High hopes for harvest

RENSSELAER, Ind. — It’s been a year of ups and downs, but farmer Kendell Culp is optimistic about ag markets and the future of his farm.

He shared an update with AgriNews.

How do you feel about the ag economy?

I’m still positive about the ag economy. With this year’s crop, we’ve had some good opportunity for sales and marketing our grain this summer.

There are a lot of uncertainties around the world with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which provided some marketing opportunities. Specifically, wheat was really high.

Livestock commodity prices are high right now, but feed costs are also high because of grain prices. It’s really all relative. You need to look at the bottom line.

How about 2023?

This upcoming crop is a little more concerning to me. Availability of inputs, such as fertilizer and herbicide, are a concern. And high costs for those inputs, as well.

I’m probably going to have to buy more product this year and even apply some this year — more nitrogen and fertilizer than I would like to do. We’re just concerned about next year’s availability.

Is wheat commonly grown in Indiana?

If we have a problem finding nitrogen, phosphorous and other fertilizers, wheat is a crop that you can get by with using less fertilizers. It still takes nitrogen. But there needs to be a market.

Usually those numbers of acres in Indiana are pretty low. But you will see an uptick whenever the market is higher. It’s very possible we could see a bit more wheat planted.

In our case, with dairy farms close, they are fairly large consumers of wheat straw. They’ll use that to bulk up feed rations for cows. There’s a pretty good market for straw.

Are you planning any shifts in acreage?

If we do any changes to acreage, it would just be to even out our rotation. In general, I’m not planning on any big changes to rotation or acres in response to market conditions.

What kind of weather do you hope for as you approach harvest?

Dry. We need some dry weather and certainly no high winds. As corn matures, stalks can get weak and brittle. We don’t need high winds like we’ve seen before, which can possibly cause corn to go down or drop ears.

You do need some breezes to get the crop dried down, especially for soybean harvest. But if it’s relatively dry, it makes harvest a whole lot easier.