Maximizing the good, minimizing the bad
Paul Echternacht raised some 240-bushel
corn last year — his best crop ever.
Unfortunately, lower prices meant it did not
rank as his most profitable crop ever.
“I’ve been farming long enough to
appreciate the good times but you have to
be aware that they come and they go,” the
northeast Missouri farmer observes. “Even
though we shoot for a bumper crop, we have
to keep in mind that profitability is about
more than yield.”
Understanding the dynamics of
agriculture is one of the things Echternacht
appreciates about working with FCS
Financial.
“They know how a farmer’s economy
works,” he explains. “Any time I’ve needed Paul Echternacht
help they’ve been willing to work with me. I’ve been with FCS Financial since the early ‘90s. Jack Glover, assistant vice
president, in the Macon office has been great to work with. I limit debt to the extent that I can but you can’t operate without
access to credit.”
Echternacht focuses on making the most of inputs. On the family farm near Leonard, he’s been using ryegrass as a cover
crop, drilling it into corn stalks in the fall and terminating it in the spring prior to drilling soybeans into the biomass.
“It’s worked well,” he says. “The cover crop has helped on some weed issues — especially the winter annuals — and it
does protect the soil.”
Echternacht uses on-farm storage to facilitate corn harvest, he’s upped his planting population in recent years to 29,000
seeds per acre and he’s converted less productive land to grass.
About half the soybeans he raises are sold in the fall for cash flow purposes and he uses forward contracts to try to
optimize the sale price of the remainder.
As a board member of a new generation cooperative, Premium Ag Products, Echternacht also grows non-GMO soybeans
for sale to end-users. That, too, is a way to put more value in his crop, although, it can also be challenging.
“We provide high-quality, identity-preserved crops,” he explains. “It has been a tough business at times but I’m optimistic
about the future.”
Echternacht and his father, John, also have an 80-cow, Angus-based, commercial herd. Calves are sold after weaning
and Echternacht puts up all his own hay.
And when there aren’t crops or cattle to tend, there’s work to do in John’s welding shop, both custom welding and
repair ing their own equipment.
The Echternacht family includes Paul’s wife, Leslie, who works off the farm; son Brandon, a heavy equipment operator;
daughter Rachel, a student at Truman State University; and son Jason, a high school student.
“I enjoy the diversity of farming,” Echternacht concludes. “You do have to take the good with the bad — but you do all
you can to make the most of the good and minimize the bad.”