First Impressions

/

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

/

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

/

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

Hard Work Pays Off

/

Partners & Friends,

This past weekend was the Illinois State Fair, where Harper and Abbott showed their goat herd. The Hess goats did very well on Friday at the Junior Show and Saturday in the Open Show. The girls placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the respective doe classes, and the wethers all placed 1st in their classes, despite very tough competition!

The annual Parade of Champions in the Coliseum took place Saturday evening, featuring the top ten top meat goat wethers of the 2023 Junior Show, three of whom were from our herd. Harper's heavyweight wether was awarded Reserve Champion overall at the 2023 Illinois State Fair! He will remain on exhibit at the Fair the rest of this week along with the Grand and Reserve Champions in the Steer, Barrow, and Market Lamb divisions.

One year ago, Harper set her sights on winning Grand Champion at the Fulton County Fair and to have a goat in the Coliseum for the 2023 Grand Drive. We are all so happy for her, because she not only achieved, but surpassed those two goals. All the hard work and decisions, along with the chores, sweat, early mornings, late nights, and sacrificed family and friend time paid off and came to fruition with these winning goats. A huge 'thank you' goes out to everyone who has been there to watch and support our family in this project!

Meanwhile, back on the farm, we are wrapping up summer projects, including construction and building updates, semi inspections, prepping equipment for harvest, maintaining and prepping the bins and grain system for new crop, hauling about 700 tons of lime to be stockpiled and spread after harvest, and cutting hay. We might make 5 cuttings from the alfalfa this year! We will likely bale some grass also, because the late rains have prompted enough growth to make that worthwhile. Harvest here at the Hess Family Farm is anticipated to begin sometime mid-September.

One correction from my last post: natural gas is lower than last year, although our supplier is raising hookup fees substantially for commercial accounts. 😐

The farm bill renewal is taking center stage in DC. There is much positioning for renewable fuels and biodiesel. China's economy is weakening. The Crop Tours are predicting good crops, meaning no supply shortages for the next year. Brazil's soybean crop is doing quite well.

School is starting this week; how can that be?🤔 College is back in session shortly. Our fall safety meeting is not far off. 

Fall Prices:

Corn—4.59

Soybeans—13.04

Steve

1 If By Land, 2 If By Air

/

Partners & Friends,

We are wrapping up fungicide spraying for both corn and beans. There was a question on our last post asking what we spray fungicide for. In corn, our main enemies are Tar Spot, Northern Corn Leaf Blight, and Gray Leaf Spot. Then there was another question asking what elbowing in corn means. This is simply when the corn plant straightens back up after a wind event, causing a bend in the stalk near the root. Elbowing corn tends to cause spraying and harvest difficulties. 

We are doing application trials of different methods to apply fungicide. In one field we used our high clearance sprayer for ground application, flew on with an airplane, and used a drone to apply. It was quite a sight in the field that day! This is the second year of doing this trial. In theory, the ground sprayer should give better coverage since we are using 20 gallons of water per acre, while the drone and plane use a mere 2. However, the downdraft created by the drone might give better coverage deeper into the foliage, and the plane will be faster (more timely) while avoiding knocking down any plants. We will let you know the results of this trial after harvest.

The Hess Family Farm team is still keeping busy wrapping up summer projects. We are converting the old stanchion's space in the barn at Marcus’ house into a flat floor to give us options for livestock area or other uses. As always, we are working on the never-ending building repair projects that come with all the structures we maintain. There are also re-gating projects for the goat and cattle areas. On top of all that, we have begun to prepare equipment for harvest, which is only about a month away. Field scouting for yield estimates are indicating the crops will be good, despite the lack of rain. It is safe to say we will not set new yield records this fall.

The Ukraine situation is keeping commodity prices volatile. Oil prices are surging and driving diesel and gas prices up. Fertilizer prices for next year's crop will be about half of 2023’s. Natural gas to dry corn will be about 25% higher than a year ago. Climate change is a hot global topic that we feel we have minimal influence or control over. Brazil's soybean crop is looking good. 

Goat showing season is officially in full-swing. The State Fair is next week. My 50th class reunion is approaching. School for the grandchildren starts shortly. Summer seems like a fleeting wisp in the course of a year. Sweet corn season had mixed results (as we predict the field corn to be), but the tomato harvest is quite bountiful.

Fall Prices:

Corn—4.72

Soybeans—13.15

Steve