Crop update from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa

Chris: Hey everyone, you're going to get 3 crop updates here back to back. We're going to start out with Michigan with Scott Lownier, we're going to hop on over to Wisconsin with Jared Schmidt, and then we're going to swing back to Iowa with Scott Berger. So take a listen and got all 3 of them back to back. Enjoy. We are in Lansing, Michigan with this crop update with Scott Lownier. How's it going, Scott?

Scott

Lonier: Good, Chris, how you doing today?

Chris: I'm hanging in there. So I just caught you, sounds like, just getting off the tractor from out rolling. How's things going? What's stuff looking like?

Scott

Lonier: Uh, things are going good. Uh, I guess things went good, smooth, quick planting season. It was, uh, over in a flash. It was one of those where, you know, all of a sudden, next thing you know, you looked up and it's like, oh, I got them all done.

Jerod

Schmidt: And, you know, it was only the the 7th of May.

Scott

Lonier: It's like, what do we do now? So getting caught up on some spraying, getting all the pre-emergent spray down on our soybeans. We got 1,000 acres of wheat. We got to get a couple passes of fungicide on still tiller, first tillers, where flag leaf's just starting to come out of those. So we're started this morning putting application on that, and I went out to start rolling some of our soybeans. We have a bunch of alfalfa stones that you just can't get picked up out of the field and So in our soybeans ground that we got planted, I went out this morning and started rolling and lo and behold, the first one field that I pulled into was one of the first ones that I planted and they're starting to poke out of the ground a little bit.

You can see the ground crust poking up from there and that's normally a good thing, but we had frost this morning and we have another chance of frost probably tonight as well as a chance of frost the next day as well. So Our first, so our first bean and our first corns are just spiking out of the ground right now. And we're hoping, we're hoping they don't come too quick in the next couple days.

Chris: Yeah, we're recording this late in the afternoon here on May 10th. Is that right? It's May 10th? I don't know, I can't, my dates run together.

Scott

Lonier: I don't know. It's just another day, so.

Chris: Yeah, so.

Scott

Lonier: The day after Mother's Day, how about that?

Chris: Exactly, exactly, that's when we're recording this. So, Tell me a little bit. So those beans are just coming up. I just, I've been talking to some guys in Illinois in a couple of instances now where they had a freeze, didn't catch really any rain over this past weekend, and it's probably killed a few beans that were up a ways. Your guys are just coming through. What, what's your last frost or frost-freeze date?

Scott

Lonier: Uh, our last frost-freeze date for, for prevent plant or for Replan on crop insurance, is that what you're asking?

Chris: No, I'm just curious, like, when's the last time you guys usually get a freeze?

Scott

Lonier: Oh geez, we've had, uh, we've planted, we've been planting in the middle of May before and had people coming down. So this is Michigan, you never know what you're gonna get, you know, just like Forrest Gump says, it's a box of chocolates. Take it day by day because unfortunately we were slowed down a little bit because we were in the mid-70s for a week of March and we had a bunch of weeds growing back then. So we had to do a lot of burndown to get our fields clean before we went out and started planting it on GMOs. And, um, you know, it's just, just been crazy. You had, uh, you know, a couple weeks in the 70s and 80s and now we're down in the 50s for another week here and frosty, couple frosty mornings in a row. So, so it's all over the place.

Chris: Yeah.

Scott

Lonier: So in your guys's area, um, what percent do you think is done with corn and beans I would say the way things have been going, the majority of the people are either done or going to be wrapping up here this week. We've had 2 rain events is all that we've had since planting started. And it was just a shade over 2/10 each time. And it was just enough to keep you out of the field until about noon the next day.

Chris: So you guys are pretty dry too then?

Scott

Lonier: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we're getting pretty dusty and pretty dry out here. Um, didn't, didn't catch anything that came through yesterday. That was all the southern part of the state got some of it, and, uh, but it didn't— nothing made it up here to mid-Michigan anyway.

Chris: Okay, um, let me hit you with the marketing question for a minute here. As far as like basis, I've been asking everybody in the crop updates in their area, how hungry are the processors, you know, or the, the merchandisers in your area for, for old crop and Can they find any, and then what's crop rotation look like? I'll get to that in a minute too.

Scott

Lonier: Alright, so on the grain marketing side, we have a couple ethanol plants that are within a 50-mile radius of us here. One of them is the Andersons plant, and they are, they're pretty aggressive still. They're 30 over is what the base, their base is.

Chris: What's normal for you?

Scott

Lonier: You know, normal for us, if we could get If we could get an even basis, a lot of times we're happy with it. But you know, what is normal for us is hard to say because in 2019 we had probably about 70% of our ground prevent planted. So we've been short, we've been short, we've been long and we've been short. And you know, so, so 30 overs, you know, is really good on top of the, you know, the board prices that we're looking at right now. The other ethanol plant, they had a lot of their grain, they thought they already had everything all merchandised until July. They had it all spoken for, so they're not as aggressive, and they're only 15 cents over, uh, over the board is where they're at. But we've actually got a local ADM plant that's even closer to us, and they're a little more aggressive yet looking for corn, and they're 15 over.

So, you know, it depends on how much you want, how much you want to truck it right now, how bad they want to get rid of it. So, um, what right now, right now, the, the nearby, the nearby markets are a lot more aggressive on the basis, the You know, both of them out to July are only 12 cents out to the July right now on their basis. So I'm hoping that gets, uh, they want it now. Yeah, yes, everybody, everybody wants it right now. I'm not sure what they're going to do in July when it, when they want it then, but hopefully it goes up because they got some contracts rolled to July. So I'm hoping, hoping to get better.

Chris: Yeah, so another question on the crop rotation side of things, as the processors, you know, ask for, for new crop and stuff too, our guys made the decisions to to kind of stay with the same crop rotation, or do you feel like there's more corn in the area, more beans in the area? Is everybody pretty similar to what they've been doing?

Scott

Lonier: Wow, you got to go all the way back to last fall, Chris, to start talking about crop rotation here because we have wheat is in the game for us. And out here where we're at, and we tripled our wheat production from, you know, from about a little over 300 acres that we have over almost 900 acres of our own in right now, plus what we do custom for a couple other guys. So that went crazy because back in September and October, that was the only crop that was really making money back then. We had another local grower who's not far from the ethanol, one of the ethanol plants. He put in so much wheat last fall that he's got a 36-row and a 24-row planter. He didn't even get his big planter out. He only got his 24-row planter out. So, you know, what a difference a year, you know, 6 months makes and what was profitable and what could be more profitable now.

So, well, and it's hard— not that wheat's not a hor— wheat's a pretty good market too. It's kind of yo-yoing with everything else. And, you know, $7 wheat for us isn't horrible here when you can deliver to the elevator for $7. And we bale straw and sell it to a local dairy. So there's another, you know, we're figuring a ton to a ton and a quarter an acre that we're delivering straw to. And that's, you know, if we break even on our wheat, we make money on our straw. So that's kind of the way we look at things. But Um, it just— like I said, what a difference it makes from last fall to the spring. Yeah, if you kick yourself in the butt or not, but that's kind of like anything else in hindsight, right? Yeah.

Chris: And, and that's like you said too, you know, if you put a bunch of wheat in last fall, um, you're not going to plant more corn acres if you've already increased your acres. And, and I'm hearing that from— I mean, are you— is that something you're seeing kind of common? In your area?

Scott

Lonier: Well, there was, there was a wheat shortage the year before because we, we had a really wet fall, so you couldn't get wheat in the ground. And what little bit got in the ground, the, the dairy guys use it quite heavy in their rations for, uh, for, for the dairy production around here. And so the straw prices went crazy last year because there, there was just a huge demand for it. Well, everybody thought, well, it's going to be that same way again, so let's take advantage of it. And, you know, once again, when you, when you put all the numbers together, wheat was more profitable than than what corn and beans were at the time last fall. So, but, but now that things has changed around a little bit and the markets are shaking, everything's evening out. There are a couple of guys I've heard that planted a little bit more beans and switched some acres around. Not a whole lot.

Typically your rotation is your rotation. We've got guys that still grow edible beans around us. We still have guys that put in sugar beets here as well. So a little bit of everything happens here in Michigan.

Chris: Yep, that's for sure. Well, hey, um, Scott, really appreciate your, uh, input, and maybe we'll get back with you later on and make sure everything came up and, uh, stuff's growing like it's supposed to. And hopefully, uh, hopefully we can— we, we know that we have something to sell eventually. That's the one thing that's kind of hard to get too wild on sales when stuff's not even out of the ground yet. So, but these prices have been crazy and, and we'll talk again. But thanks a lot, really appreciate your contribution.

Scott

Lonier: My pleasure, my pleasure. Take care, have a good day.

Chris: All right, you too. We have Jared Schmidt from Chili, Wisconsin, so right in the center of the state of Wisconsin. How's it going, Jared?

Jerod

Schmidt: It's going good, just unfolding the planter, pulling into my next field. Oh, 44% done with corn.

Chris: Gotcha, gotcha. What, what are the conditions like? Uh, you guys super dry or sitting pretty good on moisture or what?

Jerod

Schmidt: No, conditions, conditions are really, really good. Um, yeah, good, good moisture, just cold, but, but good moisture. Soil conditions are good. So you have dust rolling on this field and Gotcha.

Chris: So you're, um, well, real quick, tell everybody what your planter is, that you got a kind of a cool planter.

Jerod

Schmidt: Oh, so I got a, a 3-point 36-row 20-inch planter, um, uh, with, with dual hybrid meters and, and no, and no wheels on the planter. There's just, it's all, all carried by the tractor and Carry 1,000 gallons of nitrogen on the front of the QuadTrac and 500 gallons of pop-up above the fuel tank. And so it's just a, just a self-propelled planter basically this time of year.

Chris: Yeah, it's a pretty amazing system that you've got put together there, so I had to, I had to let you throw a plug in for your invention there. It was pretty awesome. Um, what, uh, you said you're 44% done with corn. Uh, you guys have any beans this year? You guys have a large area?

Jerod

Schmidt: Yeah, beans will finish up tomorrow. Okay. Um, we could have been done, but we needed to get some stones picked, or a lot of stones picked on that piece. So the beans are done, alfalfa is done. Um, and so yeah, just focusing on corn now.

Chris: And gotcha. And a lot of the corn you're planting is going to be silage, right?

Jerod

Schmidt: It's earmarked for all silage at this time, um, and then we just see how the season plays out, if any goes for grain or not.

Chris: Unless you have another crop, another, another bumper crop, then you get to have some grain.

Jerod

Schmidt: So, right.

Chris: What, what in your area do you think, you know, one of the things I've been asking everybody in the crop update is, you know, kind of that crop rotation. Um, are you seeing more corn acres being planted up in your area and less soybeans because of the markets at all, or what are you seeing up there?

Jerod

Schmidt: For us, we're so, we're so forage focused. Yep. With a lot of dairies in the area that it pretty much plans have held in place. And the guys at our grain pretty much had their plans in place as well. So, so we're not seeing a lot of swings in anything right now. Um, and just talk with the guys. Everybody stuck to their plans ahead of time.

Chris: So, see, so you guys, um, essentially you're producing feed for the dairy is your, is your goal, um, from your agronomic side of, side of the operation. What, uh, you know, you guys are sitting, I think, on, on a pretty good hefty amount of feed from last year, right?

Jerod

Schmidt: We are, we got a tremendous amount of carryover, which is a very rare occurrence for us. Right. We've even actually got a little bit of silage carried over from 2019 yet, but that'll be gone soon. And we got a, had a beautiful crop come out of the winter of alfalfa and triticale, and our early season grass crop that we planted looked good as well, so. Right now we're pretty, pretty positive, happy moods.

Chris: Right, right. So is that a possibility that then you would be harvesting some corn for grain and maybe there would be more of that coming out of your area than, you know, especially when there is that—

Jerod

Schmidt: there is that possibility because our area right now, it looks like it's going to warm up this week, um, and a lot of, a lot of crop has been going in this last 10 days. It's We could— right now we're in a good situation.

Chris: Yeah, awesome. So, um, but soil conditions are good, sounds like you guys are kind of sitting in the, in the sweet spot as long as you can get some heat. Any other issues or anything else going on that are, are things you're watching? You got obviously, it sounds like enough moisture for the herbicides.

Jerod

Schmidt: We're, we're being really cautious on herbicides and on our spraying, and we're also being cautious being very aware of the dry weather, how close it is to us. So we're really being mindful of tillage passes, and we're being very conservative on not trying to waste moisture, um, at this time.

Chris: Just— gotcha, gotcha. Well, hey, I think this was an interesting conversation and good to hear what's going on in the middle part of Wisconsin. And, uh, up in the world of the, of the dairies. And really appreciate your contribution and look forward to following up with you later on in the summer and seeing how things are growing and how things look at that point.

Jerod

Schmidt: Sounds great, thank you.

Chris: All right, sounds good. And thanks a lot. That was Jared Schmidt from the center part of Wisconsin. Crop update here with Scott Berger from Traer, Iowa. How's it How's it going, Scott?

Scott

Lonier: Doing well today, doing real well.

Chris: Good, good.

Scott

Berger: Enjoying the, uh, day after the rain.

Chris: Yeah, so you did get some rain. How much rain did you get?

Scott

Berger: Yeah, we got about an inch on most of our farms around here, so, uh, nice soaking. It doesn't look like we got that much. It soaked in really well.

Chris: Yeah, that's good. You guys were pretty powder dry like us too, right?

Scott

Berger: Yes, it was getting very dry on top and We were definitely needing a shot to, uh, keep it going here.

Chris: Yep. So sounds good. So how is planting coming for you with corn and soybeans? What's, what's it look like there?

Scott

Berger: So I follow in your footsteps and I do most of my— well, I do all of my soybean planting first. So all my soybeans are in and I've got, I've got a short 150 acres left of corn. That we'll knock out here in the next couple of days and we'll be done. My first plant of corn is not spiked yet, but my first plant of beans you can row. Some of my later planted beans are just trying to poke through.

Chris: Gotcha. So we're recording this, I think, on the 10th. I'm gonna have some other— this will be the third of a couple of updates we're gonna put here together. And, um, if you guys, you know, you got beans up, have you guys had I mean, we've had some pretty close to freezing temperatures here. Uh, you concerned about anything with regard to that with the beans being up, or what's up?

Scott

Berger: So all of my beans are no-till, and the last couple years I feel like the no-till fields have had some more cover. Last year we had a close call where a bunch of guys that worked their ground got frozen off, but mine were okay. Yeah, I've had no, no concerns about that.

Chris: Yeah, we saw that last year too, same thing. We had beans up and when they were, they were in, you know, heavy residue, it seemed like that protected them for whatever reason. And the, like you said, the anything, any place where it was bare, uh, it, they were smoked. So kind of what we saw.

Scott

Berger: So I've been, I've been feeling pretty good about those and getting them off to a good start, so Sounds good.

Chris: So, um, soil conditions are good. It sounds like you're a day or two away from being done with corn. Um, I, I have a perspective in Iowa, but I want your perspective of what you think as far as crop rotation. Do you think guys are going to have— you think we're going to see more corn acres in Iowa, or are we going to see more bean acres? And I know the derecho went through and has an impact on some things, but what's your thought there?

Scott

Berger: So my initial thought with as much field work that got done last fall is that we were going to see a lot of corn on corn even in the Driesche area. Guys were out there doing a lot of tillage and getting a lot of fertilizer put down. But much to my surprise, from what I'm seeing has been planted and up and growing, guys are sticking to rotation pretty hard. So I personally don't see a lot of corn on corn acres in my immediate area. You know, I think the guys that are heavy corn on corn will do some. I personally did a few acres that I'm able to manage, but man, they went into some dry soil. So if it wasn't for this rain, I'd be nervous about them. Mm-hmm. So a lot of guys, a lot of guys with the cold weather around here actually were hitting beans. Really hard and did a good job getting those put in. And then, um, obviously took their corn part.

So in my immediate area, I'd say everybody is, everybody is at least 90% done with everything. We've got a good crop up and growing. Some of the early stuff took quite a while to get out, but you know, today it looks more yellow than green. It's going to be this week with the cold temps. But, uh, you know, here shortly we're going to get some 70s and 80s.

Chris: Yeah, interesting. Okay, my last thing I'm going to bug you with is the same thing I've been asking all the, um, when we're doing crop updates, ironically enough, is on the marketing side. But, um, what do you, you know, and, and I'm seeing some of this too, but get your take on basis levels and, and where things are at with, you know, pretty much the old crop is gone for the most part for a lot of producers, but, uh What's your thought, thought there on basis for corn, soybeans? What are you seeing?

Scott

Berger: So right now, old crop, obviously everybody has got to be pretty well sold out. I've never seen basis this strong in my immediate area for old crop. New crop, they really haven't done a whole lot with yet. It seems to be awfully seasonal for the new crop, at least where I deliver to in Cedar Rapids. So I think the merchandisers are still thinking that we're going to have a crop growing this year. It'll be interesting. Give it another month or so and see if they still feel that way. But yeah, locally for old crop, it's starting to get a little wild.

Chris: That is for sure. That's for sure. Well, hey, this was an excellent conversation. Really appreciate the update. Any other issues or anything you're concerned about? Weed control?

Scott

Berger: Well, yeah, you know, weed control could be a thing. I have switched to more no-till this year, and where the ground was worked, it was dry and fluffy. Where we went in and no-tilled, I will still say had been perfect conditions with just enough moisture, and everything was nice and fluff. Um, I don't know if other guys are noticing this or not in the area, but because of the heavy, heavy snowpack we had this year, I'm not sure how much, uh, freezing and thawing we had underneath. There were some places where the ground was hard, but yet it wasn't from compaction. So I'm a little concerned about that moving forward, but you know, the, the sins of the spring will show up this fall.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Well, hey, thanks a lot, Scott. Really appreciate it.

Scott

Berger: Yep, you bet, Chris.

Chris: Thank you. You bet. Scott Berger from, uh, east central Iowa, kind of in that Traer area. And, uh, that's kind of our update for today. Really appreciate you listening. We'll catch you again next time on the Ag View Pitch.