The XtremeAg farmers are taking time to analyze this season’s drought effects and gather insights for future improvements.

Chad Henderson – Madison, Alabama

Chad Henderson is a fifth-generation farmer in Madison, Alabama. Henderson Farms includes over 8,000 acres of dryland and irrigated corn, dryland soybeans, wheat, and dryland and irrigated double-crop soybeans. When not farming, Chad can be found carrying on another proud family tradition as a drag racer for Henderson Racing.

Corn harvest is wrapped up for the south. Now, we’re diving into the data to evaluate what worked and what didn’t. The biggest factor here was the drought, especially around early or late fertility, which really affected the outcome. We still saw good corn yields in places with enough moisture. We have to consider that carefully. Now, it’s about analyzing our inputs and recipes to pinpoint any valuable insights. We need to go through the inputs, examine where we applied them, and identify some of the lower areas where moisture held up.

We’ve got two types of soybeans: regular season and double-crop soybeans. The double-crop soybeans are planted right after wheat, around early June. The early season soybeans, unfortunately, hit the drought at the worst time, so yields were below average. As we finish harvesting the late-season soybeans, some of them are turning out well since they caught timely rains. Overall, it’ll be a slightly below-average crop, but some areas will still have decent yields. Like with corn, we’re focusing in on areas with good moisture to see which practices stood out in those spots. Rather than looking at entire fields, we’re focusing on specific zones to evaluate if our new programs paid off. This will guide us next year.

Planting is really picking up now, but it’s extremely dry. The saying goes, “Plant in the dust, and the beans will bust,” but it’s exceptionally dry this year. We’re getting ready to plant wheat, spreading seed, and hoping for rain. Our wheat acres will stay about the same as usual, depending on market conditions, so we’ll stick to our regular rotation. As we get into wheat planting, we’ll apply a standard to slightly below-average fertilizer blend. Since last year’s crop didn’t pull as much as expected, we’ll take advantage of the corn fertilizer left behind for this year’s wheat.

Kevin Matthews – East Bend, North Carolina

Kevin Matthews and his wife, Cindy, are fourth-generation farmers in East Bend and Yadkinville, North Carolina. Matthews Family Farms, Deep Creek Grain, and Precision Nutrient Management farm corn, soybeans, wheat, and barley. 

There are lots of moving parts on the farm right now. Wheat is being sown while corn and soybean harvest is still taking place. Harvest is 80% complete for corn and soybeans. With no breakdowns and good weather, harvest could be complete in 10 days. We should finish getting the wheat out this week. 

Wheat is a tough crop to consistently make milling quality with our humid environment. Our main reason for continuing to grow it is having the straw residue helping build the organic matter of the land and spread-out planting dates of our soybeans.

This past week I spent time in the western area of North Carolina. The aftereffects of Hurricane Helene are lingering. Farmers are working tirelessly to repair fences for livestock and clean up their land. This week we will be hauling our equipment up to repair damages on the fertile soils of the French Broad River and Swannanoa River these fields have heavy silt deposits and sandbars to deal with! This is something we have a lot of experience dealing with farming along the Yadkin River. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.

Matt Miles – McGehee, Arkansas

Matt Miles is a fourth-generation farmer in southeast Arkansas. Miles farms 3,500 acres of corn, 3,500 acres of soybeans, 1,500 acres of cotton, and 1,500 acres of rice.

As the 2024 season comes to an end, we are wondering with high inputs and low prices what’s around the corner for the industry that provides an essential national security, food! 

Rumors of an ad hoc payment to hopefully prevent massive foreclosures will at least put a bandage on a bullet hole. 

Hopefully we can get a new farm bill that will be pertinent to today’s world. It’s a different world than when the 2018 bill was enacted.