So Far, So Good: WI Soy Farmers Continue Planting Progress

May 20, 2024

Take a drive across Wisconsin and the green blur of soybean plants poking out of the ground will fly by the windows.

Wisconsin Soybean Association (WSA) Vice President Doug Rebout wrapped up planting two weeks ago and is now enjoying watching the seeds become plants.

“Everything went really well,” said Rebout, who farms near Janesville. “We had a few rains, which were great to get, but other than that, everything went really smoothly.”

Now, Rebout is patiently waiting to take the next steps in the 2024 growing season.

“We’re just waiting for the rest to pop up,” Rebout said. “Then, we’ll have to go out and do a little spot spraying where we are getting some weeds here and there. Other than that, everything’s looking good.”

WSA President Sara Stelter, who farms near Wautoma, also has all her irrigated soybeans in the ground.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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