Father and Son Farming Side by Side
Having a dream is one thing, but living it is something quite different. For Indiana famers Stan and Matt Holderly, the dream life is their reality.
“It’s been a dream of mine ever since I was a young boy to farm with my Dad,” Matt said. “I love being outside, and working side by side with my Dad…it’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.”
Stan, Matt’s father, echoes his son’s love of farming.
“I love it because it’s a good life,” Stan said. “It’s a lot of hard work, but the rewards are great.”
And this year, despite the unpredictable and sometimes harsh weather, the Holderlys are reaping the rewards of their hard work.
“Corn has been awful wet,” Stan said. “But the yields have been tremendous. We’re seeing a lot of 200 to 230-bushel corn. I don’t know where it came from with the spring we had. We were three weeks late planting and it was so cool all summer. But the yields are there.”
Matt believes the yields are there because of the technology in the seed.
“The new technologies in seed are far advanced compared to what we were expecting,” Matt said. “With the weather we’ve had we’re just amazed. We’re probably 30 or40 bushels better than what we expected all year.”
Matt said that of all things to invest in farming this day and age, technology and seed is by far the most profitable.
“With the new stacked corn coming out, only needing five percent refuge, it will make farming a lot more efficient which means getting a lot more done every day,” Matt said. “The technologies in the seed treatments and the seed that has the hybrid placement for each soil type will definitely give you more yield.”
For many, the technologies that are being brought to the farm cause misconceptions about Monsanto. According to Stan Holderly, farmers face the same problem.
“One of the misconceptions is that a lot of young people don’t know where milk or cereal comes from,” Stan said. “They just think it comes from the grocery store.”
Stan said that there’s a lot more work that goes into farming than most people understand. He said more people need to get out in the country and know what it’s like to plant the seeds, harvest the crop, and see it all go to the processor so they can know how a crop works from beginning to end.
Stan said another misconception farmers have to deal with is that they’re not environmentally friendly or good stewards of the earth.
“I think that farmers are as environmentally friendly as anyone else,” Stan said. “They want to take care of the land, and they want to preserve it, and they want to leave it better than it was when they started with it. I want to leave my land in better shape than when I got it – for my son.”
One of the ways the Holderlys are being good stewards is practicing minimum tillage so that the soil doesn’t erode and blow around.
“We make one trip for tillage in the fall and one in the spring,” Stan said. “We also only make one trip spraying, and then in the field with the combine. Ten years ago we would have added another trip or two on our fields compared to what we do today.”
As things continue to change on the Holderly farm, excitement for the future of farming continues to build.
“I will get excited about 300-bushel corn,” Matt said. “This is my sixth season farming and I’ve seen advancements more than I would have expected already. I can’t imagine what the next six years will bring.”
