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More wheat in rotation helps Wisconsin farm

A northwestern Wisconsin farmer has been busy haying and spraying but is spraying less after gradually changing his crop rotation plan.

Andy Bensend raises corn, soybeans, and wheat in Barron County and does custom harvesting of hay for nearby dairies.  He tells Brownfield the sprayers have been out.  “We’re doing the second pass of residuals on our non-GMO beans, and we just finished putting fungicide on the winter wheat and the sidedressed nitrogen on the wheat went on about ten days ago.”

Bensend says he has been increasing his wheat acres gradually, from 150 acres four years ago to around 600 acres now.  “We’re after some soil quality benefits and some advantages in terms of a little longer rotation for the health of our crops.  We’re interested in some of what makes weed control easier for us, especially with our non-GMO soybeans that we export for food quality.”

Bensend says some second-crop alfalfa is ready but rain in the forecast might delay harvest.

Bensend raises about 18-hundred acres of soybeans, 12-hundred acres of corn, and 600 acres of wheat and custom harvests around three thousand acres of alfalfa for nearby dairy farms.  He also serves on the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board.