WAHOO, Neb. (KMTV) — In farming, timing is everything. Right now it's prime time with harvest season in full swing.
It's a first experience for reporter Molly Hudson but for Doug Bartek, a corn and soybean farmer in Wahoo, these have been the sights and sounds of his entire life.
But with tariffs and increasing prices, this year has been a little different.
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Pass after pass, for hours a day.
"As a kid it was a lot more fun," Bartek said. "With harvest it's just kind of the culmination of the year, I always liken it to my report card."
Doug Bartek has already harvested hundreds of acres of soybeans. Thursday he was getting started on 1,000 acres of corn, as the rest of the beans ripen.
But it's all going to storage.
"We are based off the November futures, is what the soybeans are at right now, the next futures month is January, well there is like a 25 cent carry to the January, so that is the market telling you, 'I don't want your beans now, I will pay you to hold them'," Bartek said.
Soybeans can be stored for up to a year, but farmers like Doug still need to make money.
He's following his game plan from previous years.
"It seems like around Thanksgiving, time frame, the processors have kind of run through what they got in for soybeans during harvest and they start looking for beans again," Bartek said.
While tariffs are having an effect, Doug says it's more about the costs.
"We are getting about the same price we did a year ago, it's just our inputs are so much higher and it's just putting the squeeze on us that much more," Bartek said.
He's met with several international trade teams recently who appreciate the quality of American soybeans.
"I am hopeful that we will build new relationships or more relationships and I know they don't have the appetite China does, but every little bit helps," Bartek said.
It's an up and down journey that his son is now embarking on too.
"I get a lump in my throat," Bartek said. "He was probably 6 years old when he started running that thing and people think, how and I am like he's got this."
And this time of year his wife and daughter lend a hand.
"It kind of makes you forget all this other stuff and just concentrate and be glad and thankful for where we are at and what we have and just do the best that we can," Bartek said.
