The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Dessa Rodeffer, Quill Publisher
By now, good weather has urged most farmers into the fields to harvest their crops, and like Paul Anderson of rural Stronghurst, most in this area are really delighted with the bumper harvest they are seeing.
Just east of the Henderson County Fairgrounds along highway 94, Anderson's Farms, owned by Paul Anderson, was comparing bushels per acres in his test plot of 36 different varieties. Anderson, a Burrus Seed dealer for four years, was anxious to see how Burrus, DeKalb, Asgrow, and Pioneer numbers compared to his Burrus numbers.
"It's a good harvest this year," Paul said. Our lowest was 200 bushels per acre and the highest was 249.77 bushels per acre. The top two best were both Burrus numbers he said with a satisfied smile, Burrus 795b and Burrus 794s.
The Burrus Brothers is a family-owned company in Illinois founded in 1935 by the brothers grandfather.
"I like the company because I can call them and actually talk to the owner," Paul, said, plus he is pleased with the price and yields. The results of his test plot yields will be mailed out to customers in a newsletter.
"Anderson's 36 rows makes for a very competitive test plot," said Brad Veale, a Burrus representative from Henderson. "Paul always sets up a nice operation here and it makes it very easy to test and make record of each variety."
Anderson has a 2200 acre corn and soybean operation and also manages a cow/calf herd. He has always met his annual goal to have all the crops in by Halloween, he said.
"This year I'm very pleased with the harvest," but he admits that he would like to see corn prices go a lot higher than they are now.
"Today's prices are $2.05 corn and $5.85 soybeans,' he said.
"A good price would be $2.50-$2.75 corn and $6.50 to $7.00 for beans.
"Last year in 2003, beans hit $10.50 and corn hit $3.40. That was the highest year since "95 or so." Anderson recalls there was no August rain last year but this year, "we've had good timely rains."
"I think they are anticipating a large harvest, (so prices are lower) but there are areas across the Iowa and Illinois corn belt that don't have the numbers we have due to the weather. When traveling to the the Farm Progress Show in Allaman, IA there were 155 bushels an acre of corn north of I-80."
Anderson, has one semi he uses in his operation and said he has hired another semi and driver to empty dry grain out of bins and haul it to the Big River Resources Cooperative, an Ethanol Plant in West Burlington, IA.
"I have ten shares in the ethanol plant as an investment which requires me to provide grain to the plant," he said. "I try to diversify in my farming operation."
"The ethanol plant is good for the corn prices in our area," Paul said. "They have been setting the prices for the market around here paying 5 to 8 cents more than current river bids."
Anderson also does custom farming, has a cow/calf operation, and is beginning a new bulldozing and earth moving business.
Helping Anderson with his harvesting is Paul's father Dale Anderson and his three nephews Joe, Brian, and Adam Kane. They will be working 16 hour days, 6 days a week, off on Sundays.
The moisture content on his corn is around 20%, good for September he said.
By Halloween, hopefully the corn prices will be higher and worth all the work of this bountiful harvest.
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Burrus Representative, Brad Veale, was at the Anderson Farms across from the Henderson County fairgrounds last week testing corn in Paul Anderson's test plot of 36 varieties. Anderson, like many other area farmers, begins his long hours in what looks like a larger than usual harvest. |