My Husband is Just a Farmer!

Roger started working for Hoechst in 1988 after graduating from U.of A. Hoescht then became Agrevo, which became Aventis, which finally was bought by Bayer. When asked by people what he did for a living, Roger would reply, "I'm a chemical rep. for Bayer Crop Science and I farm on the side." In 2019 Bayer bought Monsanto, (we have yet to decide if that was a smart purchase), and some Bayer staff had to be laid off to incorporate some Monsanto staff. Roger happily volunteered to retire. We, along with Chevraux Farms, and Derek Chevraux, had just purchased another eight quarters of land and Roger could not keep up to doing both jobs. So after a thirty year successful career with Bayer, he retired. Last summer we met up with a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in twenty years. When she asked Roger what he did, he replied, "I'm just a farmer." Just a farmer! Here's my take on what "just a farmer" does!

This January I decided that I would join Roger in the "retired" world and I left my teaching career. Since February I have learned a lot about this business of farming. My first involvement was learning how to use the accounting program, "AgExpert" from my mother-in-law as I took over doing Century 12's and Derek's books from her. That wasn't so bad but the actual understanding of what I am entering has me asking Roger constant questions. We recently purchased a new dryer system with bins, augers, computer shed, and generator. I learned that all of these are capital assets. But one just can't enter "capital asset" into the program, one has to explain which type: 1, 6, 8? Apparently this is important for depreciation percentages. "How do you know all this?" I asked Roger one day after the tenth phone call. So I guess to be a farmer you have to have a basic knowledge of tax laws and accounting.

The next job Roger assigned me was looking after grain inventory and contracts. He showed me the spreadsheet to enter all the delivery slips on. Well, that seemed pretty easy as long as I remembered to change the spreadsheets to the proper grain. "DO NOT enter canola on the wheat sheet or barley sheet!!" "Yeah, I got it - reading's my strong suit!" But then all of the 2019 crop was sold and I had to start the 2020 spreadsheet. Have I mentioned that I was an English teacher? I hate spreadsheets; how do you get the formula all down the column? How do you even enter the math equation? It took two hours of stubborn pride to figure that one out. I was curious about the contracts for the new crop. Was $11.90 per bushel a good price for canola? Why were we selling x number of bushels before the crop was even being combined? Why to this company and not to that one? Roger explained that he bases it on five factors. 1)local premium, 2)world supply & demand, (see kids? That's why current events in school is important!) 3)futures and commodity markets, 4) our storage availability, and 5) our cash flow. So in order to be a farmer, you need to be able to understand how world events affect the markets.

Seeding and spraying came next. I was to keep track of the chemical prebuy contracts and match them to the actual seed, chemical and fertilizer picked up. How do farmers know what to prebuy? I can understand the seed but how do they know how much phosphorous, potash, nitrogen, and pesticides? That seems like a lot of math. I rode in the sprayer with many questions for my blog on spraying. I had been reading scientifc papers which had only left me with more questions! (and a need for wine!) In the sprayer I learned about the computer and GPS technology that controlled the spray booms for chemical and the drills for fertilizer. The technology is astounding! So I guess to be a farmer you have to understand technology and its applications on the farm.

During the summer months, Roger took me crop checking. I thought that retired people just used crop checking as an excuse to drive around. But we actually had to walk through the field and pick plants from different sections. At least I got my steps in, and squats! Roger would study the plant leaves and roots. He would dig to see how deep the seed was planted as depth can affect root disease. He checked the top two leaves of the barley plants for disease (which I learned are called the flag leaf and flag leaf-1 (not very original for the second leaf!). Disease in those two leaves produce a poor quality barley spike. To read how we handle barley scald, please read my first blog:https://www.century12farms.com/post/to-spray-or-not-to-spray-that-is-the-100-000-00-question. So I guess in order to be a farmer you have to understand soil quality, chemistry, and plant science.

Then harvest started. Well, I knew harvest; at least that wouldn't be new to me. Harvest means meals in the field, coffee out at 8:00pm, and a combine ride on Sunday afternoons. Those first few meals in my aRVie are exciting but by day 21, I'm running out of supper ideas, tired of packing food up and hauling it out, and then returning at 7pm to a kitchen full of dishes, only to finish those in time to start the coffee pot for the coffee run. Well, that was my side of harvest anyway. This year I learned so much more. For example, there is a huge amount of maintenance work required every morning on the combines and tandem trucks. I was sent to town for DEF; I seriously had no idea what I was asking Donna for at BRIL! When she told me to go around back to the loading door, I questioned my decision of having driven my Ford Edge for the pick up. And so did Ben when he brought out the fork lift! Back in the shop, as I watched the crew of four work like a pit-crew greasing valves and repairing knives, I realized that to be a farmer you also have to be a mechanic.

One day while I was shopping at the local Co-op (actually I'm there everyday during harvest) Roger called with a request for me to take a sample of wheat to the elevator. We have a moisture tester in the shop so I knew that the truckers must be running if they couldn't take five minutes to test the grain, so I rushed home. Then I texted Roger to find out where to get the sample. The response, "where do you think the grain would be?" Probably from a grain truck? I should have texted, "where are they hauling to?" That might have made me sound a little smarter. So I got the sample bucket and headed off to town to GNG. I was to ask for three things: moisture, protein, and grade. I repeated those three things over and over on the drive to town so that Stephan would think I knew what I was doing! When I pulled up to GNG, I had no idea what door to go in! I didn't think I should drive my car up the unloading ramp, so I parked and opened the closest door. There was a set of stairs leading up to what looked like a staffroom, as all I could see was a microwave. "Hello?" I tentatively called. "Am I at the right door? I was sent with a sample." Stephan called me up the stairs and happily took the sample. I felt very agriculturallly-intelligent when I asked for the moisture, protein, and grade. He smiled as if to say, "ya, I know." Unfortunately, the wheat sample had a few sprouted kernels. Stephan took the time to explain to me that it was from midge fly larvae. After they hatch in the summer, they feed on the wheat kernel causing it to shrivel and crack. There is no visible sign of this on the wheat head during the growing season (remember all the crop checking steps?) and damage only shows up at harvest time. The loss of kernels lowers the yield and the damaged kernels reduce the grade of the wheat. Reducing the grade reduces the price. Being a farmer means constantly monitoring the grain at harvest time.

One morning at coffee time, I walked in to hear Roger explaining which bins would be hauled to that day and why. I had never given much thought to this before. Bins in our yard are numbered R1-R20, in Stan's yard they are S1-15, and in Derek's they are D1-7. We also have 15 other bins scattered at different sections. I assumed that we started at R1 and filled that and so on. Three male heads turned to look at me with shocked expressions; so apparently I was wrong with that assumption! Some have fans which means the wetter grain goes there, some are used for the crop being grown in that field, some still have last year's malt barley waiting to go to Rahr. Roger was also explaining the trucking routes for the 2 tandems and the semi so that they would not be meeting each other on the road. So obviously, there are many logistics to be worked out that I have never given thought to. Being a farmer means being a logistics analyst and a Class 1 truck driver.

It's been quite a learning curve for me here on the farm. I have read more scientific peer-related articles than I ever thought I would! I have learned about Diesel Exhaust Fluid, about why the need for aeration on bins, about why we spray what we spray and when, about counting earth worms in a foot of soil, and about grain contracts. I have even learned how to run the moisture tester at the shop so I won't have to run to GNG. So the next time Roger introduces himself as "just a farmer," I will qualify with "slash accountant/ agronomist/ market analyst/ mechanic/ logistics analyst, and most importantly, food provider."