Martin Family Farms

Tree Planting

We have been fortunate enough to have some pretty good weather again this week. We only received about 3/10ths of rain. Quite a bit of field work is still getting done. We were also able to begin planting trees this week. I have put a link to a video I made on how we plant the trees.

This next week looks cold and wet which will not be favorable for planting corn. The USDA has the planting intentions report this week, and that should give the markets some more direction for the upcoming planting season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRQcFFxL-RU

New Video

Check out the video with all of the farm pictures from the past year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2ibnMA7yp0

Almost April

Wow!! We have had a very good week of weather in our area. I think the ground is drier now than at any point last spring. We have been able to put on anhydrous and do some fieldwork this week. However, as I write this we are supposed to be getting heavy rain in the next 24 hours. Hopefully we can get some corn planted in early April this year.

There are stil several farms for sale in our area. If anyone is interested please let us know.

Commodity Prices at local elevator corn 3.76 and sy 8.37 as of the close on 3-23-09

Prairie Grass Burn

Before the land was farmed it was a wide open prairie.  By planting filter strips of prairie grass and native vegetation it gives us a brief reminder of what it used to be like. I have included a video of what it looks like when we burn the grass in the spring. It is hard to imagine what thousands of acres would look like on fire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89od7n5K7KM

Crop Insurance

The upcoming deadline is March 16 for producers to elect which crop insurance policy they will take this year. This year the spring price for corn will be $4.04 for corn and $8.80 for soybeans. This means that I will be guaranteed a percentage of my yield  multiplied by the spring price. 

For example, I will take 85% CRC insurance on each one of my farms. If I have a farm with a five year yield average of 185 then I will be guaranteed 157 (85%) bushels per acre multiplied by $4.04.  This gives me a revenue of $634 per acre. 

If the price rises this fall then I will have a higher price level guarantee. If the price drops then it will trigger a revenue loss.  The fall price is determined by taking the average December 2009 Chicago Board of Trade futures price during the month of October.  This decision can be complex at times due to the other products that are available and the price change from year to year. However, it still allows us the ability to manage our risk and stay in business.