Latest / AG Bull / AG Squawk with Davis Michaelsen | NEIL DENTON | KENTUCKY FARMER

Transcript

AG Squawk with Davis Michaelsen | NEIL DENTON | KENTUCKY FARMER · AG Bull

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: When we think farming, we can get a little Midwesto centric.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: We here at Ag Squawk try to bring voices in from all over the nation and from all corners of agriculture.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: And toward that end, today, we're talking farming in Kentucky.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: From behind the big blue, bodacious microphone of Ag Bull, your pal Davis Michelson, the handsome newsman.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: Glad to have you along here for Ag Squawk in the afternoon.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's going to be a great show today.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: I've got Kentucky farmer Neil Denton on the line.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: He's in transit, but he's uh he's agreed to take a little time out of his busy travel schedule today.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: He's probably looking for a for a little little respite from what he's been doing.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: We'll get the we'll get the full download.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: We'll give him a chance to vent if he needs to.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we're here for that.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: We're here for that.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: I'm glad you're here for it as well.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: But we're gonna we're gonna talk farming in Kentucky, see uh see what the what's the deal with his operation, how how things may differ.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: Because I'm an Iowa boy, you know, but as as I understand, Kentucky is is a Native American word for we grow crops too.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: Pretty sure that's what Kentucky means in in some language, somewhere.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe we can find out from that too.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_03: May I encourage you first to visit agbull.com for our premium site there if you're interested, 855-737 Farm or AgBull.com for more information on that.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: Let's let's talk the tale of the ticker.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna jump right into it here.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: Corn and soybean futures were on either side of unchanged today, with corn under pressure and soybeans posting mild gains.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: Winter wheat futures were fractionally to a few cents lower in early session trade.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: Meanwhile, nearby feeder cattle futures were higher, although deferreds and fat cattle futures were under light pressure to start the day.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Lean hogs sharply lower early in the session.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: Rounding into the lunch hour, corn was on session lows around five cents lower.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: Soybeans had dipped two to three cents into negative territory, and KC wheat futures extended early losses.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: Feeder cattle still mixed with fats stable just under unchanged, and lean hogs continued to press lower.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: Tough day for the lean hogs.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: Around lunchtime, they were two and a half to almost three dollars lower in most contracts.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: Let's look at our settlements here.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: I've got December corn today settling out at 4.48 and three quarters.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: That's down six and one quarter cents.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: The March down six.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: The May down six and a quarter.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: The July down six cents as well.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: The dece at four forty-eight and three quarter.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: November soybean futures down twelve cents in the November contract, twelve twenty-nine and a quarter.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: The Jan down nine and one half cents.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: We got to start looking out to the January here.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: 1243 was the uh settlement there.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: We were lower across the board in the soybean meal and the soybean oil.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: And your winter wheat futures, the Chicago contract, December down five and three quarters on the day, settled out at six ten and a quarter.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: Over to the KC wheat, the KC was a little lower even than the uh than the Chicago, eight and a half lower on the December KC at 650 and one half.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: Over to the livestock, the uh feeder cattle.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we were higher in the in the front two contracts for the longest time today, and then it sort of started to spread out into the deferred.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_03: We wind up all the way out to the April here.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_03: Looks like we're higher the feeder cattle's October futures,$2.90 higher,$352.80.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: Let's look at the November feeder cattle futures, a buck 47.5 higher,$3502 and a half at settlement.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: The fat cattle were a little bit more mixed.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: The October contract, the only one that popped up above unchanged, just two and a half cents higher on the day.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: The December Fed cattle,$230.85 at settlement.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's down 35 cents on the day.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: And then there's the lean hogs.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: Never did quite recover, never quite got their hooves under them, you might say.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: December lean hog futures down 265 at 62.02 and a half.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: The February contract down 210 at 64.92 and one half.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: Let me just take a moment and thank plus 500.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Plus 500 T4 software is what my squad and I use every day for real-time quotes and a host of dandy features.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: Plus 500 T4 software, trust plus 500.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks to Plus 500.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: And with that, he's on the move.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: He's on the road.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: But we have capture Neil Denton from Denton Farms.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I thought we had capture, but the screen went blank just right at the end there.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: Neil, have we got you, buddy?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: There he is.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: Neil Denton from Denton Farms.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_03: Looks like he's driving through a tunnel right now.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: Are you?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And thanks for having me.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're glad to have you.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: No, I just well, you're you're out on the road chasing parts and doing a whole thing.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: You've had a whole saga just already over just today, brother.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes it works that way, doesn't it?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like it's always something in Farben.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a uh I got to have an adventure yesterday.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: We had a track failure on the uh combine, and I had anticipated that happening.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: The track got in bad shape, and I made a uh 14-hour round trip drive last night, got back at 4 30 this morning and found out I needed a uh fitting that I didn't have.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So now I'm on another drive to get that.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: So help me uh help me get my head around how you how you change the tracks on a combine.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: Is it like I've seen in World War II movies where they they break the track on the on the tank and you kind of got to drive off it and and then drive back onto the new one, and everybody kind of leans in and gets all muddy kind of a thing?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: So on the combine you have a uh basic uh hydraulic cylinder that tensions keep tension on the track, and a rubber track is like a belt that's that is molded almost like a tire.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you release the tension, you run a forklift in there and grab it off, and then you put the new set the new track on, it kind of fits in the sprocket and put the white back on the cylinder and you're good to go.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: It really isn't that bad.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: It sounds like it sounds like a rough deal to me, but uh you you seem to have the job in hand there.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: Once you once you get all the parts and the fittings all all collected and everything, I reckon.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: Talk to us, Neil, about your operation.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe you heard my my intro there just at the front of the show here.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm an Iowa boy, Grundy County, Iowa, grew up in the middle of a cornfield, and like I said earlier, we can get a little Midwest centric and just feel like, oh, well, only the only the I states grow crops and and raise livestock and whatnot.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, you're out in Kentucky.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'm curious to know about Denton Farms.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Start us there, buddy.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, see, these are the trials on the road.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's there you go.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, now we're circling.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: Now we're circling.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: I wonder if that's getting we're getting that on there.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, Jed's gonna try and get him back here and uh secured so that we can continue.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: Because I d I do want to know what's going on over there at Denton Farms, but he's on the road chasing down that fitting.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: I brought some news stories just in case, just in case this sort of thing might happen.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go here.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna talk about farmland.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: There's been some concern about foreign ownership of U.S.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: farmland.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_03: And I've got some numbers here from Farm Bureau.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_03: The share of foreign-owned U.S.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: land continues to increase.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: This, according to Faith Parham, Deputy Chief Economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, who says in 2024, foreign entities held approximately 47 million acres of U.S.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: ag land.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's up about 90% since 2010 and accounts for about 3.6% of total ag land in the United States.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: China represents less than 1% of foreign-owned farmland.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: China represents less than 1% of foreign-owned farmland.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: Farm Bureau notes Canada and Europe currently hold the most U.S.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_03: land.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm glad I got that in there.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's an important feature there.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Neil, I think you were just about to tell us about Denton Farms just a little bit, and uh and the uh the space shuttle I think flew between you and me, is what happened there.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's a lot different world than what you guys are used to in Iowa.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in the very far western tip of Kentucky, and it would be very similar to the Delta region of the south.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have extremely warm temperatures.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're in the mid-80s here today.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Our planting usually starts in March.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: We double crop here as you know, a lot of acres in Kentucky either go from wheat to soybeans or they go from canola to soybeans.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Here in Kentucky, we, you know, I think Midwestern guys always think of cutting their soybeans first and then moving to corn.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: But here in Kentucky, we start cutting our corn in August, and then like right now, most of the guys they're just finishing their early season soybeans that were planted in March and April and moving to their double crop acres now.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot different than what that your typical Midwest operation is like.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_03: Couple questions.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: Take me back to the tracks because you you mentioned that you you you suspected that you might have a problem.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: Were you able to get done with your harvest activities and then and then decided, well, I'm going to switch these out now, or was there a failure midstream somewhere?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, there was a failure midstream.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: So my farm's pretty concentrated, yeah, into a very small area.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: We don't track down the road a lot, but we were tracking down the road just a couple of miles, and on a pavement change, we hit that pavement change and it blew the uh belts out of the track.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we just had to pull the coal mine to the side of the road and change it right there where we were.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Percentage-wise, how close are you to uh to the finish line harvesting this?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say we're on the last 20%, so we're getting really close.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't I think we're supposed to have rain here Saturday, and I'm trying to push to finish before the rain, but with this, like unless I get my we have a couple of combines running in the field, but unless I get this other one up and running today, I'll probably be maybe one day away from finishing when the rain comes.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: Couple combines running out in the field there.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: That sounds like quite the operation, buddy.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: It keeps us busy.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you mentioned, you know, I uh let's let's go here.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: The novelty of canola strikes me just a little bit.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: I come from a very monolithic sort of place.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm in Kansas City now, so I see some different things, but uh but you must have a delivery point if you're growing canola over there.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Bungie Chevron a couple years ago partnered with Pioneer, Corteva, and Vitera, and they built well, they developed a genetic that was kind of modified for the southern tier, and then they built a couple of crush plants on the Gulf.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And right there in our region, you know, we have the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi, and then a lot of acres that have traditionally been double crop, and they situated their business in that double crop region, and then with the intent to ship that oil seed to those crush plants in Louisiana.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, when they first started the program, it started in a very small pilot area, but they've expanded it now, and I think they're trying to seek acres all the way to Evansville, Indiana, and as far maybe south as much as Mississippi.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: So pretty broad area they're trying to bring acres in from.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's uh I don't think they've successfully got as many acres as they would like to have in the program yet to feed those crushes, and they're having to import some, but their goal is to eventually, you know, get enough out of this region to to completely source for those crush plants.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: Let me ask you an unfair question.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you know the answer to this or not, but I guess I have I have somewhat of an understanding of how you know more standard row crops are are priced in the U.S.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: How does how is how is canola priced?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: How does how does that work?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have any idea?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the way Bungie Chevron is doing it, they have a you know, they have a board just like you guys are trading off of with your corn and soybeans, but then they offer the way they're positioning their contracts is you can contract a futures price, but then they offer you know they're trying to encourage people to plant the acre of canola.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: So they're offering a percentage-based contract where you can lock your futures in and then say you wanted to you're comfortable with that contract price of, say, let's just say it's$1220, they will allow you to just say, I'm gonna lock 100% of my acres in at$12.20.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm comfortable with that price.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless, if you grow 20 bushel acre acre canola or you grow 60 bushel acre canola, you wouldn't be penalized for not bringing enough bushels in there.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if as many as you can grow, they will price you at that price.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and it I think it, especially with this new crop, it makes people feel comfortable.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've never really grown canola before, I don't know if how good a job I can do with it or how many bushels I can actually grow on my farm.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it, you know, it kind of limits your risk in the crop where you can't be penalized if you're short bushels.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And from what I've seen, the you know, they rapeseed is also grown in Kentucky, and you know, rape won't quite yield what canola will yield.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: The rape seed up until this point has had better premiums than the than the canola has had, but the canola guys are offering a little bit more risk adverse contract with that percentage-based contract.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the people that have chosen to grow rape or canola have more trended towards canola to, you know, just because of that risk tool that Bungie is offering.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds like a a bit of a seller's dream there.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: If you're when you're talking about canola, if you're talking about, you know, you can get your price basically locked in.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: There's there's demand for it because we continue to have to import for it, and there's plenty of places that you can send it to locally.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: There, have you seen uh a dramatic expansion in canola acres?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: Or as you mentioned, you know, a lot of guys look at that and and it's it's a little bit foreign to them.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe they don't want to get you know too far over their skis on a new crop that they don't quite feel comfortable growing here.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: The the acres must be expanding, though.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're definitely expanding.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've heard the number bannered around that they won around two million acres into the program at some point.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think up until this point they've been able to get a little over 60,000.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this was their largest season that they've had.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think guys have been kind of reluctant to like, you know, wheat is huge in our we grow self-red wheat in our region.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hopkinsville, Kentucky is like the pancake battery capital of the world, and that's kind of like in the wheat belt of Kentucky.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so people have for years grown wheat, they're very comfortable in that crop.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: They know, you know, they know the risk.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh with canola, you have to have additional equipment, you know, you need uh different plates for your planter, you really need a top auger for your for your bean head or your draper head.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can't store the crop it ha without especially flooring your grain bin.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so because of those factors, I think I really think that Bungie felt like that they were gonna get a adoption faster than they were gonna than what actually happened.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Not to say that there hasn't been, you know, because there it there especially in a niche, it is popular already.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's a few guys that I know like have fallen in love with canola and are, you know, they're really pushing into the crop on their operation.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I think by and large farmers have been just kind of dipping their toe and kind of seeing what the neighbor's doing.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I heard the other day that they might actually see a fallback in acres, but I I kind of believe that if they were feeling like the acres were gonna be cut past below sixty thousand, they're gonna push their basis higher.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: More, you know, a more lucrative contract to entice people to plant.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: They've invested so much money in these crushes and the genetics, they can't allow it to fail.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it sounds like uh for a it sounds like for a guy that's set up to do it and maybe has has a a couple of seasons experience doing it, uh Neil, it sounds like it smells like money to me.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean I think if you know, if you're one of those farms that's set up with ample labor, you've got really good equipment lineup, you've got young guys willing to work on your place, I think it's a really good fit.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think if your operations kind of lean on equipment, and you're kind of lean on labor, you know, and I I think in that scenario, you're probably better off to stay away from it just because it's it is it's very time consuming to harvest.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: You really need to get on it fast when it's ready.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's not one of those things you can really allow to stand and set in the field for a long period of time.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, if if you're one of those guys that just can't get to a field really fast once it's ready, it's probably best off to leave to your neighbor.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: You mentioned mentioned labor there, and that's one of those topics that always piques my interest because I know that in in other sectors in other areas of the country, labor has been super hard to come by.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: How about in your area there?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: Can you find enough help?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's very extreme, you know, it's extremely difficult here.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And in our region, you know, there's a we're really close to Nashville, Tennessee, Clarksville, Tennessee.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, there's a also Calvert City, Kentucky, where a lot of uh really good plant jobs are.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so your skilled laborer is very reluctant to come back to the farm.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's because of the region we are in here, drug use is pretty rampant among like your lower economic status.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, like your traditional farm workers, it's very hard to find those people that aren't on drugs.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, our regions lean heavily into the H2A programs, either by South Africans or Hispanics, and that's how the people in this region have, you know, worked through the labor problem we have here.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine being that close to Nashville, you lose uh a fair share of guitar players too that go to Nashville.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_03: Is that uh take it as well?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: You definitely do.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: We have actually we have a a local young man that just got nominated.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they either no, I think they're group one, bluegrass vocal group of the year.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: So shout out to Authentic Unlimited.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he they big time in the bluegrass, and that one of their leads is right from my county here in Kentucky, so really cool.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: That's outstanding.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_03: I was just kind of kidding, but but apparently, yeah, they do bring the goods down there.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's uh we do.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: It really is amazing the amount of talent, musical talent that's here that comes out of Kentucky.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it is incredible.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like it, you know, your local venues and stuff always have just fantastic people that can play and sing, and it's a very culture-rich region.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never been to this far western area of Kentucky, it's you get, you know, you you wouldn't think you come to Kentucky and see get to see like the kind of like deep south, but that's kind of what it is here.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very weird region of the U.S.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to get too dark here, but I'm an inquiring mind.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: And back in in my hometown and the surrounding area in in central Iowa, it was methamphetamine.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: They just had a terrible time, and then they had to they got to where they'd have to lock down the anhydro.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: Hydris tanks and go through a whole a whole thing.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Is that meth that you're dealing with down there?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Methamphetamine's a big problem here.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're on some major trade routes from Mexico up to like Chicago.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and because of that, drugs run through the area, not only methamphetamine, but fentanyl as well.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and and what happens is it it comes into these regions on its way north to those big cities.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it just finds its way into our communities.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just been a struggle, major struggle here, really, for my, you know, even some of my earliest memories are I've lost a lot of great friends to it over the years.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's a bad deal.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: It really, really is.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, it's uh there I've seen uh I've had some friends with just terrific potential and just wonderful people who who have just been been ruined by this stuff.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: Don't do drugs, kids.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_03: Stay away from it, you know.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_03: Stay far away.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_03: Stay far away, as far as you can.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_03: Get you know, go out and farm instead.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: There's opportunity to be had out there doing that.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: You won't have time to do drugs if you're chasing combine tracks around.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, as long as we're on darker subjects here.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: How what's what's how's how's diesel treating you over there?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: Are you you able to find any?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: How are prices doing?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Prices, you know, we're really expensive here.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh not as bad as Ohio.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: When I was driving up there yesterday, I was like, wow, incredible.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: 655, I think, was the highest I paid on my road trip up there.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm I got really, I guess you'd call it maybe luck or whatever, but my four priced my fuel, and I had when fuel hit that three-year low, I don't know, it's probably eight or nine months ago, I booked six transport loads, and it got it's gonna get me into the second or third quarter of 27 at for 240.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I really lucked it.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I historically don't get that aggressive in pricing, but when you see those like historic lows, I felt like, you know, if it does fall from here, is it really gonna hurt me that much to to you know pay a little extra?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I I booked really aggressively and it really has paid off this time.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like I paid for a transport load on Monday for two dollars and forty cents.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I was uh I felt like I was winning.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you you definitely are winning.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: You're you're the unicorn out there, you're the guy who did what everybody's oh, if only I had, you know.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: But it's risky, isn't it?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: Because I mean, all right, maybe we'll uh look what if we overbook at 240 and then the price goes down to to two bucks, you know, and then you think, oh, shit, what's the matter with me?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I've been burnt like that before, too, where I where I you know got really aggressive in my booking and then I wound up paying more than my neighbor was paying just because I'd you know went so far out on the chart to to book futures and then got burnt by you know a plummeting fuel price.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been on both sides of it for sure.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: Just hope that it all averages out to on the good side in the end, you know.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's I guess that's all you can do.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like grain marketing, you know.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: You just hold your breath and hope you make a good decision.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, sometimes you look like a hero and sometimes you look like a zero.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_03: Well, talk to me.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to keep you too much longer here, Neil.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_03: I've got Neil Denton from Denton Farms out in Kentucky on the on the Ag Squawk this afternoon here.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm kind of curious about how this year has gone.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: I've talked to some farmers who've just had a terrible time, one calamity after the next.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: I've had others that, you know, almost kind of under their breath.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: They almost hate to say it, but you know, we actually the weather was pretty good, the crops came up pretty good, everything timed out about right.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: Where do you fall on that scale?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I want to say that Kentucky, we probably have a record harvest.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely the largest one on my personal farm that I've ever had in my career.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: We had a really dry early spring in Kentucky.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: The planters were running as early as I've ever seen them.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we I think, you know, like on my farm, I was done with single crop by about the 15th of April, planting early beans and corn, and then my double crop was finished around the 6th of June.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: So all my acres were planted very early, and then we started getting rain in July and had an ample amount of rainfall up until the very, you know, tail end of uh like mid to late August, and it started to get dry here, and then the harvest has been dry.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: So almost perfect conditions.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: The corn crop is in Kentucky is probably a record, bean crop is definitely gonna be a record, and and our wheat crop in June was a record.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we've really been blessed and and just lucked out on the weather this time.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times we'll have way too much rainfall here.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's more times than not our problem.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like my area receives 50 to 60 inches of rainfall a year, and it's not spread out rainfall.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's like monsoonal rain where we have periods of just extremely wet conditions, and a lot of times what happens is it either pushes us into really late planting dates or we get so much water we just can't handle it and the crops dry drowned out.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: But this time it just was kind of we didn't get start getting those big rains until the crop was established, and so they were able to, you know, weather through pretty good.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: We did have a period where I think in about 30 days we had almost 30 inches of rain or something like that.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it was a ton of rainfall.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: But the crop was mostly established in the field by then, so overall it didn't add, you know, I'm not saying that yields weren't affected at all, but it definitely didn't adversely affect them like it normally does.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_03: Is basis on uh basis on that corn and soybeans doing you any favors?
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm kind of making an assumption that if you've got if you've got some place to to send those soybeans along with the canola, the basis is probably pretty decent for the beans.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: What about the corn and the wheat?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, always wheat here is usually we don't get a positive basis for unless we're willing to haul to Hopkinsville.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Or there's a mill in Harristown, Illinois as well that offers like a protein basis.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Soybeans here, you get a really aggressive basis.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Bungie is here with a crush plant.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, we're right on the Mississippi and Ohio River.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: My farm's just situated four miles from the confluence.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we have, you know, we have a really good river basis.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then we also have, you know, Kentucky is main industry in agriculture, is poultry.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: And those poultry barns eat tons of corn and pro and soybean protein is oh he got quiet.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: He must be driving through another tunnel.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds like things are going pretty well though over there for uh for Neil and the other farmers in his area in uh in Kentucky there.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and the things that I like here are uh he's he's close to demand sources, he's close to all sorts of stuff, all kinds of different ways to to market crops and to get crops moving down the road and to uh to to find something to to do with it, and that all that all just adds up to that adds up to demand for crops, and that's what farmers really need is is some decent demand and somebody who's willing to to write the check and and purchase those crops off them.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_03: Neil, I'm going to uh I'm I think I'm gonna cut you loose here in in just a moment, but other than well, I suppose tracks and harvest would probably be your your next immediate priorities.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_03: What are your big plans once harvest is done?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: We may have to ask him that just another time.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_03: I I was also curious about if there are people in his area doing things differently, looking forward to next year than they did for this year.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: But I think maybe I think maybe Jed, why don't we save that for another time when we've got a little bit better connection?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: Neil Denton from Denton Farms.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so glad to have to have spoken with him.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: I hadn't talked to Neil before, but we've had some friends in common, and they're like, You got to get Neil on, you got to get Neil on.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_03: This was a great conversation.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um and sorry, the uh the connection was a little tricky because he's he's traveling there, but look, the Farman doesn't stop.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Farman doesn't stop, not even for Ag Squawk.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: So we appreciate Mr.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: Denton being willing to take take some time while he's on the road and uh and to join us there.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_03: Neil, have we got you back just for one more?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: Just for me to say how grateful I am that you were here with us today.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_03: And we'll get you back sometime when when uh when we can sit down and and have a conversation.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: What say?
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: He's frozen again.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: But I think if Neil were here with us, he would say, heck yeah.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_03: I think I would get a rousing, heck yeah.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_03: I can have to say, he says, all right, Neil Denton from from Denton Farms, buddy boy.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna I'm gonna cut you loose and let you get to your uh get to your fitting because uh you got tracks to put on, you got all kinds of stuff to do yet today before before you can lay your head down.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_03: And we wish you the best in that.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_03: And uh thanks so much for uh for being here with us, Neil.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: We appreciate you, brother.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, God bless you guys.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me, and I hope you guys have a great day.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: We love listening to your show here, so we appreciate it.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate that.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_03: Neil, we'll uh we'll talk again real soon when when harvest is done.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: I want to know how it all wound up when the whole shooting match was all wrapped up.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: Neil Denton from Denton Farms.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's talk a little bit about the uh Yep, you bet.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_03: Neil Denton, um let's talk a little bit about the weather here.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_03: We've got low pressure over the northern high plains, which uh the National Weather Service says will produce rain over parts of the northern and central plains in the upper middle Mississippi Valley on Wednesday morning.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: Showers and thunderstorms will develop over the upper Mississippi Valley and Upper Great Lakes on Wednesday evening.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: By Thursday morning, rain will develop along and ahead of the boundary over parts of the Great Lakes and into the Middle Mississippi Valley.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh a little overcast it was a little bit ago.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was supposed to clear off here in KC, but we're still warm, sunny, still got that high pressure going, but as you can see, that strip of green is uh is bearing down on us.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_03: I wonder if we'll get just a couple of sprinkles.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_03: We might, we just might.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about October 27 in history, 1858.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: Teddy Roosevelt was born, American politician and the 26th president of the United States, and a Nobel Prize laureate.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_03: In 1904, the first underground New York City subway line opened.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: New York City! The subway opened in uh 1904.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: 1958, you Gen Xers will know this character, Simon LeBon, English singer, songwriter, the dude from Duran Duran, Hungry Like the Wolf, Rio, all those uh Duran Duran.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: And if you listen to Duran Duran real close, their bass player was really something.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_03: He doesn't get enough credit.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: I should know the guy's name, and I don't.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'm saying he doesn't get enough credit, and I don't even know the fella's name.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's a little sad.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_03: Don't quit on me now, boys.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: And finally in 1966, the Great Pumpkin.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_03: Good grief, aired for the first time on CBS in 1966.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_03: Once more, big thank you to Neil Denton from Denton Farms.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, our our conversation was punctuated by uh some difficulties with cell phone reception and whatnot, but he's out there on the move, on the go.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: You can't stop for anything in this life, and uh we're just glad that we were able to talk with him a little bit, get to know him, and we're definitely going to talk turkey with him again in the future.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: Neil Denton, thanks, buddy.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: We we appreciate you.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_03: Let me now direct you to Agbol.com where you can dig deeper with Agbol Intel, take the markets by the hoods with AgBull.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: Visit Agbol.com or call 855-737 Farm for the details.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_03: We've still got some of those Bluetooth speakers for a one-year annual subscription,$250.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_03: That means two months are free for that$250 subscription for one year.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: And we'll send you that little thank you.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: Just a little thank you, a small thank you.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: We appreciate you being here today, everybody.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, AgBull AM will have the morning calls for you, set you up for your tomorrow, and then I'll deliver a quick news hit tomorrow afternoon and make sure we aren't missing anything.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for being here again.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks to Neil Denton for being here with us.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: Y'all come back tomorrow for more Ag Squawk.