2013 LOGAN COUNTY FARM OUTLOOK MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com October 25, 2013 Page 45
Today, one sees a great deal of consistency in the
fields. One can seldom quickly identify where one
farmer stopped and another began.
This is a sign of the progress and change in
farmers’ management skills. Many times this goes
back to the records and how the farmers are doing
business. The records reflect what is going on in
the field, and the producers need to be constantly
watching the changes in the field and adjusting
their management program accordingly.
This is the same change, Klemm said, that
has taken central Illinois farmers away from
the livestock industry and alternate crops. He
remembers the day when baling hay was a big
part of the farm business, and now it is not. Wheat
has also gone to the wayside in many rotations.
Cattle farms are dwindling, and hog operations
are becoming more like manufacturing plants than
just a matter of a few hundred head on the family
farm.
He said one of the big differences between now
and then is the size of the family farm. Back
in time, the family farm was 400 to 500 acres.
Today’s farms are 900 to 1,800 acres and even
larger, and they are much more of a full-time job.
“That is why they have to analyze their business
continually and make sure they are profitable,” he
said.
Klemm said safeguards are also an important part
of the farm today.
For the farmer, the statistics of bushels per acre or
price per bushel are significant, but not necessarily
the key to success. The reason being, when yields
are high, prices per bushel will go down, and
when yields are low, the price will inch up. During
harvest, prices typically drop; but in the spring,
depending on the weather, prices can take some
big jumps. Therefore, the farmer doesn’t look only
at what the price per bushel will be, nor does he
consider what he hopes the yield will be in bushels
per acre.
The secret is to know and understand what the
profit per acre
needs
to be on the family farm, and
to use whatever options are workable in order to
protect that needed profit.
Klemm said the profit need is beneficial in
choosing the right hedging options. Those
options could include crop insurance, or
contracting or actually hedging on the market. He
