(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to "Farm Connections."

I'm your host, Dan Hoffman.

On this episode, we take part in Corn Shredding Days at the Dwain Gerken Farm in Oak Center, take a look at some awesome farm equipment, and discuss the history of the event with the Gerken family.

Crop insurance expert Paul Tangen stops by to provide some risk management information and the University of Minnesota provides us with a new Best Practices segment, all here today on "Farm Connections."

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- On this beautiful sunny day, we're near Oak Center, Minnesota with the Gerken family and they're gonna tell us a little bit about what's happening today.

With me is Deanna, Marilyn, and Dwain.

Welcome to "Farm Connections."

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

So what is happening today?

- We're putting on the 24th annual Corn Shredding Autumn Harvest Days, of which my dad started in 1999, getting some neighbors and friends together to produce the show we are now putting on today.

The farm that they are on, they bought in 1968.

It is a 90-acre farm and they have farmed it all this time, except for the last 10 years.

- Sure.

- They kind of rent it out.

Yeah, they've raised, they got four kids that they raised on the farm and we learned an awful lot from them.

My brother, older brother still farms.

We do corn, oats, soybeans here.

- It's a beautiful farm, Deanna.

You mentioned four children.

Can you say their names and their birth order?

- There is Thomas, Lisa, Deanna, and Dwain.

- Awesome.

Deanna, thanks for including your folks in this.

They're certainly the reason this show exists, right?

- Yes.

- So was it always here?

- No.

It was just down the road at my dad's parents' home.

That's where he created it and started it in 1999.

- And why did he start it?

- He thought it would be interesting to teach and preserve history of farming and bringing the neighbors and friends into it.

And this is the show we see today.

- Well, and it's a great show.

Was it always this size, this many people?

- No.

We started out with maybe 20 people showing up.

We served food, you know, and we had like a little craft area.

We have a cider press the kids could run.

We weren't as big as we are now.

- Well, it's a great show and many people are showing a lot of joy.

They're bringing their treasures, the things out of their sheds and their garages and their heritage and they're bringing it for others to enjoy.

How do you feel about that?

- It's awesome.

It is awesome to see the history of how farming started.

you know, how people had to work as hard as they did as to nowadays when they've got the combines and all that interesting technology.

- Well, I watched your mom Marilyn compete in the husking contest.

So she was pulling off the husk and throwing it in the wagon and looks like she's taking it up to a tent for something to happen.

What happens up there?

- It is a national corn husking competition for the state of Minnesota and they are weighing it and they have the, you can't have too much.

If you have husk on it, that gets weighed.

That's held against you.

They go by how many pounds you did and you're timed.

Her age group is 10 minutes and as you get younger, they add minutes to it.

- Well, she mentioned she had some pretty high honors as she went to Indiana and other places.

Can you tell us about that?

- She has come in first place in South Dakota for the National Corn Huskers for her age group.

And she usually, every year she has husked since we started it, and won a trophy.

- Nice.

And how about Dad?

Does he husk corn?

- No.

- Did he ever?

- He has in years past.

He has husked.

He does a good job at it, but right now it's getting tougher for him to.

- Well, it's hard physical work and of course we go back in time, we didn't have pickers or anything to do it mechanically.

So we did it by hand, right?

- Yes.

- So this is recreating that time.

- Yes, it is.

- And we need that corn to have the husk pulled back so it can dry and stay over the winter and be feeding our livestock, right?

- Yes, exactly.

- So what's in that golden kernel that's so valuable anyway?

- Nourishment for your animals and even for people.

You know, people make cornmeal out of the corn here.

- Well, corn has a lot of energy in it.

We know that.

It's taking the sunshine, which what a beautiful day for this.

Did you pick the day?

- No.

It is always the last full weekend in September.

We got lucky.

Top 10 weather weekend.

- Awesome.

And is there a website where our audience can find out more about your show?

- We are at Corn Shredding Autumn Harvest Days is our webpage.

And we also have a Facebook page under the same thing that has information and pictures.

As you are here today, we do have TVs operating with past pictures of it.

- Well, there's a lot of people lining up with some tractors that look like they've got some power to them.

What's happening down there?

- [Deanna] That is our tractor pull that is put on here every year.

And it brings in a lot of the older tractors.

We don't have the big power tractors here 'cause the sled isn't big enough for them to pull.

- Sure.

But that's really not what this show is about.

It's about heritage, legacy, the history of this whole area, this whole community.

So we've got a whole community of people coming here, right?

- [Deanna] Yes, we do.

They come from out of state here too, whether it's corn husk or whether it's to watch our antique operation machines operate.

We enjoy people to join in and help with that.

- Well, what else is happening?

We've got the tractor pull, we've got older tractors, we've got the National Corn Husking Contest.

What else?

- We do all of our equipment is operating.

We do corn shredding, corn shelling.

We do all the unique ways that they harvested back in the day.

Our equipment is all, whether it's family-owned or it's friends that have brought their equipment over to share with us this year, and John Deere was our featured tractor.

- As evidenced by my button, right?

- [Deanna] Yes.

(laughs) - Was there still time to get things in today or do you pretty well have all the registration taken care of?

- Nope.

People can show up tomorrow with their equipment too.

You know, we're just kind of an open going crew.

- And of course next year, when is it?

- It'll be the last full weekend in September.

- As it has been for how many years?

- It'll be 25 years next year- - Nice.

- For us.

- And it looks like you've got, I saw some of your grandchildren and your children here.

The whole family's involved?

- Yes.

- They're here somewhere?

- They are here.

They are all here somewhere, working, doing something, helping.

- Nice.

And what about food?

- Our food this year is put on by the Wabasha County Pork Producers.

- Well, that sounds excellent.

So we can get a pork chop today, a pork sandwich?

What's on the menu?

- They're having pulled pork, they're having hot dogs, and the money that is raised from their meal they're serving is gonna go to an agriculture scholarship.

- Nice.

- Yep.

- And when I came in today and I looked at the program, it looks like the funds at the gate go to something special too.

What is that?

- We are a nonprofit organization.

The money that we raise keeps our show growing and we do a scholarship too.

So we're a nonprofit and we're here to have fun and enjoy the history.

- You're doing that.

And do you pick out a group once in a while?

I think I saw something about the veterans that get some benefit from it.

- Yep.

We have baked goods that are sold and the money goes towards our veterans.

- Awesome.

So if I'm watching the show, why should I put this on the calendar for next year in September?

- Because we are here to teach and preserve the history of farming.

- And I haven't seen anybody with a frown yet, so what a wonderful job your family's doing.

Thank you, Deanna.

- Thank you.

- Stay tuned for more on "Farm Connections."

- [Narrator] "Farm Connections" Best Practices, brought to you by Absolute Energy and AgVantage Software.

- Hi, I'm Liz Stahl, Extension Educator in Crops with the University of Minnesota Extension, talking on today's Best Practices segment.

And today I'm gonna talk about optimal windows to seed a cover crop in Minnesota.

So we know with cover crops, some of our best windows to seed a cover crop would be after an early harvest of a crop like corn silage or small grain or a canning crop.

That gives us the most time to have establishment of that cover crop 'cause research has shown, whenever we can see that cover crop, say, for example, we've looked at cereal rye, if we're seeding that in early to mid to late September, that we get more biomass in the fall and we also get more biomass in the spring.

It just helps with establishment and getting more biomass.

That means that we have the potential for more benefits from that cover crop, such as soil health benefits, erosion control, weed control, and so forth.

So again, you know, being able to seed it earlier is very beneficial for establishment.

It's great too if you can time it right before you get a rainfall because precipitation is very important for establishment as well.

Now, knowing that, most of our farmers here do corn and soybeans for grain harvest.

So with that, that pushes that date that we can seed that cover crop a little later in the season.

Some options that you could look at, let's say if you're in corn, wait till that corn reaches physiological maturity.

Once that canopy starts to open up, we can do things like a highboy seeder, possibly a drone, broadcasting that cover crop into the standing crop.

Also in soybeans, you know, there's options to try.

You know, again, once soybeans reach physiological maturity, they turn yellow, those leaves start to drop.

If you have like a helicopter or you could use a drone, again, or a highboy-type seeder, those would be options that you could interseed in later in the season.

Now, you're not getting the seed-to-soil contact that you would with a drill, but if you, again, could time it that you get enough moisture right after seeding, that's gonna really help your establishment.

And it does give you a little wider window to let that cover crop get established in the fall.

Now, that doesn't mean that you can't wait till after harvest.

In some years, we do have an earlier harvest, so once you get the grain off, then you can use a drill to seed that cover crop in both corn and soybean, again, getting better seed-to-soil contact.

We may not get as much establishment in the fall, not as much in the spring either, but, you know, that is an option to look at.

One other window for seeding a cover crop is this early interseeding in the spring.

Different people have tried that as well.

And we've looked at that.

University of Minnesota researchers have evaluated this, especially at Lamberton, at our research and outreach center there.

And the thing with early interseeding of a cover crop, it's kind of a narrow window and this is really only a viable option in corn because in soybeans it's gonna shade out that cover crop.

Number one, you've gotta make sure you're using a cover crop that can handle shade.

So something like annual rye grass would be better than, say, cereal rye.

So, and seeding that cover crop between like the V2 to V4 stage of corn, so that's like two leaf collars to four leaf collars, that's where we've had the best luck with establishment.

Trying to seed it later, we just haven't had very good establishment.

And if you seed it earlier, particularly if you try to seed it with your cash crop, that cover crop can really get aggressive and there we're looking at having a significant impact on yield.

So we wouldn't recommend going that early.

So again, that V2 to V4 stage.

However, even with interseeding at that time, we just have not seen a lot of biomass by the end of the season with this interseeding.

You have to look at your herbicide program too to make sure that that's not impacting establishment of that cover crop.

Plus, it does limit what you can do with your post-emergence applications if you are interseeding a cover crop earlier in the season.

One thing that people do if they're grazing a cover crop, they've looked at planting corn in 60-inch rows.

So again, planting corn in 60-inch rows, we used to plant corn in wider rows years ago.

We know that we've enhanced corn yield or increased our yield potential by going to more narrow rows.

So you're looking at a trade-off there, likely going to see a reduction in corn yield if you go to 60-inch rows, but you're letting more light get into that area between the rows so you can get better cover crop growth.

So this is something if you're grazing that cover crop is an option to look at as well.

But here, again, make sure you're watching your herbicide program because your herbicides will limit what cover crops you could grow and whether or not you can graze it.

So again, make sure that you're watching that.

So again, this is Liz Stahl, Extension Educator in Crops with the University of Minnesota Extension on today's Best Practices segment.

Thanks for watching.

- Welcome to "Farm Connections."

We traveled to Grand Meadow, Minnesota to learn a little bit more about risk management and crop insurance, and to help us do that is Paul Tangen from PT Crops.

Paul, thanks for joining us.

- My pleasure.

- Well, this thing of risk management and crop insurance is really important.

What's going on in this world?

- Well, everybody's gotta eat and if we don't provide the food that they have or that they need, then we're in trouble.

- So why is this risk management thing so important anyway?

- Simply because they have so much invested into the crop that they need to have something to get a return on.

- Well, certainly if we have farmers running, some cases, hundreds of acres, but more likely thousands of acres and sometimes tens of thousands of acres, what's the cost or risk for one acre?

- Over a thousand bucks.

- So if they're running at 10,000 acres, for example, that's a lot of money.

- [Paul] That's a lot of money.

- And of course, if they're running just a few acres, to that farmer, it's still a lot of money, right?

- Everybody, yes, it's that way, period.

- So imagine running a thousand acres times a thousand dollars per acre.

We've got what some people don't make in a decade, right?

- Decade?

Might be a lifetime, maybe- - Or a lifetime.

- Maybe not anymore, but it may be that much in a lifetime.

- So this farmer's laying all of that cash out and when you go out to see him, maybe he's called you or maybe you've said, "I'd like to talk to you about a product we have."

How does that conversation go?

- Well, basically what I try to do is get them to tell me what they need out of that crop to live on.

And then we gotta go from there.

- When you get out to a farmer that's never had crop insurance or never dealt with you before, what are some of the questions that he or she comes up with?

- Well, they're gonna say, you know, what does it cost?

What can you do for me?

And my basic thing is you've got the government subsidizing the product and you're paying the extra.

And depending on what you feel like you can risk, then you choose the percentage that you're gonna use.

And that can be from 70, you know, it can be from 50 all the way up to 85.

- So let's go back to that thousand acres and dollars invested per acre.

So they're going to guarantee a percentage of that?

- [Paul] Correct.

- So if he picks 85%, what happens?

- Well, if he picks 85, there's so many different things that have to happen.

First of all, then the month of February, you come up with, it goes off the Chicago Board of Trade, you come up with a price for the month of February for December corn and November beans.

So that's what we call the spring price.

Now, we go through the whole summer and we come to October, right now where we're at, and now every day I look at the Chicago Board of Trade to find out what November corn or December corn and November beans are for this.

And then you figure out the difference in, it's a complicated formula, but we can figure it out and it aids the farmer in knowing what's gonna happen.

- Well, what's the downside if the farmer chooses not to buy crop insurance and there's an extreme weather event that causes, you know, almost half the crop to be destroyed or not harvestable?

- Well, you hope like heck he's got enough in his bank in order to make it another year.

My whole feeling about crop insurance is it's for two things.

It's to handle something that happens this year, whether it's, and it's always weather.

It seems like it's always weather.

But we also want him to be on that land next year because we need these people to grow the crops that feeds our nation and feeds the rest of the world.

- Well, Paul, when you say that, it makes me think about the skillset that a farmer today has to have to be successful.

And if that farmer's not here next year, it's a little bit difficult to find somebody to fill his skillset.

- That's correct.

And then farmers get or the farms get bigger and bigger and bigger and if you don't have the resources to be able to handle that, then what do you do?

That's why crop insurance is important.

It's to help you during this year, but it's to keep you back, keep you here for next year.

- So back to your example of a thousand acres times a thousand dollars input per acre, and that includes rent or real estate taxes, that's a million dollars at stake.

And if they have a 50% loss, what happens for the benefits or the check that comes to them from insurance company?

What would that look like?

- Well, it could be as much as 500,000 or more.

- So without the product that you sell, if they have a $500,000 loss, they go to the end of the year without that cash to put in next year's crop.

- That's correct.

But then you also gotta, there's always this thing about interest.

I was taught when I was young that interest is one of those things that, how should I put it?

People that understand interest earn it.

People who don't understand pay it.

- Well, imagine that 500,000 being swept forward for a year or two or three or maybe a decade, and the farmer has to do what you said, paid interest on it.

It gets mighty expensive.

- It's very expensive.

- And what happens the following year if there's another crop failure?

Now we've got what?

- Two years of problems.

And it can multiply so fast, it'll get out of your hand.

It'll get out of control.

- It can devastate the family and of course their family living costs, but beyond that, the ability to sustain or run that farm, right?

- That's correct.

- So can you give us some examples of successes in your business that you've personally had?

- Well, I know that we've kept many, many people in business just for that reason.

We do them a favor.

They do us a favor.

And that's how it works.

And I've been at this business for over 35 years right now, and I got people that I started with 35 years ago and they're still with me.

So either one of us is not very good or not, but I think we do all right and we keep them going.

We help them as far as making some decisions as far as what they can do, can't do, and where they should be as far as their insurance.

- [Dan] The coverage level.

- The coverage level, what's gonna be out of your pocket, what's gonna be out of the government's pocket.

It works, it really does.

It keeps people in business.

And that's all we're after.

- So part of that funding for the, certain things have to happen for the government to pay part of the premium.

But the motivation is keep farmers in business and then farmers, when they make money, what happens?

- They spend.

- They spend it in our community, don't they?

- Yes, they do.

All small communities live on those people.

- So we should want them to be successful, I would think.

- We always want 'em to be successful because it's not fun to go to somebody's house that's grumpy.

(laughs) - Well, that's true, or doesn't have enough money to put the crop in next year.

- Yes, and that's when we both sit down and cry because then some of us, one of us failed maybe.

But we try to give them what we think is the best thing for them and then they make the decision, go from that.

- Well, you're consulting with the farmer and you come up with a plan, he then pays you premiums.

- Yep.

- Or your companies.

- Companies.

- And the benefit is he's got some protection.

What happens when there's a loss?

Do you go out and do the yield checks?

- I turn the claim in, but the government has said that as an agent, you stay away from the multi-peril.

You turn it to an adjuster and he takes care of it.

- So a third party actually comes.

- It's actually a third party that does it.

And actually the other thing, there's a built-in, I don't know what the word I want to say.

After two years, the adjuster cannot be there again for another year.

So in other words, if he works the guy's claim two years in a row, he has to be out, and then a year from then, he can come back in.

- So bit of a safety.

- It's a safety net.

The government is always after a safety net and it's a very good safety net.

- I would think you would like that because you're so much wanting that farmer to do well, you're probably not going to be as impartial.

You're gonna want everything as good as you can for that farmer.

So it's good to have a third party.

- You bet.

- It takes that pressure away from you.

- It takes the pressure off of me, and after a while, those people become friends of yours and theirs and everybody's, you know, "Is he coming?"

"Oh, I'll give him a call and he'll be there."

- Well, thanks for helping our farmers.

If you didn't get told, I want to.

Food's important, fiber's important, fuel's important and the work you do is important.

Thank you, Paul.

- Thank you.

- Stay tuned for more on "Farm Connections."

Well, that just about does it here for today's episode of "Farm Connections."

I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thank you for joining us.

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