DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- Dan Lakey has just entered what he calls "post-harvest silly season." Every farmer has his own definition of what this entails, but for the southeastern Idaho farmer it means making sure he's done those chores that ensure the bills are paid on both sides of the ledger.
FSA crop reporting. Touching base with landlords. Hauling grain. Pricing inputs. Harvest may be in the can for Lakey, but the checklist of what needs to be considered and done on the farm remains a full-time job.
In central Kentucky, Quint Pottinger still has the harvest throttle wide open. The weather cooperated to make a big dent in gathering soybeans this week, but concerns about the corn condition pushed him to purchase more propane. Input prices have mostly stabilized he said, but prices make every penny critical and puts every parcel under scrutiny for profitability.
Pottinger and Lakey have been sharing insights from their farm and region as part of DTN's View From the Cab feature since May. This is the 23rd installment for the 2024 season and the 20th year for the series intended to bring a more intimate view of crop production and rural life.
Read on to learn more about the need for rain in Idaho and how they juggle landlords in Kentucky. The farmers also explore bucket lists for farming regions they'd most like to visit. And, there's love, light shows and more.
QUINT POTTINGER: NEW HAVEN, KENTUCKY
It wasn't the dust flying in the soybean field that caused eyes to water a bit this past week on Affinity Farms. Love was also in the air and proof came when employee James Krautscheid proposed to Jayla Sainsbury in the wildflower field operated and tended by Pottinger's wife, Leah.
Besides being a joyous event, it symbolizes so many of the values Pottinger holds dear. He met and formed a friendship with Krautscheid's parents as part of TEPAP (The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers), a continuing education program for ag producers. When James came to the University of Kentucky for distilling school, he landed a part-time job at Affinity Farms.
"One thing I absolutely love about the ag industry is the vast network," Pottinger said, noting that the families have exchanged farm visits. "Now, we get to see this life event of this outstanding young couple and be a part of their life. The connections we can make in this industry are just incredible," he added.
This week the northern lights were also scheduled to light up the skies. "We got a peek at them earlier this year and the way the green reflected off the granary took my breath away. I can't wait to see it again," he said on Oct. 10.
Another reason to celebrate is the surprise of how good soybeans are yielding during harvest, despite the late start most of them got because of early wet conditions. Deer pressure continues to be a drag on yields, though.
"We had one 78-acre farm that lays real nice down by the river that was making 80 bushels per acre (bpa). There was one woody area on a hill that was about 50 (bpa), but we were still chugging along about 68 (bpa) for the whole farm average until we hit 5 acres that the deer had decimated, and those feeding losses pulled the whole farm average down to 48 bpa," he reported.
Black stems and some black pods are also showing up in soybeans fields that matured quickly ahead of rains that came on the heels of Hurricane Helene. The black is saprophytic fungi feeding on decaying plant tissue. The soot isn't harmful, but it sure makes for dirty combines and humans. Bean quality has remained good despite the black soot.
He is more concerned about some sprouting being noticed in corn, especially hybrids where the ear remained upright on the stalk and/or husks wrapped tight. "I'm hoping the combine will separate it all out and we'll be running it through the grain cleaner," Pottinger said. He also purchased more propane for drying this week -- something he'd hoped to avoid, but grain condition is critically important and late-planted corn may need a shot of heat.
With nearly 40 landlords to tend, Pottinger acknowledged that keeping landlords up to date can be complicated. "Nearly all of them have different ideas about how much they need or want to know about the farm and how they want to receive that information. The younger generation who inherited farms may prefer to Snapchat or see an Instagram reel," he noted.
"Others may like to crawl in the combine and see how things are progressing first-hand. Those landlords with cattle have other needs and the farm works with them to manage field rotations and allow grazing after the crop comes off. Those with cattle get a gravity wagon load of screenings for free from the farm each year if they want it," he said.
Social media posts and a website have helped communicate more about the farm, but even that takes time. Getting the crop in takes top priority this time of year.
Shopping for inputs was on his mind this week, though. "I'm working with my agronomist to see if we can take better advantage of using generic chemicals to get our prices down. It requires paying attention to the actives and rates and making a lot of cost comparisons," he said. Looking at those early purchase deals can also shave 10% or more off a chemical bill, but that's no bargain if it isn't the right product or it takes more of it.
He's got his eye on fertilizer prices right now with news reports that Hurricane Milton could disrupt shipments from some fertilizer plants. (https://www.dtnpf.com/…) Also, under discussion this year is the possibility of applying fertilizer rather than hiring custom application.
"We have to haul in lime that is low in magnesium from two counties away because our soils are high and the local quarry is high mag lime," he noted. Pottinger has been exploring what it would take to license and equip the farm to haul fertilizer direct from the river.
When fertilizer got tight for the 2024 crop, Pottinger had to turn to some new vendors. As a business owner, he likes the idea of being flexible and not controlling every variable. "But this is one area I feel as though we need to maybe take a little more control and get our costs in line," Pottinger said.
Pottinger sells much of his corn to distilleries, and he is well aware that they can buy grain anywhere. He's selling them a service of delivering it clean and on-demand in the quantities required.
"As farmers, we are often in the same scenario where we can buy inputs in many places, but it is often the service needed. When that service comes prohibitive, we must go somewhere else. That's the best part about free market capitalism where consumers have control to make that choice," he said.
What concerns Pottinger these days is he doesn't see another ethanol boom coming on the horizon -- or any other market demand -- that will offset the fact that U.S. farmers have gotten very good at producing grain. The current answer to maintain farm profitability is to try to keep costs under control while continuing to develop local demand.
Travel has been a passion for the Pottingers, but the breadbasket regions of France rise to the top of the agricultural regions he'd most like to visit and study. That country stands out for him because of the volume of wheat, barley and other grains produced. But the country's food self-sufficiency rate, on a calorie basis, is extremely high compared to other industrialized nations -- which appeals to his desire to tie agriculture back to a more local economy.
A trip west to see fellow contributor Lakey is also on the wish list. "I'd love to get all the past View From the Cab farmers together," he said. "You feel as though you get to know them by reading about their farms, but meeting would be amazing."
DAN LAKEY: SODA SPRINGS, IDAHO
Visitors are always welcome on Lakey Farms. Lakey joins Pottinger in the desire to travel to the farming regions of the world and spend a few weeks exploring how and why they do things.
"It's why I got so involved with Twitter. It offered one way to see a little bit about different farms throughout the country and the world and learn a bit about the practices they employ that we don't use," said Lakey.
"I believe that each farmer in each region does the best they can and there's a reason why they do what they do -- which is why I find it interesting how others like to criticize how someone is farming from halfway across the world. I'm a big believer in doing the best you can do in your own specific context. We never know what someone is experiencing and things they have to deal with until we walk a mile in their shoes," he said.
This week, that mile for Lakey means bringing equipment back to the homeplace after completing harvest and fall seeding. Operations this week include spraying herbicides on fall wheat and putting down fertilizer.
"We have very hard, very high bicarbonate irrigation water that we have been ignoring for 70 years. It has become a glaring issue in the past 15 years," Lakey said. "With nothing working so far, we are trying a fall application of elemental sulfur and some dry humic to see if we can see any benefit."
Another thing he's considering is using anhydrous ammonia as their general nitrogen source on their irrigated fields. "We went away from anhydrous in 2010 because of the harshness of it on soil biology as well as the general dangers of handling it. However, since then on the irrigated ground, we have seen decreases in yield and discussions with agronomists are convincing us we may try it again."
Conditions have turned dry again in this part of Idaho. Several storms during that later part of harvest pushed winter wheat out of the ground and got things growing.
"We're due for a couple of inches of snow the latter part of next week and we will take it to help wheat going into winter," Lakey said. "This has been one of the nicer falls that I can remember, very warm temperatures and it's just been extremely pleasant.
"After the snowstorms next week, I sure hope that the good weather decides to hang around until December with a weekly 2-inch rainfall. We all can dream, can't we?" he joked.
Lakey doesn't work ground in the fall, but he's heard the complaints from farmers who do. "They say diggers are riding up and out of the ground and won't penetrate the hard pan. Neighbors have stated while digging fence post holes that they give up after getting down a foot or so, because it's just rock hard," he said.
Tending landlords is a year-round job and that means plenty of communication and not taking anything for granted. "During busy times of the year, I try to let them know progress of crop and yield expectations on a weekly basis. Some just want their annual report and don't necessarily need that constant update. It's all about getting to know them personally," he said.
"Each year at Christmas, the farm pulls together a landlord letter full of updates and pictures from their land during harvest and the growing season. It includes crop results, market updates, and an update on our families," Lakey said, noting that when he visits these landlords at their homes, the newsletter is often on display.
If negotiations prove tricky, Lakey tries to remember not to take it personally. "I am a representative of our business," he said. "In the end, it is vital to have a great relationship with those we rent the ground from. The work we do in those fields represents us, who we are, and what kind of tenants we will be. Several opportunities have come to us because others have seen the way we take care of the ground. We always treat it as if it was our own and leave it better than when we received it."
Now that harvest is complete, getting landlords paid and talking through any new negotiations for the coming season is top of the to-do list. "We typically purchase quite a bit of our chemical needs and nitrogen and phosphorus in the fall time due to the better pricing.
"However, this year everything seems to be on the rise locally. We may wait until winter or spring to do the majority of our pricing. Election years are weird, who knows what the election may bring or the uncertainty that may follow," he said.
Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com
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