2012
LOGAN COUNTY FARM OUTLOOK MAGAZINE. LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com October 23, 2012
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decided we weren’t going to do any more of
that this year. And that shifted some of our
acres to beans that otherwise would have
been corn.”
Farmer Brown raises crops and is a
livestock producer. Brown grows more crop
than is needed for the livestock operation.
“
It was hard to watch the clouds roll in and
then pass us by without a drop of rain. The
worry was the hardest part,” Brown said.
As a livestock producer, Brown’s concern
was that feed costs would go up and that
the grain from this year’s crop would be of
poorer quality. And, as it was, Brown was
correct.
Early in the season Brown pulled grain
stored at the elevator back to the farm. “We
were fortunate that we still had grain in town
to sell. We could have gotten a high price
for it, but you just had to ignore that,” Brown
said.
One of the differences between the
drought of 1988 and this year is that the
government bought, owned, stored and
managed the corn in a reserve program
in ‘88. That year, like this year, corn
was coming in with aflatoxin. One of the
measures to manage aflatoxin is to blend it
out. In ‘88, corn bins were half-full with the
previous year’s crop. It was owned by the
government, and those reserves were used
for blending.
This is Brown’s third drought: 1988, 1995,
2012. “
We were fortunate in ‘95, but prices
ran up because of drought,” he said.
One measure available now to help feed
livestock is the high-protein byproduct of
ethanol. Distillers dried grains, or DDGs,
are being used to supplement bean meal,
and are half the cost.
Both farmers shared similar views on
other points of farm management.
“
It’s a learning experience,” said Brown
FarmerGreenspokeabout theimportance
of crop rotation and doing something that
sets you apart, such as having a niche crop.
Organic and non-genetically modified
crops offer that type of opportunity. These
crops are more challenging, but there is a
demand and they bring higher prices. Non-
GMO soybeans pulled a premium of a little
over $2 a bushel this season.
Some other specialty crops currently
raised in Logan County:
•
Pumpkins, squash, gourds and
other farm stand products.
•
Honey.
•
Various vegetables and fruits
for farmers markets.
•
Orchard fruit.
• “
U-pick” strawberries and
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