Field Notes Checks Crop Progress with Kansas Farmer Neitzel

This week, the National Corn Growers Association continued its ninth season of Field Notes, a series that takes readers behind the farm gate to follow the year in the life of American farm families. While these growers come from diverse geographic areas and run unique operations, they share a common love for U.S. agriculture and the basic values that underpin life in farming communities.

Earlier this week, Field Notes caught up with Lowell Neitzel, who farms near Lawrence, Kansas. Cold, wet weather has hampered planting progress and could potentially impact the crop he will harvest this fall.

“We are about 300 acres away from completing corn planting. Usually, by this time, we would be done and pretty heavily into soybean planting,” said Neitzel. “We have gotten two rounds of rain that both lasted multiple days, and everything is saturated almost beyond belief. And, we were already way behind.

“We didn’t get started planting until the 15th or 16th of April. Mother Nature dealt us an unfair hand, but we are playing the cards we’ve been dealt.”

During the time out of the fields, Neitzel has had time to work on his record keeping and to spend extra time with his family before field work monopolizes his time.

To listen to the full interview and learn about how his family, from his children to his father, all work together on the farm, click here.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks as Field Notes follows the growers who have opened their farms, families and communities up this year and meet the true faces of modern American agriculture.