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Partners & Friends,

We haven’t turned a single wheel in a week. We have received over 5 inches of rain and can verify that our soil profile is full of moisture!🙂 The Hess Family Farm team is 30% complete with corn planting and 99% complete with soybean planting. All of our fields have been sprayed. A spring like this demonstrates the advantage of tiled fields. There are very few spots with pattern tiling in place that have been drowned out. The Drowning Fork creek that runs through our home farm, however, has been out twice and will need replanting. Chuck has been a great help with trucking, and we have delivered the last soybeans to the bins. The focus during the rain delays has been on many detail projects, as well as preparation for the big push that will soon emerge with rest of planting, post spraying, hay making, mowing, summer tiling, goat showing, 4-H fairs, construction projects, and fine tuning on our farm chemical mixing center.

GREET modeling for 2024 was introduced this past week. It was a large disappointment, as very little guidance was provided regarding the crop we are planting and how it will qualify for SAF carbon scoring in the future. The farm bill debate persists in DC. The bird flu outbreak is weighing on livestock markets. Additionally, the ongoing war in Ukraine continues to cause volatility in commodity markets.

On the family front, it is the time of year for finals, spring recitals, and outdoor gatherings. Show season has also begun in earnest. We are making plans for a few fun summer getaways.

Fall Prices:

Corn—4.58

Soybeans—11.71

Let us know what you want to read about, and be sure to ask any questions you might have!

Steve

Time Treasures

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Partners & Friends,

This past week we had a local “treasure” hunter contact us and ask permission to search former building sites with his metal detector. All he has inspected so far is our Checkrow farm, which had a schoolhouse on one corner for over 100 years as well as a house and farmstead site on the property. Included in the pictures are some of the treasures: many coins, including pennies, nickels and V-nickels, and dimes, along with silverware, a bracelet with the name Perry, belt buckles, and buttons from the late 1800’s. Our family loves history. Holding these treasures in your hand can stir a feeling of wonderment about what the story is behind each piece. Who were the owners, how was each item obtained, and how did they end up in the earth? Kudos to Kyle for having the patience and desire to search and explore our past!

We are currently preparing for spring with ideal conditions. The lack of moisture is a bit of a concern, but we are receiving some nice spring thunderstorms as I write this. We have finished 2 big tiling projects that both involved major main outlets through our neighbors’ property. The Hess Family Farm team is finishing up NH3 application on a few more acres allotted to corn, as the economy is leaning toward greater profit from corn this season. We’re leveling up the fields we have tiled over the past few years to get them in condition to leave until led in the future. We are also seeding a few CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) acres along with some pollinator habitat. In addition to all that, the team is hooking up the planters and preparing them to go to the field. Planting will commence around April 5th. We do hope for moisture before then; I believe we are back on the drought map area.

There is much talk about carbon as of late. We attended a farmer meeting last week learning how we can “pay the farmer” to keep carbon in the soil. Although it makes a lot of sense, it requires another layer of planning and management on our part as well as a lot of data verification. We are anxiously waiting for the new GREET guidelines to be published, which will govern how carbon credits are measured and compensated for. There will be ample discussion around this next year, so stay tuned.🙂 I will not quit talking about carbon anytime soon…anything to avoid pipelines!

Our family is staying busy with science fairs, college visits, goat sales, visits to Florida, and plenty of other academic and sport activities. Time truly does fly by quickly. 😓

Fall Prices:

Corn—4.47

Soybeans—11.59

Keep in touch,

Steve

5 Things

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Partners & Friends,

Marcus recently returned from the Ag View Executive Business Conference, which we all usually try to attend annually. This is an agriculture business consulting firm that advises on management, succession planning, transitions, marketing, and operational efficiencies. A subscriber based podcast called 19 Minutes summed up the meeting quite well by defining the 5 things that make a business wise and worthwhile to invest in. They are as follows:

1. Holding your business to a high degree of professionalism

2. Taking continuing education seriously for management and team members

3. Taking time off to rest and refresh

4. Meeting new and interesting people

5. Developing key metric and performance measures to track operational success

At Hess Family Farm, we do our best to consistently incorporate these guidelines into what we do and who we are. Most of these measures could apply to our own personal lives as well.

On the farm, we are hauling seed beans for Becks to ElPaso and have delivered 14 loads so far. The weather looks good enough to resume tiling again this week. Office work includes preparing for taxes, finishing up crop input planning, and finalizing record procedures for 2024. We are looking into a grain dryer update, as well as attending a few more farm meetings to help plan for the 2024 corn and soybean crop.

AI will be influencing many aspects of agriculture and our lives in the future. A speaker noted that it will revolutionize modern-day farming in the same way that machinery and other technological equipment replaced horses in the fields last century. Brazil is rapidly harvesting their soy crop and planting safrinha corn as fast as possible to catch the rain needed. Weather prospects for the approaching spring planting season predict short, intermittent planting windows. The spring crop insurance prices for corn and beans are being set during the month of February and are considerably lower than last year.

Phyllis and I wrapped up our Christmas visits with a trip to Asheville last week to visit Ali. We also got to see Phil in Florida for a couple of days, and the time away from the cold and snow was enjoyed.

Fall Prices:

Corn—4.10

Soybeans—10.67

Steve 

New Year

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Partners & Friends,

We are making our way into 2024 after a wonderful holiday season celebrating the birth of our Savior and enjoying time with family and friends. Along with that is a lot of year-end office time and bookkeeping frenzy. We have finalized our corn and soybean seed orders for the next crop season after studying our own field research and consulting with our crop consultants. Our fertilizer needs are mostly booked and applied. The only missing link is our spring side dress NH3 application. We have pre-paid for chemicals and fungicide. When we make our plans, we are preparing for a robust crop with all the inputs needed for top yields. It is encouraging that input costs are mostly lower, except for seed. Commodity prices are certainly lower than year ago. There’ll be some event along the way that will provide marketing opportunities. 

The Hess Family Farm team is putting more tile in the ground whenever the weather allows. Plans are for another 200 acres this year, although the weather forecast does not look good after this week. We have emptied all the corn bins. This is the first time all bins are empty this early, but we took advantage of some early delivery offers that have turned out well. We are now in the midst of year-end bookkeeping tasks, turning out 1099s and W-2s, and preparing for tax filings. There are a few meetings to attend to help with continuing education and business strategy updates.

The current world events are always black swans for our planning. The Middle East conflict is putting energy prices on a roller coaster almost daily. We have booked almost half of our needs for 2024. The situation with the war in Ukraine is jerking commodity prices around daily. Weather in South America is of extreme importance in the midst of their critical growing season. Interest rates are another area we pay constant attention to. Operating interest is almost 2x what rates were 1 year ago.

Our family is doing well. This season of gatherings has shown us just how thankful we are for our friends and family. The support and prayers our family received over the past year of great highs and lows means so much—thank you! We are looking forward to a great New Year with much time for relationships. May you all take time for the ones in your lives.

Fall Prices:

Corn—4.72

Soybeans—11.93

Steve

Christmas Tree Season

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Partners & Friends,

Things are busy and going well here on the farm as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

We have finished fall tillage. The fall fertilizer, both anhydrous and dry, is on the fields. We have hauled over 400,000 bushels of corn to take advantage of basis opportunities. We have also celebrated the success of Toppling Goliath (aka Navigator), at least for now. The barns and manure piles are cleaned up. Many tile holes have been dug up and repaired. Equipment has been cleaned and stored. Tiling projects have begun. We hauled over 200 loads of municipal sludge. Goats have been shown. And it snowed. 😐

Crude oil prices are softer as of now, even with the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. The one year extension of the Farm Bill has been passed. South America crops are doing adequately overall. Corn and beans have gone into their usual seasonal doldrums. The used equipment market seems to be softer on most types of farm equipment. The Iowa caucuses are about 2 months away. Farmers are standing up for property rights. At the Illinois Farm Bureau annual meeting in Chicago, resolutions were passed by the delegates opposing Eminent Domain for all renewable energy projects, including CO2 pipelines.🙂 That happened thanks to the effort of a many people doing what they can, or as I like to say: throwing stones at the giant! 👏🏻

Our family is doing well, with school, sports, work, music activities, and goat care filling up schedules. Phyllis and I attended the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) meeting in Chicago last weekend, and it was wonderful to see friends and family there involved in grassroots decisions. It was a very gratifying delegate session after a year of meetings, calls, signs, and postcards. 

Fall 2024 Prices:

Corn—4.89

Soybeans—12.41

Remember to celebrate the True Meaning of this Christmas season!

Steve