Local Foods: Farmers Feeding America

Central Illinois Local Foods Spotlight Farmers Feeding America

Randy 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.

They harvest popcorn with a Case-IH 7240 series combine with a 12-row Geringhoff corn head. “The combine, grain cart, and trucks need to be completely clean of field corn and soybeans,” said Doug. “Combine settings are a little different so that we can make sure that we don’t damage the kernels of corn.”

“Case-IH combines usually have the edge on quality of grain as compared to other brands. When it is set right, our combine does an excellent job with grain quality,” Randy says. Popcorn is typically their first crop to harvest as it is normally ready around the first to middle of September. It needs to be harvested at a moisture between 15-17%. The wetter the corn is, the more damage occurs during harvest. The quality is very important as it affects the popping ability of the corn.

Their popcorn is contracted with Weaver Popcorn and is delivered to their facility in Forest City, Illinois. At the plant, which has about 136 million pounds of storage capacity, the corn is kept at constant moisture until it is processed. Processing the popcorn involves passing it through screens and sieves and sorting machines that eliminate damaged and unwanted kernels.

Customers of Weaver include WalMart, Sams Club, AMC Theaters, and Kroger, to name a few. They also export to many countries overseas and supply popcorn for the Boy Scouts. “There is a good feeling knowing that your corn is part of the brand that supplies the Boy Scouts of America annual fundraiser and that people are eating some of our corn as they watch a movie in an AMC theater as well,” says Randy. a couple of years and then when processed sweet corn became a growing commodity in our area, several companies were also looking for people to contract green bean and pea acres, so we gave them a try for a number of years,” says Randy. Although commercial production of sweet corn has diminished and peas are no longer grown in Mason County, they continue to contract one to two crops of green beans a year with DelMonte Foods.

Raising green beans can at times be risky and challenging, but it has been rewarding to them to diversify their operation. Too much rain, a really hot July, a hail storm, or an early frost can reduce yields in a hurry. They plant green beans with their 1250 Case-IH planter. They apply the same starter as they do with corn, use a basic herbicide program, and cultivate them several times. Nitrogen is also applied through irrigation. Since green beans are a short season crop, they can produce two crops.

Green beans are harvested by the company in July and October with specialized equipment, then shipped to processing plants in Wisconsin. Raising green beans in Mason County allows companies to run processing plants in Wisconsin for a longer period of time. On average they produce about four to five tons of green beans per acre.

“The importance of safe, good quality food becomes reality when you see your product on the store shelves and in the bags of popcorn people are eating,” says Randy. “There is a sense of pride in producing a vegetable and a snack food that is enjoyed by so many consumers. It makes the statement ‘Farmers Feeding America’ seem so real to us.”