Knee High By the 4th of July

Will the corn be knee high by the Fourth of July? According to local crop farmers Steve Rickert and Mike Wegner most of it already is knee high and they’re both hoping for some shoulder high corn by Monday. Rickert said, “all of it should be knee high by Monday. If we can get some heat over the weekend, you’ll almost be able to watch the corn grow.” Wegner mentioned, “the weather has been pretty favorable so far.” He said, “we have gotten enough rain to keep the crops from drying out, but we just need some more heat to make it grow.”

Rickert, who farms about 450 acres through Schanhofer Farms, said “the input costs for crop farming all in all has at least doubled from last year.” He specified the input costs, that the fertilizer and chemicals basically doubled in price, seed stayed about the same, and diesel fuel has about tripled. Rickert said, “it doesn’t sound promising that prices will ease up in the next few years, either.”

Schanhofer Farms has some of their own fields and rents some fields from others throughout the Sparta area. One half of the 450 acres is planted corn and the other half soybeans, rotating fields from year to year. Rickert said, “we used to farm about 1,800 acres, but now it’s hard to find help.” He said, “now we’re just committed because we really enjoy doing it.”

Wegner, who farms about 2,000 acres had the same story as Rickert with the prices but added that the selling market is pretty favorable right now at around $7/bushel for corn and $14/ bushel for beans. He said, “with the high input costs up against the selling price, ultimately, it should leave about the same amount of profit as 2021.”

Ultimately Wegner said, “the prices are just higher, but the end result is the same for me. The end consumer really is the one to take the beating on the prices.”

Wegner plants about one half of his crops without tilling to save on fuel, and the other half he does minimal tilling. Wegner does about two thirds corn and one third soybeans, rotating fields from year to year.

When asked why he does this, Wegner said, “I’ve done this for my whole life; I’m pretty committed with 2,000 acres to farm and I love doing it. It’s fun to plant and watch it grow.”

Wegner said, “it really doesn’t matter if the crop is good now, it matters when it’s time for harvest.” He mentioned about his grandkids and how important it is to teach them what we do and why we do it. He said, his granddaughter Mati, “would be able to show anyone how to run a combine, if something ever happened to me.”