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Long-distance farming creates glass half-full, half-empty scenario

Indiana farmer Doug Morrow has good crops, in-between crops and lousy crops

Tom Bechman 1, Editor, Indiana Prairie Farm

July 14, 2015

2 Min Read

When Doug Morrow appeared on a panel at Dow AgroSciences last week, chaired by Tim Hassinger, the CEO of the company, there were more than questions about Enlist herbicide. Hassinger wanted to know what crops were like in their areas, and how they were adjusting to this season.

Related: Weather conditions favor foliar diseases on corn

Doug Morrow, Swayzee, has a unique perspective. "Our operation is unusual in that we farm over a 200-mile area," he says. His farm has three main bases of operation – one at Swayzee where they live, one in Jasper County and another in east-central Indiana in the Muncie to Winchester area. He typically drives major pieces of equipment between the three sites.

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So if you ask him about crops this year, he'll say quality depends which of his three main farming areas you are asking about. The glass could be half-full or half-empty for him in terms of this crop year, depending upon where he looks.

The area near Rensselaer has been one of the hardest hit by excess water in the state. "Our crops there are not good at all," Morrow says. "We're still deciding what to do to try to salvage something there. The decisions are difficult at this point in the season.

Related: What Midwest crops look like

"Our crops around Swayzee look good in most cases. We haven't been hit with nearly as much rain there. In the Muncie area it's decent until you go east or south of Muncie, then you run into problems pretty quickly."

Morrow is trying to take things in stride. His goal is to wrap things up the best he can this year, and start looking toward next season.

Before he does that, he and his family will serve as one of the 17 families honored in Dow AgroSciences Year of the Farmer program at the Indiana State Fair. A different family will be involved in activities each day at the fair. Look for more details on that program coming soon.

About the Author

Tom Bechman 1

Editor, Indiana Prairie Farm

Tom Bechman is an important cog in the Farm Progress machinery. In addition to serving as editor of Indiana Prairie Farmer, Tom is nationally known for his coverage of Midwest agronomy, conservation, no-till farming, farm management, farm safety, high-tech farming and personal property tax relief. His byline appears monthly in many of the 18 state and regional farm magazines published by Farm Progress.

"I consider it my responsibility and opportunity as a farm magazine editor to supply useful information that will help today's farm families survive and thrive," the veteran editor says.

Tom graduated from Whiteland (Ind.) High School, earned his B.S. in animal science and agricultural education from Purdue University in 1975 and an M.S. in dairy nutrition two years later. He first joined the magazine as a field editor in 1981 after four years as a vocational agriculture teacher.

Tom enjoys interacting with farm families, university specialists and industry leaders, gathering and sifting through loads of information available in agriculture today. "Whenever I find a new idea or a new thought that could either improve someone's life or their income, I consider it a personal challenge to discover how to present it in the most useful form, " he says.

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