Spring is officially here, and based on interviews with several farmers in the Northeast, Michigan and Ohio, optimism is flowing.

Maybe it’s the higher crop prices, maybe it’s the rollout of the vaccine, or maybe it’s just the sunny days of spring that have farmers in a good mood. Whatever it is, farmers are ready to get out in the fields and start planting.

We reached several farmers in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan and asked them the following questions:

All the farmers interviewed were optimistic about their prospects. Crop prices are good right now, and let’s face it, spring is always a hopeful time, especially after a long, cold winter.

Some of the farmers are trying new things — new crops, new sprays, new fungicides — while others are keeping things the same for another year.

Weather is always top of mind when it comes to challenges, but other challenges persist, too. Labor is a big issue for one of the New York farmers, while improving soil health is a challenge for an Ohio farmer.

Look for yourself and see what these farmers had to see. You might get some new ideas that you can try on your own farm.

Bryan Harnish, Pequea, Pa.

600 acres of corn, soybeans, vegetable crops

Are you optimistic or pessimistic going into this season, and how is that driving your decision-making? We are very optimistic going into the 2021 growing year. Our area had a good year in 2020 in terms of yields and prices. We are seeing some inflationary effects on the ag markets, so things could get very wild in 2021 from a marketing standpoint with everything going on in the world. The inflation we are seeing in the commodity markets is partially a result of the Quantitative Easing packages from 2020.

Our dollar was weakened as a result of those various stimulus packages from last year, causing prices of many commodities to rise. We also saw the USDA make adjustments to the 2019 crop in the fall of 2020, over 12 months after the fact. This was really the catalyst that started the huge grain rally back in the fall. 

Is there anything new that you’re trying this growing season in the field? We aren’t trying any new crops this year besides maybe a couple of new pumpkin varieties. We are working on fine-tuning some of our internal processes on the farm to streamline things as much as possible to increase our efficiency and reduce costs. 

We also constantly look for ways to add value for our produce customers so they can be successful. We generally keep our acreages and rotation fairly similar from year to year. Trying to jump back and forth every time the market changes is not a great long-term strategy in my opinion. 

Year after year, what is your biggest challenge you need to overcome to produce a good crop? One of the biggest challenges in production agriculture is always dealing with the weather and the pests and diseases that come with it. There are constantly new chemistries coming on the market with different modes of action against diseases, and keeping up with all those changes can be time-consuming. 

Travis Allen, Allenwaite Farm, Schaghticoke, N.Y.

2,700 cows, 2,000 acres of crops

Are you optimistic or pessimistic going into this season, and how is that driving your decision-making? I don’t know if we’ll beat the 2020 planting season, but I’m optimistic about the growing season as a whole. Last year was dry through the summer, but we had timely rain. As long as we don’t repeat 2019, which was cold and wet, I’m optimistic. A big part of our year is getting manure on, so we’re in a pretty good spot heading into spring. That’s part of my optimism.

Because most of our corn goes to silage, our rotations are going to stay close to the same. If we start getting a wet year, we’ll make adjustments, potentially leaving more fields in hay than we’d normally rotate out.

Is there anything new that you’re trying this growing season in the field? One thing we’re going to try is a fungicide called Xyway. You can put it in with your pop-up fertilizer. It’s supposed to give you some protection to get better plant health. We’re going to try it in places where we’ve had some leaf disease, gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight problems in the past. It helps get corn closer to maturity. It also gives protection against earlier plant stalk diseases that might go undetected.

We’re a little short on haylage, so we’re also going to try growing some BMR sorghum sudangrass to try to get multiple cuts for additional haylage. That’s one more new thing we’re going to try.

Year after year, what is your biggest challenge you need to overcome to produce a good crop? The biggest challenge, for things we can control, is timing. A lot of that is tied to weather. Since we are a dairy, we need to get our manure out. Hitting fields right, when they’re ready with the proper moisture, can be challenging.

John Hand, Hand Melon Farm, Greenwich, N.Y.

Vegetable and small fruit farm

Are you optimistic or pessimistic going into this season, and how is that driving your decision-making? I’m definitely optimistic. We had an amazingly good year with COVID last year. People wanted to support their local farms. I expect that to continue. We do incremental changes based on last year’s experiences and the next year’s outlook. We will be growing a few more melons, a little more sweet corn, just small changes to tweak the plan. We are definitely seeing good sales.

Is there anything new that you’re trying this growing season in the field? Nothing new. People have known us for what we do for quite a long time. We’ve got enough diversity going on that it’s challenging enough as it is.

Year after year, what is your biggest challenge you need to overcome to produce a good crop? Producing the crop is not the biggest challenge, it’s making sure that we have adequate labor. The cost with the rise in minimum wage is the biggest challenge. Last year, it was $11.90. This year, it’s $12.50.

Only about eight years ago it was $8. The rise in minimum wage has been a dramatic challenge for us.

Karl Dirks, Mount Joy, Pa.

550 acres of corn, 200 acres small grains, 180 acres soybeans

Are you optimistic or pessimistic going into this season, and how is that driving your decision-making? Optimistic. We have had a decent run of weather the past few years. Technology has helped track out improvements, so we continue to feel good about our growth.

Is there anything new that you’re trying this growing season in the field? Some new fungicides and fertilizer will be tried this year. Also we be doing some side-by-side comparisons with injected manure.

Year after year, what is your biggest challenge you need to overcome to produce a good crop? Weather is always the challenge. I can control all the other aspects of the operation. All I can do is try and prepare for sudden changes.

William Thiele, Butler, Pa.

85 dairy cows, 300 acres of crops

Are you optimistic or pessimistic going into this season, and how is that driving your decision-making? I would say I'm optimistic overall, as the saying goes, "Hope springs eternal.” We farmers always hope that we have a better growing season than the last, and in my part of the world, it was very dry, and I'm optimistic that it won't be as dry as it was last year. No two years are alike, so I'm optimistic that this year will be better since we are slowly climbing out of the pandemic.

Is there anything new that you’re trying this growing season in the field? This year, we did get some new equipment that we are eager to try out, which should make us more efficient with less input costs. We also are going to grow some high-oleic soybeans, or as Pioneer calls them "Plenish beans.” It should help increase the butterfly for our milk cows. So that will be something that will be looking forward to later this year when we start feeding it.

Year after year, what is your biggest challenge you need to overcome to produce a good crop? The biggest challenge is almost always weather and volatile commodity markets. Other than those two things, there can also be mechanical breakdowns and many other unforeseen circumstances that may cause anybody to not produce a certain commodity, but we have to keep the faith and stay strong even through the toughest times. Also, being so busy and trying to get everything done all at once can put a strain on everyone.

Matt Holysz, Vicksburg, Mich.

2,000 acres seed corn, commercial corn and soybeans

Are you optimistic or pessimistic going into this season, and how is that driving your decision-making? I am a third-generation farmer, and I’m optimistic going into this season. We have seen China start to buy again, and I’m hopeful in our continuing trade negotiations with them and others. Also, with the new administration’s “green” agenda, I feel ethanol will be a perfect fit in that policy. It is the low-carbon and high-octane fuel the autos need. With that said, that means more corn grind, added together with our lower-than-usual carryout, this could be beneficial to corn. As far as decisions, we are pretty much staying the course, our soybean acres and seed corn acres tend to fluctuate, depending on what the seed companies want to do. Planting intentions won’t be finalized until last week of April, most likely. I have not changed any of my rotation.

Is there anything new that you’re trying this growing season in the field? Every year, we like to try something new. This year, it will be a different combination of fungicides at different timings on our soybeans.

Year after year, what is your biggest challenge you need to overcome to produce a good crop? The ability to always try to remain proactive. This applies to how I look at things on the farm and throughout the agriculture industry, whether it be making sure you don’t get behind on irrigation or making sure you stay aware of what is happening on the legislative and regulation front.

Laurie Isley, Palmyra Township, Mich.

1,100 acres of corn and soybeans 

Are you optimistic or pessimistic going into this season, and how is that driving your decision-making? I farm with my husband, Jim, and our son, Jake, and we’ve been farming in this area for more than 150 years. Jake represents the sixth generation to farm in the Isley family. We are optimistic going into this season (as are most farmers in the spring). We are encouraged by higher prices for commodities, and we have developed a system of conservation tillage that is working effectively for us. We rotate our crops each year, so our acres of corn versus beans won’t change much. We pre-purchase the majority of our inputs, using cost, availability and mode of action to influence our decisions.

Is there anything new that you’re trying this growing season in the field? We try new things almost every year. A favorite slogan on our farm is, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Using our precision planting capabilities allows us to manipulate many variables such as seeding rate, seed varieties, fertilizer applications and more. We’ve also had success with early-planted beans, so we will try that again this year.

Year after year, what is your biggest challenge you need to overcome to produce a good crop? We do not irrigate, so the weather is always our greatest challenge, particularly a prolonged dry spell in the summer. Being timely with planting and using conservation methods has helped us retain soil moisture, but drought can significantly impact our yields (and our optimism).

Randy Poll, farms with two brothers and two nephews in Hamilton, Mich.

2,800 corn, soybeans, wheat, and farrow to finish hogs 45,000 head annually.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic going into this season, and how is that driving your decision-making? I’m an optimistic person. Every year is different, so we’re going to leave it in the Lord’s hands, which has always provided. Hog prices are really good; grain prices are good.

Is there anything new that you’re trying this growing season in the field? We’re using our fungicide applications differently because of tar spot — doing a split application at V4/V5 and the other just before tassel. Two years ago, tar spot was really bad, and we had corn dying the middle of September. Last year we had it, but we started using fungicide earlier and that made a difference. We need to keep being proactive with fungicide. 

Year after year, what is your biggest challenge you need to overcome to produce a good crop? Weather is our biggest concern. The weather cycles have been challenging the last few years, but we learned to adapt and move on. We also farm toward South Haven in Bango where our sow unit is, which is about 30 miles south of our home operation. We can see a difference in rain when it comes through different spots, which is much more common than it used to be. We can be dry at home and get rain at the other location. To combat these changes we are irrigating, using no-till soybeans when we can and being smarter with use of our manure and spreading over more acres.

Les Seiler (farms with brother Jerry), Fayette, Ohio

1,650 acres, corn, soybeans, malt barley, wheat and alfalfa

Are you optimistic or pessimistic going into this season, and how is that driving your decision-making? I would say very optimistic going into 2021, as it seems we have real demand for the crops we produce. Our rotation will remain the same.

Is there anything new that you’re trying this growing season in the field? We’re not planning any changes. We will be growing mostly Plenish soybeans again because of the premium.

Year after year, what is your biggest challenge you need to overcome to produce a good crop? Our biggest challenge is to continue improving soil health. We need to identify the herbicides to provide enough weed control, but yet allow us to interseed cover crops after Labor Day.