Coffee on the Porch: Less Beans, More Sugar

We share a harvest update while opening up about burnout in medicine and agriculture, how nature restores health, and how smarter soybean strategy can lift yields without lifting costs. We also break down field bagging economics, dry-weather fire risks, and simple road safety that protects lives.

• burnout across medicine and farming, and why nature heals 
• soybean moisture targets and yield outcomes 
• three yield drivers: lower population, sugar, foliar micros 
• ROI thinking with low bean prices and steady rents 
• field bagging to ease bottlenecks and capture carry 
• bin versus bag costs and site selection basics 
• dry fall fire risks and simple mitigation steps 
• road safety with wide equipment and impatient drivers 
• slow down, breathe, and protect your attention

Find us on all of the socials at Farmers Greatest Asset 
Send us a message at Farmersgreatest Asset at gmail dot com

Transcript

Welcome, Harvest Update, Burnout Theme

SPEAKER_00 0:15

The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast. We believe the Farm's Greatest Asset is the Farmer. Their knowledge, experience, mind, and health.

Physician Burnout and Nature’s Role

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Well, welcome to the podcast. I'm Jesse.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

And I'm Dr. Leah.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Well, we are right in the middle of harvest. Um actually should finish up soybeans this weekend. Um, so that's going well. And maybe even get the opportunity to go with you. What have you got going on?

SPEAKER_02 1:03

I am going to go speak at a farm to table dinner on physician burnout and just burnout in general, and how returning to nature is what will truly heal someone physically, mentally, emotionally, and definitely spiritually. Um the title of my talk is When the Dream Isn't Enough from Striving to Thriving. And it's basically about how all of my dreams came true, like becoming a doctor and having a family and a wonderful husband, and yet it was so depleting. And how to get out of that.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Exciting stuff that you're um yeah, gonna talk about.

Farmers’ Mental Health and Reaching Out

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Yeah, I think there's definitely a need. You know, physicians used to be um the leading group of of mental health problems and and suicide, and now it is farmers that have taken over. Um and so it's going to be a talk to a group of physicians, but it really can be used by anyone.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

So if if you are out there and struggling, reach out. Um, it is not always an easy time of year. Although the harvest is coming in and you're reaping the rewards, um, sometimes the goal is not met. And that too can be anxiety provoking and worrisome, and there can be a lot of struggle with it as well. So if you're having a hard time, reach out. Reach out to someone.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Anyone.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Anyone, anyone who will take you seriously and help you. And if you don't have someone, that could be us. So reach out if you need us.

Soybean Moisture Goals and Yields

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Absolutely. So we got that coming up. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting to go with you to see you talk. Um, so we are, like I said, gonna finish that bean harvest. And a little update there. We've been talking about a lot all year how we're trying to keep basically the moisture in the beans. And I'm not gonna say it's been a total success, but it's been a success, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Um But if if they were higher, wouldn't would we be able to cut them? You know, like what would what would success be?

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Anything better than 10% or less to me at this point. That's kind of sad.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

But and that's it's been successful, definitely a total success in that realm.

Three Drivers: Population, Sugar, Foliar

SPEAKER_01 4:21

It has. We have had good yields. Um so I'm gonna say the first suggestion, we'll just do a quick, quick little recap. Um I think the first suggestion is your bean population doesn't have to be as high as what you think it needs to be. Um, my best beans last year the average seeding rate was 92,000 or something like that. This year, right now it's uh the field we're in. I know the average population is 100,000. Now it's variable rated, so it's lower in places as low as 70,000, and never gets over 120,000. So your bean population does not need to be as high as you think it does.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

No, I think that we we may be able to push it more.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Right. So then the other thing is sugar. I think the sugar has done a lot for us, as well as the foliar feeding.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

The micros. With the micros.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

So just three quick things population, sugar, and foliar feeding. Those are huge yield drivers.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

So I know we had talked on another episode about um beans and bean population, and that it was like the opposite of what you do with corn. Like, but then that to me didn't make sense. But so how low do you think you that we could push that?

Seeding Rates, Costs, and ROI Logic

SPEAKER_01 6:04

I don't know, we're gonna try.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Right, because you know, in this day and age with commodity prices where they're at, we want to get the highest possible yield we can at the most at the least amount of cost. So um so like we don't want to affect our yield by going too low, but what if going lower improves your yield because the plants aren't fighting each other for the nutrients and they have more room to grow?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Well, and so soybeans have always just kind of been the redheaded stepchild, right? They're just the companion crop for corn. We're just gonna throw them out there because they're cheap to put out there, we don't fertilize them. But the thing is, is the price of beans, I don't even know what local cash bid today would be, but it's less than$10. Well, that don't make you any money because a bag of beans, seed beans is not cheap anymore, and if you want to make money on them, you have to push them. So save a little money by backing off your population, first of all, but you have to manage your beans now to get the bushels out of them, and it can be done and have a good ROI um by using foliar feeding, really. Um, and it's pretty easy to do.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Yeah, because the rent prices don't go down on a bean year, right? And all of the other costs that you have included, taxes, all of those things, they don't go down on a bean year. So we gotta maximize the ROIs.

Field Bagging for Storage and Flow

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Right. We have also done less bean acres this year just because last year we got to the end of the beans and it was eight percent because we just couldn't get through the acres fast enough. Um so at the moment we are still cutting 10 and a half percent, sorry, 12.5% beans. So I think we have been successful in trying to keep them uh wet essentially.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

So not dry, not dry.

unknown 8:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

And we also started something new yesterday. We have been using the bagger, but now we are unloading into the bagger out in the field. How is that going?

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Put the beans right in the bag, right out in the field. It's actually working really well.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

So do you feel like it's improving your efficiency?

SPEAKER_01 8:57

I know it will on corn, uh, because we will bag some corn here after we're done with beans, straighten into the bag out of the field. Uh so on beans, one, I'm having to go so slow because first of all, they're good. Second of all, they're hard to cut because they're down and leaning, and so the combining is slow, and we generally don't have to wait on trucks on beans, but now we don't have trucks running at all. So yeah, no, the grain cart gets there, dumps, and is back. So and on corn, I am I guess a little excited to see how it goes because you won't have to wait on trucks at all.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

So we have used the bagger, but we were we were drying the corn, so we took the corn out of the bin and then used the grain cart to put it in into the bag at the home farm. So we have been using it for that. Um, but that's not how it was technically intended to be used.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Right. The intention is to just do it right there in the field that you are harvesting. So and a lot of people are doing it now. So as soon as we did it, people start talking, start calling, which is good. I mean, it's a good storage alternative.

Bagger Economics and Market Carry

SPEAKER_02 10:25

So so, but you have to have you have to pick a right site for it as well. Like you can't, you gotta make sure it doesn't have water pooling around it and it's on, you know, it there are definite pluses and minuses to the bagging experience. But um, but yeah, we think this will be a a good alternative, a great alternative to um having to put up another bin or having to pay such high storage rates.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

So bins have always been um, if not the top, like one of the top um investments and money-making things you can do because if you have to take it straight to town out of the field, you take harvest price or you have to pay storage. So there's especially now full carry on the market, so we can hold on to our beans and deliver them or market them at a later date. So um, and this is a very cost-effective storage solution. Because putting up a bin anymore is not cheap. And they literally it's at minimum two dollars a bushel to put up a bin. That's probably pretty cheap, but that's not including electrical, any of that stuff either, so or the equipment to load it. So the ownership of a bagger is cheap. So yeah, we got that going for us. It's going good.

Dry Fall Fire Risks and Mitigation

SPEAKER_02 12:08

So new exciting stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

It has been a dry fall here.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Very dry.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Very dry. Um you hear a lot of reports of combine fires and field fires and stuff. So I guess I just want to say be safe out there, do what you can to mitigate. Mitigate those things. Um, one thing you can do is um you can hang a chain off of your combine attached to the frame or the axle, and that just helps transfer the static electricity down and away. Um pick it up when you leave the field. Yeah. Don't drag it and sparks fly down the road. Um we we have done that in the past, hung a chain. I do have a leaf blower in the service truck with me all the time. Just blowing the dust off, especially out of the engine compartment. Kind of keep that stuff away. Um, grease your bearings, make sure your bearings are all greased, and obviously a fire extinguisher.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

So yeah, stay safe out there. Um, conditions are super dry.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

I think they're dry everywhere, yeah. Not just in southeast Iowa.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

So it you know, we had just a little bit of rain the other day, and it seemed to just be gone right away. Just evaporate.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Just slow us down a bit. So I don't even think the beans picked up much moisture from it, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

So anyway, that's my big message right now. Be safe.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Also, you know, when you're moving from field to field, make sure that um you have the help that you need. And if you can't at all prevent it, try not to do it at dusk. It's harder for people to see with the sun shining in their eyes. And um, you know, we want to try to decrease those accidents with equipment.

Road Safety, Visibility, and Patience

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yesterday we were driving the bagger out to the field, and it's on a small loader tractor, a hundred-horse tractor, but that bagger is pretty wide, like every bit of ten feet wide or whatever, so you really can't see behind you. And naturally, what do you think happened? We have to get onto the highway for half a mile or so to get to the farm entrance. Turning left into the farm, some car tries to pass as he's turning left into the farm. Um, and I don't know how you mitigate that other than just be aware. And he, Caleb saw it, you know, nothing happened. Uh, but we as farmers need to make the right decision um and be aware of what's going on and not put ourselves or other people in harm's way, really. Um and we like to think, well, we're bigger, they better see us, how can they not see us? We have lights, all that. Apparently, everybody else's time is more important than ours. So they felt the need to pass at that moment, and that's how things happen quickly.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

I just don't think that they think about it like about the danger.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Right. So that's why I'm saying just be super aware of what you're doing and know that other people are so far removed from it, they just don't get it. So just know that you have to do the best you can and you can't change them. So try to just be aware and avoid it at all costs.

Slow Down, Be Aware, Final Sign-off

SPEAKER_02 16:12

And watch for all the passing cars because they will. And I I was going to town in my car and was meeting a tractor on the road on the highway, and it was a no-passing zone, and the car was going around the tractor on a curve. And again, if if you know, you be aware of those as a farmer, but if there are non-agricultural people out there, like it's going to slow you down not even a minute, but could be a devastating thing for your family if you get in an accident because you're passing a slow-moving vehicle. So just take a breath. It doesn't matter. Those two minutes are not going to change much, or they could change everything. Right. So everybody just the my message would be just slow down, take a breath, just give it a little time. Like the farmer is moving as fast as they can to get to where they need to go, and they don't want to be on the highway. Like they know that that big piece of equipment needs to be in the field, and they're trying to get there as safely as possible, and they don't want anyone to get hurt. And I don't think anybody has any intention of that. It's just taking us taking a slowdown. Slowdown. For everybody.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Because we're all in this in this together in this big beautiful world.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

So thanks for listening. And as always, go find us on all of the socials.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

At farmers greatest asset. Send us a message at Farmersgreatest Asset at gmail dot com.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

It's a good day.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Bye.