Drones are used to monitor crop stands, scout for pests and disease and more
Common weed problems decline and tillage is reduced with cover crop usage
Hive and Petal combines many sustainable practices on flower farm benefiting the bees
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Jamee
Jamee
By Tom C. Doran Central Iowa Ag Mag
WASHINGTON — Agriculture leaders voiced support for the massive spending and tax package bill that includes significant new farm program funding.
The federal budget reconciliation package, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” was signed into law on July 4 and covers ag-related programs ranging from crop references prices to biofuels to livestock, but fell short of addressing a new farm bill.
He is what ag leaders had to say:
“Farm Bureau applauds the House and Senate for passing legislation that will bring certainty to America’s farmers and ranchers. Modernizing important farm safety net programs and making permanent critical tax provisions could be the difference between staying in business or shutting down the family farm. More than half of farmers are losing money, so an increase in reference prices is desperately needed, and tax tools will help farmers and ranchers plan for the next season and the next generation. Lawmakers took a big step toward ensuring America’s farmers and ranchers can continue to keep pantries filled for America’s families.”
Zippy Duvall, president
American Farm Bureau Federation
“Family farmers and ranchers still need a comprehensive fiveyear farm bill that reflects the full breadth of agriculture, from producers to consumers, and using reconciliation to move a partial package is a missed opportunity. There are some meaningful provisions in this bill. It strengthens the farm safety net, invests in biofuels and conservation, and extends key tax incentives. But these gains are paired with
harmful tradeoffs — most notably, cuts to SNAP and Medicaid and new, broader loopholes in farm program payment limits. We support Senator Grassley’s amendment to close those loopholes and better target support to family farmers and ranchers. These improvements are essential to restore fairness. Farm policy should unite us. We urge lawmakers to redouble their efforts to deliver a farm bill that works for everyone.”
Rob Larew, president National Farmers Union
“Indiana Farm Bureau thanks our congressional delegation that voted to pass the ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ providing our members with much needed certainty. From modernizing farm bill programs to making permanent tax provisions that are essential to passing the farm on to the next generation, this bill is a huge victory for Hoosier farmers.”
Randy Kron, president Indiana Farm Bureau
“The legislation contains several important and longstanding priorities for corn growers, including the extension of key tax provisions and investments in commodity and trade promotion programs. Corn growers have been pushing for many of these improvements since at least 2023 and spent much of the last year preparing to shape the federal tax provisions. We appreciate the members of Congress who worked to ensure our views and these provisions were included in the final bill.”
Kenneth Hartman Jr., president
National Corn Growers Association
“At a time of great uncertainty for the agriculture economy, the support of Congress to enhance key programs and vital domestic markets for our farmers is critical. ASA thanks the House and Senate for maintaining several crucial farm programs and tax
provisions that support U.S.soybean growers.”
Caleb Ragland, president American Soybean Association
“We’re grateful to our Congressional champions for their steadfast leadership to support and strengthen the 45Z credit, which is remarkable considering the fact most other IRA-era tax credits were limited or phasedout in the final package. While there were other improvements we had hoped to achieve in the final 45Z language, restoring transferability of the credit, removing indirect land use change penalties and restricting feedstock eligibility to United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement countries will strengthen the credit from its original version. In terms of the credit term, we preferred the House language which would have extended 45Z through 2031, and we also urged Congress to specifically allow low-carbon farming practices to be monetized through 45Z with the feedstock calculator and guidelines USDA has released, but nevertheless ACE remains committed to working with federal agencies to implement the credit in ways that reward on-farm conservation practices and accelerate the use of homegrown, low-carbon biofuels.”
Brian Jennings, CEO American Coalition for Ethanol
“We are disappointed that the final reconciliation bill restricted foreign feedstocks under 45Z. We will continue to advocate for both domestic and international feedstocks to ensure advanced biofuel refineries and bio-refineries have the resources they need to maximize production and contribute to America’s energy dominance agenda. We turn our attention now to the EPA’s work developing its final RVOs for 2026 and 2027. The proposed rule currently calls for a 50% reduction in RIN value for fuels made with foreign
feedstocks, which will only hurt American bio-refineries and their workers. We urge the EPA to reconsider this current restriction and support American advanced biofuel production.”
Michael McAdams, president Advanced Biofuels Association
“The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ is one of the most consequential pieces of legislation for American agriculture in years. It helps producers protect our herds by fending off foreign animal diseases, and it also cuts red tape, allowing us to more easily pass down our farms to the next generation. NPPC thanks President Trump for signing the bill into law and Chairmen Thompson and Boozman for listening to our input and shepherding this legislation through their respective chambers. We look forward to continuing to work with congressional partners this year on a ‘skinny’ farm bill, which should include measures to prevent a patchwork of conflicting state farming regulations and bring further certainty to the pork industry.”
Duane Stateler, president National Pork Producers Council
“Since day one, NCBA has been working with Congress to make sure the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ includes policy priorities for America’s hardworking family farmers and ranchers. I’m proud that this legislation protects farms and ranches from being split up and sold off to pay a high death tax bill. I’m also glad the bill protects pro-business tax deductions for cattle producers, lowers our taxes overall and funds programs like the Livestock Forage Disaster Program, Livestock Indemnity Program, voluntary conservation programs, and invests in keeping foreign animal diseases out of the United States.”
Buck Wehrbein, president National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
By Martha Blum Central Iowa Ag Mag
Incorporating cover crops into their regenerative farming system has been a learning process for the Riskedal family this spring.
“A large majority of our beans were planted into standing rye that will be terminated with a herbicide,” said Stephen Riskedal, who farms together with his dad, Brad, and his grandfather, Steve.
Most of the fields were sprayed with a herbicide to kill the rye after the beans had emerged.
“In the future we’re going to try to use the roller crimper more, but this year we didn’t have a good enough rye stand,” Stephen said. “The rye is falling down after being sprayed and the beans are coming up through it and looking beautiful.”
The goal for the farmers in is to make a single pass of herbicide during the growing season.
“This year it’s going to be a two-pass program, but the rye definitely controls weeds a lot better,” Stephen said.
Moisture is currently adequate on the Riskedal farm.
“The more we do with cover crops and the less tillage we do, there’s significantly more earthworms than we’ve ever seen before,” Stephen said. “We knew there were some out there, but now if I pull up
a shovel of dirt and don’t find five to 10 earthworms, it’s shocking.”
Although planting cover crops ahead of soybeans is looking good, the farmers also planted a rye and hairy vetch blend of cover crops in their fields that were planted with corn.
“We learned multiple ways this spring how not to terminate that properly,” Stephen said. “We bought a new roller crimper tool that will roll the cover crop between the rows of standing corn and it’s on today’s agenda to get that set up.”
The corn looks healthy, Stephen said, but it is not getting the sunlight it needs.
“Hairy vetch is a legume so it’s fixing nitrogen for the corn crop, and when it flowers it hits its maximum return on nitrogen and it should be the easiest to kill with a crimper,” Brad explained. “Although it looks ugly right now, it may be worth a significant amount of nitrogen later in the season for the corn.”
The corn development is going to be delayed somewhat because of the shade from the cover crop.
“There’s a lot of things that look wrong by conventional terms, but it may be good — we just don’t know yet,” Brad said. Depending on rain, the farmers plan to start Y-dropping nitrogen soon.
“We put a little bit of nitrogen on before planting and we come back at V5 to V6 and Y-drop some on,” Stephen said.
“We really like the Y-drops and putting nitrogen on right before a rain.”
The goal is three applications of nitrogen.
“We track pounds of nitrogen per bushel and the university standard is 1 to 1.1 pounds of nitrogen per bushel of corn,” Stephen said. “We’re getting to the point where we’re consistently in the 0.6 to 0.65 pounds per bushel of corn and we continue to drive that lower without decreasing yield.”
Later this summer, they will do sap testing of their corn plants to guide their nitrogen application decisions.
“It is similar to tissue testing, but it tests more of what the nutrients are in the plant right now,” Stephen explained.
Conventional weed problems are decreasing on the Riskedal farm.
“With tillage and more nitrogen, you get more weeds,” Brad said.
With the corn, soybean and wheat rotation, some fields don’t have any chemical applications for 20 to 22 months.
“We’ve been successfully growing wheat with no herbicides,” Stephen said.
“That’s got to be good for the soil,” Brad added. “We’re also adding some biologicals to avoid fungicides.”
“We put some biologicals in furrow for the corn to feed the microbes,” Stephen said. “And we sprayed the wheat early this spring with a biological from Elevate Ag, which is a sister company to GreenCover Seed, where we get our cover crop seeds.”
Wheat is typically harvested about the first week of July.
“I will drill in a 10- to 12-way blend of a cover crop as fast behind the combine as I can,” Stephen said. “That’s a special blend for summer grazing that is all annuals.”
The next project will be building fence to graze the cover crops.
“We’re going to do a four- or five-wire high tensile fence and then bring in some feeder calves and graze them from about Sept. 1 to mid-December,” Stephen said.
The cattleman is not sure what size of feeders he will purchase.
“I’ve always had cattle in the feedlot, but I’ve never had cattle on pasture so it’s going to be a learning process,” he said. “It’s part of our plan for soil health, getting the livestock out there for the manure and then next year we will plant corn in that field.”
By Erica Quinlan Central Iowa Ag Mag
Drone technology offers a fast, reliable way to assess crop stands — one of the most important factors influencing yield potential, according to Pioneer District Sales Manager Jesse Moch.
“Knowing your final stand numbers can help guide in-season decisions, such as how many bushels to market or whether to apply more fertilizer,” Moch said. “These decisions are much more accurate when you understand your stand establishment.”
Corteva Agriscience and Pioneer operate one of the larg-
est drone fleets in agriculture.
Pioneer uses DroneDeploy stand count software, a tool to generate accurate stand counts in corn.
For soybeans, the technology can identify stand gaps across the field, helping assess planter performance, guide in-season decisions and determine whether replanting is needed.
Early detection can guide decision-making when it comes to insecticide or fungicide usage.
Seed corn maggot, wireworm, white grub and black cutworm are common early-season corn pests. In soybeans, bean leaf beetle may be a concern.
If corn plants appear stunted or wilted, it may be from root pruning caused by insect feeding.
These symptoms often appear in patches, with affected plants located just inches from healthy ones. This “hot spot” distribution can help differentiate insect damage from other issues such as herbicide injury, phosphorus deficiency or soil compaction.
To confirm insect injury, farmers should dig up symptomatic plants and examine the roots and surrounding soil for signs of damage and insect presence.
In addition to pest scout-
ing, Pioneer Field Agronomist Jonathan Rotz recommends evaluating crops for emergence uniformity and spacing.
Using a flat-bottom spade, gently dig four to six inches from a plant and pry back the soil to inspect the seed furrow. This technique works best in slightly damp to wet soils.
Even in dry conditions, careful hand digging can help expose the seed zone. This practice is valuable for both corn and soybeans and provides insight into planter performance and early stand development.
“You can check seed depth, root development, skips and any emergence issues,” Rotz said.
passion for
By Jamee A. Pierson Central Iowa Ag Mag
About a decade ago, Catherine Schut started down a path that would bloom into a successful business and ongoing process of learning and growing along with her land. Hive & Petal, a boutique flower farm dedicated to growing florals, is the product of a lot of hard work and passion for building a sustainable organically inspired farm.
“I’m the type of person who likes to have projects lined up, things to do, things to keep me busy,” Schut said. “We were looking for a way to continue to add value to the property and I love growing beautiful things.”
Her journey started when she and her husband, Paul, purchased a 100-year-old acreage near Prairie City with “good bones” in need of restoration. Through many surprises, trials, errors and plenty of successes, she now has fruitful flower gardens and busy bees, along with her friendly farm cats and talkative chickens.
“In the beginning, having space like this, it was really hard to envision what it would be like because we bought this property as is. We took on a lot of the history and un-
knowns,” Schut said. “One of our biggest problems was almost one of the acres was completely concrete.”
Little did the couple know that in a different life, an area of their property had been used as a cattle lot and farrowing house. After years of no use, the lots started to get covered with soil and by the time they took over as owners, the area looked like fertile land.
“It had beautiful tall grass and we just thought it needed mowed,” Schut said. “One day I went out to dig and stuck something into the ground a heard a ‘thunk.’ I was just like ‘oh, no.’”
The hurdle took a while to get over with chunks of concrete removed as the couple worked on the property. Once the area was cleared, Schut could get to work planning out her future flower farm.
“Year by year, this space is turning into my dream flower farm,” Schut said. “At the peak of the season, my field is brimming with seasonal florals. A lot of my flowers are highly aromatic. I like it and my bees like it.”
In developing the farm she has taken an active interest in make it sustainable and using eco-friendly materials.
“I’m committed to sustainability on my
three acre farm,” Schut said. “I prioritize soil health, pollinators and plant care to produce top-quality florals using organic inspired growing methods.”
It a choice that not only benefits her land but also her other passion — her bees.
“I’m not only a flower farmer, I’m also a beekeeper. My resident beehives thrive on the farm, sharing my passion for flowers,” Schut said. “The honeybees happily buzz from bloom to bloom in my fields, collecting nectar and pollen. Blooms that don’t meet my quality standards provide food for the bees, who, in turn, reward us with their delicious honey.”
The blooms that do make the cut are used in her floral business. Schut currently provides high-quality floral bunches to designers in about a 30-mile radius of her home to be used for their businesses. It is her hope one day to be able to invite the public to her farm to pick their own flowers and enjoy everything she has built.
“The farm is now alive with activity. The bees buzz amongst the flowers, and freerange hens chase bugs and lay eggs,” Schut said. “It’s demanding work, but incredibly rewarding — I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
