The Incredible Logistics Behind Corn Farming

This is Bancroft. It's a small Iowa town composed of a grocery store, a bank, a liquor store, hardware store, office supply store, flower shop, hair salon, medical clinic, bed and breakfast, funeral home, trailer manufacturer, whiskey distillery, gym, baseball field, city pool, nine-hole golf course, two gas stations, two restaurants, two feed suppliers, two car dealerships, 346 homes, 699 people, and that's about it. Bancroft more or less nestles into a single one-by-one-mile square, and it's surrounded by eight other one-by-one-mile squares—fields full of corn and soybean. Six squares down, there's another town, Burt. Six to the west, it's Lone Rock, then six more, and there's Fenton. This consistent human distribution is reflective of these towns' common cause. They're farm towns—their economy is the fuels that envelop them, it's the crops they grow, and so their spacing is dictated by the amount of people that these fields that separate them can reasonably provide for financially. 974 of these squares combined represent Koseth County. Of those, a full 355 are dedicated to the cultivation of soybean, while even more—475—are used to grow corn. Therefore, this county, as large as the country of Luxembourg, uses some 85% of its area for the singular purpose of growing these two crops. The reason why is because Koseth County and its neighbors are powerhouses in the world of agriculture—crucial food production resources not only for Iowa, not only for the United States, not only even just for North America, but for the entire world. For a farmer living and working, say, here, a four-mile drive outside of Bancroft on an average-sized farm, the process of feeding the globe, supporting the American economy, powering the local community, and providing for their own families start anew every spring, when they sit down at the kitchen table, flip to April in their calendar, and decide exactly when and exactly what they're going to plant. Now, of the 23,195,000 acres planted in Iowa in 2021, 23 million acres were filled with soybean or corn. It's a safe bet, in other words, that, come April, this farmer will be planting one of these two major cash crops. Deciding what to plant, however, is not simply an either-or proposition. Considering that all this land has been planted with corn in years prior, and that events in other corn-producing regions of the world has this farmer feeling bullish on its immediate prospects, it's likely that they'll pass on soybean and go with corn. But that's only the start—now, the farmer has hundreds of viable seed hybrids to choose from. Selective breeding over millennia and genetic modification in recent decades, after all, are what transformed corn from this to this—a crop packing enough energy to power combustion engines and America's meat industry alike. They're also what have allowed per-acre corn production to skyrocket over the past century, as breeding for increased yield, disease resistance, and drought tolerance have pushed bushel-per-acre yields to levels pre-war Americans could never have even imagined. For this average Iowa farmer on this average Iowa farm, though, it's not the past that matters, but the future, and to ensure they're making the most of the growing season, they need to nail their seed selection. 99% of corn grown in Iowa isn't the type you eat fresh off the cob—it's field corn, or the type that goes on to make ethanol in other parts of Iowa, or feed livestock in Wyoming, or sweeten drinks in Georgia. And still, the options are endless when it comes to field corn seeds. Some hold up better in dry years, others in wet years. Some produce stronger stalks, others produce larger ears. Some fare better when planted in untilled soils, others require only minimal fertilizer. Ultimately, though, informing which seed a farmer chooses largely comes down to one all-important metric—average yield—the number of bushels each acre can produce. So, to figure out what will make the farmer the most bushels, and therefore the most money, they start here, with the Iowa Crop Improvement Association's performance test. Now, considering Bancroft's less than 30 miles or 50 kilometers from the test site in Corwith, that the towns sit in the same ICIA North District, and that they both occupy the same soil region made up of loamy Wisconsin glacial till, it stands to reason that what works in one spot will work in the other. Grabbing the farmer's eyes first, then, are likely these Legacy and DeKalb seeds, which in 2021, a record-setting year for statewide yields, performed well above the state average of 205 bushels per acre. Yield is the most important metric, but it's not the only factor influencing our farmer's choice—the corn's use, the seed's price, the farmer's past experiences, and brand loyalty all inform that final decision. Given that DeKalb's hybrid performs so well in an environment so similar to Bancroft's, and given that Arndorfer Bro's seed, conveniently located right here in Bancroft, just so happens to sell DeKalb seeds, all things being equal, it makes sense that this farmer bought the DeKalb 5299RIB or something like it. Or perhaps not—perhaps the farmer considered the weather outlook for the coming year and went a different route. You see, while billions of dollars a year are invested in the creation of these hybrid seeds, and, in turn, billions a year are brought in by the crops these seeds produce, critical junctures of the process revolve entirely around the farmer's informed and well-tuned intuition. 2022, for example, is a La Nina year—a year where the winter has been cold and damp, and a year where cold snaps, above-average moisture, and extreme weather events are bound to continue through spring and summer. Perhaps, then, our farmer, considering the higher likelihood of above-average rainfall and potential flooding, went with a hybrid seed better suited for damp conditions. Such weather not only informs what is planted, but when it's planted, too. Using Iowa State extension estimates, and assuming our farmer is aiming for maximum yield on their land, seeds for 395 acres will cost $49,000, while running planting machinery another $4,500. If the farmer plants too early and loses the crop to a late frost, they're effectively out $55,000. Seed-selected, weather-considered, and risk-accounted for, sometime during the last week of April and the first of May, our farmer attaches their 16-row planter onto a tractor, sets the attachment's row width and seed depths, fills the fertilizer hopper, and sets out onto the field. For a few days, machinery that's valued in the mid-six figures will get its only use of the year. In the coming weeks, as spring gives way to summer, the cornstalks will begin to bolt skyward, and the work will continue. A poor planting strategy can ruin a farmer's season, but that doesn't mean a perfect strategy will result in maximum yield, either. Throughout the growing season, from the end of spring to the beginning of fall, much can go wrong, and much hangs on the farmer's ability to adapt. While no farmer, Iowan or otherwise, can control the weather, generations of agricultural Americans have done their best to exert at least some agency over the environment. In Iowa, the most obvious sign of this pursuit is the ever-present, but easy to overlook, drainage ditch. While humble in form, these cuts into the countryside are critical, and our farmer just northwest of Bancroft knows it. Take Mud Creek, for example. For Bancroft golfers on Hole 2, it's a likely landing spot for an errant drive. For travelers leaving Bancroft on Highway 169, it offers a brief change of scenery. For our farmer, though, Mud Creek serves as insurance. You see, while the western US cut ditches and built dams to grow crops in the desert, Iowans cut ditches to grow crops in wetlands. In Iowa, it's not the lack of rain that makes farming hard, but it's abundance. For our farmer, Mud Creek is the lowest point on the property, and while it may cut slightly into their acreage, the creek, along with the subterranean tiles and pipes, drain excess rainfall from the field and insulates the property from crop-killing stagnant water. Without proper drainage, in a worst-case scenario, sprouting seeds drown, topsoil runs off, and mud keeps the farmer from even inspecting the damage. In the best-case scenario, without drainage tiles running below their field, a farmer's yields will be hampered when the first rainstorm washes away the crop's fertilizer, and along with it, the farmer's yield. Beyond keeping excess water away from the growing crop, the farmer must also make sure that the plant has easy access to needed nutrients to ensure quality yields. Beginning when planted with a starter fertilizer, then reapplied throughout the summer depending on the seed and soil conditions, a mix of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are applied to maximize the plant's growth. In such ideal growing conditions, though, corn stalks aren't the only thing growing on the farmer's field. Along with proactively applying nutrients as the crop matures, the farmer also monitors the arrival and spread of weeds and pests. Neither fertilizers nor pesticides are cheap. According to Iowa State's estimated costs, at a per-acre rate, nitrogen is more expensive than the seeds it supports, while applying pesticides requires additional machine hours or employing a pilot to spread the product from above. And yet, the farmer wouldn't dare cut corners at this stage, as these products are some of modern science's most successful forays into standardizing, overriding, and protecting against nature's inherent chaos. And so, our farmer further extends themselves financially as the corn stalks extend themselves vertically. With the summer behind it and fall weather setting in, it's finally time for our farm, and all the farms of Iowa, to begin capitalizing on all their work. But exactly when this happens is not down to the farmers, it's down to the weather. This massive industry collectively waits in the wings for the world to deliver a long enough stretch of dry days to allow the harvest to begin. And this doesn't always come easy. In 2018, for example, Kozuth County received more than double its average precipitation at the start of fall, which made it difficult to get the crop to its necessary level of dryness, and impossible to get large farm equipment into the fields without getting stuck in the mud. This slowed down the harvest considerably, and the county saw its worst corn yield since 2014. Even a day of weather months before can sway the success of the harvest. In 2020, Iowa suffered an extremely severe August derecho storm. The high winds it brought damaged the crop, pushing stalks of corn into a severe lean. This leaning crop condition, referred to as lodged corn, makes it difficult for combine harvesters to capture and process all the plant, leading to lower yields. Therefore, immediately after the storm, local and regional agriculture organizations started publishing information on how to adapt standard operating procedures to this widespread damage. Many farmers took their advice to buy a special attachment for their combine heads which helps prop up lodged corn. Iowa State's Integrated Crop Management Program also recommended harvesting from the direction to which the crop is leaning, lowering the combine head more than typical, and operating at a lower speed. They even added a suggestion that farmers call a dedicated 24-7 stress hotline if needed—acknowledging the degree of mental and emotional impact a less than stellar harvest can have on farmers. Given the tiny margins in the farming industry, difference between an upright and leaning crop can mean the difference between a profitable and unprofitable year given its impact on yields. But regardless of field conditions, the combine harvester's job is the same—it's to take in the crop and process it down into the grain by itself. Now, the combine harvester is an incredibly influential piece of machinery. It is single-handedly responsible for much of the progress made in food supply and cost over the past century. What was once an exceedingly manual process, involving a huge swath of laborers picking and processing the crop primarily by hand, now occurs in a matter of seconds with a single human operator. The combine's head orients to a certain height above the ground using a sensor, and the entire machine auto-steers using another sensor that follows the line of corn. Meanwhile, the snouts feed the crop to a pair of downward-spinning rotors that pull the plant through a narrow gap where the ears of corn, given their wider shape, get caught and pulled inward by gathering chains. Then, the ears are pulled in further by augers to the feedhouse, and fed through a cylinder that throws the plant back into a series of mechanical processes that separate the grain from the chuff—the unusable part—and by the end a series of augers and paddles pull the corn kernels themselves up into the combine's tanks. As the combine harvests, a tractor with a grain cart pulls alongside it and the combine lets out its arm and delivers grain into the cart. Once full, the tractor drives away while the combine continues harvesting and heads to a waiting semi-truck pulling a far larger grain trailer, in which it deposits its load. The process repeats itself until the trailer is full, at which point the semi-truck drives the couple miles into Bancroft. Now, a common landmark across nearly all of Iowa's small farming towns is each community's grain elevator. These are absolutely critical pieces of infrastructure for the region's economy. Bancroft, indicatively, is operated by the regional farmers' co-op, State Line Cooperative. Upon arrival, a probe is placed into the grain trailer to take a sample of the corn. That sample is inspected and tested for its moisture content—it has to be below 15% to assure mold won't grow during storage, which is especially important since it'll be mixed in with other farmers' crop. Simultaneously, the truck is weighed to determine how much corn is being delivered. Then, it pulls forward and a door beneath the trailer opens to pour the grain through a grate below. Finally, a bucket belt carries the grain to the very top of the elevator, where it gets deposited into the storage bin. Now the farmers have two primary choices for what happens next. They could sell their crop immediately to the co-op, in which case they get paid based on corn's current market rate. However, during the harvest season, market rates for the widespread shortage of grain storage capacity. Therefore, if farmers can store the corn, they often do. Bancroft's grain elevator charges $0.05 per month per bushel for the first three months, then $0.04 per bushel per month after that, but this cost is typically well worth it. During 2021's harvest season, for example, market prices were about $5.50 per bushel, but by spring 2022, they were up to $7.50. The grain market is a global one, and so ebbs and flows in supply and demand around the world influence how many trucks roll through Bancroft's streets to pick up a load from their grain elevator on a given day. Once that day does come, though, if it's not going to a nearby processing facility to be turned into livestock feed or ethanol, chances are good that a truck in Bancroft is starting a trip three hours east to La Crosse, Wisconsin. There, it unloads at a small grain elevator on the banks of the Mississippi River run by Cargill—one of the largest companies in the world which, among other food-related functions, holds about 25% of the US's grain export market. Once enough product is aggregated, it's loaded into a series of barges which are then lashed together and propelled forward by a tugboat. The tug orients the barges south, and then begins a massive 15-day journey through 19 locks and 1,500 miles or 2,400 kilometers of river. This transportation method is propped up by the fact that grain is not a very time-sensitive product—in its dry form, it's hardly perishable, and given the huge quantity shipped simultaneously, few ever have a pressing need for it. Therefore, this exceptionally slow system of barge transport works fine, and it's certainly the most competitive in terms of cost. Shipping a ton of grain all the way from St. Louis to New Orleans typically costs less than $20 on a Mississippi River barge—far less than by truck or rail. In fact, a major reason why America's Corn Belt is such a competitive agricultural region is its access to this low-cost means of transportation via the Mississippi River. Other growing areas of the world, confined to high-cost truck or rail transport, just can't compete against America's industry. The destination for all these barges is New Orleans. Its prominence as a city has always been and still is linked to its position at the end of America's most important navigable river. There, the barge from La Crosse arrives at Cargill's massive New Orleans facility, where the grain enters yet another elevator. Aggregated with the annual output of countless other farms, the corn is next loaded onto a large, ocean-going bulk carrier ship. And then finally, the bulk carrier navigates through the final twists and turns of the Mississippi River, enters the Gulf of Mexico, and begins a weeks-long journey to wherever the corn market's demand dictates. One reason I was excited to cover this topic is because I knew I could get all sorts of spectacular footage of the cornfields of Iowa from our stock footage provider, Storyblocks. Quite literally since the very first window of our video, they've been the first place we go to find footage, which is why I'm so excited that they're now sponsoring us. As you might know, most stock footage providers are focused on corporate contracts with massive media organizations, so when an individual creator comes along they charge them hundreds of dollars per clip. Storyblocks, however, is made from the ground up to be the provider for creators. 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