Extreme yields offer ‘adrenaline rush’ and guide to decisions
DECATUR, Ill. – An “adrenaline rush” is how Dan Leupkes, a northwestern Illinois farmer, describes seeing 350 bu./acre popping up on his combine monitor at corn harvest.
Even though he thrives on the excitement of breaking records on his irrigated land in northern Illinois, he still has an eye for return on investment.
“We are always chasing profit,” the fifth-generation Illinois farmer said at a gathering at the BASF media tent at the Farm Progress Show Aug. 31.
Leupkes first got excited about using intensive management practices when he saw using these practices on his sandy soils in northwestern Illinois could produce yields which rival those of corn grown on more ideal soils.
“Every year we try multiple new things. We’ve made mistakes. We learn what not to do as much as what to do,” said the Oregon, Illinois, farmer.
Unfortunately this year, Leupkes’ farms in Ogle County are located in the 20 to 30 mile band of “severe drought” in Illinois. In this area, 50 bu./acre corn won’t be unusual. He expects to see a difference as much as 200 bu./acre between his non-irrigated and irrigated land.
Irrigation was the most profitable investment for him this year, he said.
You do “better” before you do “more,” said Kelly Garrett, a western Iowa farmer who focuses on the small details.
Garrett, like Leupkes, gets a thrill from high yields while farming for the long haul – learning from extreme practices to make better management decisions every day.
“The big yields are my hobby,” said Garrett, who farms with his dad, Gene, near Denison in Crawford County, Iowa.
“Big yields are great. They help you learn how to make the most on every acre,” Garrett said.
Leupkes and Garrett are both part of XtremeAg.Farm, an online community of self-described “real farmers with real results and real success” who pay membership fees.
The online community was launched at Commodity Classic in San Antonio in March 2020.
“It’s been a great experience with the XtremeAg team learning from others. I have learned more than I taught,” said Garrett, who grew the National Corn Growers Association top high yield corn on irrigated land from 2016 to 2019. The derecho squashed his chances in 2020.
At one point this year, Garrett’s fields were 7 inches behind the usual rainfall rate in his part of Iowa and crops were dry, but the weather changed.
“We’re looking at a good crop this year. We had timely rains,” he said.
His top corn yield on irrigated land so far is 387 bu./acre.
There is something contagious about the thrill of high yields, agrees Josh Miller, a plant scientist and technical market manager of crop protection/fungicides for BASF research. He readily admits to getting carried away in the excitement of high yields.
“I know that adrenaline rush,” he said.
Miller, who was working in retail at the time, tells the story of dropping his wife off at home after the birth of their third child so he could hurry to a field to check on a potentially record-breaking wheat yield for a customer.
View more on Mainline Media News