Farmers Feeding
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Central Illinois
Local Foods Spotlight
andy and Doug Fornoff have been farming for nearly 40 years in Mason County. Growing up, there was plenty of work for the family with dairy cows, pigs, and chickens to take care of. “I guess that’s why Mom and Dad had five boys and one girl,” said Randy. “They needed the help!” Randy and Doug are the youngest in the family so it worked out that they would have the opportunity to take over the farm as their father retired. “Dad always had mostly International Harvester equipment so it was just natural that we would carry on the tradition,” Randy continues. “We still use the model 300 tractor that Dad bought new in 1956.” Their farm is located near Havana, Illinois along the Illinois River and much of it is on sandy soils. The Mahomet Aquifer supplies the water needed for irrigation. Over 80% of their farmland is irrigated with center-pivot irrigations, which makes it possible for them to raise specialty crops. They grow corn, soybeans, popcorn, and green beans and in past years, have produced sweet corn and peas. “We started growing popcorn in the mid 1980s for several different companies. It was a way to diversify our operation and required no additional investment,” says Randy. “It has been a learning curve. It took a few years to understand the best plant populations and fertility needs. Since it is a non-GMO crop, we use a different herbicide and insecticide program.” Popcorn makes up about one third of their total acres and each year they produce on average about six million pounds of popcorn. “Planting popcorn is no different than planting corn,” says Randy. “We just need to make sure that the planter and seed tender are completely clean of field corn.” They use a 24 row Case-IH 1250 planter that, with the help of Central Illinois Ag, they recently converted to Precision Planting equipment, including EDrive and ESet meters and DeltaForce automatic down force control. “The planter does an excellent job. We have been very happy with the results,” says Randy. The popcorn is planted at around 28,000 – 32,000 population on irrigated sands.
33 · Central Illinois Ag · www.centralilag.com
