By Mark Parker
investing in farm, family and future
Rick Baldwin has always regarded crop insurance as a safety net. In 2012,
though, it was more of a life raft.
“When the yield monitor is showing the moisture content higher than
yield, that’s pretty bad,” he says. “Our corn was 12-13 bushels per acre.
Without crop insurance, it would have been absolutely devastating.”
Luckily, that kind of year doesn’t roll around very often at Little Otter
Creek Farms near Holliday where Rick farms with his son, Jacob. Every
year seems to offer some weather challenge, though. This year it was too
much rain that pushed planting later and later. Although yields held up
surprisingly well, the Baldwins are always aware of the potential for yieldcrushing weather.
“We have so much invested,” Rick notes. “Crop insurance is peace of
mind that you can stay on your feet and live to farm another year.”
The Baldwins turned to FCS Financial for crop coverage after being audited for the 12 years including and preceding
2012. In the end, it actually worked out in the farm’s favor but it convinced Rick of two very important things — keep track
of all your settlement sheets and have the best provider you can find.
Since 2012, that’s been FCS Financial.
“I talked with Jessica Hamill and I asked her a bunch of questions to find out if she knew what she was doing,” Rick
recalls. “She’s sharp as a tack and we’ve been very happy with the service we receive. Jessica and FCS Financial have done a
great job for us.”
The Baldwins raise corn and soybeans in a 50-50 rotation, storing all of their corn and as much of the soybean crop as
they can get in the bins. Some of their corn goes out every month to the Poet ethanol plant at Macon, of which they are
members. They also operate a contract 6400-head hog feeding facility.
The cropping enterprises are moving more and more toward variable rate fertilization as well as incorporating precision
ag techniques that pay for themselves such as automatic row shut-offs.
Their hard work, investment, and commitment to their family farm are all worth protecting and, for the Baldwins, crop
insurance from FCS Financial is an integral part of managing the risks today’s farmers face.
working together
Getting everyone on the same page is a critical
component of commercial farm production. So
first thing, every morning, the whole crew at
Stefan Farms near Golden City gets together to
make plans for the day.
“We communicate all day long but we want
to get the day started with everybody on the same
page,” explains Mark Stefan who farms with his
father, Paul, and brother, Doug. “To be successful,