Eastern Iowa Farmer Fall 2021

a big year
Moving forward by
‘thinking outside the box’
When Mike Schmidt,
right, faced a labor
shortage on the farm
last fall, he put his
10-year-old son Kale
to work operating the
grain cart. It worked
out well as Kale was
attending school
online.
Eastern Iowa
Farmer photo /
Trevis Mayfield
s
m
y
a
e
n,
s.
After a year of setbacks, farmers such as Mike Schmidt have regrouped and
emerged stronger than ever. In his case, rebuilding and repairing grain bins
damaged by the derecho, bringing his young son into the fold, and using
technology have prepared him for a good harvest and brighter future.
BY jenna stevens
eastern iowa farmer
Driving down the backroads
outside of DeWitt, it is hard
to miss the 500,000-bushel
grain bin structure sitting
just off the highway. This
massive storage system makes up one of
the main components of a family business
started more than 20 years ago.
Like many of their neighbors, the
Schmidt family was hit hard by the
derecho that came through the area in late
August 2020. When the calm finally came
after the storm, the family had extensive
damage, especially to their grain bin,
which was thankfully almost empty at the
time.
“It made me sick to see what had
happened,” said Mike Schmidt, one of
the partners of Schmidt Ag Services of
DeWitt.
“I phoned our millwrights, the guys
eifarmer.com Fall 2021 | Eastern Iowa Farmer 49
EasternIowaFarmer_Fall2021.indd 49
9/15/21 10:23 am