Trent Brandenburg was starting to think about planting during the recent warm days, but the big blizzard on Wednesday, February 24, helped him decide to keep the planters and tractors in the shed a while longer. Trent has completed delivery of last year’s grain from his on-farm storage. He is now getting his seed delivered and completing the winter maintenance on his machinery. This is the time of year when the input expenses all come at once: seed, fertilizer, crop protection chemicals, and diesel fuel. Hopefully, and farmers have to be hopeful, the yield will cover the crop expenses and land costs…

Trent Brandenburg is happy to recall the excellent spring and harvest weather and work progress during 2015. Yields were “very good”, Trent observed, just not quite up to 2014 levels. Market prices, on the other hand, weren’t good. The unusually dry fall helped corn dry in the field, thus saving drying expenses at the grain elevator.

Looking ahead to 2016 after several days of record-breaking rainfall and record flood levels in Central Illinois, Trent recalls that warm, wet winters are often followed by hot, dry summers. Trent wryly speculated that a hot, dry summer might reduce yields so much that crop insurance would provide more revenue than the grain market…

October 2015 Field Report Trent Brandenburg is happy to have completed his harvest early this fall. He got an early start and was able to work straight through “without getting rained out before you get done.” Trent completed his fall tillage two days ago and now is applying lime, dry nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash as […]

August 2015 Farm Report Trent Brandenburg,just back from a family summer vacation, looked over his fields and said, “It’s been a strange year. All in all, things are pretty good.” Trent sees good crops. He knows there will be some damage from ponding in mid-field that is only visible from the combine cab. The foliage […]

June 2015 Farm Report Trent Brandenburg is happy with the early performance of his corn and soybean crops this year. The corn is a vigorous dark green color and well beyond the old “knee-high-by-Fourth-Of-July” benchmark. Trent thinks the recent rains have helped the soybeans get going. “The beans now have some color,” Trend said. Trent […]

May 2015 Farm Report Corn & Soybeans are in the Ground Trent Brandenburg has all his corn and soybean seed planted. He finished planting during the first week of May. Trent was pleased with the planting season this year. He was amazed to plant right straight through every day except for one rainy weekend. His […]

March 2015 Farm Report Trent Brandenburg is eager to begin planting.  Because the field soil is too wet at the top for tillage, and too cold for germination, Trent is busy planting rock in his driveways to improve their load capacity in advance of the spring thaw now beginning.  Trent’s seed is arriving from domestic […]

January 2015 Farm Report Trent Brandenburg has farm work to do in January. After the Polar Vortex brought near-record below-zero wind chills for a few weeks, the warmer temperatures have made it too muddy on the surface to move the grain-handling equipment he wants to use. Trent does not like warm winter days to follow […]

December 2014 Farm Report Trent Brandenburg is now into a “lotta desk work.” He has completed putting up his equipment after an end to the 2014 harvest. Now he has to plan the buying of all his crop inputs for the 2015 crop year: corn and soybean seed, fertilizer and crop protection chemicals, and diesel […]

November 2014 Farm Report Trent Brandenburg is happy to have completed his 2014 corn and soybean harvest. “I’ve never known of elevators shutting down because they were full of beans,” Trent observed. Trent is 75% done with his ground work, which has been slowed due to wet soils, “wet but tillable.” Trent likes to fall […]