Farm tour features irrigation, mint, seed corn, management strategies

The 77th annual Indiana Farm Management Tour, featuring four farms with different irrigation systems and a variety of specialty crops, will be held June 23-24 in LaPorte and Starke counties.

The two-day tour, hosted by the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, the Purdue Department of Agricultural Economics and the Indiana Farm Management Association, will cover farm management topics from seed corn production to energy use in grain drying systems and from logistics, data and information management to surface and subsurface water management.

“It’s really a unique opportunity for farmers and others in the agribusiness industry to step into a working farm and learn about their management strategies, the challenges they face and what they are doing,” said Alan Miller, Purdue Extension farm management specialist and tour coordinator. “Farmers can ask questions, bounce ideas off each other and Purdue specialists, and take a few ideas home and maybe even implement one or two of the ideas on their farm.”

The tour is free and open to the public; however, pre-registration is requested for individuals who plan to participate in the dinner on June 23 or the lunch on June 24. Pre-register by calling 219-324-9407 or 888-EXT-INFO by June 18. The price of each meal is $5 per person and is payable on the tour--credit cards are not accepted.

The first stop of the tour will begin at 2 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. CDT) at Wappel Farms, located at 8835 W. Indiana 10 near San Pierre. Wappel Farms, specializing in mint production since 1988, has been instrumental in negotiating production contracts for the mint oil industry. At this stop, tour participants will learn about mint production, the equipment used, and how mint is marketed through brokers to end users. The Wappel’s will produce about 800 acres of mint, 2,600 acres of soybeans and 2,600 acres of corn this year.

At 4 p.m. EDT (3 p.m. CDT) the tour will stop at Schafer Farms, located at 18687 S. 875 West near LaCrosse. Schafer Farms grows green beans, cucumbers, seed corn and commercial grains. They also have a beef cow-calf component of their operation.

At 6:30 p.m. EDT (5:30 p.m. CDT) the tour will move to the Pinney-Purdue Agricultural Center, located at 11402 S. County Line Road near Wanatah, for a tour, dinner and evening program.

The evening tour will highlight irrigation research, as well as mint production research. The evening program, “To ACRE or Not to ACRE and Other Decision-Making in the Wake of the 2008 Farm Bill,” is a panel of experts that will be available for questioning. Experts are Chris Hurt, Purdue Extension agricultural economist; Roman Keeney, Purdue Extension policy expert; and Carl Schweikhardt and Marietta Kendall, both program specialists with Indiana’s Farm Service Agency.

“This is a good opportunity to get your questions answered and get clarification on anything you may have heard, but are not sure on,” Miller said. “Hurt will be able to give a price perspective and Roman will be able to talk about whether it will pay off more than it will cost. It’s not just a program focused on ACRE, but anything that is new to us because of the 2008 Farm Bill.”

The second day, June 24, will begin at 9 a.m. EDT (8 a.m. CDT) at Lawrence Brothers Farms, located at 0101 E. 200 North in Knox. Lawrence Brothers Farms grows seed corn and mint and contract finishing pigs, using the manure nutrients for the cropping system.

The last stop on the Indiana Farm Management Tour is Abbett Farms, located at 11701 W. 1800 South near LaCrosse, at 11 a.m. EDT (10 a.m. CDT). Abbett Farms is a large, innovative farm involved in seed corn, specialty crops like tomatoes, and aviation. Also included at this stop is lunch and an ag outlook by Hurt.

“This is a unique area of the state,” said Gene Matzat, Purdue Extension educator in LaPorte County. “At one point the land here was not even thought to be suitable for agriculture. The sandy soils in northwest Indiana, especially along the Kankakee River, tend to be droughty in the summer but an aquifer with abundant water for irrigation has made the region a prime area for producing specialty crops.”

More information about the tour is available at http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/extension/programs/farm_tour.asp . The tour flyer and map is downloadable at http://www.agecon.purdue.edu/extension/programs/FT_files/FMT_2009_Flier.pdf . Contact Miller at 765-494-4203 or millerwa@purdue.edu for questions and additional tour information. Matzat and Michael Reetz may also be contacted for information about LaPorte and Starke counties at 219-324-9407, ematzat@purdue.edu or 574-772-9141, reetz@purdue.edu , respectively.

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