One of the first things you learn on the farm is that you can’t control everything, as much as you would like to. There are just certain occurrences, especially the weather, that we must endure no matter the conditions.

We have seen that so far during this growing season. With a wetter-than-normal May, we lost many critical planting days due to continual rain events and soggy fields. 

In looking at our state’s planting progress reports from the USDA over the past several weeks, I’ve often noticed how far behind we’ve been at times.

But, if you’ve lived on the farm for as long as I have, you understand that weather conditions play a significant role in the level of success we will experience during the harvest season.

And no matter what kinds of weather events we experience in any given month, changes can come quickly, as we saw last June when the summertime heat came early and those marshy, wet farm fields suddenly became hard as a rock and dry as a bone.

Even though there are research advancements that have been made allowing us to be productive even in the not-so-perfect of growing seasons, we can still face many challenges, as has been the case on our farm this year.

From trying to get the crops in the ground to a less-than-stellar wheat crop to navigating an ever-changing cattle market, we've had a lot to contend with and I know many of you have had the same issues.

I’ve heard from several of you who are experiencing the same kind of growing season. Still, we understand that each year we will see these issues and we will combat them as best we can.

We’re fortunate in this state to have a comprehensive ag industry network that works together to make our farms as productive as possible.  We learn from each other and help one another when those times of need arise.

Farm families understand that not every year can be one with perfect temperatures or adequate rainfall, all leading to record yields. But we are still hopeful when that first seed goes into the ground that we will see a fruitful and bountiful harvest.

To say that farmers are eternal optimists is a slight understatement knowing there are so many factors that go into raising crops that we indeed have no control over.

But for the ones we do, we must remain vigilant in our efforts to continually advocate for our industry in ways that will move us forward, especially in the toughest of times.

First and foremost, this season, we need to get a farm bill passed to ensure our farm families have the tools they need to make every season the best it can be and help guarantee success for future years on the farm no matter which way the wind blows.