2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour: Minnesota

Jul 13, 2015

Ninth state in a 12-state tour

The 4^th annual Farms.com US Corn Belt Crop Tour continues to make its way through the American Midwest, visiting some of the heavy hitters in agriculture in the United States.

Led by Farms.com Risk Management Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino, the team started the tour in Ohio and made their way through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.

The ninth state visited during the 12-state tour is Minnesota; a state that ranks in the top 10 of corn, soybean and wheat production in the United States.

Minnesota

Throughout the tour, many of the farmers in the other eight states have battled excessive moisture. Minnesota seems to be in a little better condition than the others.

“I’m not seeing the standing water or moisture issues that we’ve been accustomed to on the tour,” Agostino said while standing near a wheat field on his way to Rochester, Minnesota.

Agostino said the soybeans in Minnesota are the best he’s seen during his tour.

The farmer responsible for those beans gives Mother Nature some of the credit for his field’s success.

“Since May 1^st we’ve had ideal rains. It’s been perfect,” said Kevin Vetter from St. Peter, Minnesota. “We’ve had half-inch rains every three to four days and we’ve been pretty lucky right now. Our biggest rainfall was probably two inches at one time.”

Continue to follow the 2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour as it makes its way into Iowa. Follow the tour on Twitter using the hashtag #CornBelt15.

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.