soybean field

John Heisdorffer - Keota, Iowa

Farm: John grows corn and soybeans and raises 10,000 hogs on his farm south of Keota. He and his wife of 41 years, Deanna, have two daughters and one son.

Heisdorffer’s patch of sweet corn is looking good this year and is already tasseling as a result of the ample rain and sunshine in Iowa. He gives away much of his sweet corn crop to family and friends.
Heisdorffer’s patch of sweet corn is looking good this year and is already tasseling as a result of the ample rain and sunshine in Iowa. He gives away much of his sweet corn crop to family and friends.

June 30, 2014—This week, we are starting to spray our beans. We always put down something early for grass and weeds, and that’ll be the final herbicide treatment for the year.
All the rain we’ve had is challenging because the weeds in the soybeans are getting pretty tall. When the weeds are bigger, we have to use more herbicide, but we always try to use as little as possible to reduce herbicide-resistance.
Our goals this week are to make some headway on the bean spraying. This heat and little bit of rain has really got them growing, and of course, it’s got the weeds growing, too. Another goal is to get an electric fence around my sweet corn patch. Otherwise, the raccoons will get it while I’m gone for the American Soybean Association meeting.
The sweet corn looks good; it’s going to be fantastic. We plant a quarter of an acre of Roundup-Ready sweet corn for personal use – it’s just a friends-and-neighbors type thing.
We are also hoping to get some hay made this week, though we don’t have much. I don’t have any cows, but my son does, so we usually mow waterways and bale them. We haven’t been able to do that yet this year, so it’s getting time to get that out of the way.
There’s not too much going on right now. We’re cleaning up equipment and putting that away, like we always do after planting. I have livestock, so I’m looping back around to do the hog chores that I put off for a week or two when planting was going strong.
In the future, we’ll get these beans sprayed, and then we’ll probably come back and spray some of my corn and some of my beans with fungicide.
Photo: Heisdorffer’s patch of sweet corn is looking good this year and is already tasseling as a result of the ample rain and sunshine in Iowa. He gives away much of his sweet corn crop to family and friends.