Unlocking Farm and Ranch Profitability
February 9, 2021
I couldn’t be more excited to work with the team at Elevate and the connections they have with resources and businesses that truly help farmers and ranchers. Give me a call if you want to learn more: Del Ficke (402) 499-0329. Thank you!
By Kerry Hoffschneider
Two separate businesses, Simple Farms and Elevate Ag, came together to hold an educational evening with one main message – there is hope in the future of agriculture and there are tools, services and people who want to serve farmers and ranchers in getting there.
It’s an app envisioned by a farmer and rancher, made for farmers and ranchers. Simple Farms CEO – Scott Scheimer hosted the evening in Cheyenne Wells, Colo. where a group of farmers and ranchers came to hear about the app analytical tool he has developed with a team to make quick, informed decisions about input costs, break-evens, and other key marketing decisions that save both time and money.
“We can maximize production and put all the technology into our machines so we can be one ‘hell of a’ producer. But, when it comes to bookkeeping, we are not taking the time to do all the management on the end of finances,” Scheimer said.
“The average farmer margin is at two percent. Why are we at two percent?” he asked the group. “Because they are playing on our hope game. They are watching us, but we are not watching ourselves and what we are putting into our farms and ranches . . . About 90 percent of us are marketing at the ‘panic’ level.”
Intuitive to the way farmers think in design, Simple Farms was made to be nimble enough to be customized for each, unique ag business.
“It’s set up as a calculator you can make work for you,” he noted. “You can put as much or as little as you want into the program.”
Tracking all operations for the year by inserting everything from products to plugging in hypotheticals and applying them to overall analysis, the farmer has control at his or her fingertips. If prices of products they are using change, they can be changed in the system. If agreements with landlords change, that can be changed too. The data is also exclusively the producer’s as well and in no way is Simple Farms embarking upon data sharing or selling. Farmers have the log in information solely and no one can view the information but those who they share it with.
“The platform is independent. Your data is your data,” Scheimer reiterated adamantly. “Not even the creators of the platform can see your individual operation or what your values are.”
Bottom line: Scheimer wants Simple Farms to serve farmers. A farmer himself, he understands his peers in the industry want to be independent, control their own destiny and they also want to look good in their reporting to bankers and other farm partners. Margin analysis customized to you – simply put, Simple Farms is all about tracking daily operations and knowing the cost of production.
Elevate Ag Regenerative Ag Advisor, Travis Kraft, was invited to speak at the informational event about ways improving the soil can improve farm and ranch profitability. Elevate Ag, a company founded by Arman Miller, helps producers focus on opportunities to decrease their need for synthetic inputs by assessing each farm individually. Adding biology to the farm planning equation as well as being hyper-focused on measuring nutrient density are just some of the ways they help producers meet and exceed their goals.
“The most dangerous phrase in any language is, ‘We’ve always done it that way.’” Kraft said. Elevate Ag has a vision of biblical proportions to essentially, “recapture a land of milk and honey and move beyond sustainability into regeneration. Their team believes the solution to many of the world’s problems is right under our feet and that our role as humans was never to ‘fix’ the earth, but rather cooperate with it.”
Kraft poised this question: “Do you think your microbial load is able to handle the amounts of fertility-based products that are currently being applied?” The answer is, “No” Kraft pointed out and therein are the countless opportunities because everything your soil needs he said is there, “We just have to unlock it.”
“It doesn’t matter where you are, we’ve made soil a junky,” Kraft pointed out that ground has become a literally a dumping ground for too much synthetic inputs, without the proper analysis to bring it truly to life.
“How efficient do you believe your soil is in converting the synthetic Nitrogen you are applying? The right answer is 30 percent on average. Most of the time we are putting 30 to 40 percent more out there than what we need,” he said.
“What is the main reason that you have weeds in your fields? You are absolute right,” Kraft relayed to the group when a farmer said weeds have become resistant to inputs and there are loads of loose nutrients available. “For example, pigweed is a nitrogen hunter. We don’t have enough dominant species to uptake all the extra nitrogen in fields. We are giving life to something that is not supposed to be there.”
Applying excessive nitrogen also increases more of the insects and herbivores he noted, “Adult females lay more eggs, larvae develop more rapidly, higher population densities occur, and survival rates are improved.
The numbers of disease-causing microbes increase too.”
“Everything in the soil has a purpose we need to ask ourselves what we can do to unlock that purpose,” Kraft reiterated. “At Elevate Ag we want to take products from Mother Nature, put them in a usable form and put them back into nature to work for you.”
“There is no book written about what we are trying to do here,” he went on. “You all are the masters of what you are doing. But there are things that we can apply to help and there are tools that are available.”
Scheimer has used some of Elevate Ag’s applications on his farm. He told the group on two fields, using the same practices, same seed population and same type of seed, the only change they made was one field was treated with 1.5 gallons of Hypr Grow and one not, “We saw a 35 bushel per acre difference. It may have been a very unique year and set of circumstances, but it was incredible. I believe in what Elevate is doing because I’ve seen it.”
elevateag.com | simplefarms.ag
GrainSense Makes Cents
Where should I sell my harvest? Am I getting the right price? Am I paying the right price for the cereals I buy? How much protein am I feeding my livestock? Travis, Regenerative Ag Advisor for Elevate Ag, demonstrates the use of an incredible, new tool that puts the power of decision making directly in the hands of farmers. It’s called GrainSense and the creators say it makes common sense and cents for producers. In just a few seconds, GrainSense can give you a quick measurement of protein content, moisture, oil content and carbohydrates and can record this data on an app if you so choose. There really is no end to what the tool can do for you and we know you want to know more. One producer reported a $26,000 return on investment after using the application.
Contact Kraft at 719-342-1706 | elevateag.com
Hey, it’s Nate, talking about all things Hybrid 85 and farming for net! Click the article here:
Article: Placing Profits Where They Belong
If you’re ready to farm for net but have questions, reach Nate Belcher at corn@hybrid85.com or call him at 402-580-0015.
Estate planning can be one of the most misunderstood aspects of financial planning, however, it’s a vital part to ensure your assets and family are protected. Unfortunately, common myths convince many they don’t need to create or update an estate plan. Here are some estate planning myths and the reasons why having a documented plan is important for everyone.
Estate Planning Myths
By Kirk Peterson
Only the Wealthy Need Plans.
Without a will, state succession laws and the probate process decide who serves as the estate representative and where assets go. The probate process is public and can take anywhere from a few months to multiple years.
Proper estate planning considers tax liabilities. While the federal estate tax exemption in 2021 is $11.7 million, thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the exemption is set to expire at the end of 2025. Despite generous federal exemption, around a dozen states levy their own estate taxes with a lower exemption than federal, and six states collect an inheritance tax. The highest top rate among state estate taxes is 20%; the highest top rate among state inheritance taxes is 18%.
You Already Have a Will.
Estate plans are not meant to be “one-and-done” documents. They should be reviewed regularly and updated following any major life event such as a birth, death, marriage, divorce, or move to another state. Beneficiary designations trump wills and should be revisited regularly. A complete plan should include a current list of all digital accounts with usernames, passwords, and security questions.
A Will is Enough.
A thorough estate plan includes components designed to protect your income if you become disabled during your working years and protect your assets if you require costly long-term care. It should also provide direction in the event you become unable to make decisions regarding your health and finances. Minimum documents include a Health Care Proxy, which designates an individual to make decisions regarding medical treatments, an Advanced Care Directive that provides treatment instructions regarding prolonging life, and a Power of Attorney which names the person you wish to make financial decisions.
Estate planning can be complex. No matter the age, with so much at stake, it’s crucial to have things set up appropriately to protect against the loss of money or time stuck in probate. We are happy to work with you, your attorney and tax professional to secure and make the most of your legacy, please reach out if we can help!
Kirk Peterson
kirkpeterson@woodburyfinancial.net
(402) 519-0330
www.petersonassetprotectiongroup.com
Eggerling Custom Farming is a father/son-owned custom farming operation providing superior custom farming services for planting, harvesting, haying and pasture clearing.
“I could not be more excited to promote Eggerling Custom Farming. Gregg Eggerling farmed with me for years and continues to farm for us. There are few as passionate as Gregg is about agriculture and now his son Chase is coming up the ranks. Gregg is not only an astute farmer, but also a well-oiled mechanic. His son studied agriculture too and is making a name for himself alonside the best. I trust Gregg completely and hope you seek him out if you are looking for custom farming operators you can count on.” Del Ficke
Follow them on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/eggerlingcustomfarming/
Email: eggerlinghayandcattle@yahoo.com
Gregg: 402-641-0063
Chase: 402-641-1732
Custom harvesting work. 
Father and son teamwork. 
Pasture clearing is one of a wide variety of applications offered. 
Reliable trucking.
“I was honored to be interviewed for this book and thoroughly enjoyed Marianne’s visit to her farm with her husband. May the stories of regenerative ag become, simply, stories about agriculture again,” Del Ficke
Farming with Benefits
Why Regenerative Agriculture is good for farm income, healthy food and a greener planet.
By Marianne Landzettel
We had started our trip some ten days earlier, on the shortgrass prairies of Colorado. Traveling east we visited wheat farmers, corn growers and ranchers, all working with regenerative agriculture and producing food while taking care of the soil. But it was Del Ficke showing us around his farm and introducing us to his Graze Master cattle that made me understand: agriculture and our food system need cattle that knows how to graze! Each farm and ranch is an ecosystem and cattle are the integral part that maintain and hone it.
My book shows why cover crops and living roots in the soil matter, why healthy soil stores more water, prevents run off, helps to mitigate drought, why soil biology improves plant health and how important diversity is: beginning with the soil – the greater the diversity on a farm, the more resilient the whole system becomes and that is essential for profitability.
In regenerative agriculture, farmers start to experiment with stacking businesses. Animals can glean the fields after harvest, graze the cover crops. Maybe there is space, too, for chickens or hogs or fruit and nut trees. It’s not about the highest yield but about profit per acre. And that profit is not to be measured in monetary terms only, the soil benefits, crops and animals benefit, the environment benefits. This type of diversity can provide opportunities for young farmers, it helps build communities and it provides good food. During our many farm visits, I found this to be true not only for agriculture on the High Plains and in the Midwest. The same goes for upstate New York and Pennsylvania, or for California’s Central Valley.
And I went to Hawai’i to see the flip side: ground zero of industrial agriculture. For decades, agrochemical companies have used the areas on Hawai’i the tourists don’t visit to develop and maintain seed corn parent lines. To do so, huge amounts of pesticides are needed – with detrimental consequences for the people living nearby. In an extraordinary battle, Hawai’ians have forced the government to reign the agrochemical companies in, protecting the health of Hawai’ians and the of environment.
But why does a German born journalist living and working in Britain travel across the United States to write about organic and regenerative agriculture? Because everything in the U.S. is simply bigger – including the problems. The consequences of climate change can be seen the world over, but in the U.S., they are now impossible to overlook. Drought and fires, flooding, and blizzards, weather events that year after year break all records for highest or lowest temperatures ever measured. Farmers in the U.S. don’t just see the effects of climate change on their farms, they are forced to deal with them and find solutions. And the farmers and ranchers I met all do just that – and farmers in the U.S. and elsewhere can learn from them.
This book tells their stories. Del Ficke and many others took time to show me how they work, they shared their ideas, their concerns and their hopes. Their courage and forward thinking, their perseverance and their success not only help to mitigate climate change, but lay the foundation for future generations to be able to grow the food they need.
Marianne would like those interested to order the book through this channel:
“I would like to send you the link to a wonderful family farm in
ND – Theresa and Dan Podoll grow organic vegetable seeds which can be
ordered by mail. They have kindly agreed to stock copies of the book
and send them out if ordered through their website.”
ORDER BOOK HERE
PS: The book is about to become available
in the US, too. For where to buy please check my website
LondonCowGirl.com or on twitter @M_Landzettel
Follow Marianne’s work at: LondonCowGirl.com
Anchor Meadow Farm
Saturdays the Farm Store is open from 10 a.m. to noon and Thursdays 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. We have eggs, Graze Master beef, honey and more!
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Anchor-Meadow-Farm-245014352709769/
Call Emely Hendl at: (402) 613-5483
It’s Our Friend Electa!
Electa Hare-Redcorn is one of the amazing women who connected Ficke Cattle Company to the Pawnee Seed Preservation project. She has visited us many times and we were honored to have her part of the Pawnee corn harvests we have held.
This is an article about Electa’s studies and her continued positive impact on the world: https://healthpolicyresearch-scholars.org/meetthescholars/electa-leigh-hare-redcorn-2/
Follow the Pawnee Seed Preservation Project: https://www.facebook.com/pawneeseedpreservation/
Attley is reaching for her dreams in 2021.
(She’s an excellent fencer too).
Reach for your dreams in 2021 too!
Thank you for reading!
No electronic or mechanical reproduction of The Liberator is permitted without direct consent of the author, Ficke Cattle Company. Contact (402) 499-0329 or fickecattle@outlook.com Thank you so much for reading!
Copyright © Ficke Cattle Company – Graze Master Genetics, All rights reserved.