Wheat Show Left Life Changing Messages

The 60th National Hard Spring Wheat Show is now history. I may sound a bit prejudiced by saying the line-up of speakers was outstanding starting with Jolene Brown, who is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and ending with Rick Bieber, a self-spoken farmer who has taken his farm rags to riches.

Jolene is an exciting public speaker with a vast amount of experience working with farm families who desire to pass the farm’s legacy from one generation to another. One of her many statements which still sticks with me related to how well we know the science and economics of agriculture but have very few skills of working with people, the most important resource on any farm or ranch. During her 2 ½ hour initial presentation she emphasized that the farm must be treated as a business if it is to have a legacy. This starts with the farm having a leader who strives to find a replacement. She mentioned that the boss of the family farm business has two hats, one as a parent and one as a leader. The challenge is only one hat can be worn at a time. She cited an example when a father had to fire a son because of poor performance. She stated many father-son relationships are successful but sometimes very tough decisions must be made if the farm is to succeed.

It is not my intent to give a complete report of Jolene’s presentation. That would be impossible. However, if you were unable to attend the Wheat Show I urge you to seek out her book “Sometimes You Need More Than A 2x4!” This can be done at her website: http://www.jolenebrown.com.

I really don’t know where to start my report on Rick Bieber’s presentation. He was scheduled to speak for one hour. However, with the many questions thrown at him I am glad we scheduled him to be the last speaker. Those questions kept Rick at the podium for another 1.5 hours. Rick has a 5,000 acre farm near Trail City, South Dakota, only about 70 miles straight south of my original stomping grounds. He claims his area may receive an inch or two more of moisture per year than this area but insists his practices of no-till farming and crop rotations using grass and broadleaf plants will work here.

Rick is very passionate about the health of his soil. He is an astute student of the relationships between soil micro-organisms, plant roots and the effect these have on improved soil organic matter levels. He acknowledges it is the higher organic matter levels that give his soils the ability to hold more moisture thus producing greater yields.

Rick was quite detailed in the performance of his yields and financial returns. His data also included figures on water use efficiency. In other words, he has been recording trends in yields per inch of water received.

If you were unable to attend the Wheat Show to hear Rick, you may reach him at: [email protected].