Your Partner in Farming

We are looking to partner with landowners and retiring farmers in Carroll, Cass, Clinton, Howard and White Counties in north central Indiana for opportunities to expand our acres.  We are also looking for farmers looking to make practice changes to expand our custom farming opportunities.  If you are interested in seeing your investment farmed with a focus on Improving soil health, we would like to speak with you.

Located in northeast Carroll County, we are a multi-generational family farm which holds the Hoosier Homestead distinction.  We are dedicated to producing an excellent crop, committed to the land we farm, and the community we live in.  We donate, support and participate in multiple community organizations.

• Competitive land leases (we currently have leases ongoing for over 50 years)
• Flexibility for retiring farmers (timing of payments, contract structuring, ect. (for tax purposes)
• Farming practices to promote weed control, fertility, and improved soil health
• Transparency of data collected on your land (soil test, tissue test, microbial test, yield maps and application data)
• Minor infield tile repair
• Roadsides managed how you would like
• Snow removal for you during heavy snow events

• Soil Testing - we pull 1 acre grids on a 3 year rotation in the fall.  We also pull some more comprehensive soil test in season to compare what is going on in the soil to what is going on in the plant.
• Tissue testing - we pull as many as 6 weekly tissue test each growing season in a field to better understand how the plant is able to access nutrients from the soil.  We use this information to adjust our fertility program to be as efficient as we can while driving for improved yields.
• Microbial Testing - We have invested in and can now test ourselves for microbial biomass and fungal to bacterial ratio.  This lets us create a baseline for a field and helps us to evaluate how are farming practices are impacting the biology.
• Carbon Intensity (CI) Score -We are working through getting a certified CI score for our 2024 crop.  The estimated standard score of 29.1 would represent a conventional tillage farmer using standard rates of fertilizer without the use of cover crops.  Our current estimated CI score for our farming practices is -2.9 

We capture data for every pass across the field

• Strip-till pass - fertilizer rates and cover crop seeding
• Planting pass -hybrid, population, closing force, applied down force, good ride, speed, singulation, spring, SRI, clean furrow, furrow temp, furrow moisture, CEC, OM along with row by row control of infurrow and 2x2x2 application.
• Application data - products used, rates, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction
• Field Health maps - we receive field health imagery from a couple of sources to help monitor and scout fields.
• Yield maps - we capture yield maps as we run the combine to bring all of the data together to improve our farming practices and decisions.

We use Fieldview, FBN, Granular Insights, John Deere Operations Center, Continuum Ag, and YMS  to measure and analyze the effectiveness of our practices, products, and how efficient we are doing them.

Our farming practices could lead to additional income opportunities for our partners.  The specific details for what is available is different for each field.  We will work with you to see if you could quality to take advantage of them.

• Carbon Credits - There are several options with carbon credits.  The biggest opportunity occurs when farming practices change.  This includes going to reduced tillage, reduced fertilizer, or cover crops.  We are currently working with a company that allows for a short term contract so we can keep our options open as this market evolves.
• NRCS, USDA, and other agencies - There are funds available from these agencies to help with the transition to reduced tillage, fertilizer reduction, and cover crops.
• Future Climate change opportunities - with a focus on climate change companies are looking to reduce their carbon footprint and marketing this to customers.  We are working to educate ourselves in this area and will bee on the leading edge of any opportunities that may come forward due to our farming practices.

The first opportunity could be section 45Z credits

• As influenced by the August 2022 passing of the Inflation Reduction Act, ethanol and other biofuel producers can earn substantial tax credits for lowering the carbon intensity of their fuels, Section 45z now assigns a direct value to a Carbon Intensity Score. This transparency allows growers to securely monetize their farm data by attaching its value to a farms production.
• Section 45Z allows sizable tax credits to ethanol plants who consume low CI grains. The tax credit value to an ethanol plant is estimated to be $.054 cents per CI point below the industry estimated standard CI Score of 29.1.
• Currently, grains contribute to about 50% of the carbon intensity of a gallon of biofuel. Farmers who reduce their corn’s CI Score below 29 are being sought after and paid for their low carbon crop and the data associated to prove the score.  
• Approval details are still being finalized by the IRS, however; it is anticipated that the majority of these premiums will be shared with producers. Sustainable sourced, “low CI grain” puts farmers in control and keeps an equitable balance of reward for carrying the risk.