Oh we hate Monsanto.  Spring is coming, and we're writing the checks for our 2014 seed.  Seed companies have done a great job of separating the seed cost, from the tech fee, giving us a chance to see exactly how much we are paying for Monsanto's technology.  And we grumble and write the check for the seed, all the time thinking "Oh I hate Monsanto."

It's the same thing all consumers do each time they pay a bill.  Think of your cell phone bill, and the cost of your cell phone.  You do not need a $500 smart phone, or a huge data plan just so you can stream Pandora, check Facebook, and tweet the results of your kids basketball game.  And yet you do it, and think "Oh I hate AT&T" every time you write the check.  

Technology brings convenience, and as consumers we are willing to pay for the convenience, but it's usually with a chip on our shoulder and a grumble as we write the check.  Using Genetically Modified seed and paying a tech fee is similar, but it does offer farmers more than just convenience.  It can mean fewer passes over the field, less chemicals, ability to use no-till, and many other benefits.  At the end of the growing season, we realize the value in the paying the technology fee, instead of the cost. 

As much as I hate paying a tech fee, I will gladly pay more tech fees if they become available.  I have a long list of genetic modifications I would like to see in other seeds, but the technology isn't available just yet.  We struggle with diseases in wheat, and if we could find some seed resistance to those diseases, I would gladly pay for that technology.  

An environmental group is petitioning to stop spraying potato pesticides in Minnesota, so just imagine what a resistance gene could do for the farmers and environmentalists!  Both sides could be winners.  (Potatoes are disease and bug magnets, as you may know if you have a garden).  Read both these links and see if we have a potential solution to the problem.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26189722

http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/toxic-taters-coalition-seeks-changes-potato-producers

Just like everyone, I'll keep grumbling as I pay my cell phone bill, and don't even get me started on DirectTV, where half the stations are infomercials.    We pay for technology, and we complain about it, but once you separate the value from the cost, it makes the check a little easier to write.   Perhaps I shouldn't say that farmers hate Monsanto, but that they have a love/hate relationship with Monsanto.  We love the technology, but grumble when we pay for it.   We're only human.  

Wheat harvest is behind us, well, for most of us.  Barley is long gone, but now the busiest of all seasons begin:  Sugarbeets.  Officially beginning on October 1, pre-harvest has begun, and the roads are buzzing with sugarbeet trucks.  Throw in soybeans, and it looks like an L.A. freeway out there.  Only our traffic jams are heavy trucks, and during sugarbeets, it runs 24 hours a day. 

This is the worst time of the year.  During my first pregnancy, 15 years ago (sigh), I had night sickness, not morning sickness.  Add to the mix beet trucks that I could hear coming from miles away, and my sleepness nights were miserable.  It was one of my first years of sugarbeet harvest, and I still remember the name of the farmer who my husband said "He doesn't have time to fix his truck, it's beet harvest."  I had no sympathy from my husband, and no peace and quiet until harvest was over.  

I can laugh about it now, but sometimes harvest just sucks the life out of everyone involved.  It may be cold, muddy, exhausting, not to mention the inevitable break downs or missing truck drivers.  I still giggle hearing about the truck driver who got tasered (not mine), or the one who wrote from prison that he would be unable to return for harvest.  The Jensen Farm has the legend of Grandpa Alfred, who managed to convince the sheriff not to take the truck driver on the arrest warrant because we were almost done harvesting.  Just a few more hours is all we needed, and the sheriff agreed.  Everyone wants to get the beets harvested, and fast!  I bought a sugarbeet knife on ebay, and Grandma Lorna was not impressed.  It may be an antique to us, but she remembers too well bending over, hooking the sugarbeets, and slicing the tops, all by hand!  I think it's roughing it when the autosteer goes out on the rotobeeter.  

So happy harvesting.  Here's a nice muddy picture from 2012, the year we harvested up until Thanksgiving and battled snow and mud the entire time.  We also ended up leaving sugarbeets in the field, something that still makes me a little sick to my stomach.  Send us prayers for dry weather, not too cold, not too hot, and most importantly, a safe harvest.  

It was a rough spring.  We knew things would be a little late with the long winter, but I'm not sure anyone anticipated how late it would be.  And I don't think anyone anticipated how much ground would not be planted this year.  

We have a little bit of prevented planting on our farm.  Although we didn't get everything planted, I feel we are one of the lucky ones.  Farmers west of us, and into Eastern North Dakota were much wetter, and had to leave much more ground bare.  

The decision on when to stop planting is a personal one.  Federal crop insurance gives you "final planting dates".  If you plant after those dates, your crop insurance coverage declines, but if Mother Nature cooperates during the summer, you could still get a good crop.  The final planting date for soybeans in my area was June 10, but many farmers were planting on June 16, if the ground was ready.  Some of the fields are still very wet and muddy. 

What has me a little depressed is that we are starting the year collecting crop insurance, and whenever you collect crop insurance it means things are below average.   Crop insurance is making headlines as Congress debates the validity of the program.  If I believed everything I read, I'd be convinced that crop insurance is guaranteeing huge profits for wealthy farmers.  It's probably time for a reality check. 

Most farmers buy crop insurance at 65-70%.  You can purchase up to 85% coverage, but it's very expensive. So farmers are buying insurance to guarantee themselves 70% of their revenue.   Each farmer has a personal revenue number based on their historic yields, and the prices are set each year.   

If you get a paycheck, imagine cutting it 30% this year.  After dipping into your savings account and cutting some expenses, you could probably make it through the year.  That is what farmers do during bad years.  Crop insurance is not designed to bring farmers back to 100% revenue, but help cushion the blow of a bad crop, and give them a guarantee minimal income.  

In farm management, it is advised to have 30% of your gross revenue as cash.  For example, if a farm grosses $100,000, it should have $30,000 in cash.  One of the reasons for that recommendation is crop insurance.  Between your crop insurance guarantee, and your savings account, farmers should be able to make it through a bad year.  Now if it happens two years in a row, the farm will have some major problems. 

The fact that my farm will collect crop insurance in 2013 just isn't how I hoped to start the year.  Just imagine collecting a paycheck, and in January you got a 30% cut.  You still hope for a pay raise later in the year, and it's possible, but there's that nagging voice in the back of your mind that keeps remembering the first paycheck.  That's how I feel.  There's always hope, but things have not started off well in 2013.  

Yesterday I asked people to fill in the blink:  In winter wheat country it is said "Plant in the dust, your bins will bust."  In spring wheat country we could say "Plant in the snow...

1.  Your cheeks will glow
2.  into debt you'll go
3.  nothing will grow
4.  hope they'll grow
5.  your farm will go

Even if you're not in spring wheat country, wet weather is keeping most farmers out of the fields.  Moisture is good news to relieve the drought, but early planting is a critical yield factor for corn, spring wheat, and sugarbeets. 

At least we're all in this together.  Last fall we had a horrible sugarbeet harvest.  In a normal year, harvest begins October 1, and ideally lasts for 2 weeks, maybe 3.  Last year we attempted to harvest all the way up to Thanksgiving, and then we still left sugarbeets in the field.  We found out a sugarbeet harvester can't tell the difference between a sugarbeet, and a frozen mud chunk.  

But last fall it was a relatively small area that could not harvest.  It was a tough harvest for nearly all sugarbeet farmers in the Red River Valley, but it was an impossible harvest for just a few of us in the Northern RRV.  It was a very isolating experience.  

This spring we are all in the same boat, and there is a sense of safety in numbers.  Delayed plantings aren't just my problem, they are your problem too.  Minnesota still has widespread snow (some schools were canceled today, April 19!) and North Dakota is digging out from a record April snowfall.  Corn Belt farmers are waiting for sunshine after heavy, heavy rains and even flooding.  This week's crop progress report should be renamed the "Lack of Progress Report."

Many Northern Plains farmers are already changing their corn acres.  Most of us are not "corn farmers" but "farmers who grow corn" (we don't have dryers or a corn header, have limited storage, and not enough hopper bottom trailers) so don't blame us for being a little nervous.  We're still dipping our toe in the corn acres, nervous about how to handle the bushels, dry them, store them, and when to harvest.  The snow is still deep, the forecast is cold, and there is no imminent sign of when planting will begin.  It is easier to turn back to the safety of wheat, and maybe barley.

We took a little drive last night to see if there are any signs of life in the fields.  I did manage to find a group of swans 2 miles east of me.  I see geese and ducks all the time, but swans are unusual.  They were a little camera shy, but it made me think that maybe this Ugly Duckling of a spring may have a beautiful ending.  When I showed my 10 year old the picture, she said "Mom, where did you find a field with dirt?"  Come on you Ugly Duckling Planting season, surprise me and become a beautiful swan in a few months.  

It is April 17, and it is snowing.  I know for most people that is depressing, but for farmers, those falling snowflakes mean falling profits as well.  I am trying to remain optimistic, but the odds of a good wheat, corn and sugarbeet crop decline with every day our equipment sits in our yard.

I keep reminding myself that spring weather is just ONE determinant of final yield, not the only determinant.  Last year we had very dry conditions, but with early planting and great temperatures, the crop was much better than expected.  Maybe we can be lucky two years in a row.

So to my other fellow farmers in the Northern Plains, keep your chin up, and remain optimistic.  I have decided to stop watching the USDA Crop Progress reports because that will just add to my frustration.  Perhaps this late planting will help give prices a bit of a boost, and I can make some 2013 sales, and wrap up my remaining 2012 sales.  There is still plenty of work to be done, even if it isn't fieldwork.