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8 ways to keep your farm afloat in 20258 ways to keep your farm afloat in 2025

Indiana farmers and ag industry experts pool their advice for pulling through this year.

Allison Lynch, Staff Writer

February 3, 2025

5 Min Read
A planter on a no-till field
STRONG START: Give your crops the best chance possible by setting them up for success at planting. Revisit the basics by preparing your planter and ensuring everything is working correctly. Allison Lynch

Farmer sentiment is low, and the outlook is meek heading into the 2025 cropping season. And this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, says Carter Morgan, a farmer in Cayuga, Ind.

“Bluntly, the outlook on farming for 2025 is not good at all,” Morgan says. “With that being said, if anyone didn't see this coming, then shame on them. Looking back at history tells you that farming runs in cycles, and we are just following the patterns of years past. Utilizing the good years to help minimize risk in the bad years is very critical.”

This is a year to build off those previous good years and keep the momentum going. Steve Gauck, a Beck’s regional agronomy manager, shares the importance of “yielding your way out” of this year. Simply put, it means you still should invest in the inputs that boost yield, rather than cutting them to save money.

Gauck, Morgan and several other farmers and industry professionals share their advice for staying afloat this cropping season.

  1. Assess fertilizer needs. Fertilizer should not be the first area you cut to save money this year. However, you also should not blindly overapply fertilizer. Gauck says to stick to your soil tests and only apply based on your needs. Morgan adds that, if you have been diligent in applying phosphorus and potassium fertilizer the past few years, you may be able to skirt by this year without applying anything. “We have applied P and K fertilizer for the last few years and now are sitting in a spot where we can afford to not apply P and K, at least this year and hopefully for a few years,” Morgan says. “This is one way to help your bottom line.”

  2. Revisit the basics. No matter how you decide to alter your inputs, you should go back to the basics of planting preparation to set your crop up for success. This starts at the planter. Gauck says to ensure all components are in working order, such as making sure each row is set to the correct depth and that the closing wheels are set right. “We need to double check and make sure all that equipment is ready to go, so if we get a good window early, we’re able to take advantage of it,” Gauck says.

  3. Sulfur is key. Sulfur deficiencies in both corn and soybeans can cause significant yield hits. Following a cereal rye cover crop can especially cause sulfur deficiency problems in both corn and soybeans, according to research conducted by Dan Quinn, Purdue University Extension corn specialist, and Shaun Casteel, Purdue Extension soybean specialist. They advise applying sulfur following cereal rye. Jeff Nagel, a field agronomist with Keystone Cooperative, also says it could pay to apply sulfur to early-planted soybeans.

  4. Combat early planting issues. Another recommendation that Nagel has for setting early-planted soybeans up for success is applying seed treatments such as Saltro or Ilevo to help alleviate the potential for increased sudden death syndrome pressure that comes with an earlier planting date.

  5. Don’t depend on just HPPD herbicides. With a suspected increase in resistance to HPPD or group 27 herbicides, waterhemp will continue to be difficult to control this year. Adding atrazine is always recommended and improves control with HPPD herbicides such as Callisto, Laudis and Armezon, Nagel says. But performance on waterhemp still can be inconsistent. Nagel recommends adding Status or Diflex to your HPPD herbicide for greater control. Other dicamba herbicides could be used, but these two have safeners for less crop response on corn.

  6. Overlap soil residual herbicides. Another way to mitigate waterhemp pressure this year is by investing in a solid soil residual herbicide. Bryan Young, a professor of weed science at Purdue, says to follow your first application three weeks later with an overlapping soil residual herbicide. If you are looking to cut costs, he says, this is not the place. Invest in the preemergence application to get ahead of weeds. “We have to stay one step ahead of the weeds,” Young says. “We have failed at doing that thus far.”

  7. Invest in tile. If you do have some extra funds to invest, Morgan advises putting that money toward patterned tile. He has found that this practice has the fastest rate of return, with it paying for itself in at least three years. “Where else can you put your money and get 25% to 35% back on your money?” Morgan says. “We believe that you pay for tile every year, whether you have tile in your fields or not.” Brian Scott, a farmer in Delphi, Ind., feels the same. He says that having tile also allows him to make the most of his inputs, especially fertilizer. “By keeping our soil pH right, along with maintaining good fertility and managing water by pattern tiling about one field a year, we believe we can cut back on P and K applications this year, or possibly even have fields that just don't get phosphorus and potassium applied in 2025,” Scott says.

  8. Sign up for assistance. Enrollment in the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs began in January. These programs act as a safety net for farmers amid drops in crop prices. These programs and several Farm Service Agency programs were extended through the American Relief Act. “FSA offers numerous programs to assist farmers with market fluctuations, conservation concerns and disaster assistance,” says Angie Stuehrenberg, a public affairs/outreach specialist with the Indiana FSA. “Our farm loan programs offer funding opportunities to assist farmers in starting, improving and expanding their farming operations.”

Related:How to implement and refine strategic priorities

About the Author

Allison Lynch

Staff Writer, Indiana Prairie Farmer

Allison Lynch, formerly Allison Lund, is a staff writer for Indiana Prairie Farmer. She graduated from Purdue University with a major in agricultural communications and a minor in crop science. She served as president of Purdue’s Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow chapter. In 2022, she received the American FFA Degree.

Lynch grew up as the oldest of four children on a cash grain farm in south-central Wisconsin, where the primary crops were corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa. Her family also raised chewing tobacco and Hereford cattle. She spent most of her time helping with the tobacco crop in the summer and raising Boer goats for FFA projects. She now lives near Winamac, Ind, where her husband farms with his family.

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