What We Do

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Partners and friends,


The middle of summer is already here. Things are a bit slower. A week ago I (Steve) went to PA to help my friend John who was preparing for a kidney transplant and still had a lot of first cutting hay to get harvested. We had a very productive week and cut and baked and wrapped almost 100 acres. This past week John was able to tell the doctor he was ready for the transplant, and 2 nights ago he got the call. Recovery is going well.


On the farm we have we finished all the spraying we can. The corn will get another fungicide and insecticide application that should take the crop closer to a successful finish. The beans will get another dose of fungicide in a bit. We just finished our second cutting of alfalfa. The summer project list has been pared down to what time we see remaining for job completion. The machine shed at Marcus' house has new kick boards and poles. The crops are looking very good with the rains and cooler weather. Corn pollination is progressing nicely. Beans are growing and adding lots of leaves.


Commodity markets are still volatile but the weather has started down trending channels in corn and beans. The administration’s indications on renewable fuels are not good news for corn and beans. China is reigning in its commodity spending spree. And apparently the market has rationed available supplies for the rest of the summer. Lots of negative news.


Fair season is in full swing—learning a lot about showing goats and pigs. Fulton Co fair is coming in another week. State Fair coming. Still waiting for a call from St. Louis announcing grandchild #12. Looking forward to a trip to NY. School is going to begin in about a month. What a lot of good things going on!

Stay cool and enjoy this season!!

Steve

Showtime

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Partners,

Summer is here - the heat is turned up and rain turned down. Actually a dryer June is not such a bad thing as the crops will develop deeper roots that will furnish more water and nutrients to the plants later on. A dry hot July and August are the real threats to yields. We have finished sidedressing all the corn and are close to finishing the post-emergence spraying of the corn. On Friday we finished replanting soybeans. Overall we replanted about 3% of our corn acres and 4% of our soybean acres. This past week was a delivery week for non-gmo corn so we kept both trucks running and brought in some help to get about 80% of our remaining non-gmo corn delivered. We installed a new 3-phase generator at our main grain facility and are continuing to make progress on the update going on there. Got the first alfalfa crop baled and oats are wrapped up. Dryness is going to reduce some of the next cutting. This weekend was the first time out for the Hess girls showstring of pigs and goats; they were hot times for the Cuba and Farmington livestock shows but a good overall showing for the exhibitors. We are into the time of summer when we start on the project list. We have lots to accomplish to keep everything spit-spot . We can already see that we are going to have to pick and choose what the priorities are.

Question asked from last post: Why have commodity prices shot up like they did? See what analysts are saying here. Some of my personal feelings are that the USDA is finally recognized how short the ‘19 and ‘20 crops really were and adjusted carryover, China is making some marketing moves that we should be more prudent about allowing, usage is growing, and crop growing struggles worldwide have cut supplies while demand is growing. We see inflation coming already and these next few years are going to be a real challenge to navigate. Cash corn this past week was $7 at the shuttle and beans at Havana were $16.50! Farmer bins are empty. Wish we had some left to sell.

Family is doing well. Less than a month to grandchild 12 in St Louis. Show season and summer camps and graduations to celebrate. Summer is already rushing by and so many good things to keep track of and see!

Fall Prices:

Corn 6.00

Soybeans 14.33


Keep in touch & stay cool!

Steve

Complete

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Partners & Friends,

We have a rain day today after a week of finishing up some tasks. We replanted about 50 acres of some of the first planted soybeans that weren't emerging too well. Corn and soybean planting was complete on the same day a week ago--May 7--one of earliest completions ever! All the fields have been sprayed with the initial pass and we will soon start with postemergence applications. We are readying the hay equipment for the first cutting that will take place as soon as there is a weather window available. We also started sideressing NH3 this week. It is interesting that almost all of our corn and beans are emerging at the same time due to the cool soils. Even the early-planted fields are not very much farther along than the last planted - spread out over a 4 week period. We do have one of the evenest and most uniform stands of corn and soy we have had for several years. We have installed about 7,000 feet of tile this week also. After analyzing the pattern and more complete tiled fields the last couple of years we are going to aggressively tile as much as possible the next few years to be able to achieve the productivity some of the farms are capable of. The yield maps are telling the story and after seeing where we have been replanting areas in field it is evident that the drainage is an investment that pays back over and over forever. We are repairing some lines that were installed over a hundred years ago.

The I-40 bridge shutdown over the Mississippi this week caused havoc in the commodity markets - corn was down .70 in 2 days. This kind of event shows how important our waterway system is for grain movement! Biden's announcement of 30 x 30 leaves a lot of unanswered questions and makes us wonder what the strategy is for food production in the future in this country. We welcome the easing of Covid restrictions here in IL. The talk of an infrastructure bill sounds encouraging till we realize that we will pay for it all with higher taxes. And yes it is hard to hire qualified people when unemployment benefits are so generous. We are feeling inflation pressure in all of our inputs. I wonder how long till interest creeps up?

Family doing great. End of year school programs, Ali moved to Cinncinatti for a summer intern job. Lots of show animals are here in our barn. We watched a Zoom video of St. Louis kids' spring gymnastics program. Looking forward to some summer fun with family when we get crops and tasks to a good place to pause.

Fal Prices:

Corn 5.33

SB 13.94

Keep in touch,

Steve

Good Start

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Partners & Friends,

Just got rained out today after a couple of days planting. We have over 400 acres of beans in the ground and about 200 acres of corn. Soil conditions were perfect with the long, warm, dry period we just experienced. Research the last several years has shown early bean planting can really boost yields, and that the soybean seed can withstand more adverse conditions than corn. Ideally we would like to plant all the beans the second week of April and corn the third week.

Elsewhere we are doing tile repairs (never-ending), plumbing a fire department tanker repurposed to sprayer tender, surface drainage projects, building repair, bin site remodeling, show pig procurement and housing, and some job realignment. We also have our first calf of the season--a nice heifer! We are also wrapping up some grain shipments of corn and beans and cleaning out the barns from the winter accumulation. There seems to be some extra fertilizer going in some fields around here (not ours) which indicates some more corn acres. Lots of new iron coming out of the neighbors’ sheds this spring too.

Farmers are trying to do everything possible to capitalize on the higher commodity prices this year--extra fertilizer, early planting, higher yield potential seed. The latest stimulus bill really did little for the farm community unless you are a disadvantaged farmer. The last scheduled CFAP payments are due any day now but are minuscule compared to last year's relief package. China seems really hungry for corn and soy for their food needs—but are being very tight lipped about the actual Asian Swine Flu that is sweeping through the hog population there again.

Family is heading for the home stretch for this spring schooling. Ali is in her last quarter of her junior year. Trinity school kids are headed for summer vacation starting around Memorial Day. Homeschool bunch is aiming for the same summer vacation. We have another grand child due on the 4th of July. :)


Fall Prices--

Corn--4.68

Soybeans--12.63


Keep in touch and enjoy this beautiful spring green-up!

Steve

Vibrant Teammate

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Friends and Partners,

We are deeply saddened to pass along that one of our valued team members has passed away. On Friday, March 5, Renee McGrew was transporting a load of grain for a neighbor in his semi truck and trailer. The truck left the road and flipped onto its side. The crash was fatal.

Renee had proven herself to be a very capable teammate here at Hess Family Farm. She was leading our data analysis collection, payroll services, equipment maintenance oversight, technology data collection, grain contract management and trucking organization. There was not a piece of our equipment she could not capably handle--including planting, spraying and combining.

After working here for a time she would make mention that maybe there are a few redeeming features of red tractors and Ford trucks. She loved any kind of livestock work and was quite an accomplished horse woman. She oversaw bottle calf chores here on a few occasions. While here she helped train numerous rookies for tractor operations. She was a friend to all and earned respect from all for her work ethic. There were no tasks she wouldn't undertake although some were not on her most favored list.

She studied and practiced hard to earn her CDL last August. Thanks in part to Ryan's assistance she overcame apprehension and successfully drove the course! She also had become an accomplished hunter and if ever under attack you would want her on your side. She had a generous nature but wasn't afraid to call out misdeeds and mistakes and character flaws. We joked many times how fortunate she was to be on a family farm with “Walnut Grove Dirt" as opposed to some of the Fulton County fields we cover. She loved her family deeply and knew the meaning of the McGrew family reputation.

Renee leaves us with a big gap operation-wise. In a review this past week we had just gone over all the tasks she was responsible for—and then heaped a few more on her plate as she was undertaking more management roles. Our entire family is going to feel deep loss for some time. She was like a granddaughter to me and a daughter to Marcus. We look forward to the day we can meet again to share some good farm stories and see that twinkle in her bright brown eyes and that beautiful smile.

Renee’s Obituary

Steve