From the Fields: Better than expected

I was very pleased with yields this year. They were better than what I expected with the lack of rain we had this summer. We had outstanding yields with both corn and soybeans. We saw some of the best soybeans we ever raised this year. Corn was above average. We had some corn planted in April, but most was planted in May. Both planting dates were very good.

I haven’t purchased inputs for next year, but I will by the end of the year. I think there’s going to be a lot of variability in prices — N, P and K seem to be going down right now. We saw record high prices, but now it’s starting to go down. Some retail outlets locked in prices early at a higher prices, which will mean higher costs for farmers, if they did that.

Market prices are still strong. Not as strong as they were, they’re off of the highs for the market during harvest. There’s just a lot of uncertainty in the markets. The Ukraine situation adds a big question mark. Wheat prices were strong this year because there is a lot of wheat raised in Ukraine, and not knowing if they’re going to get that harvested or exported was a big question. That’s created some unusual marketing opportunities for the American farmers this year.

This winter I’ll attend the Farm Bureau state and national conventions. I’ll be at the Indiana Farm Equipment and Technology Expo and then the Commodity Classic in March.

Indiana Farm Bureau has four priorities for 2023 legislative session, which will be a budget session. Three remain the same as 2022: rural vitality, energy policy and taxes. The newest priority is food security. It isn’t just in Indiana, but American farmers are looked at around the world to provide nutrition. Our overall goal is to keep farmers on the farm, producing food. We need less regulation, we need lower tax burdens and we need there to be incentives for farmers to continue using their land to grow food. We’re going to focus on that.