8 Farmers Share Best and Worst Decisions

By Tara Desmond

1. "In the 1970s, when our dad retired, my brother and I took over the farm, along with an employee who struggled with some performance issues. The employee quit unexpectedly during the busy season, forcing us to decide whether to hire someone new or manage on our own. Without the distraction of fixing their mistakes and directing their duties, we found our farm ran more efficiently, and we successfully operated with just the two of us.

 A few years later, a neighboring farm offered us the chance to double our operation, but we chose to stay focused on our own farm and volunteer leadership roles, avoiding the need to hire additional labor. Looking back with our accountant, it became clear that our decision to forgo expansion and labor costs was the right choice for our bottom line." Don Duvall, 4^th Generation, Carmi, IL

2. "One of our best decisions on our family farm was building a grain handling system that could help keeping up with today’s yields rather than relying on a thirty-year-old system that required over half of our crop to be delivered to the elevators during harvest. 

Bad decisions: We just have to figure out how to see the positives and grow from them." Jeff Scates, 3rd Generation, Shawneetown, IL

3. "Best Decision: Switching the farm to 100% strip tillage.  We (my dad and I) jumped in with both feet in 2018 and switched all corn acres to strip-till. All soybean acres followed in 2019.  We have seen yields consistently approach 20% above our pre-strip-till yields in corn. Soybean yield bumped up a more modest »10%. There are two main reasons (as I see it) for the yield bump.  First, the fertilizer is now placed under the row and is much more available to the crop. Secondly, our fall created strips have allowed us to get out in the field sooner in the spring to plant: gaining us a longer growing season.  There are additional benefits beyond yield, such as the harvesting and planting trafficability of the soil and a reduced fertilizer (and application of fertilizer) cost." Luke Koffman, 3^rd Generation, Tuscola, IL

4. "The best decision I made was getting involved with IL Corn and U.S. Grains Council.  Before I got involved all I thought about was my own farm and situation. After becoming involved I had a bigger vision than just myself and I realized how much was going on without many farmers knowledge.   I have visited several countries and met farmers and customers all over the world.  Agriculture is a great industry to be in and I am humbled to play a small part in it." Mark Wilson, 7th Generation, Toulon, IL

5. "We had the opportunity to purchase 60 acres of ground at a reasonable price.  At that same time there was worry about going into debt so I sold off 10 acres of ground to someone for a home site only to see the ground become more valuable and now it is a site that my wife would like to have back for a retirement setting.  Best decision was following my father’s offer to farm the family farm.  This gave me a chance to start my farming career which I loved and was fortunate to be able to raise 3 children with my wife of 47 years." Dale Haudrich, 3rd Generation, Waterloo, IL