PR manager visits Fast farm for “Nate on the Farm” episode
By Nate Gotlieb
Public Relations Manager
Last Tuesday morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. to drive from Minneapolis to the Mountain Lake farm of Brandon Fast to shoot a new episode of our “Nate on the Farm” video series.
I picked up a car at the Minnesota Corn office, made a quick pot of coffee, and hit the road. It was a wet, windy, and overcast morning at Brandon’s farm. As our crew set up, Brandon and I talked a bit about his latest farm project: an expansion of his farm shop. He, his brother, and his uncle were still waiting for the electrician to come and wire up the expanded shop. To ensure we had enough light for the shoot, Brandon used a tractor to lift one of the garage doors open.
Once the shoot began, Brandon and I stood in the shop, and he told me about his farming background, issues affecting corn farmers today, and some of the perceptions that corn farmers face. Farmers responsibly use their inputs, he said, and have no interest in applying more than they need. More than 90% of farms in Minnesota are run by families, not corporations, he added. Those signs of seed companies that you see on rural highways are indicative of the seeds used on a farm, not who’s farming the land, he said.
There are certainly challenges farmers face, Brandon noted. They’re always at the mercy of the weather; and corn prices can fluctuate, creating market uncertainty. That’s why Minnesota’s corn farmers invest in developing new uses for corn and corn products, Brandon said, pointing to efforts to build corn-based plastics as an example.
After our conversation, Brandon showed me several pieces of equipment parked in the farm shop: a sprayer and a liquid fertilizer applicator. Brandon explained that he uses the liquid fertilizer applicator to side-dress nitrogen. A coulter cuts through the soil next to the rows of corn, he said, and a knife behind the coulter has a tube that places the nitrogen in the soil before another tool covers up the furrow. Corn roots are then able to access the nitrogen as the plant grows. Given that Brandon plants 30-inch rows, the roots are 15 inches away from the nitrogen which is absorbed at an optimal rate for prime growth.
Brandon also showed me the cabs of his tractors, pointing out a screen synced to a GPS system that provides him with real-time data as he drives through his fields. It includes everything from seed populations as he plants to tractor speed and fertilizer application rates. We also walked to a corn field, and he showed me the different leaf stages of the plant.
Overall, it was an enlightening and interesting visit, and I learned a lot about in-season farming practices. You can look for the video later this summer, and in the meantime, be sure to check out our past “Nate on the Farm” episodes. Special thanks to Brandon for hosting and to the team at ArcStone for their work on the series.
