View From the Cab

PALMYRA, Ill. (DTN) -- The research combine working in Quint Pottinger's farm field this week is harvesting information. Small plot work may be time-consuming to plant, treat and reap, but this region of Kentucky is rife with variable farming conditions. Cooperating with an independent agronomist on these plots gives the young farmer a hyper local and unbiased assessment on which to base future agronomic decisions.

Pottinger believes those questions will be even more critical going into the 2025 season. He's reevaluating everything -- from his current weed control program to whether deer pressure is making some rental land unprofitable. "We're still in the middle of harvest and the wild weather we had makes this year hard to use as a comparison, but current market prices and global outlook are causing us to take a hard look at everything," said Pottinger.

Harvest has finally wrapped up for Dan Lakey in southeast Idaho, but he's had a few hiccups. This past week a combine fire slowed operations. All season, weather events such as frost during the growing season, hail and then, freezing conditions just prior to harvest have leveled challenges. Those weather blows have him reevaluating crop selections and rotations for the coming year.

"People often ask about our standard rotation, and I can never really answer that as we are constantly reevaluating. Our winter crop acres are also dependent upon fall moisture conditions, for example," said Lakey.

Lakey and Pottinger are participating in the 2024 View From the Cab series. The feature has been following the farmers through the crop season since May. This week they catch readers up on crop progress and some thoughts about the coming season.

DAN LAKEY: SODA SPRINGS, IDAHO

Every field has merits, but Lakey has a favorite parcel. This year he saved his for last -- a 1,450-acre patch of malting barley growing near the remote location of Henry, Idaho. More than 20 miles from home base, the field sits at nearly 6,200 feet elevation. The barley waves at snow-frosted mountain tops and bringing this crop in is always a treat for the senses -- even if yields prove disappointing.

Lakey had feared the freezing conditions experienced in this area in late-August/early September had taken a toll. The combines proved his suspicions. Low-lying swales took the brunt of the cold where temperatures dipped below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Drought had already zapped some of the potential from the ridges.

Desired test weight on barley is 48 pounds. "We cut as light as 38 lb. in some of those dips. Typically, if you go below 46 lb. the elevator won't look at it for malt. But we delivered some heavy malting barley early and the local elevator has really been going the extra mile to do what they can to help," Lakey said.

"The price of malting barley has been at $8 per bushel for the past few years and we've seen prices decline significantly," he added, noting that he has some of this year's crop contracted at $5.75 and $5.25 per bushel. "So, it was already a big hit. Selling it for feed drops the price to around $3 per bushel -- a triple whammy in a drought year like this," Lakey said.

Farming at these elevations comes with risk. "It is part of farming out in these areas. It doesn't happen every year. Most of the time, the crop is very good there," he said.

Because of the geography, the Henry location is his least-rotated acreage. Occasionally he will try winter wheat. This year, he's thinking spring wheat or possibly returning to malt barley again.

"We are limited because of the short growing season. We had 70 frost-free days in those fields this year, so it is really a struggle. I had in mind to try some canola there, but the timing didn't work out," he said, noting that those who have farmed here previously grew continuous barley for decades and his goal is to shake up rotations when possible.

"We know agronomically it makes sense to rotate. But we are so dependent on weather and pricing that it makes it difficult to have a set plan. I hope I can prove myself wrong and grow other things there," he said.

Just don't ask him about flax, which in Lakey's mind deserves to be a four-lettered word. He took a year break from growing it after a disastrous crop in 2023. "I hope that my attitude about flax changes and that the price comes back and that I start growing it again.

"The crop is always looks so awesome and so beautiful and it looks like it's going to do good. And then, the yield is always super disappointing. It's hard to combine and hard to store. We're thinking we might add another pulse crop or more mustard and canola to replace some flax acres.

"I'm down on flax, but then ... we have short memories," Lakey admitted.

One thing he won't forget soon is a close call with a combine fire that started when bearings overheated in a variable speed fan drive and ignited some chaff on the John Deere machine. Quick operator action and access to a fire extinguisher avoided complete destruction of the machine and avoided setting nearby federal grazing grounds ablaze.

The combine doesn't look bad from the outside, but Lakey said the engine compartment, wiring, electronic modules and pretty much anything inside is toast. "No one was seriously hurt -- but we had a couple of burnt hands," he reported.

The combine was well-insured, but the incident has caused some safety discussions with farm staff. And, Lakey said the fire was a good reminder to review coverages for the coming year.

Winter wheat planting is complete. Lakey has a relationship with Shepherd's Grain and the positive experience and demand signals encouraged him to plant nearly 2,000 acres of soft white winter wheat. "It's up and growing and looks good, but we need moisture," he noted.

Lakey also plans to increase canola acres for the coming season. He has several hundred acres of winter canola planted and currently is weighing how many acres he wants to devote to spring canola.

"We're working on some seed pea contracts right now. Triticale worked out really well this year. Forage barley worked out well. We'll probably try to do some more specialty contracts for those crops," he said. Durum wheat, on the other hand, was a disaster and he needs a break from that memory.

"We're always looking to increase our malt barley contracts. Barley works here well because of our cold nights and warm days," he said.

With spring wheat, he plans to hold acreage to what he can lock in through specialty contracts or the futures market. Hard red is the go-to spring wheat for this area.

This has been a summer of perspective for Lakey. A disappointing crop or a challenging harvest might have once been something to fret or obsess over. But recently, several local tragedies have rearranged his priority list.

A few weeks ago, the Peterbilt got a little too close to the grain cart and it bent the driver's side chrome smokestack over the sleeper cabin. "I just had to laugh and say I never liked those things anyway. No one got hurt and there are more important things in life than letting something that can be fixed ruin your day," he said.

Each year Lakey Farms saves about 5 acres of grain for a special friend, Dan Somsen, to cut with the old Gleaner E. "To see the joy on his face and how much fun he has reminds me that I don't need to be so rushed and on schedule all the time. Sometimes we need to sit back and enjoy this great opportunity and life we have," Lakey said.

QUINT POTTINGER: NEW HAVEN, KENTUCKY

Harvest took a two-week pause on Affinity Farms as they waited for the remaining crop to dry down. On Oct. 3, corn was still running 26.5% to 29.5%, depending on which grain moisture testing device Quint Pottinger used.

He nosed the combine into the first field of the soybeans for the season on Oct. 4 and was surprised to find the April-planted beans yielding 77 bushel per acre. "I'm thrilled, given the conditions we've had," he said.

Wild weather swings have been a common theme for Pottinger this season. But he feels fortunate to have come out of Hurricane Helene without damage, unlike many other areas of his state and those adjoining.

"Here, it rained for two straight days, and we got 5 inches of rain and some wind," he reported. "However, the ground was so dry and the river so low and it fell slow enough that it soaked in. The creek barely got out of the bottoms -- maybe 20 feet or so into some field margins -- which is shocking because I thought whole fields would be under water," he said.

Double-crop soybeans were in dire need of the moisture and responded by starting to grow, he added. "As long as we can keep our nighttime temperatures up, they should be able to finish on out," Pottinger said.

Some of the research plot work this year has been examining soybeans planted into growing rye. Pottinger said competition from the rye limited growth, but when he digs down and looks, there are soybeans coming -- although the stems are spindly and tangled. The farm has also been running fungicide trials looking at how it influences grain weight, yield and plant health.

His view from the cab so far this season has indicated a need to get Johnsongrass under control. The farm moved to non-GMO corn and soybeans across the board in 2021. "It's totally a COVID story. We switched when Roundup (glyphosate) prices went through the roof in 2021," Quint said.

"We have so much deer pressure that it is hard to get the crop to canopy fast enough to help with weed pressure. So, looks like we're probably going to head back to GMO soybeans," he said.

Early order indications are corn hybrid costs might be rising, especially on GMO hybrids loaded with traits. So that has him wondering about sticking with non-GMO corn to limit costs and rotating with GMO soybean.

"We've got good herbicide options in corn that handle our big weed problems. So maybe we'll plant GMO beans, so we can get Roundup (glyphosate) back in the system and gain a few other tools to help with waterhemp and Palmer (almaranth)," he said.

Honestly, he's not sure how much emphasis to put on this agronomic year as a decision tool. "It's been such a weird year, that it is difficult for me to say what I want to do differently next year. Most of our decisions are being driven by cost of production.

"We planted a third of the corn crop in April and two-thirds of it in May and more than half of soybeans in late June. How do I assess that and know what to change?" he asked.

Affinity Farms works with a crop scouting firm and their agronomist to monitor crops through the season and to select inputs. Dedicating acreage for corn and soybean research plots is a piece of that puzzle. "We end up with a massive amount of information that we look at before making big decisions.

"We like the objectivity that we get with third-party research rather than what we learn from commercial vendors.

"I'm an early adopter. Dad tends to be an early adopter. But having said that, we like that, to see that independent look and analysis, where all they are selling is a service and not the product," Pottinger said.

Western Kentucky, southern Illinois, southern Indiana and central Kentucky often get lumped into the same regional focus, but Pottinger sees vast climate differences. "There's a lot of differences in a short space and the best way to get local research is to dedicate space on our farm to do it," he said. The next step in that journey would be to connect the distilleries that the farm services to the research effort, Pottinger noted.

The other big change this year is an assessment of how wildlife is influencing profitability on leased acres. "We're going to give up a total of nearly 400 acres of land that borders heavily wooded areas that has been decimated by deer," Pottinger said. The hope is to replace most of those acres with other tracts that are less prone to damage.

Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

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