Weather and climate-related events have a huge impact on both the planting and harvesting season for farmers.
“Every year I say when I’m planting I’m either going to be a genius or an idiot come fall, like you just don’t know,” said first-generation farmer Jared Kunkle. “We’re always changing and adapting for what the weather or what we’re trying to do. We just had these seasons that it seems like there’s too much rain or not enough."
Kunkle and his wife, Rachel, did not grow up in farming families. However, he always had a passion for agriculture. He remembers spending time on his grandparents and great aunt’s farm ground.
Kunkle began working on farms in his hometown of Peoria, Il. He continued this work through his time at Monmouth College, where he met Rachel.
“From a young age I always wanted to farm and luckily my wife was supportive to help make that dream a reality,” said Kunkle.
After graduating from Monmouth College, the couple rented their first 80 acres from Rachel’s uncle, Milo Sprout.
By 2011, they were able to rent more ground and began to expand their operations and worked with other local farmers during the harvest season.
By 2015, they bought 110 acres of their own land and have solely focused on maintaining their own farm ground in south-east Warren county.
“I would say during some of those years it was tough financially too the way the markets were and the crops was, but I truly feel that it made me a better manager,” said Kunkle.
The Kunkles manage their land with minimum till techniques, with mainly a rotation of corn and soybeans. There has also been a shift over the last decade in the amount of nitrogen applied to corn, to optimize harvest outcomes and prevent less environmental impacts due to run-off.
“There has been a bigger shift in using less nitrogen. You know, not needing as much units per bushel of corn and also having split applications of nitrogen too. Which I think has been beneficial," he said.
Even with advancements in agricultural science and techniques, there is a level of unpredictability while farming because of climate change.
“I would say it seems like we just have more windstorms and hailstorms. It feels like in the last five to eight years it seems like every year there’s going to be a windstorm somewhere in our local area and hail,” said Kunkle.
According to National Centers for Environmental Information, in 2023 alone there has been almost $93 billion in damages caused by weather related and climate disaster events.
“You do just have different years. I mean 2019 one that’s going to stick in a lot of people’s minds, it was a tough spring," Kunkle said. "I had an 80-acre field that I could plant the corn that I was planning to plant on the outside and I had to plant on the inside soybeans a month later because it was too wet.”
Kunkle said the corn yield for the upcoming season looks promising, although there may be more difficulties with soybean outcomes in the future.
“I think the soybeans are going to struggle more than we think too. I think some people are starting to realize that we just have more yellowing going on in the fields from excessive moisture, some disease has moved in already,” he said.
Farmers are constantly trying to adapt and adopt new techniques with new technology. Kunkle is currently in a 5-year trial process using cover crops, but explained that there are difficulties of using this technique in Warren County.
“I personally think we’re in an awkward zone in the state of Illinois. You know if you go a hundred miles south you get a couple extra days to get that cover crop out of the ground," he said. "I feel like that is a struggle for us is to get harvest done, get the cover crop planted and get it out of the ground and growing with the weather we normally have in October.”
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