Harvesting with NDFB: Ep 2 - Soybeans on the Grotberg Farm

In this episode, our hosts Emmery and Alisha head to the field to visit with Emmery's family about soybean harvest. Dwight Grotberg (Emmery's dad) talks about how the soybean crop looks, market challenges, and why their family hired custom harvesters. Billy Kelly, Demeray Custom Harvesting, also joins the show. He shares about combining his way from Arizona to North Dakota and how the soybeans look from his combine seat.

Join NDFB as we harvest across North Dakota!

To see more about harvesting in North Dakota, visit us at ndfb.org/straight-talk

To contact our hosts, email emmery@ndfb.org

Transcript

[Straight Talk theme]

[00:11] Emmery: Welcome to straight Talk with NDFB. I am your host, Emmery Mehlhoff.

[00:16] Alisha: And I'm Alicia Nord.

[00:17] Emmery: We are your Farm Bureau duo, bringing you your competitive edge.

[00:21] Alisha: In today's episode, we visit Emmery's family to get an update on this year's soybean harvest. We visit with Dwight Grotberg and custom harvester Billy Kelly about how the soybean harvest is going, field challenges, and the outlook on the 2024 soybean crop.

[00:37] Emmery: Join us as we harvest across North Dakota. 

[Straight Talk stinger]

[00:41] Emmery: Welcome to Straight Talk with NDFB. We are here in the field in Barnes County, North Dakota, and we're visiting with my dad, Dwight Grotberg, and Billy Kelly. Anyway, he's with Demeray custom harvesting, and so we're talking about how soybean harvest is going. And how's it going, dad?

[01:01] Dwight: Well, hey, you know what? It's nice to be out here. It's a beautiful day again in North Dakota. And, you know, this soybean harvest is awesome as far as weather goes. I can't remember a harvest that we've had that's been free of any, even dew in the morning. So we're just going like, crazy.

[01:18] Emmery: What's your impression, Billy?

[01:20] Billy: Well, you know, we couldn't ask for much better weather. And, you know, it's, you know, just got to keep these combines running is the big thing. And I guess we're going to be in the combines and not in bed for the next two weeks, and then it's all going to be over, said, and done, and we'll be picking corn before we know it, Dwight, I guess.

[01:34] Emmery: So, Billy, this isn't your first field you've harvested this year?

[01:37] Billy: No. No.

[01:38] Emmery: When did you start?

[01:39] Billy: We started beans on Monday.

[01:41] Emmery: Okay.

[01:41] Billy: Yeah.

[01:42] Emmery: And when did you start harvesting for the season?

[01:44] Billy: Oh, April.

[01:45] Emmery: So you've come up from...

[01:46] Bill: Arizona. Yeah. So we start in Arizona, and we work our way in north, and we go right from the Mexican border all the way to the Canadian border. So, you know, one end of the country to the other. So many different climates and different ways of farming.

[01:59] Emmery: And, you know, so, Dad, we haven't always hired custom harvesters. Can you tell us a little bit about why we started hiring custom harvesters and how you found Billy and his crew?

[02:10] Dwight: We had our own combines, and we always were a little bit shorthanded and always seems like we needed one or two more combines during the peak season. And so we opted for this, what, 2019. I think it's been really, really good. I kind of waited for a custom harvester that would would be there when I wanted him there.

[02:31] Dwight: Right, Billy?

[02:32] Billy: Yeah. Okay. Yep. 

[02:34] Dwight: And so, yeah, and that overall, that's been a good experience. So, yeah, it kind of lightened our load and let us do some other work, like putting drain tile in and working on improvements and other projects. And so we've enjoyed that part.

[02:47] Emmery: The soybean crop in 2024, does it seem like it's going good? I know we had some issues with some shelling. How is it combining?

[02:56] Dwight: You know, that that's. It's. Everything's getting dry so fast. There is a little bit of shelling if you're not careful, but overall, I don't think our losses are too bad. And. And, uh, the grain is dry. I mean, the moisture has been in the single digits, you know, but we're not complaining.

[03:12] Emmery: Billy, is this your first field of soybeans that you've done?

[03:15] Billy: No, I've last count this stage with five or six. So, yeah, I mean, we've seen some bad shelling the first couple of fields, but once we figured out the ways to stop it, and I won't say bad shelling, you know, it's just stuff you got to deal with and work through it. And, you know, Dwight's pretty good. He, you know, it's not. It's always easier to see it when you're on the ground, but when you're in the combine trying to keep these things running, you can't always see it. So Dwight and Pat are pretty good. That keep me informed as to what they're seeing and what's going on, and then we can work to overcome these problems, you know, then they don't become problems.

[03:43] Emmery: I see that you have a combine broken down over there.

[03:46] Billy: We get one going, another one breaks down. You know, it's just constant. Yeah. Hopefully this is the end of it. That is going to run smooth.

[03:52] Dwight: I think the biggest challenge we have is understanding Billy. No, he just. We ask him to talk slow, and then it's. Then it's good. So, no, he's. He actually speaks more proper English than, than I do, so.

[04:07] Billy: Don't know about that now, Dwight.

[04:09] Emmery: So these soybeans are. Where are we taking them?

[04:12] Dwight: Okay, so, for the first time, we are delivering soybeans off the combine over to Green Bison, the new crushing plant at Spiritwood. They're actually up and running. They were up and running last year, so we delivered some, but they were having a few hiccups and getting things going, but now they're... They've been good. Their hours a little shorter than local elevators, but their dumps fast. So, so far, so good. Nice to have another option. We appreciate our local elevators, but we also appreciate a nearby processing plant to give us an added demand for beans here. And so that's been really good.

[04:47] Emmery: Have you delivered to a crushing plant before, Billy, or.

[04:50] Billy: Yeah, we deliver to, I can't think of the name. That crushing plant. That's in Aberdeen, in South Dakota. We got crews running down there, but from what we see, this one at Spiritwood is lot faster and a lot more superior than what's down there. I don't know. They bought new plants, but we haven't been waiting on trucks yet.

[05:06] Emmery: Dwight, this is a question that we're asking our farmers out there. As far as marketing strategies. Do you pre price most of your crop, or how do you... How is the price this year compared to other years?

[05:17] Dwight: Yeah, we usually have a dartboard we put up on the wall. And then, you know, what was that stock market monkey that, that would pick the stocks, and he was doing better than the analysts. You know, we actually. Marketing strategies, buy low, sell high. But seriously, we do a fair amount of forward contracting on soybeans, and we're starting to see an incentive now with this plant here to store beans. We haven't really seen that before on a regular basis, but they obviously can only process 150,000 bushels, which is a lot. 150,000 bushels a day over there. So they're, they're bidding up. They're kind of incentivizing us to store some. So we will store some this year as well.

[06:01] Emmery: Price this year compared to other years.

[06:03] Dwight: You know, everything is so out of whack price wise with inflation. We were grateful to see a little market boost here in this last week. So, which is kind of unusual during harvest time, you know, with the pressure, but. So soybeans are, you know, they're okay, but we certainly, you know, with the costs and everything that we've got going on, it would be appropriate to see them a little higher. But our exports are so bad, and that's hopefully that's going to change soon.

[06:28] Billy: I think, you know, it's a global thing. You see it back home. Prices, you know, some things are where they should be expensive or the prices should be up there not. And what the price, you know, loaf of bread is crazy price, but price of wheat is down to the floor, so it doesn't make sense.

[06:43] Emmery: You know, the last question I have is the 2024 soybean crop a boom or a bust?

[06:49] Dwight: We're just getting a decent start so. Well, it depends. Are we telling the, if we're, if this goes out in the public, we're telling the market. Yeah. It's tough. It's not. But, no, we're having, I would say we're definitely having a good crop. We've got some fields that look really good that we haven't been into. We didn't really run short of moisture in this area, in the Spiritwood area this year, and so we're grateful for that. We've been blessed with an extended time of no frost as well, so I'd say things, you know, the yield wise things are encouraging.

[07:20] Emmery: I should ask your impressions, Billy?

[07:22] Billy: No, they are from, from the cab. They're, they're good. They're good. It's a good crop of beans. And no one's ever going to complain about it. Well, farmers will always complain. There's nothing. They'll always find something that are too dry or they're shelling out. You know, there's always something. The farmer's never happy.

[07:36] Dwight: Yeah. Well, like I said, I don't know what he just said, but...

[07:41] Emmery: I think you get the last word here, Dad.

[07:43] Dwight: I get the last word. Boy. Since when? I've got six daughters. I don't know that I usually get the last word. So in that case, well, I'm really proud of the work that the farm bureau is doing, and you guys are a really good advocate for a policy for us, and keep going. And thanks for what you're doing.

[07:59] Emmery: Thanks, Billy. Thanks, dad, for joining us on Straight Talk today.

[08:02] Billy: Okay, back to work.

[Straight Talk stinger]

[08:08] Alisha: Thank you for joining Straight Talk with North Dakota Farm Bureau as we harvest across North Dakota. If you have questions or are interested in joining our harvest adventure, contact us at emmery@ndfb.org.

[Straight Talk theme]