2025 Crop Weather Challenges: Ohio Flooding vs Idaho Drought Impact

 

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[Yeager] Knee high by the 4th of July is old news, but there's still a mid-season crop check, right that we have to do. Well, that's kind of part of the market to market theme. This is the MToM podcast. So we're going to talk about the crops in long form with two of our farmers that we've already discussed and met this year. Jamie Kress is from Idaho. We're going to hear what's happening there. And we're going to start though in Ohio with Ben Klick. And I got to tell you, their stories can't be too much different than what you're about to hear. These are extremes of what's been happening when it comes to weather and agriculture and the crops that are for their region. We're going to hear firsthand. Ben's going to join us from the field where he's trying to spray, and Jamie is joining us where they're getting ready for harvest. We'll find out what crop, what's going on with their and how. Maybe we could figure out some type of pipeline to ship water from one to the other. That would be ideal. But this is the full discussion. We did a cut down version of this on the TV show last week, but this is the extended version we're going to hear a little bit about mountain biking from Jamie. It's a fun little story, and I've got video to prove just how extreme they are. New episodes of this podcast come out each and every Tuesday. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We are on Spotify, we're on Apple Podcasts. We're also on YouTube in video form or a website of market to market.org. Let's go to the field and find out what's happening with Ben and Jamie. All right, Ben, it's green grass behind you. I'm guessing green grass is kind of easy to find in your area.

[Ben Klick] Yeah, yeah, actually, if the camera wasn't so fuzzy, it's actually green soybeans with grass in it that is, hopefully starting to die as I just finished spraying this farm, with my first post past, on this soybean farm. Man, what a year. I, I don't even know how to describe it other than you just kind of scratch your head and, you know, you call you, you drive around, you talk to your neighbors, and you're all in the same boat. So they should feel a little bit better after you drive around and look at what you got out of your back door, and you're on your own personal acres. But what, the way to go to my wife. Over the weekend, as we were cutting the wheat there, over 40th July during the nice stretch weather we had, was I just feel like it's just this year that you're just never going to get ahead. We're just going to continue to be behind. and then before we know it, it'll be harvest. And before, you know, it'll be Christmas. So yeah.

[Yeager] Well, when we last talked in the spring, you were feeling behind already then? because rain had hit and rain wasn't so much that it was so heavy, but it was ill timed. Am I remembering correctly?

[Klick] Yes, yes. And, you know, at that current time, the weather was just unseasonably cold. We always get some cold stretches through April and May, but, May was one of the coolest on record. wasn't necessarily overly wet like it was plenty where. But it was just cool. I mean, we had, we had some later frost that actually affected our week a little bit as we got into harvest, you know, get set up for the weekend, but, my grandpa, great grandpa, used to joke about if you have thunder in February, you'll have frost. And so we had some thunderstorms here in the winter months. So, apparently that still holds true to some later frost.

[Yeager] So that's a new one. That's a good wise one.

[Klick] Yeah. Yeah.

[Yeager] What is an average planting completion date for you?

[Klick] So if you would have asked me when I was in high school 15 years ago, we were always done by the, you know, first half of May. And then it just seems like our seasonal patterns have shifted. at least here in our part of the Eastern Corn Belt. And if we continue to be done by Memorial Day anymore, we we usually feel pretty good. We always get a decent early stretch. Then it gets wet for a few weeks and then usually the third week of May is like go time and you bust everything in and, you know, 7 to 10 day window, and then you finish up some double crop beans after a or something like that near the 1st of June. In a way you go, but, kind of the same, similar pattern this year. Got started in April there, the last week of April with burned down and we got, you know, all manure and all those sorts of things and, and, got some nice warm weather and got some corn and beans planted. And then it went wet for two and a half weeks, which again, we're kind of used to that. Right. So not too worrisome, but it was just unreasonably cold. It's really cool. Temperatures in the 40s and, 30s. we actually planted in there, which I still joke about that it was snow, but it wasn't snow. But it's cold enough to where it should have been snowing. so. And then, we got, like it said, rained out there quite a bit through the month. But then we got a very fortunate a good stretch weather at the end of May and into the first part of June and got done there. By June 4th we finished corn and soybeans, including our custom, custom stuff. actually, the One Wetter farm is typical of the land that we planted there. The 1st of June was the driest that farm's been in a long time. Which was a nice surprise, but that corn in particular, right after it got planted there two nights later, had 3.5in of rain on it. And I believe, it's anticipated on trying to maybe go replant some, but I wasn't able to get back in that field to the 21st of June, to even post it with the post, the corn. And even at that point, the response I had to go around and do my best sprayer. It's just been, it's been a whirlwind, you know, like last year, we kind of joked of, oh, man, this, you know, things are going too good for the year. it was a nice, you know, spri

ng went good. Summer was nice, man. These are nice. And then Mother Nature said, well, I'll just, hold my beer and wait till next year. We'll show you what fun looks like. Right. So, but, just, you know, one of those years where we just. Yeah. I don't know how to describe it, but it's very, very much so that way across a lot of this eastern part of Ohio, I actually knew guys that were still fighting corn a week ago. Dairy guys north of me, not too far, trying to get corn finished up. They need, obviously for silage. If I drove by too far this morning that I prevent planted that didn't get planted. So, there's a decent bit of that in spots. So it's. Yeah, I don't know how else to describe it. I just keep your head up.

[Yeager] Your corn, then, is anywhere from around you, not necessarily yours, shin high to head high? Is there anything that's tassling?

[Klick] Yeah. So the very first corn we planted there, the 24th of April, is right at that stage. We will apply fungicide to it next week. And actually, as we speak, my father is inside dressing some V7 corn. That was the last we planted. And there's also corn that you can still, you know, see the ground, that was, you know, planted here two weeks ago. So, all over the place. That's what we kind of talked about this morning as, basis levels here locally and continue to creep up, kind of prices drop in corn. The corn demand is still been fairly decent here for the local feed ethanol plants and such, but, I feel like harvest is going to be very drawn out. You know, when my system works in the grain elevator space that we talked over the 4th of July weekend is a birthday, so forth. So her and her daughter come up. You know, we had a family time there weekend there between we got the stuff and she asked me what I thought, you know, wheat harvest is going to be like I said.I said, Cami, I feel like we harvest is going to be just like all of harvest. I feel like there's going to be a good start for some early guys, and it just going to drag on for a decent bit, at least in the itself.

[Yeager] Well, let's expand on your wheat. I think you said 160 acres of wheat. What did you think of how it came out?

[Klick] I tell you what, very, very pleasantly surprised for the amount of rain it had. and obviously any, any disease pressure. We could have expected this was the year for with, with the cold, wet and then warm and wet and humid. Right. So, fungicide, fungicide applications. Definitely more than pays for themselves in wheat. From the way we've hauled in and been tested, mon levels are well below, worrisome levels. Test weights are down a little bit. Test weights are probably off, 4 or 5 pounds, a lot of 54 to 57 pound wheat when you're used to, you know, 59 to 62 pound wheat, but yield yield was surprisingly well, I know some guys I've talked to a lot of 80 to 100 pound wheat which for this year guys are very, very tickled with, so the quality was obviously going to be a concern, but, I think this was a year that guys definitely that maybe we're on the fence about spend the money in the timely factor. If you want to put the fungicide on wheat, I mean the smaller operators, I think that's definitely, definitely it showed up like, hey, I think I need to do this now on so.

[Yeager] We opened, discussing that that's not necessarily grass that you want behind you. It's supposed to be beans, but let's update what does the bean crop then look like?

[Klick] Yeah. I tell you what, Paul, I am pleasantly surprised how good the beans look and disappointed how poor the corn looks for how it's handled all the moisture. It's at, and similar farms grain, similar single all types plant dates are about the same. But the beans have managed a lot better through the warm, wet temperatures. In the more enhanced corners. It's very uneven. The stand is there and all. That's fine, but just a lot of wavy up and down. Several different growth stages on in areas that are drowned out or, you know, got water away in the supports behind. So, but beans look very good overall. Just been able to get in here, you know, two weeks buying a brand new initiative. It's great two weeks ago. But even as today I got a little rain two nights ago and, I got some mud on my tires as I'm sitting here talking to you that I normally would not have, you know, the into the second week of July.

[Yeager] So, what would be an ideal finish for you here? What would the rest of July and August need to be to get you where you would be able to sleep a little better this winter?

[Klick] Well, this year is going to be interesting because I got I probably told you, my wife is due with our second daughter here about three weeks. So we got a lot, a lot to get done. So hopefully Mother Nature is listening to me when I ask her to cooperate here going forward. But, you know, I if I get a good day to day spraying, you know, two days to finish, both spray and beans and then, we didn't get all our corn top drafts with the ground and ground bar before it got too big. So I actually have some parts and pieces, in the shop, we're going to switch the sprayer over and try drop tubing nitrogen with the sprayer on a couple hundred acres of corn. The way to get done. So that'll be a new experience. So, probably got 3 or 4 days of that to do with this thing. If the weather cooperates, then obviously get back into start fungicide on soybeans here. So that so I got a couple weeks in the sprayer. So that'll take me right up to, right up to the birth of a little girl here so that hopefully I can breathe a little bit and that hopefully is that.

[Yeager] What happens if it all of a sudden becomes 98 degrees every day?

[Klick] Yeah, that's going to be, that's going to be an interesting one, especially as I'm spraying Liberty. And obviously I don't know if you can see one behind me, but it's not an overly great liberty spring day here. We're cloudy. It's warm and cloudy. So, there's a lot of that. Well, it should be okay. So we can't, you know, we're going to go out and do our best at it today. So I only have a couple farms with the Liberty, the spray, ethanol, the switchback sprints. And the less fine, but just. Yeah, it's, I've never seen an attitude across the area farmers have just like. Well, it's going to be what it's going to be. We got to get done what we can and just hopefully laugh about it. And hopefully they turned out okay. But, it's just been a continuation of hold my beer to watch what happens next with the weather tonight.

[Yeager] So you mentioned the basis is improving. I wish I could say you have good prices to fall back on.

[Klick] Yeah, yeah, that's definitely been, been a little a little disheartening, as obviously as I joke with my counterparts and friends at farm and the great ice states out there where you reside. And I said, hey, why don't you guys, like, get dry or something for a couple of weeks? Help us reach help us. We gained some market access. You know, I said, it's great that you guys have a good crop. You know, my one friend, northwest Iowa there that we talked to. He's got the greatest start. He feels class ten years to his crown, which is fantastic. Obviously. But it's not fantastic for us here in the East that are struggling. So it'll be really interesting to see what happens. You know, obviously we'll watch projections and, you know, yield trends. You know, they come out every year since early on earlier with, you know, for Jackson here and, you know, after that July report or whatever. So I, I don't know, I think obviously, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, those guys are the, they talked you out there. That's obviously a good crop. Some good starts. And again, I know they deserve it. They've had some pretty rough, rough weather out there, so I just hope it, I hope they don't flood our market with, with corn over this weekend, so I know there's gonna be a lot of bushels moving this year, especially at the Eastern Corn belt and the eastern seaboard struggles like we have been with, with, you know, moisture or late planting or, forget plant acres or whatever it might be.

[Yeager] So I'm not trying to make a headline here, however, is this one of the most challenging years you've had as a farmer?

[Klick] You know, I, I turn I'm not old by any means. I turn 30 here in a month. So, you know, I've been farming 15 years. You know, I've had skin in the game for 15 years here. This is my most challenging personal spring we've ever had. And I know I talked to my dad, and I talked about a little bit. This is probably one of the most unique and most challenging he can recently remember. And I'm, you know, I'm sure there's been other years that were challenges obviously, as well. But, you know, we don't want to ever wish right away we don't pray right away. but it is obviously kind of interesting. We kind of joked about last year, obviously we were in a drought situation, but at least in a drought you can go do whatever you want. You know, you drive, you spend more time driving around looking for dry ground farms. And luckily, the technology I have today with, you know, different apps and stuff to track rainfall. So it's kind of nice, but I'm just kind of nervous about if we get to there talking about some good rain chances yet here this week for us. And, if I get my spray down, it's which over the weekend to go to the spray and I don't like driving blind into a field for not knowing where a wet hole might be that I don't want to. I don't want to. I have, I have my friend, a friend of mine with a bulldozer on stand by the big long chain if I have to. But hopefully it does get to that point.

[Yeager] So, you know, if he comes, you're never going to hear the end of it.

[Klick] Oh, no. No, it'll be plastered all over Facebook and social media pictures of myself. I'll be like, some of those, some of those guys you see on Facebook. And then they put the beans in the voiceovers in there in the spray or sideways or upside down or whatever, you know. So I know, I know, it's been a while. We had, I think it was summer of 2017 or 2015. We had a wet July for wheat harvest, and wheat harvest was delayed on that. We actually got to come unstuck in the wheat field that summer. but that was, it's not that wet. And the wheat fields, luckily, the weekend, that hot, hot weather really helped dry things up. But I at least got the wheat off. But now we got 120 acres of straw land. And we got to figure out how to get it baled. But we actually got a passing shower this morning. We were going to go rakes right today, but we got a passing ten minute shower this morning. As I was getting my daughter ready to go to the sitter's, I was like, oh, well, there goes that plan for today.

[Yeager] So, well, I was going to ask you about the hay situation. Yeah. The straw. And I mean, if anybody's trying to put alfalfa down, I can't imagine that that's been a very successful endeavor.

[Klick] No, no, no, even, like, the, the dairy friends that I mentioned that were, like, planning there, you know, they had taken advantage of the decent weather we had in May and they were making, you know, rye or alfalfa or chopping that, you know, for feed stores. Right. So and they always plant their corn a little later just for chopping purposes. But, meadow, you know, June, late June, July, it's just, it's a little, a little late for their, for their standpoint, some planning board. But actually, I had a Snapchat from a friend of mine this morning, farmers in central Ohio, they do a lot of custom chopping and that he was side dressing some more. And it was like before that they planted near here probably ten days ago. So it's very much so that way all over the state of Ohio and even in Pennsylvania, but overall, I guess we'll see how the crop comes. Harvest handles excess water versus, not enough water. I know last year, with water early, the corn was very pleasantly surprising. Beans, suffered like dry. But we'll see once the weather pattern continues to be look wet or wet enough to keep crop obviously going and stuff and, and, you know, as long as the, as long as we continue to eat, I think the crop will move along just fine. It's just going to be kind of ugly to look at the spots for the rest of the summer. So.

 

[Yeager] Yeah, the end of July, there's still that talk of we're going to turn that heat way up and not too much of a good thing that could help you right now would not make it fun for you in early August.

[Klick] And that's why I made the comment earlier. I don't want to wish rain away because. The root system in this corn is just non-existent. And that's what worries me. It's it's point, it's bigger. And obviously we don't have the necessarily, the derecho and all those windstorm scares as much as you guys do out west, but we still do get a lot of severe storms. As I just sprayed around two downed trees that fell here on this farm. So, so that is worrisome as we get it. I know I, we've had the past where you get some gooseneck corn and lay down from a shallow root system and stuff. So, you know, I guess at this point, it wouldn't surprise me if something happened. You know, I guess you get into a year where just, it just seems like it's just a continual. It's just always a continual challenge. And it's just one you can look back on it. I hope that I can joke with my daughter someday. And that is to be born here in a couple weeks, and, well, never forget that you were born, you know, so.

[Yeager] It was the one dry day and you had to arrive.

[Klick] That's right. Yeah. That's right.

[Yeager] So it goes. All right, well, Ben, congratulations on the pending birth of your daughter. And keep the smiles up. That's really all you can do.

[Klick] Yeah, I tell you what, I got it. I got a great, great support system. My wife and all throughout that, it's, it's practice years. It's still working and run around with a two and a half year old toddler that is bouncing off the walls in all shapes and forms, all hours of the day. She still hold things down and we're, you know, still running late nights and all over the place so that that is the biggest blessing, out of this year for sure, that she's been a she's a great support system in everybody's keeping a pretty good attitude. You know, like I said, we always joke because at one point you just laugh because it's just, you know, you just gotta you don't spot to just be bad. So you.

[Yeager] Send your dentist the bill for the whitening of the teeth because, you know, I mean, you're going to be showing them off.

[Klick] Yeah. That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right.

[Yeager] All right, all right, Ben, thank you so much. Good luck the rest of the way.

[Klick] Thanks, Paul. Good to talk with you as always.

[Yeager] In talking to Ben, he has one story, Jamie. I'm pretty sure yours is the other. Is that about right? Is it dry there?

[Kress] It is. So dry. And I. If I had to guess, if Ben and I wanted to split my drought and his issues with too much moisture, there would be a farmer somewhere in between that wouldn't have a story to complain about. 

[Yeager] Well, in Iowa, we're about halfway between the two of you. So yeah, there's plenty of them that are fine. Right here in this little section, which means it's not a big widespread area. So things were looking up in the spring with moisture. But you had that feeling didn't you, that it wasn't going to last.

[Kress] I knew we were in a difficult place because we did not have a ton of extra moisture banked in the soil profile, which meant that we really needed that typical or typical to above average type rainfall. And we've had the absolute opposite story. So in April, May and June, which are May and June, be the most critical for me. But April, May and June this year we had 1.5in of rain in those three months. And for me, I need an average rainfall is 5.5in. So I know for some people listening or watching, you know, 5.5in during April, May and June, it's not huge, but that in my world would make a crop. So it's been really frustrating. Like we've talked about before, like we talked about last time, it's the nature of farming. The weather is what it is. and you work with it. but it's been rough to watch because all the crops did look pretty good, you know, in May there was so much potential there. So it's been hard to watch, but. 

[Yeager] And as I think we said before, optimism is the farmer's greatest attribute. And you had it, but you had I'll put guarded in front of it. So, the planting, everything went in fine. Any delays?

[Kress] Yes. No. No delays. It was good planting. Everything was, you know, more or less smooth. Probably the thing in the back of the mind where you knew it, it might not be great was we had some fields that we needed to reseed. They had been planted into winter wheat. They emerged, one field in particular, you know, maybe about an inch, inch and a half tall. And it died. It died before the snow came last fall. So when we, this spring, looking at that, obviously we need to reseed it. And in April, we were kicking up a dust cloud with the drill in a no till field. So, you know, we we went right back in without disturbing that soil and, still had that, that issue self.

[Yeager] that was what has to be frustrating right. Yeah?

[Kress] Yes.

[Yeager] Okay. So the picture I saw, from your husband and maybe June or maybe late May you did you still have hope then?

[Kress] Yes. And that goes back to the farmer optimism, right. There was still time. If we would have had good rains in late May and even early June, those would have been money making rains. We still had time at that point to make up some lost ground. So absolutely right. It would have made a difference at that point.

[Yeager] If it rains two inches over the next three days, what does that mean for you?

[Kress] If it rains two inches over the next three days, it means that I might have some moisture to plant into for next year's winter crops, and we'll start seeding those late August. If there's moisture there.

[Yeager] That's not going to save anything.

[Kress] Not at this point. But, I mean, it can't hurt, right? Well, I shouldn't say I was going to say, if you're a farmer, you always will take the rain, but that's actually not the story.

[Yeager] That's what Ben said. That's exactly what Ben said. He. He says, I can't say I won't take the rain because he knows the opposite.

[Kress] Yeah.

[Yeager] So does that mean, I mean, so winter wheat. What did make it is, has been harvested or is about to be harvested.

[Kress] So in our world where we're at right now, we're about 7 to 10 days out from harvesting. So I think it'll be about July 20th when we're really kind of moving in earnest. Right now, the combine’s ready to go, the green beans are all cleaned out, the air tubes are set up. We're just kind of in that waiting pattern. Actually, my husband's in the sprayer today. He's making sure he's on the farm.

[Yeager] I think he was last time we talked, too.

[Kress] He's always doing something. So he's on the fallow. I think I told you how we have to fallow our ground every two out of five years, it needs to take that break to recharge moisture. So it's important. While it's not planted that we're managing the weeds. So that's what he's doing today before he's too busy with harvest is he's making sure that anything that is fallow right now is really nice and clean. It'll help it be ready also to plant, later this fall.

[Yeager] What are you thinking for yield on that wheat?

[Kress] Oh, your guess is as good as mine. We could probably make a game out of it. So you asked about the crops and what? How things are looking, what made it, if you will. And we have been really fortunate. Although the moisture situation hasn't been good, what has been good is the temperature. We were very fortunate to make it through May and make it through June without too many hot days. So if we can get through, you know, till the end of June without being above 85, 86 degrees, that's ideal growing conditions for us. And we more or less did that. So that was kind of a gift for Mother Nature to offset the drought stress. At least we didn't have stress from having that heat come on too fast. So, the things that look best are collectively, if it's a crop that was planted into fallow, there's more water for it there. So all the crops, you know, of varying types, they look best on our farm right now, if they had a fallow period last year, and higher elevation things look better. and that goes back to it's just a little bit cooler up there for us. So we've got a mix. I'll tell you when we report this winter, I bet I can tell you I had fields that maybe only did 20 bushels to the acre, and I bet I saw other places that did the 60 or the 70 that I would much rather see.

[Yeager] Well, I guess I should ask, you know, I should have said, what's the percentage of average here? I mean, so like 20 would be basically a 30% field for you.

[Kress] yeah. Or the field I'm thinking of in particular, it's prone to freezing. It's down low. Okay. So that one, if it went 40 I would be happy. So going 20 would be about half.

[Yeager] Okay. Still not great. no. You're real about it. Yep. so. Okay. Wheat’s one thing. What else do you have planted and that you're watching and is there anything yet to be harvested this summer?

[Kress] Yeah. So, we've got canola. We have winter and spring canola. That will be the first crop that we'll start with cutting. And then we have the winter wheat and spring wheat. We have chickpeas. And then we also have the camelina little test plot. It seems to be coming along fine. It's very clean. We kept it nice and clean. I was worried about weed trouble. But it looks good as far as we know. We won't know till we put a combine through it. Obviously. Exactly what we have, but it's been a fun experiment, if you will. So far. So what we'll do, harvest wise, is we just start wherever it's most ripe, and it's going to take us five weeks. We have one machine, a small crew of our family, and we'll just slowly work through what is most ripe and most critical to get through. That's in front of us. It will take, you know, another 2 to 3 weeks to have everything ripen anyways. So there's that little bit of natural, things aren't all ripe at the same time because of our elevation. And then you factor in, if it's a spring crop or winter crop, etc..

[Yeager] So which it does put stress on you, of course, but it does spread out some of that schedule. Right is what you're saying.

[Kress] It does. And it makes it doable for us to do with the one machine and the skeleton crew. Right. last, last fall or. Sorry, last summer, right before our harvest, I kind of just had a moment with myself, and I said to my husband, this is a marathon where we sprint the whole time. So it's, you know, you start out on that day one, and it's fun and you're exciting, but you're excited, but you know that there are five weeks in front of you, and every minute counts.

[Yeager] So if it if you sprint, if you sprint the marathon, does that mean you finish it in like two hours instead of the, you know, is that how that works? Or an hour like the Olympians?

[Kress] That would be great. I think what it means is harvest takes five weeks instead of eight, I don't know.

[Yeager] Yeah, yeah. And it doesn't matter. Chad Bell is a guy that I talked to in this same format a couple of years ago. And his wheat, he was ready to combine it, today. Really with as we record this, he had, like a 2.5in rain come last week. right at the end. And he's just like, I have no idea what's going to be out there when this rain is done. And so that's the stress that all farmers go through is like, you can get all the way, see the finish line and the finish line evaporates.

[Kress] It is. And it's just like all the things in agriculture. And I think like we've talked about, Mother Nature is in charge. And so in agriculture we have to do everything that we can within our power to keep moving along and to get the work done. Because Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate. And so that smart use of time and that aggressive, my mom called a little bit of calm aggression that we have during harvest. it's important because you really do get frustrated when that storm rolls through. If you lose crop, if you lose quality, there's a lot to be gained by getting after the hustle of harvest.

[Yeager] You and Ben are using the same talking points of using Mother Nature and how how that's in control. Okay. Well, tell me, so late July. August, what are your weather? You mentioned heat you don't like to have here before it, so I'm guessing it gets hot now. oh. Yeah. What is our storms potential? Does that happen in June or July and August?

[Kress] Yeah it does. So weather wise right now our high this whole week is about 97 degrees. Plenty warm. And we will have and we actually like it when the time is right. We'll get a monsoonal flow that comes kind of out of the Gulf. It feeds, feeds a lot of that water from south of us up into our region. And we can get, you know, inches one, two, 3 or 4in throughout the course of the end of summer on a good year. And that's what helps us when it's time to plan to get again. Kind of like I mentioned when you said, you know, what would you think of two inches? Well, I'm looking at some. That would be great. So we do rely on that monsoonal flow to get us some late summer rain, but it comes in the form of thunderstorms, so I'm getting hail. a lot of wind with, like, thunderstorm outflows. And that will shatter canola pods. So then you'll have, you know, the seeds on the ground be lost. So all of those typical weather related factors that rain comes at a price this time of year.

[Yeager] Have you been off the farm at all policy meetings or anything like that?

[Kress] Oh, we've been, yes.

[Yeager] How, where have I not been is what you're about to say.

[Kress] You're making me realize that I'm a little more tired than I should be going into harvest. Because I had been off the farm, going back to me, my husband and I had a very unique opportunity to travel with us. Wheat. We went on a board team to North Africa and Portugal, and that was just amazing. It was very eye opening, very exciting. We were proud to represent the American farmer on that trip. So an example is that Egypt specifically is one of the world's largest wheat importers, a net wheat importer. There's a lot of opportunity in Africa right now, and a lot of, even in this probably speaks to my ignorance. While there's that need in those emerging markets, there's actually a lot of very developed consumers that are looking for quality wheat quality milled wheat, and they're making some high end products as well in the North African area. So very neat opportunity to talk to our customers there and keep that relationship, strong and vibrant. Obviously, the United States isn't always the first place that a North African country or Portugal is going to go for the wheat product, but that's part of what U.S. wheat does, is continues the customer support and maintains the relationships so that when the opportunities align, were in place to to provide that wheat to those regions. So that was incredible. very grateful. Our college son came home within hours of us taking off on an airplane. So we we turned the farm over to him. He shipped out a lot of canola while we were gone, held down the fort. It was terrific. But, that took up a lot of our month of May. It was. It was about two weeks at the beginning of May that we did that. and then I've had so many, many meetings and places I've been. I've spoken at the Idaho Water Users meeting in June, we've been in Minneapolis with Wheat Foods Council. We've done a handful of things with our own State of Idaho organization. So we've had a busy summer. And then to top it off, because we can't hold still long enough, we took a minute over the 4th of July and made sure to leave with our kids. This time, and went mountain biking as a family in British Columbia. And that definitely is more play than work. So we appreciate those times with our kids.

[Yeager] I guess I didn't ask where you had gone mountain biking, but British Columbia, yeah, the terrain was beautiful on that video you showed me. That is fun. And again, it is important to have it. It's like those who might sit at a desk or sit somewhere to just have a break. From what, the day to day. Is it does a make you appreciate the main job that you have, but it just kind of resets the mind. At least that's how I view it. And I think it sounds like you might view it that way too.

[Kress] Yep, that's exactly it. And we learned to prioritize when our family was young. The importance of stepping away from the farm. So, you know, I'm talking to you right now from my office, which was placed right in the middle of the house, not far from the kitchen. And, you know, the main shop is a few hundred feet down the driveway. Our kids have been raised in the middle of a business. And so even when we're home, we are at work and we try and be mindful of that. But at the end of the day, to be able to take us as a family, all four of us off the farm and like you mentioned, you, you can rejuvenate. And we especially love, you know, being in the beautiful environments of where we choose to mountain bike. And then that physical exertion, we're kind of wild on mountain bikes and kind of because we, we like we like the adventure. But when my husband and I talk about it, it really is the type of mountain biking we do. You're not thinking about anything but staying alive, kind of, you know, how your body is balance, where you're directing your bike, how you're leaning and placing things. Your mind can't do anything but ride the bike and it is terrific because I'll tell you, after about 2 or 3 days of doing that, I don't care about anything. it's I'm not waking up in the night remembering things I need to put down on a piece of paper so I don't forget to deal with them. I'm. I'm happy. And then, just like when our kids were small, they absolutely love having the undivided attention of their mom and dad outside of the home. So, yeah, we have a lot, and we prioritize big trips.

[Yeager] The balance is important, family is important, and to be able to put those perspectives. And yeah, it is stressful. They know it. They know they know things are going on. They know when it's only an inch of rain over a six month or a, you know, two month period. So yeah, to have that away, that's that's good. So when we talk, this winter, there will be, I'll keep an eye on the forecast. But looking at the drought monitor for, for your part of Idaho, it the colors keep getting the wrong way for you. So let's hope that switches soon.

[Kress] Yes. Yeah, I would love that too. The pattern is such that we're in a dry spell for a little while, and I think just like we've always talked about, we'll figure it out. Yeah, whatever.

[Yeager] I do.

[Kress] Whether nature brings. It'll be all right.

[Yeager] All right. Jamie, good to see you. Thank you so much for the time, I appreciate it.

[Kress] Yeah. You bet. Thank you.

[Yeager] We'll check back in with the two of them come this winter. Find out how things all turned out. We don't know how things are going to turn out, but we do know we'll be back next week with another installment of the Mt. Lompoc podcast. We'll see you then. Thank you for making this a part of your internet experience.