Area Farmers do business with Fremont Farms of Iowa

 

 

The following is an article that Fremont Farms of Iowa LLP has been given permission to publish by Larry Sears and the Pennysaver.  Fremont Farms of Iowa purchases corn from Marty and Dustin Cummings, and in turn they purchase soil conditioner from Fremont Farms.

 

 

Soybeans remain an important crop for Marty and Dustin Cummings

By Larry Sears

  

   Marty Cummings started farming in 1980 and went to a full partnership with his father, the late Marvin (Mike) Cummings, in 1983. They farmed the land (now a Century Farm) that had been owned by Mike’s father, Scott Cummings. Mike had purchased the farm across the road from the original farm in 1965 and that has become the headquarters for the operation.

   Marty’s son, Dustin is now farming, too. He has purchased the house and Marty and wife Joy have moved to a house between Malcom and Brooklyn. Joy is employed at Verizon in Grinnell. Their daughter, Courtney, is a student at Marshalltown Community College.     

   Dustin has been farming since graduating from high school in 2002. He rents some land and has purchased machinery. He is dating Katie Lidtka, a registered nurse.

   The headquarters farm is rented from Marty’s mother, Marilyn, who also has a house on the farm. Marty said, “She’s (his mother) our noon meal person. She brings meals to the field for us.”

   Last fall additional grain storage was added and the grain drying system was updated. That allowed them to store about 80 percent of the corn crop. Soybeans and the remaining 20 percent of the corn were delivered to Heartland Co-op in Malcom.

   Corn from storage is delivered with their own semi-tractor and trailer to Fremont Farms for use as chicken feed.

Yield prospects

   “Compared to last year, I would say it’s going to be 20 bushels, maybe 30 bushels short on corn,” Marty said. “I look for beans to be the same, if not better. We’ve been out in the fields and yields are ranging from 160 to 185 on corn. Beans – nobody can tell you that. I have more pods this year than a year ago.

   “There is quite a bit of disease showing up. Sudden death syndrome and cyst nematodes are showing up on bottom ground.”

   On one of Dustin’s farms they had some rootworm damage in corn following beans. Even though aphids were below threshold levels, beans were sprayed to eliminate corn rootworms as well as aphids.

   Concerning soybean marketing, Marty said, “We’re 50 percent sold already, up to our federal crop yield. We usually start in January, sometimes in December.”

   Chicken manure is used as fertilizer. “That way we can cut back on nitrogen use,” Marty said. “It goes on bean stubble in the fall. We try to work it in lightly. Some fields we can’t on account of cover. It’s pretty good stuff. There is a lot of organic matter. Any natural fertilizer is better than commercial.

   “Virtually all of our farms are grid sampled. Fremont doesn’t have a set-up to put fertilizer on that way. When the elevator (Heartland) spreads fertilizer for us, it’s all put on where it needs it.”

   Soybeans are planted in 15-inch rows with a Kinze planter. Half of the soybeans are no-tilled and the other half is minimum tilled. All of the soybeans are Roundup Ready. Usually they are sprayed once preplant and once post.

   “This year we got by on most of ours with just one pass on ground that we had tilled. We hit it once with the field cultivator and planter and that took care of that weed flush and then sprayed them later on. That took care of them.

Brazilian beans

   “As everyone knows, they are going to be number one,” Marty said, speaking of the Brazilian market. “My broker says it’s tough for farmers there to get capital. They can hardly pay last year’s bills. Prices are down and crop yields were down. They are paying 30 percent interest.”

   Though Marty has looked into alternatives to corn and soybeans, 100 acres of hay is the only other crop that is grown as a cash crop. “We try to seed down some of our rougher ground and give it a rest. The last two years it has been profitable,” he said.

   Marty believes that soybean genetics are lagging behind corn in development of plants resistant to disease. That should be the major focus of seed producers in the near future.

   Cost of nitrogen, which Marty said has more than doubled in two years, is a major concern. Escalating fuel prices will boost the cost of many inputs in addition to the fuel used for planting, harvesting and drying.  He predicts that cost per acre of inputs will increase by $50 to $75.

   “I feel sorry for the guys in eastern Iowa and Illinois,” Marty said. “They not only are contending with low prices, they are contending with hardly any yield.”

   When Marty started farming they were feeding 600 to 700 head of beef, but now feed only 40 head per year. On the concrete slab where silage was once stored, a new machine shed is being built. “I just hated to see that cement go to waste,” he said.

Fremont Farms of Iowa used this story from permission from the Pennysaver published in Poweshiek County, Iowa.