AI Summary
5 min readIn September 2024, the state of Iowa recorded its wettest September on record. For farmers Will Cannon and Paul Gilsman, that meant corn standing at 24% moisture and fields too saturated to enter. Both men farm in southeast Iowa, and both serve on the Iowa Corn boards—Cannon on the Growers Association side (advocacy and policy) and Gilsman as the new president of the Promotion Board (checkoff-funded research, education, and market development). Their conversation on Barn Talk covers the psychology of trying new practices on the farm, the long game of building soil health, and the patient work of opening international markets for American corn.
The Psychology of Innovation: Trying It On, Not Trying It Out
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Episode Open & Host Banter** - Hosts Torc and Sawyer discuss wet weather delaying harvest and introduce guests Will Cannon and Paul Gilsman.
- 2 (05:16) **Paul's Origin Story: From Hogs to Cattle** - Paul Gilsman recounts his family's exit from the hog industry in 1998 and his transition to row crops and a British White Park cattle herd.
- 3 (08:51) **The Next Generation: Drone Tech** - Paul shares how his 17-year-old son became an expert in ag spray drones, seeding cover crops and flying fungicide applications.
- 4 (13:59) **Will's Origin Story: First-Generation Full-Time Farmer** - Will Cannon describes his path from a small family farm to full-time farming, starting with buying equipment from his teacher father and renting the home acres.
- 5 (17:00) **Bleeding Edge: The Cost of Innovation** - Will and the hosts discuss the reality of being an early adopter, including failures and the lack of available information when starting new practices.
- 6 (20:56) **The Conviction to Try: No-Till & Strip-Till** - Will explains his motivation for adopting no-till and building his own strip-till rig, driven by a desire to reduce erosion and improve yields.
- 7 (23:33) **The Value of Off-Farm Work** - Will explains how his 10-year career at Ag Leader Technology gave him a massive advantage by exposing him to the most progressive farmers and new ideas.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
You can't out-yield your way to profit anymore, so Will Cannon is chasing margin with 2 or 3 bucks an acre of homemade compost instead of $40 an acre of bugs in a jug. Two Iowa corn farmers came to the barn this week: Will, an Iowa Corn Growers director from near Prairie City, and Paul Gieselman, president of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, from near Morning Sun.
Will has run cover crops on 100 percent of his acres for about 18 years. He has seen 0 to 10 bushels back from his compost, and 50 on one tough spot. Paul got out of hogs in 1998, farmed on his dad's money for 10 years, and went out on his own in 2008. Today he runs just under 1,000 acres and 25 British White Park cows. And Japan is now the number 2 buyer of American corn, behind only Mexico.
Then Paul said the hard part out loud. He has watched a lot of his equity drain away, and if either of his boys came home today there would not be room for them. He doesn't figure he'll be the one doing the consolidating. He figures he's the one getting consolidated. Will sees the other side: the biggest handoff of farm assets in peacetime history, and real opportunity 5 to 7 years out for young guys who stay patient.
Also in this one: the wettest fall either of them can remember, why cattle belong back on row crop ground, the USDA fertilizer hearing in Ogden, E15 in NASCAR, Brazil's 90 million acres it hasn't farmed yet, and what the checkoff actually pays for.
Put it on just enough acres that it's a little painful, so you pay attention to it, but not so many it hurts you long term.
What are you trying on 40 or 80 acres next year? Drop it in the comments and we read them.
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THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
● Iowa Corn ➱ https://www.iowacorn.org
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Two guests and a harvest stuck in the rain
05:02 Out of hogs in 1998, farming on Dad's money
06:19 2008, buying the gear and going out alone
10:53 Why he runs British White Park cattle
13:18 A teacher's son goes full time farming
14:25 The bachelor farmer who handed over his acres
19:12 See us at Gateway Farm Expo and HayCon
20:58 A homemade strip-till bar for a couple grand
24:08 No paid-off land, but no ghosts either
27:01 Try it on enough acres that it hurts a little
29:34 You can't out-yield your way to profit
34:01 Do cover crops actually pay?
39:34 The resident hippie's homemade compost tea
41:57 $3 an acre vs $40 of bugs in a jug
45:25 Putting cattle back on row crop ground
48:23 $4.75 a day for hay out west vs stalks here
53:53 Stuck in the first 2 acres of harvest
58:22 How two f
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