Eastern Iowa Farmer Fall 2021

a big year
Taking a long-term view
A combination of
increased world demand,
rebounding commodity
prices and favorable
area weather is adding
up to a good year for
Eastern Iowa farmers
BY Nancy Mayfield
eastern iowa farmer
In early August, Dennis Campbell
leaned against the concrete footing
where a grain bin would be
constructed in the near future. The
structure, a replacement for one destroyed
in the derecho 12 months earlier,
represented both a nod to the hardships
of the previous year and the promise of
better days ahead.
Low commodity prices had been plaguing
farmers for several years when crops,
buildings and other equipment were damaged
by the storm’s powerful, straightline
winds. Further hardships were caused
by COVID’s negative impacts on agriculture,
including supply chain problems and
lower demand because of closed restaurants
and schools.
“How quickly things have changed,”
Campbell said. “A year ago, Aug. 10,
corn was at $3.25. I thought, ‘This too
shall pass.’”
And it has, to some extent, with higher
commodity prices and decent weather
fueling better times. The average price
of corn this past August in Eastern Iowa
was about $6.25 a bushel. Beans were at
about $13.30 a bushel, compared with
about $8.70 a bushel the same month a
year earlier.
Such is the cyclical nature of a
farmer’s life, said Campbell, who hails
from a six-generation farm family in
Grand Mound.
While Campbell, like other Eastern
Iowa farmers, has seen a lot of ups and
downs during his decades in the business,
this year economic factors and Mother
Nature are working in their favor.
“Our industry, crop production, is
the first step in a multiple-prong cog
of industrial production. I’m a factory
manager. My factory is much larger
than most. It doesn’t have a roof. Most
of the raw ingredients that I need don’t
show up in a timely fashion. It doesn’t
rain when I want it to. There’s too much
wind. There’s too much rain. There’s not
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70 Eastern Iowa Farmer | Fall 2021 eifarmer.com
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