Giving Thanks

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Partners & Friends,

As we pause this holiday week to enjoy time with family and friends, it’s natural to reflect on all we’re thankful for. Looking back at the origins of this holiday helps us remember how it came to be. The early American settlers—the Pilgrims—endured and overcame great hardship, yet still took time to give thanks for the blessings God had bestowed upon them. Later, in the midst of national strife and division, President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday.

Now, as a very blessed and comfortable people, we can pause to recognize how fortunate we are and take stock of all we have to be grateful for.

At Hess Family Farm, here’s a short list:

  • Family that is healthy and thriving

  • A very bountiful corn and bean crop this past year (despite limited rainfall)

  • New life, as Elisha joined us on June 1, 2025

  • A family seeking and following Jesus

  • A great employee team—shoutout to Hayden, Ryan, Chuck, Randy, and everyone else!

  • The privilege of working in and enjoying God’s creation each and every day

  • A super successful goat showing season

  • Great friends

  • Bible-believing churches

  • Our families’ heritage—the struggles and sacrifices that brought us to where we are

  • Two granddaughters thriving in college

  • Wonderful neighbors

  • Our own beef supply

  • Good coffee

  • Trees that provide shade and wood for the fireplace

  • Goat babies to remind us of the wonder of new life

  • Cousins

  • Musical gifts

  • Modern farm equipment

We hope you’ll pause, make a list of your own, and truly reflect on one of the greatest blessings: Jesus! Stay warm, enjoy the snow, gather your loved ones close, and cherish those relationships.

Steve

Made It!

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Partners & Friends,

Praise the Lord for a safe and bountiful harvest! Our bins are full! We wrapped up the last rows of corn on Saturday—seven straight weeks of uninterrupted harvest. We only lost about 1.5 days to rain and 2.5 days to combine repairs.

In total, we handled approximately 600,000 bushels of corn and 68,000 bushels of soybeans. We dried nearly half the corn and delivered about 335,000 bushels during harvest. We also delivered 3,000 bushels of soybeans that weren’t seed beans—or simply didn’t fit in the storage bin.

The team at Hess Family Farm performed stellar in every aspect, meeting each challenge with calmness and grace. 🙂 We’re incredibly grateful for everyone who pitched in. Our family knows this couldn’t have been done without you—thank you! And a big thank-you as well for all the meals provided by our partners and by Shanna. 😋

Now it’s time to tackle all the details we pushed aside while the crop went in. About one-third of the cornstalks still need to be VT’d (disked so they’ll decompose faster). We’ve got field edges to mow, fertilizer to apply with the strip-till bar, a bit of tillage to smooth recently tiled fields, dirt work on newly acquired farms, trees to trim, tile holes to repair, and equipment to clean and store. Several hundred tons of lime have already been applied. And of course, there’s all the office work we’ve neglected!

There are rumors this morning of renewed trade talks with China. Our local FSA office seems to be partially staffed again. The President just announced plans to import beef from Argentina—right when U.S. cattlemen were finally getting some well-deserved rewards for their years of hard work. And honestly, why does Congress still get paid during the shutdown? They seem less essential than much of the remaining federal workforce. 🫤 Meanwhile, AI keeps popping up everywhere—becoming a force that’s increasingly involved in nearly everything we do.

Phyllis provided harvest transportation over 25 times by my count, plus a few spur-of-the-moment parts runs. Several family members also helped out with rides and driving. 🥰 Lindsay, her family, and their dog Sparky joined us for several days before heading to St. Louis for some cousin time.❤️ Harper and Abbott did great at the American Royal in Kansas City last week. Looking forward to getting back to more regular hours—spending time with family, attending community events, and catching up with the grandkids!

Current Prices:
Corn — $4.08
Soybeans — $10.66

Enjoy the fall!
Steve

Sunrise to Sunset

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Partners & Friends,

Last Friday was one for the books. I woke up to a weather alert for rain at 7:30 a.m., but Chuck and I had already left for the field at 5:30 to get the trucks on the road before they got stuck in the mud. While we were out there, we realized we had enough time before the rain—and enough empty grain carts—to make a round in the mile-long rows. We ended up catching a gorgeous sunrise in the field, and even saw a rainbow as the rain began to fall!

Later that same day, after the brief shower passed and harvest resumed, we watched the sun set as we finished our last rounds. What a beautiful reminder of the wonder and glory of God’s creation…and we get to experience it every day. PTL! 🙌

Harvest is moving along steadily. We’ve finished the beans and are back on corn. Yields are holding up well, with moisture around 14.5%, and the corn is still standing reasonably strong. We’ve started running the strip-till bar to apply fertilizer, but the ground is very dry and hard, wearing out tillage points fast. We’re keeping pace with the combine using the VT disc to till and break down stalks, but a little rain would sure help. Unfortunately, there’s not much in the forecast. 😬 At this rate, we have about 13 days of corn harvest left.

The government shutdown hasn’t affected us much. Maybe we don’t need so many workers after all? Basis levels for both corn and beans are unusually strong for such a big crop, so something feels a bit off. The Mississippi River is even lower than it was this time last year, which has pushed barge shipping rates higher—not great news for export prices. 🫤

On the home front: goat showing season is starting back up, and we had lots of babies last week. Spoon River Drive wrapped up over the past couple of weekends, basketball season is just around the corner, and we’ve got one more mountain bike race left. 😍

Fall Prices:
Corn: $3.86
Soybeans: $9.66

Stay safe,

Steve

Update

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Partners & Friends,

We’re almost one-third of the way through harvest. As of today, corn and beans are about even in terms of progress. Yields have been strong—especially the early beans—and corn looks to be as good as, if not better than, last year. With no rain, the pace has been pretty intense.

We’ll be switching back to beans today, and by the looks of the fields, we should be able to wrap up bean harvest in 4–5 days. The forecast shows no rain for the next two weeks and temperatures in the 80s, which should speed up dry down and add some pressure to get the crop out while it’s still standing. Stalk quality isn’t great, as disease pressure was pretty heavy toward the end of the season. We’re delivering our fall corn sales now, while all seed beans will go into storage for winter delivery and processing. By the end of harvest, the bins will be full.

On the market side, soybean exports have been disappointing. TikTok seems to be the biggest sticking point between us and China. Still waiting to see the real impact of these trade deals. The Argentina swap felt like a slap in the face to American farmers. 🫤

Lastly, the Charlie Kirk service last Sunday was a powerful tribute to someone who stood firm in their faith!

Steve

Safety and Taxes

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Partners & Friends,

There has been a lot of activity as we prepare for harvest. We held our fall safety team meeting this week, with Trooper Backstrom presenting during a fierce rainstorm. 😬 Phyllis and I also attended a farmland assessment meeting sponsored by the Farm Bureau and local legislators. Farmland assessment laws are certainly not simple, but they’re probably as fair as can be expected. That said, real estate taxes won’t be coming down significantly anytime soon.

The equipment is mostly ready to roll, and we hope to begin corn harvest on Monday. Early field reports show lower-than-expected moisture levels. Unfortunately, the last several weeks of dry weather haven’t helped test weights. On the positive side, it looks like spraying fungicide this year will deliver significant returns. Bean fields are already turning, and with very little precipitation in the two-week forecast, it’s moving quickly. Final mowing is as complete as it’s going to get. We managed six cuttings of alfalfa this year! In addition, we’ve started a shop remodel/update project. Our grain-handling logistics will be tested to the max this fall.

We also helped manage a booth at the Farm Progress Show, campaigning against the use of eminent domain for CO₂ pipelines. We spoke with several legislators, though we weren’t able to get the governor’s ear while he was there. Federal assistance continues to be a big topic of discussion, and tariffs are hitting farmers from multiple directions.

The Bushnell Show & Sale was well attended this year, with 23 exhibitors—up from previous years. The school year is off and running. WIU faced U of I last week, and Illinois looks to have a promising season ahead of them. Phyllis and I enjoyed a few days in Kansas City for an anniversary trip, and she also celebrated her Class of ’75 fifty year reunion a few weeks ago.

Fall Prices:
Corn: $3.91
Soybeans: $9.79

Stay safe,
Steve