Hans Schmitz watches as the soybean planter heads down the field Thursday morning in Posey County. His farm corporation is family-owned and operated, primarily working with corn and soy. This planter is operated by Scott Dougan.
(Tim Jagielo / WNIN video still)
Crops like corn and soy are going in the ground this week following tumultuous spring weather while looking ahead to a tumultuous global economy
The corn planter executes several operations at ones as it rolls across the soil — it creates a furrow for the seed, drops the seed, and covers is with soil, all with one machine. (Tim Jagielo/WNIN video still)
As the roaring corn planter advances down the field, Hans Schmitz kneels down to the soil. He prods the ground with a pocket knife, checking the depth of the seeds.
He finds the bright pink corn kernel among the brown soil.
“It's got that hot pink seed treatment on it, usually fungicide and insecticide,” he said. “That's going to protect it while it emerges, and usually a little bit after it emerges.”
Schmitz is one of the farmers in family-owned and operated Dutchman Farms in Posey County. On Thursday, his uncle Al Schmitz is operating the corn planter. They plant 30 to 40,000 corn kernels per acre and about 130,000 soy per acre. Concurrently, soybeans are being planted by Scott Dougan.
Planters, as an apparatus, actually do several actions at once to properly plant the seed. “You've got four to five different instruments there all in line, getting the row opened, getting the seed in, closing the row, and hopefully then we're putting it at the correct depth, uniformly and uniformly facing the seeds out as they drop into the furrow,” Schmitz said.
Spring planting started on Wednesday. This was the best week to start because among other things, the ground is firm enough after the wet spring for equipment to travel the fields without getting stuck.
It began raining again that afternoon and heavily on Friday, pushing further work until April 28 or so.
A wet spring has pulled them out to drought conditions, but also caused some erosion and damage to drain tiles.
Schmitz said wet soil can also cause sidewall compaction, making difficult the growth of roots, possibly depressing yields. Another drought can also come.
His corporation farms about 1,300 acres — not a massive farm, but their customers can be anywhere in the world thanks to the nearby Ports of Indiana Mount Vernon.
Hans Schmitz runs Dutchman Farms with an uncle and cousin. As a manager, he has to be wary of worldwide events that could affect the price of his commodities. (Tim Jagielo/WNIN video still)
Being a globally connected smaller farm has its trade-offs. On the business side they have to watch several things at once.
“Any global events affecting agricultural production will affect local pricing, and we always have to keep an eye on any potential ‘Black Swan’ event to occur. So one of the more recent black swan events that really affected pricing locally was when Russia invaded Ukraine.”
Both countries pulled their grain production from the global market increasing demand internationally, but also introducing volatility.
At best he said it’s effect is “neutral.” Trade Tariffs are a mixed bag.
“If you look at 145-percent tariffs on China, and China preparing to look elsewhere for soybeans, that has had a pretty direct impact on soybean prices right now.”
He said that’s not necessarily good for US producers, who he said are among the best producers in the world. Any restriction on top producers has a negative effect, he said.
Currently there’s a 10-percent tariff on all products entering the US, Mexico and Canada excluded. According to iGrow News, China, the largest overseas market for several U.S. crops, enacted retaliatory tariffs ranging from 125-percent to 135-percent on soybeans, sorghum, pork and dairy.
iGrow News said this has effectively closed the Chinese market to American producers, with U.S. soybean and sorghum exports to China falling by over 90 percent in early 2025.
On the soybean field, Schmitz again checks for soybean soil depth, while he’ll also have to watch the world economy and weather conditions ahead.
