My Wheat Farm

Recently, I’ve heard and read that part of the cause of the Egyptian situation is due to U. S. ethanol policy.  It seems that if corn wasn’t used for ethanol it could be used for food, even though very little field corn is consumed directly by humans.

Just thinking out loud here, let’s explore that argument.

Let’s assume we used zero bushels of corn for ethanol.  Then we wouldn’t have any ethanol to burn in our cars.  We’d have to replace that fuel with traditional oil, the majority of which comes from the Middle East.  Our energy independence would be in jeopardy.  And what would the price at the pump be for gas $5 or $6 wouldn’t be out of the question.  Instead of food inflation causing riots in other parts of the world, we’d have fuel riots in our part of the world.

Aside from the fuel argument, lets look at what ethanol has done for the ag economy.   Before ethanol got up and running in the 90s, agriculture was suffering through some tough times.  The 80s were not ag friendly.  Foreclosures were common nationwide.  The future of ag wasn’t bright.  I remember discussing this with my dad.  He wanted to know if I wanted to farm, I told him its tough to make a living with $3 wheat.  He told me people will always need to eat so there will always be a need for a farmer.  He was right.  I think its safe to say, in my area anyway, the poor farm economy of the 80s pushed most kids of the 80s off of the farm (myself being an exception).

Most of wheat research today is still being done in the public university system and funded by grower checkoff dollars or federal dollars in the form of (gasp) earmarks.  With the rising prices of wheat, that is starting to change and we are getting more private investment in wheat.  When ethanol got started, farmers could make money growing corn.  Realizing farmers actually had some money to invest in better seed, the ag companies started doing research into making that better seed.  That snowball really grew and now there is a lot of research being done in corn seed.  That research has resulted in national corn yields increasing by about 25% between 1992 and 2010 and an increase of almost 10 million acres planted.  A look at wheat yields over the same time would show an increase of 18% per acre but a drop of 15 million acres in production.

If we take corn ethanol out of the picture we have a number of disturbing results.  First, we import more oil from countries that don’t necessarily like us and export our hard earned dollars to them.  And who knows, maybe the national guard would be stationed at gas stations across the country.  Second, we would lose another generation of farmers.  And third, we would have no research dollars in corn, we would have corn yields that didn’t keep up with demand, prices of other commodities (like wheat and soybeans) wouldn’t have followed corn’s leadership in price advances.  Doesn’t sound so simple does it.

Just some food, and fuel, for thought.

This week Oprah had a show about the benefits of veganism.  I’ve been watching the discussion about the show with mild interest and have decided to throw in my two cents on a couple of topics.  Today I’m going to stick to our crop rotation.

One of the overriding topics of the anti farming crowd is that if it weren’t for government subsidies, farmers would grow a much larger variety of crops.  On our farm we stick to wheat, sugarbeets and soybeans.  We do this not because of the government programs but because its good for the land.  Some of our land has been producing for our family for over 100 years, why would we do something that was bad for the land?

Sugarbeets use a lot of moisture to grow.  With the amount of rain we’ve been getting around here that is a good thing.  The year after we have sugarbeets on a field we will have wheat.  Because the sugarbeets sucked moisture out of the ground the year before, this ground will be the first to dry out in the spring.  Again, in this part of the world with our short growing seasons, getting in early in the spring is very important.  Also, because we have been able to utilize the benefits or Roundup Ready technology in sugarbeets, the fields are very clean and free of weed seeds.  This results in having a cleaner wheat field the next year and having to use less herbicides on our wheat.

Following the wheat we will have either wheat again or soybeans.  This decision depends on the market dynamics in the fall.  Sometimes we can make more money growing wheat than soybeans and that will influence our planting decision.

Depending on what we do in year 3 will determine what happens in year 4 or our rotation cycle.  If a field had wheat on it, it may have sugarbeets again.  If it had soybeans it will go to wheat.  Some of the questions that have to be answered for this decision have to do with the likelihood of that particular field flooding in the spring (this would delay the planting of sugarbeets), if the drainage ditches  need work or not, and weed pressure in the field.

By year five, the field should have sugarbeets on it again.  We strive to have sugarbeets every four or five years.  By rotating our crops we break up the weed and disease cycles.  Also, much like a well-built stock portfolio, we are diversified in our crops and hopefully can benefit from changing market conditions.  Most importantly though, we can hopefully will benefit from the weather cycle.  Not every year is conducive to producing a certain crop.  Sugarbeets like when its hot outside, wheat prefers to be cool.  In the end, we don’t farm the program; we farm the market or the weather.

I’ve written here before about a lawsuit in California involving sugarbeets.  The lawsuit is ongoing and threatens next year’s sugarbeet crop.  Some articles I’ve seen estimate a reduction in planted sugarbeet acres in excess of 30%.  Undoubtedly, this would raise sugar prices.  Undoubtedly, this would threaten some farms.

A few years ago, we had the food versus fuel debate.  Sugar farmers have done something about this.  In the past 15 years, my sugar cooperative has reduced acres planted by 20% and produced the same amount of sugar.  We have been able to plant other crops, such as edible beans, soybeans, wheat, or corn on those 20% of acres that used to be planted to sugar.  The American food supply has benefited because of that development.

Since we have adopted biotech sugarbeets, we have reduced the inputs we have used.  In all honesty, biotech crops are better for the environment than conventional crops.  In the past, we have sprayed various mixes of chemicals 3, 4, or 5 times in a summer.  Now we are spraying RoundUp twice.  We also used to cultivate twice a year.  Now we don’t.  Because of the technology we are making at least three fewer trips across the field.  This reduction has reduced the amount of fuel used, conserved water, and been healthier for the crop and the environment.  Also in the past, we would often have severe weed problems in the field the next year and have to spray more on the next year’s crop.

There is a fear on the environmentalist side that biotech sugarbeets could cross pollinate with other crops.  It takes two years for sugarbeets to produce seed.  It is very rare for a plant to bolt and shoot a seed stalk in the field.  In fact, on our 1000 acres of sugarbeets planted last year, I did not see one.  Sugarbeet seed is raised in Oregon where they also raise table beets and other crops.  This is where they are concerned.  For as long as they have been growing biotech sugarbeet seed, I have not heard of one instance where the sugarbeet seed has cross pollinated with the other crops.

Seed for next year’s sugarbeet crop has already been harvested and is sitting on a shelf in a warehouse somewhere.  Currently, it is illegal to plant that seed.  That has me dumbfounded as there is nothing to cross pollinate with in the areas where sugarbeets are grown.  If there was a plant that bolted, a farmer could simply destroy that plant with a hoe.  Simple as that.

As a farmer, all I ask is that these regulations be based on sound science.  In 40 years, we are going to have 9 billion people on this planet to feed and clothe.  Modern farming techniques can do it.  The science is there, the tools are there.  Let us do it and feed the world.

I urge anyone that is interested to visit www.supportsugarbeets.com.  The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is taking comments on the issue until Monday, December 6th.  Please add your comments and support sugarbeets.

One of the things that American farmers should be proud of is the fact that each one feeds 115 people.  I found this You Tube clip fairly interesting.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4vvPPNyQ5g

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and millions will be seated around tables loaded with food, it occurred to me that most of them have no idea where that food came from.  So I did some research at USDA and found the following.

Obviously, the center of any Thanksgiving meal is the turkey.  Did you know that Minnesota is responsible for 95% (47,000,000) of the turkeys produced in the United States.  Like potatoes, the sweet ones probably came from North Carolina, but the mashed that I prefer come from Idaho.  Those buns your grandma makes that you love, might have come from Kansas wheat.  That head of lettuce most likely came from California.  The relish tray you most likely are munching on mostly came from California.  If you like squash, you should know that Florida is the leader there.  Pumpkin pie for dessert, look to Illinois for the source of those pumpkins.  How about that table cloth, ever think that a cotton farmer in Texas took the time to grow it?

Tomorrow, when you are giving thanks for whatever you are thankful for, don’t forget to be thankful for the farmer that produced the food.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The past month has been pretty quiet.  About a month ago, we had 2 inches of rain that effectively ended all field work around here.  We still are trying to get out to finish some ditching.  We’ll be able to get it done when the ground freezes and before it snows.  Fortunately, we have missed the snow that the Twin Cities had over the weekend.

The past two weeks have been deer hunting.  Most guys use this time as vacation.   August through October all pretty busy and there isn’t a lot of time for rest or relaxation so they use this time to get caught up on some fun.

It’s also meeting season.  I had wheat grower meetings in Minneapolis a few weeks ago, today I did my pre-tax planning and have a load of things to think about before the end of the year.  There also are a plethora of seed meetings going on.  It’s not to hard to get a free steak dinner at least once a week with all of these meetings.

This year there are a few more things for us to consider when buying sugarbeet seed.  Ongoing litigation on the west coast has our hands tied on buying GMO seed or conventional seed.  Basically, we have two crops of seed ordered.  Hopefully, we find out what we can plant the GMO by the end of this year but I don’t think any of us are holding our breath.

Tomorrow, I head to North Carolina for a Field to Market sustainability meeting.  Two weeks after that I head to South Dakota for the wheat grower convention.  Then Minnesota and North Dakota have their convention the week after that.  So even though it’s a slow season, it’s not to hard to keep busy.

Sugar beet harvest started right on schedule this year, October 1.  But that’s about the only normal thing about beets.  The weather this year has been unseasonably warm, today we hit 78 degrees.  Sugar beets are a peculiar thing, they like to be harvested when the root temperature is somewhere between freezing and about 65 degrees.  If they are harvested outside of these parameters they will rot in storage.  This year, our nighttime lows have been our normal daytime highs, or about 55 degrees and the daytime highs have been in the neighborhood of 70.  This means we have been able to harvest nights but not days.  My shift is the night shift, we run midnight to noon.  With the warm temperatures, we have had to shut down at noon.  So we’ve been effectively running at half speed.  And now, we’ve been shutdown since Friday at noon.

While it has been frustrating to not be able to run full shifts, it is a blessing to not be wet.  Rain and snow are our usual nemeses.  In October, we don’t get a lot of sunshine, and, on average, even less heat.  If it rains it takes a long time to dry out.  When it is wet, we will start harvest as soon as you can physically move in the field.  This means fighting mud, and that means not a lot of fun is had by anyone.  Fortunately, we have been dry, trucks can run up and down the field at will and the harvesters have stayed relatively clean.  Trust me, chipping mud out of a beet harvester is work, a lot of work.

As I said, we’ve been shutdown since Friday.  The sugar company has announced that weather conditions should cool off by Tuesday night and we’ll be starting harvest at 8 pm on Tuesday.  Our day shift will come out and run until midnight, and then we’ll be back at midnight.  I called the night crew today and told them to show up tomorrow, get some sleep and ready to work at midnight tomorrow.

As things are going, we have about 5 shifts left, if we can run 24 hours we’ll be done in about 3 days.  I’m anxious to get on with it, get the beets out of the ground and be done with harvest.