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Profit pressures rise, but Minnesota farmer keeps corn-soybean rotation steady

A farmer in southern Minnesota doesn’t think deviating from her normal crop rotation is worth the risk.

Rochelle Krusemark grows corn and soybeans in Martin County and says a lot of options are on the table with margins so tight.

“We don’t normally change our crop rotations just because the challenges of diseases and insect pressures if you do go beans on beans or corn on corn, so we just stay in that rotation.”

She tells Brownfield there are other ways to chase profitability.

“Try to market on upside and control our inputs.”

Krusemark says her banker recently expressed concern about farmers with intermediate debt like machinery and the limited opportunities to forward contract at a profit.