PreHarvest • Farm News

By DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY

Farm News writer

There’s a lot of “feel good” talk today about the role of cover crops in rowcrop agriculture. Science shows they offer many benefits, from increasing soil organic matter to reducing soil compaction, erosion and nutrient runoff.

Relay crops (a form of double cropping) are also attracting more attention. While relay cropping and cover crops are a long-term investment in improved soil health, do they pay in other ways?

Approximately 70 people gathered at Hepp Farms near Rockwell City to find answers during a “Profitability with Cover Crops” program earlier this summer.

“I think the focus on return on investment (ROI) is a big reason why so many people attended,” said Hepp, 33, a first-generation farmer from Rockwell City, who grows 1,400 acres of corn, soybeans and cereal rye with his family. “With cover crops and relay crops, I’ve learned there’s no $100 silver bullet for success. It takes ten $10 solutions to make these systems work.”

Making cover crops work means investing extra time and attention to detail, but it’s paying off for Hepp, who offers his top five tips for success:

1. Start small. Hepp began with 80 acres of rye cover crop in 2020. He was inspired by Keith Sexton, who has a crop-share arrangement with Hepp and had dabbled in cover crops.

“Planting into rye is scary,

RetuRn on Investment Making cover crops, relay crops pay

and you’ve got to go on faith,” said Hepp, whose rye was hiphigh when he planted nonGMO soybeans into his first cover crop. “I couldn’t see anything behind the planter, but everything worked fine.”

There was also no yield drag at harvest. This encouraged Hepp to expand his cover crop acres to 120 acres in 2021. He now manages 460 acres of cover crops. “If you’re new to cover crops, start with some acres that will be planted to soybeans the next spring. It’s more difficult to screw that up,” said Hepp, whose goal is to have all of his soybean acres in cover crops.

2. Try different seeding options. Late summer (midAugust to early September) is an ideal time to seed cover crops.

“When we’ve seeded cover crops into standing corn at that time, I’ve had 3-inch-tall rye going into harvest,” Hepp said. “Running the combine over that is nice, because it’s like driving on turf.”

To seed his cover crops, Hepp has used aerial seeding from an airplane and also hired a local farmer with vertical tillage equipment.

Hepp is looking into drone technology for seeding clover and other cover crops. He also has an air seeder he can put on his Hagie high-clearance applicator and is studying the best way to make this work.

3. Test your results. In late May 2023, Hepp clipped a 3-foot-by-3-foot sample of his rye over crop and sent the sample to Regen Ag Lab in Pleasanton, Nebraska. (Regen Ag

Lab provides accurate, reliable testing services surrounding the principles of soil health and regenerative agriculture.) The results shocked Hepp.

“Along with 2.2 tons of dry matter, the sample showed 110 pounds of potassium and 22 pounds of phosphorus,” said Hepp, who noted that’s enough potassium to produce 85-bushelper-acre soybeans. “This wasn’t even my best rye cover crop, but the tests showed the rye has scavenged a lot of nutrients.”

While many of Iowa’s rich soils contain abundant nutrients, the chemistry and composition of certain soils can make it tough for plants to absorb these nutrients. Beneficial soil microbes linked with cover crops can help “unlock” this natural fertilizer. “These nutrients are in an organic form that’s like a slow-release fertilizer that feeds the crops,” Hepp said.

In some cases, this can help

lower the fertilizer bill, or it allows farmers to reallocate fertilizer resources for more timely, strategic applications. “I’ve cut back on dry fertilizer applications and am using more liquid, foliar feeding during the growing season,” Hepp said. “This allows me to ‘spoon feed’ my crop the nutrients it needs, when it needs them.”

Cover crops also help suppress weeds, which can help reduce herbicide applications.

“I try to do only one postemerge herbicide pass, if I can,” Hepp said. “Also, with cover crops in soybeans, I’m able to skip a residual herbicide pass and get better weed suppression, which normally pays for the cost of the cover crop.”

4. Set goals. Hepp can’t forget all the “snirt” (dirty snow) that covered the Iowa landscape following a blizzard right before

ABOVE:

Approximately 70 farmers and other agribusiness professionals attended a “Profitability with Cover Crops” event earlier this summer, which Practical Farmers of Iowa hosted with James Hepp in Calhoun County.

TOP LEFT: Rockwell City-area farmer James Hepp hosted a “Profitability with Cover Crops” program earlier this summer at Hepp Farms near Rockwell City. Hepp shared tips for succeeding with cover crops, relay crops and more. See COVER CROPS, Page 9C

-Farm News photos by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby

safety fIRst

Officials offer tips for successful harvest

By KRISTIN DANLEY GREINER

Farm News writer

Now’s the time to gear up for harvest with equipment checks, machinery maintenance and more.

Several ag leaders also recommend producers pay attention to the safety aspects of farming and make sure they’re good to go.

Dan Neenan, director of the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety, said that preventative maintenance should include checking to make sure the slow-moving vehicle sign is intact, retroreflective and clean.

“You want to make yourself as visible as possible and the SMV and lighting is your first line of defense. Power take-off (PTO) shields are a must. Repair shields that become damaged and always walk around the implement; never step over the top of the PTO shaft. Be sure and keep frayed overalls trimmed at the bottom and take the drawstrings out of hooded type sweatshirts so they can’t be grabbed by the PTO,” Neenan said.

Neenan also suggested farmers inform family members what field they’ll be working in at harvest time and, when changing fields, be sure and let them know.

Keep a paper in each farm vehicle and piece of machinery with emergency contact information detailed on it.

“Wear your seat belt in every vehicle that has them. During fall harvest, a farmer wakes up thinking about 100 things that need to get done today if

everything goes right,” Neenan said. “If things go wrong, take a few minutes to breathe and think about how you are going to safely fix the issue you are having.”

Steve Freeman with Iowa State University recommended that while farmers are carefully inspecting their equipment to make sure everything is running properly that they closely check all safety guards, lighting and marketing equipment to ensure its in place, clean and functioning properly.

“When moving equipment on rural roadways, farmers should practice defensive driving on the road and when entering and exiting fields. They should not expect rural drivers to respond to the presence of farm equipment in the same manner that they do,” Freeman said. “If moving equipment at dawn or dusk, a buddy vehicle is very helpful in ensuring that other drivers recognize slow moving vehicles.”

Farmers working alone need to keep their cell phones charged and within reach in the event of an emergency, too, Freeman noted.

Denny Friest, Iowa Corn Growers Association president,

shared a catch phrase he learned about as a young farmer: “60 seconds for safety.”

“Make sure you handle everything carefully. Accidents happen. Like driving a car — keep your eye on what you’re doing,” Friest said. “If I feel tired, I’ll stop for 15 minutes and take a cat nap. We’re working with a lot of machinery and can’t take anything for granted.”

Friest also reminded producers to be careful when working around grain bins and grain wagons.

Carolyn Sheridan, RN, BSN, COHC, serves as executive director of the Ag Health & Safety Alliance that she founded. She added that farmers should ensure they are prepared with personal protective equipment now and not when they’re in the throes of harvest.

“You need safety glasses and maybe a respirator when blowing out the combine. A new pair of work gloves. Think about what parts of my body might be injured during the course of harvest and how to protect yourself,” Sheridan said. “Don’t forget sunscreen, a sunsafe hat or a shirt, too. Hearing protection is pretty critical with our machines as well.”

As the farming population grows older, Sheridan noted that producers should make sure older helping hands are tasked with chores appropriate for their age and physical health.

“Also make sure they’re taking their medications that might impact their ability to have a good reaction time or be stable,” Sheridan said.

Farmers also should have a check-in system established before combines roll, especially since cell service can be sketchy in rural areas.

“Our cell service doesn’t always work because we have hills on our farms. If you are injured and get help within that first hour, your chances of having a full recovery are much higher,” Sheridan said.

A lot of injuries can be tended to in the field or back at home, so it’s critical that full first-aid kits area readily available.

“Wash small cuts or scrapes, get antibiotic ointment on them to prevent an infection,”

Sheridan said. “If you’re unsure if something needs stitches, get it checked out early and not later. Learn how to stop bleeding, too.”

With little ones on the farm, producers and all helping hands should be aware of where they’re at.

“If they are kids or grandkids, make sure there are safe play

areas established with rules, and stick to those to make sure kids are safe,” Sheridan said. “As teenagers take on more challenging chores and tasks, make sure they’re staying safe, too.”

She recommended farmers check out the National Farm Medicine Center website’s Farm Mapper tool, which encourages individuals to enter the addresses of their farm ground and the home farm to help emergency responders find individuals more quickly in the event of an accident. It also allows farmers to input data such as locations of chemicals, solvents, fuels and other hazards so emergency workers know what they're walking into. It also helps identify locations of power and gas cut-off valves, water sources and more.

“I wouldn’t know the address

WHEEL LOADERS / BACKHOES / SKID-LOADERS / COMPACT LOADERS / TRACTOR / TELEHANDLERS

-Farm News file photo

FARM SAFETY is always important, but especially during harvest time. “When moving equipment on rural roadways, farmers should practice defensive driving on the road and when entering and exiting fields. They should not expect rural drivers to respond to the presence of farm equipment in the same manner that they do,” said Steve Freeman, a professor at Iowa State University specializing in agricultural and biosystems engineering.

See SAFETY, Page 9C

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PuttIng food on Iowans' tables Friedrichsen Meat Company on Naig’s 99-county tour

By DOUG CLOUGH Farm News writer

SUTHERLAND — Will

and Macey Friedrichsen

met in 2017, marrying in August of 2019, starting the trend of taking two years to research what is best in their common interest.

During the next two years, they would process the idea of opening their own meatprocessing facility, and that’s what they did just east of Sutherland in 2021.

“We’re scheduled out in processing through the end of this year,” said Will. “We’ve been pleased with the support and the repeat customers.”

In December of the same year, the couple was also happy to welcome their son Zeke — currently 19 months — to their family and family business.

Friedrichsen Meat Company provides start-to-finish meat processing services and a retail meat market for customer walkin purchases of their highquality meat products.

“We dreamed of becoming more involved in getting food on Iowan’s tables,” said Macey Friedrichsen. “We strive to provide great reliability and convenience of meat processing for local producers.”

The Friedrichsens specialize in butchering services and are not technically a meat locker as they do not have lockers on the premises. Their facility has a walk-in freezer, two walk-

in coolers with hanging rails, a processing room, and a retail showroom. In-take pens for livestock were also constructed.

The locker caught the attention of Secretary of Agriculture

Mike Naig, who visited the Friedrichsen’s O’Brien County processing facility as part of his annual 99-county tour, on July 18.

“It’s impressive to see what the Friedrichsens have accomplished,” said Naig. “I’m always interested in knowing how the venture has gone, and if needed resources were available. There are grant programs for meat lockers that is managed out of economic development, and we’ve got a Choose Iowa program for valueadded projects that can include meat. We’d like to know if these opportunities are a good fit for businesses.”

Naig spent an hour touring the facility, speaking with the Friedrichsens and their two employees, Kelly Stevens and Anna Friedrichsen.

Stevens, who has more than 20 years’ experience in the meat locker business, came out of retirement to assist the Friedrichsens in their endeavor.

Anna Friedrichsen is interning for her brother this summer; otherwise, she is attending Buena Vista University in Storm Lake.

“Historically, we’ve had a strong network of meat lockers in the state of Iowa,” said Naig.

“When it came to COVID and the disruption of the supply chain, we had an increase in demand.

Also, we have people who want to shop locally, which is a trend that’s been happening for a couple years. My team has been receiving a couple phone calls a week regarding exploration and resources regarding meat lockers. There’s a small meatprocessing facility revival, and I think there’s more opportunities out there. Iowa’s got great genetics, great production; we do it better than anyone else.”

The couple’s favorite part of their business is seeing and helping all the customers, especially those they see regularly.

“Just the other night, I hauled out meat for a gentleman,” Macey Friedrichsen said. “It was his third whole hog and a whole beef within the year, and it all went to his freezer. Retail-wise, we have customers coming in weekly to pick up their steak and their bacon.”

Will Friedrichsen said that the main challenges involve keeping up with demand and the rare case when bad winter weather sets back orders.

The Friedrichsens also farm 80 acres, with some of their harvest going to feed their 30 head of cattle. They also manage a hog operation with a fluctuating headcount throughout the year.

-Farm News photo by Doug Clough IOWA SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE MIKE NAIG, left, visits with Will Friedrichsen at the Friedrichsen Meat Company processing facility at the intersection of East Southern Street (Highway 10) and South Beech Street in Sutherland.

PRePPIng foR PoPcoRn HaRvest

Schlessman Popcorn Hybrids one of six breeders in the world

By DOUG CLOUGH Farm News writer

IDA

GROVE — Sterling

Weeda has worked in seed corn research most of his life. He’s studied at Western Iowa Tech and Iowa State University, performed station manager duties at Pannar Seed Inc., and was the former senior research associate at Pioneer Hybrid International. He started his current position as director of popcorn operations at Schlessman Seed Company in 2012, eventually occupying an Ida Grove downtown storefront in 2014. Schlessman is a familyowned company based in Milan, Ohio, with a 107-year history of selling seed.

“I saw this job for popcorn breeder advertised,” said Weeda, “and I thought it couldn’t be that different from field corn breeder. Well, it turns out that it is quite a bit different. There’s another layer of characteristics you look for in popcorn.

“You want yield and good agronomics from the plant obviously, but so much of it comes down to kernel size and what the kernel does when you pop it. In the popcorn world, you have two segments: butterfly and mushroom and different markets for each. In the butterfly market, you have low and high expansions; high expansions have more volume, but they are also more brittle. Theaters, for instance, buy it by the pound but sell it by the volume, so the more air you can put in the product, the more money can be made.

“On the mushroom side, it gets tricky since there are customers who say they want 100% round ball — another term for mushroom — but when

you bring it to them, they say, ‘It doesn’t expand very well.’ Sometimes their criteria changes, and they may end up utilizing an 80% mushroom variety to get more volume.”

Weeda said that each variety has specific characteristics that are unique, so pricing to the grower can fluctuate depending on the hybrid grown.

“You have to offer a competitive price to the grower,” said Weeda. “Popcorn is cultivated with the same equipment you use for field corn, but popcorn is a food product and has extra steps needed to deliver

the best result.”

In the popcorn seed selling world, Weeda is one of six breeders in the United States. Weeda develops and sells the seed.

“It’s an interesting supply chain,” said Weeda, “because our customer’s needs can change quickly, but the decisions on the seed side must take place two years in advance. This creates an interesting challenge on setting inventory on hybrids. I sell mainly to processors — companies that specialize in growing and processing popcorn. The processor grows

it, conditions it, and sells it as a branded product or to a third party. The third-party may sell the raw kernels, or sell it popped, or pop and coat it with a flavoring and then sell it to the consumer.”

When Weeda began working for Schlessman, most of their sales were domestic based; after his push to sell internationally, the company now sells popcorn seed on five continents.

“A majority of our seed is internationally sold now,” said Weeda. “The international popcorn world is hungry for hybrids, and the six U.S. breeders fill 90% of the world’s needs.”

Due to international sales, Weeda travels outside of the U.S. often.

“Brazil’s fields are so big that a person travels a long time at night without seeing any farmstead lights,” said Weeda. “Some fields are so large that the owner builds a town for their workers so they have a place to live, cafeterias for food, and stores to shop in.

“Turkey is like Switzerland; everyone can come there. Eastern Europe is more awkward to travel to right now. There is a fair amount of popcorn grown in France, but we haven’t broken into that market. Brazil and Argentina treat popcorn more as a commodity and will alternate between popcorn and field corn depending on what they feel will make them the most money. In the U.S., popcorn is treated more like a part of a food group.”

Weeda has traveled to Russia, Romania, Hungary, Brazil, and other places worldwide; despite the strife in Russia and Ukraine, he said that the popcorn business seems to continue as usual for popcorn breeders. Weeda spends most of his

time, however, at his Ida Grove storefront conducting popcorn research for Schlessman Seed Company.

“I’m the popcorn guy,” said Weeda. “In Milan, Ohio, we have support staff and warehousing; I write bookings, send it to our support staff, and they fulfill the order in Milan.

“Here, I’m the one-man show, from the breeding to the testing, development to hybrid selection as well as sales. I utilize parttime help at peaks,” he continued. “Right now, in the field, we are doing the controlled pollinations on the popcorn. I have two fields to the north of Ida Grove where our breeding nursery is, and I have fields that I contract out where we are making test crosses. My main yield-trial field is north of Galva.”

Soon, Weeda said, there will be thousands of bags on the plants aiding in hand-pollination; he uses high school student help that has included his children Hannah, 19; Dillon, 17; and Danny, 16. Weeda’s wife Julie is the information technology director for OABCIG Schools.

At harvest, Weeda will put yield data in from his test plots for future decision-making. He uses his conditioning room, which has four humidifiers and several fans, to take popcorn that has been picked and shelled to 13.5% moisture level.

At that point, using one of two industrial popcorn poppers, he pops the corn to gain more data. For six weeks during the winter, Weeda will pop 200 gallons of popcorn a day.

“I can’t give it away fast enough,” he said.

-Farm News photo by Doug Clough STERLING WEEDA, left, is the director of popcorn operations for the Schlessman Seed Company of Milan, Ohio. His office resides in Ida Grove, and he has test plots in Ida County. In this photo, he's teaching OABCIG students the art of hand-pollination.

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Safety

Continued from Page 3C

of our farms and in an emergency, someone might blank out on that important piece of information when calling 911,” Sheridan said.

Pat Swanson, District 9 director for the Iowa Soybean Association, recommended farmers look around first before moving equipment and turn machinery off when making any repairs.

“This time of year, we as farmers are gearing up for our ‘super bowl’ of bringing in the harvest.

Our equipment is increasing in size and contains more technology than ever, so being careful to look around before moving it is important for a safe harvest. We make sure equipment safety guards are in good working condition and machinery is turned off when making any repairs. We also make sure any harvest helpers, including our family and friends, are comfortable operating machinery,” Swanson said. “This helps to prevent accidents during a very busy time of year. Farming with care can help stop those mistakes and hazards from occurring in the first place. We appreciate everyone on the roadways being patient with us as we continue moving equipment to our fields safely.”

Cover crops

Continued from Page 1C

Christmas 2022. “Seeing all that black soil in the ditches broke my heart. It also reminded me why building soil health and holding that valuable soil in place is my top goal with cover crops.”

Hepp’s second goal is to increase efficiency and save time. He has reduced tillage, thanks to strip tillage and no-till, and he’s finding ways to make cover crops work with this system.

Hepp’s third goal for his cover crops revolves around return on investment. He plans to seed more diverse species of cover crops, since each one supports certain microbes that provide specific soil health benefits. “Clovers help the microbes that play a role with nitrogen fixation,” Hepp said. “This potentially helps you lower your nitrogen fertilizer bill.”

Hepp is also interested in developing an additional income stream through custom cover-crop seeding and raising rye for cover crop seed.

5. Make cover crops part of your farm management plan. Now that he has experience seeding cover crops on corn acres that will be planted to soybeans, he’s experimenting with the best ways to use cover crops on soybean acres that will be planted to corn next spring. “If you’re serious about cover crops, you need to make them part of your farm management to-do list,” Hepp said.

Hepp encourages other farmers to take advantage of cover crop cost-share pportunities through Practical Farmers of Iowa and other organizations. Also, seek out other farmers and online resources like XtremeAg’s Cutting the Curve podcast, he advised.

“I’ve cut my learning curve this way, and

I want to help others learn. If you want cover crops on your acres and are willing to put some effort into this, cover crops will work for you.”

Consider relay cropping

Hepp has also been trying relay cropping with rye and soybean acres (which he sharecrops with Keith Sexton) this year to keep living roots in the soil longer and build soil health.

He’s looking to boost his profit potential by harvesting the rye as cover crop seed for his own use and to potentially sell seed to other farmers seeking cover crop seed.

Relay cropping is essentially a special version of double cropping, where the second crop is planted into the first crop before harvest, rather than waiting until after harvest as in true double-cropping, notes the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this way, both crops share a portion of the growing season.

“You’re getting two crops in one year,” said Hepp, who earned his ag business degree in 2013 from Northwest Missouri State University. “When I was in college, down there they called it double cropping, and they’d harvest winter wheat in July followed by soybeans, which they called ‘wheat beans.’”

Relay cropping does require a greater level of management and time than a standard cornsoybean rotation, Hepp noted. He seeds the rye in the fall (typically at 65 to 70 pounds of seed per acre) and plants soybeans into the rye in the spring. “While most farmers around here plant soybeans in the 2.2 to 2.8 maturity groups, I planted a later bean in the 3.3 to 3.5 range,” said Hepp, who planted the soybeans in 30-inch rows around May 18 this year.

“We hope to get a 20-bushel to 40-bushel

soybean crop off this field if we catch some timely rains. If we get rain later in the growing season, higher yields are possible.”

It’s not uncommon for rye to yield 50 bushels an acre. By late July, Hepp had harvested 4,500 bushels of rye and stored it in a 10,000-bushel bin with a stirator. “You want to keep the rye around 12% moisture,” said Hepp, whose rye was about 14.5% moisture at harvest.

The value of the rye varies each year, although it can be comparable to the market value of soybeans, depending on a variety of factors, Hepp added. Uncleaned rye typically ranges around $8.50 to $9 a bushel, while cleaned rye can fetch $12.75 to $15 a bushel. Cleaning costs can range from $1 to $3 per bushel, depending on packaging and trucking costs to and from the cleaner, Hepp added.

In terms of gross revenue, he calculates that relay cropping with rye and soybeans can equate pretty close to corn production, especially since he doesn’t use anhydrous ammonia to grow rye. “You can plant a rye crop for less than $100 an acre,” said Hepp, who figures $25 to $30 in seeding costs, and another $50 to $70 per acre for top dressing with ammonium sulfate (AMS).

Hepp recommends starting small with relay cropping. “Try it on 10 or 20 acres. Point rows or angled pieces of land can be good options. Also, check with groups like Practical Farmers of Iowa about cost-share opportunities for small grains.”

As more farmers seed cover crops, growing more rye will be important to meet this demand, Hepp added. “Also, a lot of guys say the crops they plant following small grains show a yield bump.”