Editor’s note: This is the third and final story in a series highlighting the first full year of farming for a young family from mid-Michigan. They are the daughter and son-in-law of editor Jennifer Kiel. Read the first two stories here: First-time farmers plant seeds with hope, and Good beginning, but not all rosy for young farmers.

The first full year of farming for Tyler and Emily Malkin has been like riding an escalator without knowing if it’s going up or down each day or even each hour.

A beautiful planting season opened the year with great opportunity. Unrealized plugged hoses of starter fertilizer meant two of the six corn rows started out stunted and yellow. However, a sidedress of anhydrous ammonia evened them out before harvest, which brought a record corn yield for the farm.

Wheat harvest started with mechanical combine issues. An old combine, which hadn’t been out of the barn in eight years, was resurrected and put to use until the newer combine was fixed. Yields were average.

Marketing was disrupted as crusted grain meant Tyler had to enter the bin (with safety equipment) and shovel from one side to the other, while an auger pushed grain through a side door.

Soybeans started out great, but weeds later caught up, presented harvest woes and docked yield.

A windstorm knocked over and damaged their sprayer, requiring expensive repairs.

But, amid it all, there was a celebration of life as the family expanded with son Thomas arriving just a few weeks before harvest.

Harvest hindsight

While the challenges were there, the Malkins are also counting their blessings, as they hope to pencil out a tiny profit while they plan for better success in 2025.

The 2024 harvest is a wrap on their 362-acre farm in Laingsburg, Mich. The numbers only tell a portion of the story, but here they are: Wheat averaged 58 bushels per acre, corn 220 bushels and soybeans a disappointing 25 bushels.

The Malkins, who have farming interest but were without prior farm management experience, started a farm transition last year from Tyler’s grandfather, Warren Malkin.

In October, the 18-month process culminated with the signing of a land contract for the entire operation, including a bundle of land, equipment, barns, a house, and a grain drying and storage system. Part of the deal included keeping the farm intact for at least 20 years.

Time management was a struggle with both Tyler and Emily working full-time, off-farm jobs. “Juggling that alone with a toddler is a lot, but two jobs, a toddler and a farm is even more, especially being pregnant and now with a newborn on top of it all,” says Emily, while cradling Tommy, who arrived Aug. 25.

Tyler adds, “But we got through it. Grain is in the bins, and we’ll be marketing a lot of it right away to an ethanol plant.”

Yield-robbing weeds in soybeans were disappointing. Tyler applied pre- and postemergence herbicide applications (as in year’s past), but he thinks abundant and timely rains throughout June and most of July gave opportunity for weeds to take root.

“It made for a heck of a time with the combine,” he says. “I wish I could have gotten another spray on, but by the time I realized it was going to be an issue, it was already too late and cost-prohibitive with potential damage to the crop.”

Deer also took a bite out of the soybean yields, with areas near the woods being completely chewed off.

“Thankfully, our corn did phenomenal,” says Tyler, noting that the 220-bpa average was well above last year’s 145, which took a hit because of consistent wet harvest conditions.

Helping to cut costs, propane use was down from previous harvests as grain moisture for soybeans was about 14% and corn about 16%.

Tyler closed out the season by broadcasting triticale on corn and soybean ground to complement the nice crop of oilseed radish-oats-clover mix growing after wheat.

Farming weighs heavily

Despite having one of the riskiest occupations — financially, physically and emotionally — farmers tend to be private people with strong convictions for a job well done. Balancing farm and family life when everything goes right can be challenging and can quickly excel to overwhelming when problems mount.

“No one talks about the hardships on marriage in farming,” Emily says. “Keeping a strong marriage and strong mental health is important. That’s difficult sometimes when your time together is maybe 30 minutes at the end of the day putting kids to bed. Having a baby during harvest is definitely not something I'm ever doing again.”

They’re not hobby farmers, Emily says, but are night and weekend farmers after their off-farm jobs.

“There are days we’re barely holding on,” she adds. “Thankfully, we’ve gotten support from family, friends and our Duplain Church of Christ family — with meals, child care, advice. It’s been an incredible relief, especially because we didn’t have to ask for it.

“We’re lucky our story has gotten out through the magazine, but I would encourage farmers to lean on each other, support one another, especially new and young farmers who are still trying to navigate a complicated and ever-changing occupation. Help each other. … Sometimes that’s just being there and checking in on one another.”

The strain on Tyler, like many farmers, is heavy. “My husband doesn’t like to admit it, but he feels like he has to be everything to everyone … all the time,” says Emily, noting Tyler takes care of the physical demands of the farm, while she mostly concentrates on the family, and together they develop farm management strategies.

“He was extremely disappointed with the soybeans, which were running over 60 to 70 bpa in areas where weeds weren’t competing,” Emily adds. “That feels like a blow to only average 25. We’re really going to concentrate on time management next year, and part of that plan is leaving wheat out of the rotation for this year and increased emphasis on weed control.”

Many in the community have been encouraging, and they’ve even heard from out-of-state supporters following their story. “I can’t tell you how much that means,” says Emily, while putting her hand on her heart.

This step into farming hasn’t been easy for these first-time farmers. It’s been far from a fairy tale, they note, but neither regret it. 

“We had quite the year. It tested our commitment, our faith, our marriage. … It tested everything,” says Emily. “I think this year would have been a lot harder if we hadn't stepped into our faith a little bit more. Our relationship with God has gotten us through a lot of the struggles with farm life. I've learned a whole new level of patience this year.”