Sleepy Eye farmer Randy Krzmarzick said without the China market due to the Trump Administration’s tariffs, this year’s harvest won’t compare to those of past years.

“In the last 20 to 25 years, the U.S. increased soybean acreage by millions of of acres. A lot of it was in areas where soybeans weren’t grown before, due in part to genetic improvements that increased yields,” he said. “That was primarily built on the export market that was primarily to China. I had some of the best farming years of my life during the Biden years. Prices were high.”

He said back in the 90s, crop insurance wasn’t as good.

“The American Soybean Council spent a long time developing the market. Now, it appears to be gone,” said Krzmarzick. “China is going to find a way to get soybeans from Brazil and Argentina. There is a real nightmare scenario out here. The fear is we’ve got a lot of soybeans that nobody wants. Maybe something will come along. Government payments really don’t solve the supply-demand situation.”

He said a set-aside program is an option that hasn’t been used for a long time but may be a place for all the crops to go.

“We had a really great growing season which we all love. It’s about as good as we’ve ever had. We hoping for 60 bushels an acre, which is good for us, but I’ve got price concerns in the back of my mind.” said Krzmarzick who put his soybeans in his bins instead of selling it.

“I usually sell 40 to 50% of my soybeans on the market but not this year because the price is going down and down. I’m concerned about oversupply,” he said. “I’ll be storing a lot of it instead of selling it for $9.20. Ten years ago that was a good price. We’re looking at higher input costs. Fertilizer is being affected too. Prices are going down and costs are going up. It’s not a good situation to be in, but it’s a fun time of year at harvest. Every farmer usually has that good look in their face with good conditions and a good crop.”

He refers his 1956 McCormick Farmall 400 tractor he used for power to push the soybeans into his bins as part of the family.

“It’s fun that he (1956 tractor) and I are still able to farm,” said Krzmarzick.

Staff photo by Fritz Busch Sleepy Eye farmer Randy Krzmarzick unloads harvested soybeans into a bin on his farm recently. He said he usually sells 40 to 50% of his soybeans but this year, he plans to store most of it this year at this time.

He said he isn’t concerned about corn oversupply as most of his corn goes to the Heartland Ethanol plant in Winthrop.

Courtland farmer Tim Waibel said summer and fall weather this year has been about ideal.

“The corn and beans are really good. Who would’ve thought we’d have the good amount of rain and heat we got this year?” he said. “We’ve had good yields the last few years. The New Ulm area is a farming sweet spot compared to some other areas. I talked to a farmer near Willmar where they had drown outs. He got just 27 bushels an acre in some spots.”

Input costs are an issue.

“Fertilizer costs are just extremely high and corn and bean prices don’t come close to making up the difference,” said Waibel.

He said he hopes he doesn’t have to rent soybean storage this year.

“We filled out soybean contract with Archer Daniels Midland. If we run out of storage, we’ll take them to market. Renting storage at a commercial storage facility is extremely costly,” Waibel said.

Lake Benton farmer Bob Worth was busy winding up his soybean harvest Wednesday.

“We’ve got some really good beans and really poor beans if they were hit by hail and high winds,” said Worth. “We won’t average 60 bushels an acre, but we’ll be in the high 50s.”

The soybean market is bothersome to him too.

“The bean market is bad. It’s really frustrating. Tariffs make farming really, really miserable. It’s making it very tough to survive,” he said. “They’re talking about economic relief payments again this year. That isn’t the answer. We need to have a market. We don’t want handouts. There are a lot of things that need to have fixed now including the farm bill. Now a government shutdown puts the kibosh (stop) on us. Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices are closed due to the shutdown. The politics now really stink. People used to work together, figure things out and get it done.”

A call to the Sleepy Eye FSA office went to County Executive Director Jennifer Norton’s voicemail that stated voicemail could be left and she could be emailed at jennifer.norton@usda.gov. Norton’s voicemail added that she could not access voicemail or email until her furlough is over and funding is restored.

On top of that, beans are getting too dry, too fast.

“A week ago, when we started harvesting beans, we had 15-16% moisture. Today (Wednesday), they’re at 7.5%. We’ve losing about four bushels an acre due to dryness. When you get this much heat and wind, it really cooks everything out here.”

Worth said he thinks he and his son will buy options.

“We’ll retain crops on paper. If beans (prices) go up, we have a chance to get some of that. It’s a tool we can use. Bankers like that more than doing futures,” he said.

Farm business management consultant Wayne Schoper of New Ulm said he’s heard yield reports of 60 to 70 bushels an acre, including beans replanted in June due to hail near Sleepy Eye.

“We had a warm, wet September and no frost that really helped beans, especially replants,” said Schoper. “Weather this week in the 80s really pushes crops toward harvest. Soil temperatures are way too warm to put manure down yet.”

He said most beans will go into storage, hopefully for higher prices.

“We’ll wait and see what happens with the Brazil harvest next spring,” said Schoper.