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Iowa farmer still making decisions for 2025 growing season

A southeast Iowa farmer says he’s optimistic about the 2025 growing season despite the mild start to winter.

Tim Meyer raises corn and soybeans in Henry County. “We’ve got somewhat okay moisture. I think folks would like to see a little bit more, but everybody is patient at this time of the year because there’s just a lot of time between now and planting season.”

He tells Brownfield the mild conditions have allowed farmers to get a lot of field work done before the end of the year. “It seems like folks were doing a little more spring tillage in the fall, which is interesting, so they roll into the spring and only do the planting application as opposed to a lot of spring tillage. We’ve had the opportunity to do that.”

Meyer says his biggest challenge has been deciding which crops he intends to plant in 2025. “Soybeans just don’t generate the amount of net income per acre that you can get from corn,” he said. “But corn is a much more expensive product to raise, especially if you’re looking at corn on corn.”

He says he may cut back on some inputs in 2025 due to lower commodity prices.

INTERVIEW: Iowa farmer Tim Meyer