Written by Jonathan Eisenthal

It may look quiet on the farm after the crop has been harvested and a blanket of snow has settled on the landscape. But Minnesota’s corn farmers take this time to focus on the business, information, and education needed to keep the operation of growing food running smoothly the rest of the year.

All this offseason work ensures Minnesota’s economic well-being, as one of the nation’s top agricultural and food business regions.

“Food and agriculture drives a significant share of Minnesota’s overall economic activity, contributing $88.8 billion in total sales, $29.7 billion in value-added output and 320,000+ jobs,” according to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. “This represents 8% of the state’s workforce and 9% of state GDP.”

Winter is the time to review the growing season

Agronomists and crop consultants take center stage on the farm at this time of year.

“I have an agronomist, and we sit down and go through everything, go through the season, and see what’s worked and what hasn’t worked,” said Bryan Biegler, who farms in Lake Wilson, near Marshall. “The agronomist tells me what he has seen among the different hybrids of corn and soybeans that worked well this past year all around our region, so I can look ahead and place my acres (set my plans, and place orders for seeds).”

Angela Guentzel farms near Mankato, and the partners in her farm — she, her dad, and brother — met with their agronomist in late December.

“Our agronomist came with the book on each of our fields, the reports on it, what each one needs,” Guentzel said. “Half of the people on the farm are quite good at agronomy themselves, but they can only focus so much time and energy on it, so it’s nice to have that extra eye on things. We look at the soil tests and all that. Find the problem areas that we need to address. We also focus on the things that look really good and that we should evaluate also to make sure we maintain that high performance.”

For Harold Wolle, Jr., who farms in St. James, the crop consultant sometimes performs the role of investigator.

“Looking back at this year, we did have a rootworm problem in a couple of our fields, so we are going to adjust our rotation away from corn,” Wolle, Jr. said. “We had been doing some continuous corn on those fields. So, we tweak the operation according to what has happened in the last year. In coordination with our crop consultant, we identified the problem, and in this case, it was some weaker stalks and stands, some lodging (when the corn plant lays over on its side) that occurred, which we noticed when we were harvesting. We did have some strong winds that caused damage. It is never just one issue that affects the crop. Often, it’s multiple things, so it takes a little detective work to sort out what all the issues were that contributed to the problem. Ultimately it was the rootworm that led to the losses.”

Once the agronomists and crop consultants weigh in, farmers choose their seed, and set their chemical and fertilizer programs.

“It all starts with the seed,” said Noah Hultgren, a partner in his family’s farm operation six miles west of Willmar. “There are different traits in the seed. We have to think about whether a field is going to be planted to corn, maybe it’s being planted on land that had corn the year before, or not, and that may impact the choice of trait. You might choose a triple stack (three different genetically enhanced traits in the one plant) for planting continuous corn. Once you have the seed selected, then you decide the chemical plan for next year—knowing what weeds are prevalent, and which ones we really need to take care of. Certain rotations mean certain chemicals can’t be used—there are restrictions in terms of how many years or months after a certain crop, that you can use particular chemicals … with sugar beets, it’s a real challenge, because there are more rotational restrictions to chemicals we can use in the previous year’s crops when a field is going into sugar beets. That’s probably what we have to watch the most.

We have also been raising dark red kidney beans for a number of years. Those are the ones that go into your chili. That also means certain restrictions. We are close to a large dairy operation that was built about five years ago. Since that’s been put up, we have been growing some alfalfa as well. That has changed our landscape a lot in this area. We try to be as diverse as we can.”

Winter is Tax Season

Before the new year, weeks or months before other non-farmer Minnesotans, Biegler sits down with his accountant and gets all his tax planning done. That’s typical of most farmers, because revenue from the harvested crop means purchases of equipment and supplies for next growing season. Depending on income and cash flow, these purchases may happen before or after the first of the year.

A typical piece of farm machinery costs more than most single -family homes, so it’s a capital expense central to a farmer’s tax planning. Then come inputs: Seed, chemical controls for pests and weeds, and fertilizer to ensure a bountiful harvest are often the next biggest farm expenses. Biegler and his peers are busy making decisions and putting in their orders. This year, Biegler is paying close attention to pricing the different forms of nitrogen, to see which will be the best investment. Urea and anhydrous ammonia have been coming down in price, but he also likes liquid nitrogen in a 28% formulation, though the prices for it remain high.

Winter is Equipment Repair, Maintenance, and Purchasing Season

“On the farm, winter is a huge time for going through all the equipment with a fine-tooth comb to really do preventative maintenance, or any regular maintenance, to eliminate any issues we might have in the in-season,” Guentzel said. “We just rotate each piece through the shop so that we know we’ll be ready in the spring.”

Biegler just put up a heated shop, which will allow him to work through the winter to get all the needed maintenance done.

Wolle notes that the supply chain problems that have affected other parts of the economy have also become part of the agriculture picture.

“We have purchased some machinery,” Wolle said. “Machinery is in tight supply, so you had to get your orders in early. We do have a new planter coming. Any time you have new machinery, there is always an adjustment period to get it all set up and tuned up so that it works the way you want it to. We have some sandy soil that we farm—there’s one 20-acre field that’s very light soil and it’s close to the building site, and that’s our ‘get everything ready’ field. That’s where we will take the planter first and make sure everything is up to speed on it.”

Winter is Side-Business Season

Many farmers diversify and keep their operations afloat by developing side businesses—some ag-related, and others not.

Jim Kanten in Milan says his family farm just bought a new tractor for its side business of manure hauling and spreading. Manure can’t be spread in winter, but they move it around to well-placed stockpiles now because in the early spring, weight restrictions are put in place to save wear and tear on the roads. When the frost is out of the ground next spring, they will have the manure ready to go.

Guentzel and her husband operate a soil microbe and biologics business. Along with seed and chemical orders, this is the time of year when farmers book their soil health amendments, so they are busy making the rounds to tell farmers about the benefits of using their products and fielding calls with questions or orders.

Winter is Grain Marketing Season

Spring road weight restrictions dictate when farmers can bring grain to market. In winter they will truck it to the local grain elevator (which distributes it to animal feed operations and ethanol plants), or they will truck it directly to the ethanol plant.

“In January and February, we usually haul some of our grain, and then we have to take a pause, with road postings coming on, and we can’t really market things again until end of May or early June, after we get the spring work done,” Kanten said.

Winter Is Meeting Season

In mid-December, while 12 inches of snow was piling up outside a St. Cloud conference center, 175 farmers, scientists, and ag professionals gathered there for the 2022 Soil Management Summit. They were there to hear the latest science on how to make and keep soil healthy to improve crop productivity.

University of Minnesota Extension Regional Educator Jodi DeJong-Hughes, who co-organizes the event each year, observed, “Farmers are going to a lot of meetings in ‘the off-season.’ These include commodity organization meetings, board meetings, and crop informational meetings. In Extension, there is a small group of us who are organizing another conference February 7, the Women in Ag Conference, and this year’s theme is “Resiliency on the Farm and at Home.”

“There will be (sessions) on mental health, soil resiliency, how to build a resilient farm business, among other topics,” DeJong-Hughes said.

DeJong-Hughes spends a good portion of her time getting ready for and presenting at winter meetings across Minnesota where she presents research, and tillage and compaction effects on crop production.

“The time between harvest and next planting is a busy time for researchers with extension responsibilities,” said Prof. Fabián G. Fernández. He conducts a wide variety of research on crops, including how the use of cover crops can reduce the environmental loss of nitrogen fertilizer. Fernández said, “I spend a lot of time during the winter writing research ideas and submitting them to granting groups. Just like farmers, my research group repairs field equipment and gets ready to implement all the research projects the coming spring. My research group does the processing of thousands of samples collected during the growing season followed by the analysis, data collection, organization, and interpretation of those samples. There is a lot of time spent in reporting on outcomes from the research projects. The other big part of our activity at this time is talking during extension and other events with farmers, ag consultants, industry reps, etc. about the findings from the research we conduct.”

“This is the time when we meet with the commodity groups who offer grants to fund our research,” DeJong-Hughes said. “Almost all those grant proposals are due sometime between October and December. You have to submit reports for all the grants you are on. They need their quarterly reports. Then there’s crunching all that data.”

The first two months of the new year are crammed with meetings about research plots that were or will be sited on working farms. These provide ‘real-world’ results that instill confidence in the farmers.

“We get together so that we are all on the same page as to what to expect, and they can ask questions, and hear questions from other farmers,” DeJong-Hughes said. “One frequent question is, ‘how much are you going to slow me down during harvest?’ The answer is always, ‘a lot.’ We try to warn them up front that planting and harvesting is going to be slower, when you put in trials.”

Biegler had four Minnesota Corn Grower Association meetings between harvest and New Year’s.

“Once January starts, we have something right after the 1^st, a joint (Minnesota Corn) meeting of board and council the first week, then head down to St. Louis for National Corn Growers team meetings, and then we have Ag Expo the following week,” he said. “Might not have anything the last week of January. Meeting season is definitely cranked up and going.”

Winter Is Volunteering Season

Except for a brief interlude in mid-summer, much of the farmer’s time is spoken for when things are growing out in the fields. So winter is also an opportunity to give back, to build community. Guentzel and her brother volunteer with the Mankato Kiwanis Christmas Lights in The Park program, which offers wintertime fun for families, and a host of local organizations can volunteer and raise funds through the program.

“We are very involved with the Kiwanis Christmas Lights,” Guentzel said. “We will ranger a couple of the nights—the program goes from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. The rangers get the park set up before the lights go on for the evening, and then organize all of the volunteers there. … Different groups, for instance the baseball association, or maybe a school marching band sign up to volunteer, and then donations get taken in at the entryways and those funds get redistributed to the groups that volunteer. There’s also a food shelf donation spot.”

The Shoulders of the Offseason are the Time to Think About Land

One of the most basic needs of the farmer is land to grow the crops on. In addition to focusing on the agronomics of his family farm’s corn, soybeans, sugar beets and red kidney bean crops, Hultgren has been a realtor for the past dozen years. Six years ago, he earned his broker’s license.

“Usually, in early September probably through the middle of November is kind of the time frame that a lot of land does get sold via auction,” Hultgren said. “Then, in late February into late March, there will be other auctions happening. It all about making your plans for the following year. A lot of guys, myself included, if you are buying land or renting land, you want to know what you’ve got early enough so that you can plan whatever needs to be done on that land, whether it’s fall fertilizer placement, or spring cultivation, whatever the land needs, so it’s ready for planting.”