ECONOMICS AND TRADE | Achieving growth through open markets
24 April 2008
Missouri Farmers Face Same Concerns as Farmers Everywhere
Price uncertainty, weeds and weather are foremost, they say
Kansas City, Missouri -- Like farmers everywhere, the Effertz brothers of Belton, Missouri, face continual uncertainty about the prices they will receive for their crops and constant concerns about weeds and weather.
The Effertzes farm 12,000 acres (4856.2 hectares) located in two counties in Missouri and one neighboring county in Kansas. The family has farmed in Belton and surrounding areas for 50 years. The area, including neighboring states, is known as "America's breadbasket" because of the region's abundant production of wheat.
Two of the Effertz brothers, Mick and Tom, and the business’s office manager, Judy Meyers, discussed their modern wheat and soybean operation with America.gov April 17.
The Effertzes' primary crop is hard red winter wheat, the variety used to make everyday "pan bread," commonly found on American grocery store shelves. Other varieties of wheat are used for crusty breads and bagels, crackers and cookies.
Hard red winter wheat, which accounts for 40 percent of America's wheat crop, is the type of wheat most often exported and most often used in food aid programs. In 2007, some 16.5 metric tons of hard red winter wheat were purchased for aid programs, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The area the Effertzes farm is at the eastern edge of America’s winter wheat land, which, in addition to Missouri and Kansas, includes the states of Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana and North Dakota.
Winter wheat, planted in November in Missouri and Kansas, is harvested in June. It grows best during the winter, covered by a level of snow that is of adequate depth to protect it from cold while allowing the seeds to sprout and mature. In the spring, the soil, moistened by snowmelt, becomes good planting ground for soybeans that are harvested in the fall.
When portions of a field are not growing wheat well because of not enough snow cover or continual rain, the farmers plant corn, Meyers said.
The Effertzes' farm is one of the largest in the area. It operates huge planters, fertilizer sprayers and combines. It recently got Global Positioning System (GPS) technology installed in its key field-working machines. This helps the farmers make the best field-by-field seeding and fertilizing decisions.
The farms employ 10 full-time workers and an additional six during harvests. The employees come back year after year, satisfied with their work.
Every spring, the Effertzes invite a priest from their local Catholic church to come to their farm and bless their seeds for the upcoming year’s planting.
After harvest, the Effertzes usually truck their wheat to a large commercial commodity buyer in Kansas City, Missouri -- usually Cargill or Bartlett Grain. They usually sell the grain in lots of 10,000 bushels (352.4 kiloliters). The brothers closely follow price fluctuations daily via the Internet, Meyers said.
Grain companies trade hard red winter wheat on the Kansas City Board of Trade. The exchange provides a "fair, efficient and transparent marketplace" for the commodity, said trader Greg O'Brian, who has served as first vice chair of the exchange.
If the grain is wet when harvested or the Effertzes think prices may rise in a few days or weeks, the grain will be held in one of seven storage bins with capacities ranging from 45,000 bushels (1,585.8 kiloliters) to 175,000 bushels (6,166.8 kiloliters).
As a part of the most productive agricultural country in the world, Effertz Farms has advantages. These include easy access to bank credit, which they use seasonally for machinery and seed purchases, the latest varieties of seed and pesticides, and large, modern equipment that they upgrade every few years.
The farms purchase seeds mostly from two large agricultural companies -- Monsanto and Pioneer. When they suspect they may have a problem in a field, a seed company specialist comes out at no additional cost to the farmers to examine the situation and suggest solutions.
Working long hours for months in such a profitable operation would seem to offer the Effertzes the occasional chance to take a vacation.
"But they don't take vacations. They're too busy," office manager Meyers said.
