Show Season

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Partners & Friends,

Show season wrapped up this week with the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. The Hess goats had a good showing. This season has been an excellent one with ample banners, ribbons, and gear. The success demonstrates what can happen with a lot of planning, hard work, and commitment. 🙂

The Hess Family Farm team has a large drainage project under way. We rarely lay tile sized over 8 inches, but are currently putting in a few 15 inch tiles to dry up some open water, as well as using 15 inchers in another project with other landowners to do some much needed drainage. Our shop is also busy with finishing up planter maintenance and preparing harvest equipment. We have completed spraying fungicide on the corn and beans but are staying vigilant for a tar spot in the corn due to the the cooler, wet weather. It appears we will have corn black layered soon, so our normal harvest start date should remain around September 10th. The team and I have some tiling we would like to complete after first fields are harvested. We are also finishing up grain center maintenance. The crop is looking to be a big one this year, so the extra dryer capacity will be put to use. And there is, of course, much mowing to be completed and a couple summer maintenance projects to finish up yet.

The Farm Bill debate continues to drag on in DC. It is looking doubtful anything will happen this year besides another extension of the current program. A different administration could truly change things up. Talk of tariffs is not a positive for export business. It was refreshing to hear agriculture mentioned in the Trump/Musk conversation. No further guidance for carbon scoring is in the near future—this is another can being kicked down the road. 🫤

School has started once again—it seems earlier every year! The Bushnell Fall Festival is next week. The Show and Sale is on Wednesday. Labor Day weekend will be last hurrah before harvest. 

Harvest Prices:

Corn—3.54

Soybeans—9.5

Steve

Home Again

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Partners & Friends,

Phyllis and I are home from our agricultural tour of Europe. The last part of our whirlwind of trip involved visiting the following agriculture related sites, as well as noting a few more interesting observations:

  • A large seed cooperative raising corn, soybeans, wheat, cover crops, and more

  • A Swiss Alpine dairy that processes cow and goat cheese  

  • A salt mine that has been mining salt inside a mountain for over 500 years

  • There was more corn and soybean production as we traveled south 

  • The major crop grown was wheat 

  • There is a lot of grass harvest for hay

  • There are few alfalfa fields

  • All livestock was confined inside 

  • There is total integration of technology with guidance, seeding, and fertilization 

All of the countries we visited are quite efficient with crop inputs. Costs are comparable to ours per acre. The vast majority of crops are transported with tractors and trailers—the country roads are not well suited for semi-truck traffic. Another thing worth noting is that semis are not allowed on highways on Sundays, except those hauling perishable or urgent loads. A large portion of farmers’ income is generated off-farm, as many farms are less than 100 acres and only require part-time work. Land is very expensive and does not go for sale often (even less than this country). The former Soviet countries (i.e. Czechia) have larger, more efficient fields, as the state farms were redistributed to former owners. 

Between the great need for electricity and the Russian gas pipeline being out of use, Germany has deemed coal a “green” energy source. There are also many wind turbines and solar panels. The agriculture sector is struggling as we come to grips with a workable carbon reduction program.

Now, to answer the comments from the last blog post:

  • I stand corrected—gas is around $8/gallon in Europe, which incentivizes energy conservation 

  • The ration the cows were fed on the farms we visited was high roughage and grass—these were not typical high production herds

  • Beer is not served warm, but is served with a substantial head to lock in flavor

  • Food prices in Europe are very comparable to ours (although the Euro conversion does add 10% to the transaction)

  • We were disappointed to not visit any animals in total confinement, but the need for bio security is completely understandable

We are back in full swing with hay making, fungicide spraying, mowing, goat showing, land improvement projects, and equipment repair. The Farm Bill debate is struggling to gain traction. There is much discussion regarding how low target prices were set in the 7 year old Farm Bill we are now working with. It seems we are not far from them now (note the fall prices update at the end of each blog post). It has been a rainy summer and few areas have yet to receive rain. The corn and bean crops are looking huge.😅

Goat showing season is ramping up. Harper had great success at the Fulton County Fair last week, and is now preparing for the Illinois State Fair next week. We celebrated a fun birthday weekend with the Luechts in Grafton. Back to school season is a few short weeks away.

Fall Prices (YIKES!):

Corn—3.73

Soybeans—10.03

Please ask and comment away!

Steve

First Impressions

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Partners & Friends,

Our agricultural tour of Europe is already half over. We have been to Holland, Belgium, and Germany and visited the following agriculture related sites so far:

  • A biodynamic teaching farm in the Netherlands

  • The world’s largest daily flower auction 

  • Vineyards along the Rhine

  • A German farm producing hops, cherries, apples, plums, schnapps, and holiday apartments

Throughout the first half of our tour, I have noticed a few things and would like to quickly share:

  • There is much focus on energy conservation—gasoline is over $10/gallon

  • All vehicles are diesel, hybrid, electric—we have only seen 2 pickups our entire time here

  • Everything, including all bottles and cans, are recycled

  • There is a lot of composting—no land wasted on the farms

  • Little time is spent on lawn and roadside mowing, meaning a lot of natural flora and savings on labor and equipment 

  • All farms and fields are small, as in 5-10 acres

  • There is a CRP program similar to ours

  • In order to reduce carbon and nitrates, the European Union is having land purchased and taken out of production (resulting in the farmer protests)

  • Food policy and agriculture subsidies are the largest line item for the European Union—great significance is put on keeping all farmers happy and profitable, but green policies are now overshadowing that

  • Most public restrooms cost 1 euro to get into and use

  • The farmers here deal with the same issues we do: labor availability, government regulations, profitability, oversupply, succession planning, carbon reduction programs, and work/life balance

Thank you for reading and taking interest in our travels! There is more to come—stay tuned.

Steve

Biologicals

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Partners & Friends,

We have finally reached the point in summer where we can take a breath. Last week, a company we work with took soil and tissue samples to set a baseline and determine what is happening in the fields as we experiment with a biological product called Holganix. With all the excitement surrounding carbon sequestration and paying the farmer, there is much research going into measuring and verifying how much can we actually store in our soil with no-till, cover crops, and other agronomic practices. Creating better root masses to put more carbon back into the soil and increase the plant’s ability to uptake more nutrients is one benefit. Another is using microbes to break down soil and increase its fertility naturally. The ability to break down residue and make organic matter more available as a nutrient to growing crops while reducing the need for tillage but still leaving the topsoil undisturbed to enhance soil conservation is an additional advantage as well.

The Hess Family Farm team has completed the second cutting of alfalfa in between rain events. Rain here has been spotty—we have received just enough and are now experiencing cooler temperatures during pollination. Mowing roadsides and weed control around field edges are in the queue. We are also doing some deep cleaning at the grain handling site. The drone reappeared and applied pass 2 of 3 of our fungicide/biological crop applied trial. The rare and small windows of “free” time are also being used to continue plugging away at summer construction projects.

The presidential debates are over but I do not believe agricultural policy was mentioned once.🤔 The weather extremes nationwide are gaining attention. The farm bill discussion is going back and forth in DC, and the Summit CO2 pipeline project got approval from the Iowa Utilities Board. 😕

Summer is already half over! Preparations for the Fulton County Fair in a couple of weeks are in effect. Everyone enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July. 🎆 In honor of what would have been Charles and Wilma’s 71st anniversary, there will be a day, July 19th, dedicated in their honor on WLUJ-96.7 FM.

Fall Prices:

Corn—3.99

Soybeans—11.02

Enjoy the summer!

Steve

In The Sky

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Partners & Friends

We test and experiment with different agronomy practices every year to assess what new methods and/or products will improve yields, soil health, and profitability. Last week, we had a drone spray fungicide and biologicals on a few test plots. The drone only sprayed 2 gallons/acre, but the plant coverage was exceptional thanks to the downdraft of the propellors while flying. The technology of the drone, particularly its guidance system, is incredible. I now understand why drone warfare is so feared! The ease and ability to maneuver along with the clarity of the cameras and video makes it feel as if you are in a Star Wars movie.😄 Other advantages of drones are the ability to fly over tall crops with no crop damage from wheel tracks, as well as not having to worry about wet field conditions. Later on in August, we hope to use the drone to seed cover crops into standing crop in order to get covers established before harvest, which will help lower our carbon score to qualify for tax credits. However, there are many details to work out yet, so stay tuned!

The Hess Family Farm team is staying occupied with haying. We have baled around 2,000 small squares, over 250 big squares, and over 50 big, round bales so far this season. We will do a second cutting of alfalfa next week. All crops have received a post application of herbicide. The NH3 side dressing is complete. Spraying and mowing field edges is underway. Summer construction projects fill in the lulls of crop tending. 

The USDA Crop Acreage report is due to be released this week. Discussions regarding the Farm Bill continue. The dry, hot weather does not have traders too worried about crop size. No one seems concerned that the federal government will spend $2 trillion more than is taken in next fiscal year.

The entire family celebrated PriscaStone 2024 last weekend in Grafton, Wisconsin to honor the passing of baby Prisca one year ago. It was a wonderful time reuniting with many friends, listening to Christian worship music, and seeing God glorified.

Fall Prices:

Corn—4.28

Soybeans—10.90

Stay cool,

Steve