What a Planting Season

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Partners,

Pulled out of the field with the bean planter for the last time Tuesday night. We are leaving some small wet areas of corn and bean acres which we might plant cover crops into when they dry up, but for now we are calling planting complete. The local weather station says we are at 179% of normal rainfall for the year. Our area is at 99% planting completion after lots of activity this past week. We replanted approximately 130 acres of corn and 85 acres of beans. Planting a field a second time is not very exciting! We are struggling to get hay baled this week with equipment challenges and weather issues. The forecast is for rain for most of the rest of this week. We do count ourselves blessed in that we are able to get most everything in the ground; several farmers across the USA we know were not so fortunate. The bean planter was pulled out 11 times (not that I was counting). Most of the bean fields were entered at least twice, planting dry areas first and then going back for wet spots. Tiling paid huge dividends this year--both in field access and the way the crop was able to emerge in all the moisture. We have identified several spots that need more in the near future if these weather anomalies are the norm. It will take years to heal the erosion and sediment from the extreme rain.

USDA is hard at work on the next round of Market Facilitation Payments to prop up falling commodity prices. Tying all of the rules into Prevent Plant guidelines and trying not to distort the market are proving formidable challenges. Here in Illinois we have just seen the most anti-business legislation in decades enact lots of new taxes without curbing anything on the cost side.

And now we have legalized pot production and consumption, so all of our problems will seem much less severe.

Family doing well--Ali is going to South Carolina to work at bringfido.com for the summer. 4-H show season is upon us. Now with planting complete a more normal lifestyle will emerge. Looking forward to a summer of fun times with family and friends.

Fall Prices:

Corn 4.28

Soybeans 8.60

Keep in touch,

Steve

Planting Progress

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Partners,

The last planting we did was Sunday, April 28th in the evening—we got rained out around 11:30. We are 40% done with corn and 35% complete with soybeans. Considering that statewide, Illinois is only 11% done with corn planting and 3% done with bean planting, we feel fortunate about our situation. According to the NWS in Peoria we are at 149% of normal rainfall for the year. A year like this reinforces the value of drainage in the fields. The timeliness of being able to get field work completed is huge, and the crop that is emerging can't stand water for too many hours. We are keeping busy nonetheless. With no full-time employees, Marcus and I are filling in as truck drivers & mechanics, catching up on office work, finishing up construction projects, attending end of school year activities, and preparing for the next surge of field work. Balance of work and life!

On the national front, the Chinese trade negotiations are heating up. Studies of past trade talks have indicated we gave up too much too easily. That certainly does not seem to be the case this time! This tariff war is almost a year old now and the tweets this past week were not warm and fuzzy. Here in Illinois the current proposals in Springfield are for doubling the motor fuel tax (we have to do something with the roads; we are shaking our trucks apart hauling grain). The minimum wage will be $15 in a few short years (so much for entry-level part-time work). And the progressive income tax proposal looks like it will be on the ballot Fall 2020 (how many higher income taxpayers that have the ability to relocate will stick around to see how that plays out?).

Getting some extra family time with the delays. Phyllis and I got to see Chicago in concert. Caught the final lecture at Monmouth College of a dear family friend. Violin recital one Sunday. Track meets and hip-hop performances in St. Louis. Life is good. We are truly a blessed people! Relish yours!


Fall bids:

Corn-3.50

Soybeans-8.05

Steve


Snowed Out

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Partners,

Got in a few days of field work last week. By Saturday night all bean ground was sprayed and most NH3 applied. Soil conditions aren’t bad, and a year like this is when our tiling efforts are paying off. We worked till the rain/snow started Sunday morning, and above are some pics of what it looked like at noon. Looks like we might have one day this week to spray. 

Tariffs are still in place and stress is showing in farm country. The pork market is very strong since China has lost 19% of their hog herd to Asian Swine Flu and is actively buying up world pork supplies to field their population. Markets are nervous about the weather but most longer-term forecasts have some windows of dryer, warmer weather in them.

Alison played her first Rugby tournament last weekend! We are eagerly anticipating the celebration this weekend of our risen Savior.

Have a great weekend and keep in touch!

Steve 

We Love History

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Partners,

Many of you know of the deep interest Phyllis and I have in history. So what could be more fitting than the celebration of the sesquicentennial of our home farm, owned by the Doll family for 150 years! In the 1860s, Phillip and Wilhelmina Doll brought their family from Germany to the United States to seek out a new life. They had their sights set on Hermann, Missouri, but eventually ended up returning to a town they had passed through on their journey: Bushnell, Illinois. Philip put his family (wife & 5 children) up in the Bushnell hotel and spent considerable time seeking the perfect homestead in the Bushnell area. He wrote up an agreement with a Mr. McDonald, who was the owner of the farm we live on today. In March 1869 he started operating the Doll Farm.

The original 160 acres was perfect for the livestock farm Phillip envisioned, with a creek running through it, pasture land, and rich black farmland to raise abundant crops for feeding out the cattle and hogs he raised. The first summer here he made his home in an overturned wagon box while he started a house for his family and continued to build his farm into a respected livestock and crop operation. The family line of ownership continued with Phillip’s son, also named Phillip, then two generations of Harvey Dolls, and now the current owners, Phyllis and her brother, Phillip, are the 5th generation of Dolls to have their name on the property. Our son Marcus is the 6th generation to live in this house (as a child), work in these buildings, and plant and harvest these fields. We will be sharing more stories of our rich 150-year history throughout the year here on our blog.

Currently, we are servicing tractors, hooking up planters, taking delivery of seed, creating prescription planting maps, and getting ready for planting season. The weather outlook is a wet one so we anticipate short planting windows to get the crop in the ground. Since we have only about 25% of our nitrogen applied we have that gap to fill also. We think we have the planting capability to put the crop in the ground in 7 days. Adding the second planter last year really added capacity to the mix. We are preparing the team for a busy time.

Sounds like progress with China trade talks. Some are fearful that the president might walk out when the leaders get together to finalize the deal. In my opinion there should have been some walking before. A bad deal for the US is worse than no deal, in my opinion. The commodity markets are anticipating acres switched to soybeans for the 2019 crop season. The flooding of the river system is causing some shipping delays. We have been informed that the Corp of Engineers is closing all locks on the Illinois River north of Beardstown in the summer of 2020. That will be challenging for grain sales.

Family is doing well. This month we’ve helped celebrate our youngest grandson’s first birthday, and Ali’s 19th birthday. Ali just finished her Winter quarter at UChicago (we did not pay anyone to have her admitted).

Fall Prices:

Corn 3.66

Soybeans 8.83

Keep in touch! Please 'Like' & comment below.

Steve

Equipment

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Partners,

We are keeping busy with lots of winter work, diligently trying to keep our equipment costs low to stay competitive. Hence we operate a lineup of modern used equipment. Our sprayer has been through the shop and now the combine is in process. All of our major pieces of equipment are professionally inspected each year and a list of worn or questionable parts is developed. We then use our labor force to upgrade the projects on the list we are capable of completing. The bigger, more involved tasks are performed at the dealership. When each tractor, combine, sprayer, planter, and head is put into storage it is ready to go to the field when planting/spraying/harvest season comes.

The lure of new paint is one we try to avoid. Just like the depreciation hit new vehicles take the first two years, we try to be wise about the true cost of our equipment lineup over time. We believe our equipment capacity is adequate for the number of acres we farm and labor available, but there is not much margin for breakdowns or time lost to equipment malfunctions. We did some major upgrading 6 years ago when we moved up to 24-row planting equipment. Of all our major pieces of equipment, the planter is the only thing we purchased new.

Commodity prices have been trading a very narrow range for several weeks now. Corn and beans are poised to break out either higher or lower soon. I will discuss weather soon in another post. The tariffs/trade war situation with China is ongoing but showing some positive movement toward resolution. The first big step will be getting the Chinese to admit they have been bending the rules in the first place. We hope Congress approves the new USMCA agreement; seems to be lots of positive things in it for Ag. The new Farm Bill is being implemented and apparently there is a lot more to it than just a renewal of the 2012 act—a lot of pages with new details. The weather pattern is causing some disruptions in the Midwest for river traffic and grain deliveries. We are thankful we had very little grain to deliver in January-February.

Family doing well. Lots of missed school days with all the weather issues. (That is one thing the homeschooled kids miss out on is snow days and make-up days.) We do still have 14 head of heifers to care for so there has been some struggle with frozen waterers this past month.

Fall prices

Corn--3.73

Soybeans--8.96

Keep in touch,

Steve