began by ordering up soil tests and custom fertilizer applications. Then he flew back to Iowa to complete the spring tillage pass and seed the field. Next came another trip to spray weeds post-emergence with Deere’s See & Spray smart application system before returning in the fall to harvest the finished grain and haul it down to the local ethanol processing plant.

Along the way Cogen learned a handful of lessons any seasoned farmer already knows all too well:

The weather never seems to do what you want it to do, when you want it to do it. That’s farming.
You have to eradicate weeds or they will rob your yields and destroy your profits.
Variation is the enemy, it’s all about consistent production and harvesting at the precise moisture level and timing.
A dry late-summer and early-fall is a factor you can’t control but it can cost you real dollars on your final yield. The corn will dry down too fast in the field if you don’t get it off on time, so in this case, water is truly money when it comes to corn and soybean farming.

In the end, Cogen’s field averaged 209 bushels per acre and produced just over 3,000 total bushels of corn, which equates to over 200,000 lb.

His total expenses for the year (land costs, seed, fertilizer and “other”) totaled $16,456, while his total revenues for the 19.24 total acres of corn harvested was $16,478.

Don’t adjust your monitor. Yes, you read that right.

The New York tech editor farmed all year long and only brought home $22 in total profit. It just goes to show, turning a profit on only 20 acres is incredibly hard to do. Small acre farmers deserve just as much respect as the big boys.

“Honestly, I hope that like myself, that this has opened your eyes into what it actually takes to farm,” Cogen says at the end of the video. “Just all of the work that goes into it and you can have a new appreciation for farming and for farmers.

Your Next Read: Farmer Finds A Silver Bullet For High Corn Yields

Iowa Farmers Report Breakneck Planting Pace, Some Even Say They'll Finish Planting Corn This Week

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 18:31:57 GMT

USDA’s second check of planting progress for the season shows Iowa farmers started planting corn this past week, but that number could make a massive jump by next week, as some farmers are seeing a record planting pace.

USDA’s latest Crop Progress Report released on Monday showed 2% of the state’s corn crop is already in the ground as of Sunday, which is 1% behind last year. And as even more planters started rolling in Iowa this week, Ward Hunter of Ogden, Iowa says his field conditions have been favorable for planting. In fact, they haven’t seen any delays since they started planting this year.

“We started April 11, so last Friday, at about noon,” Hunter says. “Ground conditions were dry, and we thought even though it was a little cool, conditions – as far as moisture-wise – were good.”

Hunter says with no rain in the forecast until this weekend, they could finish planting corn on Thursday – which would mark the earliest ever on their operation. After Thursday, they’ll immediately switch to beans.

“No pauses at all. We definitely would like an inch of rain or so, but we’ll plant until we’re done,” Hunter says.

Concerns About Drought
The one concern is moisture. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor paints the picture in Iowa, showing nearly 80% of the state is facing dryness and 30% is seeing drought.

“Moisture is obviously a concern, and so I guess that’s my main concern is adequate moisture,” Hunter says.

The latest Drought Monitor shows 30 percent of Iowa is experiencing drought.

(U.S. Drought Monitor )

The Hunters say conditions aren’t as dry as last year during planting, but with 30 mph wind gusts this week, it’s getting drier by the day. And that’s forcing the them to rethink planting depth this year.

“We’re planting about a 0.5" to 0.75" deeper on corn this year than we were a year ago. We’re planting in moisture, but that top couple of inches are dry,” Hunter says.

“Last year, the ground was so dry, we ran pretty hard with the down force,” says Hunter’s son Bryant. “It was just so hard to penetrate that soil and get a good seed trench to hold together.”

In-Season Switch to More Corn
USDA’s March Acreage report also revealed a shift to more corn acres this year, estimating a 5% increase across the state.

“Just in the last couple of weeks, we actually added about 270 more acres of corn,” Hunter says. “We switched like three fields over to go corn on corn. Even though it’s a higher risk planting corn on corn, at least we have a chance economically to break even or make a profit where beans can’t.”

Ward is also a Wyffels dealer, which means he talks to farmers all across his area. He says his farm isn’t alone in the quest for more corn, as he’s hearing a substantial switch to more corn acres this year.

“I’d say 10% to 15% more corn in this area,” Hunter says. “When I’m talking to our retailers we’re getting our fertilizer and things from, they say here in central Iowa [corn acres] are up about 15%.”

That’s not typical. The past three years, Hunter says it’s been a 50/50 split between corn and beans.

“But this year, just because of the crop prices, the guarantee of crop insurance and things like that, it favors corn right now,” Hunter says.

Optimistic About 2025
The Hunters are focused on planting this year’s crop, and it’s off to a promising start – especially if these Iowa farmers can catch a rain this weekend. And they are staying optimistic about 2025.

“I think anybody in agriculture has to be,” Hunter says. “Is it as fun as it was two or three years ago, or even five years ago? I like to refer to those as the golden days of agriculture. Those years were pretty good. Right now, it’s more depressed. But you have to be optimistic. If you’re not, I don’t know what you’re doing in this business.”

Follow Planting Progress
The Hunters are one of six family farms AgDay and U.S. Farm Report will follow this spring for the “Plant Your Independence Tour.” Over the next six weeks, you can track all six farmers’ planting progress on the “Plant Your Independence Tour” page .