We raise corn and soybeans in a 50/50 rotation, which means one year a field will be planted to soybeans and the next year it will be planted to corn. These two crops tend to compliment each other in numerous ways. For instance, corn may be subject to a disease or pest that doesn't affect soybeans, so rotating crops can break the disease or pest cycle for the following crop. Rotating the crops tends to result in higher yields for both.
Each year, the crops we've raised are sold to various markets. Our corn may be marketed directly to cattle or hog feeders, or we may sell our corn to an ethanol plant which uses the corn to produce ethanol fuel for our cars and trucks. The distillers grain by-product from ethanol production can then be used as feed for cattle. If we sell our corn to the local Co-op elevator, it may be loaded on a train destined for Mexico or the Pacific Northwest for export to Asia, in both cases to be used as animal feed. As for our soybeans, they may also end up on a train bound for export, but we also sell to processors who turn our soybeans into soybean meal and soybean oil. The vast majority of meal becomes a source of protein in hog, poultry or dairy feed. Most of the soybean oil becomes vegetable oil used in many of our food products for human consumption. Some of the soybean oil may become bio-diesel fuel and heating oil, or may be used in other industrial applications as a petroleum substitute.
Each year, the crops we've raised are sold to various markets. Our corn may be marketed directly to cattle or hog feeders, or we may sell our corn to an ethanol plant which uses the corn to produce ethanol fuel for our cars and trucks. The distillers grain by-product from ethanol production can then be used as feed for cattle. If we sell our corn to the local Co-op elevator, it may be loaded on a train destined for Mexico or the Pacific Northwest for export to Asia, in both cases to be used as animal feed. As for our soybeans, they may also end up on a train bound for export, but we also sell to processors who turn our soybeans into soybean meal and soybean oil. The vast majority of meal becomes a source of protein in hog, poultry or dairy feed. Most of the soybean oil becomes vegetable oil used in many of our food products for human consumption. Some of the soybean oil may become bio-diesel fuel and heating oil, or may be used in other industrial applications as a petroleum substitute.
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Weather plays a big role in our farming business. It's the determining factor as to whether we have a good year or a bad year. During the growing season, rain at the right time and in the right amount can make us good farmers. Too much, or too little rain can have a drastic impact on our crop yields. It's the same with temperature. Too hot during pollination and our corn yield is hurt. Too cold during planting and our crop emergence suffers. The type of weather we have during the growing season might determine if a certain pest thrives on our crops or is not an issue. Hail can nip a crop or destroy it. An early fall frost might put an end to a crop that looked promising. Although irrigation exists here, most of the farmland in Northeast Nebraska isn't irrigated for a number of reasons, like availability of ground water or topography. We rely on rainfall for all the land we currently farm. Rainfall, or snow, during the times of year we don't have a crop growing is also important to replenish soil moisture reserves for the next crop. Farmers spend their lives "watching the weather."
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Technology
Technology is making an impact in agriculture worldwide. The agriculture of the future will be very different than today and vastly different from the past.
Precision agriculture is all about getting the right product in the right place at the right time in the most efficient way possible. Whether it is variable rate seeding, fertilizer, crop protection, or irrigation, we will see the adoption of variable rate technology and precision farming accelerate in the future.
Precision agriculture is all about getting the right product in the right place at the right time in the most efficient way possible. Whether it is variable rate seeding, fertilizer, crop protection, or irrigation, we will see the adoption of variable rate technology and precision farming accelerate in the future.
Virtually every one of our equipment passes across the field today is tracked by as many as 20 plus satellites orbiting the earth. Below is a listing of some of our field operations and the precision technologies being used in each one.
- Planting: Mapping seed varieties and population, auto swath control, auto steering, and variable rate seeding control.
- Spraying: Auto swath control, auto steering, auto boom height, and mapping for application rates and detailed documentation for state regulations.
- Combining: Yield and moisture monitoring, mapping, auto swath control, and auto steering.
- Grain Cart: iPad app which weighs and tracks which field every bushel comes from, which truck hauled it, who hauled it, moisture content, and storage location.
- Fertilizing: GPS grid soil testing, variable rate application, mapping, auto swath control, auto steering, and detailed documentation.
- Grain Storage: Cables run down through the grain inside the storage bins to monitor grain moisture and temperature, control the fans and burners, make reports via texts and emails, and allow bin monitoring and control adjustments from the home computer.
- Drone: We recently incorporated a drone with a 4K camera for our field scouting to give us more efficient access to scout our fields during the growing season.
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Sustainability
We've been no-till planting our crops since 1985. That's over 30 years! No-till saves our soil from erosion, which also saves water and nutrients. We rotate our crops and follow a judicious program of pest and nutrient management. We maintain detailed computer record keeping of not only our finances, but field by field inputs, costs, yields and break even outcomes.
We use the latest seed technology, traits, and treatments to help reduce the use of chemicals on our fields and to benefit from traits such as drought resistance.
We use the latest seed technology, traits, and treatments to help reduce the use of chemicals on our fields and to benefit from traits such as drought resistance.