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Low corn/soybean prices urge farmer to diversify with wheat and cover crops

Sixth generation corn and soybean farmer Nancy Brannaman tells Brownfield she is working to diversify their farm in Grand Ridge, Illinois near Iowa because she is concerned about the United States’ position in the world export market.

“I just have to find better margins and I’m just not finding it with $3.80 corn and $8.80 beans. It’s just not there for me in the long term.”

She says they have grown wheat on the farm before, but the challenge in the upper Midwest is finding a cover crop to plant in the summer. She says other wheat farmers have recommended forage radishes, pearl millet to bale for hay or even sunflowers.

“One idea I have had about sunflower production is to look at bagging it for bird seed for the Chicago area.”

She says she sees value in cover crops because they can break up compaction from the wet spring weather and help with integrated weed management programs.

Brownfield interviewed Brennaman at the Double Crop Farmer’s Forum in Mt. Vernon, Illinois hosted by the Illinois wheat and soybeans associations.