‘A great run’ for harvest

BREMEN, Ind. — Harvest is a wrap for northern Indiana farmer Clay Geyer.

He shared his final From the Fields update of the season with AgriNews.

Q: Last month, you were putting the finishing touches on your grain bin project. Were you able to get everything up and running in time for harvest?

A: The grain bin is pretty much completed. We still need to hook up the electric, switch the dryer over to LP instead of natural gas since the existing line is not big enough to supply our dryer needs and we still need to get a distributor.

We decided to haul everything directly to the grain terminal where it was stored or sold it there until we are fully functional here on the farm to dry and store grain. We did pick some of our corn on the ear which partially filled one side of the wood ear corn crib. This corn will be used for cattle feed this winter.

Q: What have field conditions been like during harvest?

A: Field conditions were excellent. Mother Nature delivered us a great hand. Other than a couple days of a cold drizzle out of the east and a couple rumbles of thunder, we had a great run, harvesting without much of a delay.

Q: How did the state corn husking contest go?

A: The Indiana corn husking competition was a success. We celebrated 100 years of husking that started with only 10 huskers in 1926, and nearly 100 huskers in 2026 participated.

We captured some new huskers from southern Indiana who saw the advertisement in AgriNews; plus they also follow “From the Fields.” We had a couple local news stations visit who stopped by our event before the contest day started.

Every year we hear from huskers and inspectors who are happy to see what new things we have added to our event from one year to the next. This year’s contest lasted about nine hours, as we concluded just before the sun had set.

Q: As you look toward wrapping up harvest and preparing for winter, what’s next on your to-do list?

A: Even though my harvest is complete, I received a call from the Nappanee Power from the Past coordinators about shelling corn. Due to the 5-plus inches of rain on the first day of their event in September, the corn was not able to be harvested due to flooded field conditions.

The corn was planted in 38-inch rows, and it is extremely difficult to find anyone with a combine nowadays to harvest the corn that was planted in that row spacing. But luckily we still have a couple New Idea ear pickers and one picker-sheller in our collection that could assist in their harvest project.

Since our harvest has ended, I still have some winter wheat to plant. We have already started on repairs with a few tillage tools for next spring.

This fall between soybeans and corn we added a couple homemade LED lights and sensors to the grain tank of our John Deere 9500 combine — it’s nothing fancy like the factory ones, but it’s functional enough to do the job without breaking the bank. Plus, we added additional LED lights to the front and rear of the combine.

My nephew Grant and I plan to put some take-a-break snack bags together on behalf of the Indiana Corn Husking Association and Geyer Farms and hand them out to random farmers that we see outside as we seek out new adventures after school.