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Dan: My name is Dan DeSutter
uh I live in a farm in west central Indiana
Our corporation comes in about 4,400 acres of
corn, soybeans, wheat
We have a grass-fed cattle business
so we have some pastures as well
My father started farming in the late 60's and
I joined in in the early 90's and wife, Barbie
and 3 sons ranging in age from 20 to 13
Um we've been at the forefront of
of No-Till and using Cover Crops
and other conservation practices in our area
for quite some time and yes that's one thing that's
set our operation apart
Well my dad really was the pioneer that
started us on a different path in terms of
our soil management practices
He started rich tilling in 1983
but in time when frankly they didn't have a lot of the
technology and tools in the toolbox that we have today
Um when I got involved in the farm in the early 90's
Um we decided to transition to 100% to No-Till
Um we've been various forms No-Till strip till since then
We're um start incorporating a lot of newer Cover Crops
in the late 90's
and they've over really escalated the use of our
Cover Crops in the last 5 years
trying to make sure something's growing um
all year round as much as possible
in all our soils if we can
we sit in a pretty good area
as far as grain merchandising goes we're kind of in a
a Golden Triangle if you will
we've got the world's largest dry milling processor
In Danville, Illinois, 40 miles west
um we've got 6 miles to the west
on a ADM rail facility that pipes
into the largest um corn processing facility
in the world, Decatur Illinois
um derail we've got an ethanol plant now um
about 15 miles to the east hosted by Cargill
facility and then Lafayette
20 miles northeast we've got uh
Tate and Lyle which makes a lot of uh
industrial products for corn as well so we're
an active zone as far as corn bids and and
certainly that influences the crops
that are grown in this area
Corn is if you can grow corn that's usually gonna be
our most profitable crop
I try to look at the world in terms of opportunities
rather than problems or challenges but
uh you're really the opposite side of the coin usually
history tells us that we've been through
some very good times recently in agriculture
in the midwest and the US
um and uh history wouldn't say then
that for every boom there's a bust
and we fully expect some tough times ahead
uh we've started to prepare for that in a number of ways
uh over the last 5 years
trying to use the the dividends of the good times to
prepare us to weather the storm that lies ahead and uh
yeah I think it'll manifest itself in many ways but
PR strategies are really pretty simple
um take care of the land and the land takes care of you
uh we know that by making our land more productive
that that I will allow us to to be a lower cost producer
in the long run
we can document the organic matter increases that
have occurred because of our management practices
over the last 10 to 20 years
and those things will put us in a better competitor
position going forward um we'll be able to produce
more crop per unit of input than than our competitors
um financial management is also part of it
both in terms of uh managing our risk and
and getting some crops sold ahead
it so good what are
historically excellent values um as well as uh
trying to make sure that uh we've got better liquidity
and uh and starting to
reign back on capital purchases in long-term
purchases of land in hopes really that uh
better opportunities might lie ahead
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