Volunteers lend helping hands for injured farmer's harvest

NEWMAN — Dave Young is facing many adjustments after an accident in August left him blind in his right eye. At first with little depth perception, he was having problems with seemingly simple tasks such as putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. It took him a few days to be able to do that again. The hardest part for Young, a farmer in Douglas County, might be watching others in the fields this fall after years in the driver's seat of a combine. Unable to operate the equipment, Young, 59, wasn't sure how he was going to get this year's crop out of the fields. Luckily, a group of neighbors in the Newman area and others from across the county rallied to his aid, taking a day off from working their own fields last week to harvest Young's corn last week. “I've been stewing about it for a month,” Young said while still making phone calls to make sure the grain was delivered to nearby elevators. “This feels like a great big hug. It's a good feeling.” Tyler Harvey, the Douglas County Farm Bureau manager, found that everyone who heard about what Young needed was more than willing to help. Young was injured when a pry bar slipped, hitting his face while working on a semi-truck.

“All the time we think about wearing safety equipment using power tools, but hand tools can hurt just as bad,” Young said. “One little slip and I'm paying for it.” Harvey said 230 acres in five fields needed to be harvested, a task that normally takes several weeks. Instead, it got done in a day with the help of all the volunteers. “Seeing so many people come together, it takes the weight off,” Harvey said. “This is really what the agriculture community is like when there is a time of need. Once word got out, the help flowed in.” Dave Young's wife, Debby, was among the family members and neighbors helping to prepare sack lunches to take to the fields as a way to thank the volunteers. They even made sure an FS truck was available to replenish any fuel that the volunteers used for their equipment during the day. Debby Young said it's been a hard adjustment at a time of year when Dave is usually out in the fields for more than 12 hours a day, something she knows he'd rather be doing now.

“We can't express how much we appreciate the help,” Debby Young said. “Harvest is a stressful time in farming. This is when we get our pay day.” Family members have driven in from both nearby and out of state to help. They were impressed to see the show of support. “I drove in here and I was almost in tears when I saw all the guys lined up,” said Gerald Day of Monticello, Dave Young's father-in-law. Taking any time off during harvest can be a lot to ask as farmers want to complete the work as efficiently as possible, not knowing how weather conditions can change, Harvey said.

“It's always a race against the clock,” Harvey said. “One of the things about farming is being used to change.” Some of the neighboring farmers shrugged off what they were doing, saying it was just what they do. “We've got to help when somebody needs it,” said Greg Luth while preparing to hop back in a combine to finish off one of the fields. Harvey said after knowing Young through various Farm Bureau activities that he would do the same thing if somebody else needed the help. “I'm glad we could help out and coordinate this,” Harvey said. “It's easy to help somebody like him.” Harvey said a similar effort is likely to be needed to help with Young's soybean fields, but for the time being, the focus was on corn, which was ready to be harvested. Young isn't sure what the future will hold for his recovery, but he remains hopeful that he will be back in the fields for spring planting.

(Article was published by Chris Lusvardi, Herald & Review)

More Pictures of Harvest 2016

Another successful week of shelling corn contributed to these pictures below. With corn nearly complete, we will be switching to cutting beans this upcoming week.

Great Start to Harvest 2016

The weather has been perfect over the past week allowing the family to begin operations on Harvest 2016. A busy and successful week of over 250 acres of corn shelled and contributions from the entire family. We will have a lot of pictures to share over the next coming weeks as Harvest season is here!

2016 Planting Season is complete

It has been a wet spring but we have been fortunate to have enough dry days to finish the 2016 Planting Season. The last week has been very successful with all four McKay boys home assisting and 3 planters in work, sometimes at the same time. We had to replant areas of corn due to the heavy rains in the last weeks. We were blessed to finish the last field of soybeans 30 minutes before another 7 tenths of rain.

Plant 2016 is in full speed!

Spring is here and Planting Season has arrived! Rain has delayed the process some including over an inch last night throughout all of Central Illinois. We have over 80% of corn planted and praying for some sunshine to get back at work. Currently, 57% of corn in Illinois has been planted. Check out a few pictures from #Plant16.

Merry Christmas from The McKay's!!!

Picture from Cristina and Tyler's Wedding June 27, 2015

Cash Rents Not Falling Fast Enough For Farmers

(Anna McConnell) With cash rents not lowering as fast as commodity prices, farmers are still gritting their teeth at high prices per acre at the end of 2015. BUT cash rents are falling, just at a slower pace. "Cash rents really need to come down,” said Doug Martin, an Illinois corn and soybean farmer. “Rents are coming down, but just not probably quite as fast they should.”

Cash rents tend to lag behind the pace market prices fall at due to farmers still having cash to spend from years past, according to Iowa State University crop markets specialist Chad Hart. High-profit producers are able to snatch up land that others can’t afford, which puts those operators at a competitive advantage and keeps rates higher for a period of time. 

A number of factors influence cash rents including commodity prices, land values, and gross farm income. Hart expects to see a drop in cash rent/land value within 1–2 years of the gross farm income dropping 2%. 

“The USDA is forecasting around a 40–50% drop in income level, which points to a 20–25% drop in cash rents and land values,” said Hart. “We’ve already seen 14% of that land value drop in Iowa.”

In northern Iowa, cash rents of $300 per acre are being reported, but southern Iowa counties are seeing rents drop below $200 in some areas. 

In Indiana, cash rents hadn’t seen any kind of cut in 15 years until 2015.  According to a June cash rents survey conducted by Purdue University, Indiana’s cash rent rates averaged $229 per acre on land with average productivity. In west central Indiana, rents as high as $281 were reported while southeastern parts of the state saw a low of $152 per acre. 

“We think cash rents will continue to decline in the upcoming year,” said Michael Langemeier, a Purdue agricultural economist. “Something like 5% would be an anticipated price decline.” 

With cash rents still a little steep, Langemeier is seeing more interest than ever in flex rent. In Indiana, less that 10% of farmers using that option, but it is something to bring up with a landlord. Just remember that flex rent is variable and very appealing to landlords, he said.