For some, it is a difficult realism, Ross said. “The last thing they want is to have their kids try to farm, because it’s so tough. This gives those guys a lot of time to think about how they want to disperse their farm or keep the land in the family name. They have a chance to stay in the game on a custom basis.”

The response to his custom seeding, spraying, and harvesting business has been “phenomenal,” according to Ross. “We did about 5,100 acres of custom spring seeding in 2001 and another 1,200 acres (seeding) in the fall, about 30,000 acres of custom spraying, and 5,000 acres of custom combining.”

One client with 800 acres is nearing 80 years of age. There are no children who could take over the farm. Last year he asked for custom seeding services for the first time.

“He loves the farm, but he’s not ready to let his land go, and he really doesn’t want to see someone else farming his land,” Ross said. “So I just made a deal that I will put his crop in. He still has the option of spraying it, if he wants. This gives him time to make a transition.”

For both personal dignity and legal purposes, the use of full-service custom farming enables an elderly land owner to say, “Yes, I am a farmer.” He retains responsibility for the farm. He maintains control of his land and can continue doing any job on the farm for which he is physically able.

For tax purposes, custom farming services increase the expense side of the ledger. Had the land owner leased or rented the farm, he would, instead, be declaring taxable rental income.

In most cases, Ross notes, the farm will see a better net return that offsets the cost of the custom service, because the crop has been seeded with the latest technology by a professional operator. For the elderly farmer, it gives him continued independence while he buys time to plan for the final disposal of his land.

The custom farming services Ross now offers include swathing, trucking, and advice from a full-time agronomist-consultant. The staff agronomist basically, “tells us when to do what,” Ross said. The agronomist recommends the variety to be planted, fertilizer rates, and crop protection choices for more than 200 customers of Ross’s farm supply business.

Promotes No-till

A few clients are attracted to custom farming by the opportunity to try no-till seeding. It enables them to evaluate whether to change over from conventional seeding or not. Typically, they start by asking Ross to seed 40 or 80 acres to see how the latest technology performs on their own farm before they make a capital investment.

Last year, one grower who had used conventional tillage for more than 30 years asked Ross to no-till seed 160 acres. “He had watched his crop blow away two or three times when drought hit,” Ross said of that farmer. “He got me to put in a quarter that wasn’t tilled last year, just to see how it worked. The difference was night and day. It was much better than anything else he put in.

“Zero-till has really proven beneficial. Our crops are seeded into moisture. The field hasn’t been worked twice in the fall and twice in spring, then harrowed and dried up to put in the seedbed,” Ross explained. “With our system, there’s no point in them cultivating; it just doesn’t make any sense. The customers soon realize they’ve really wasted their time working the land. We can go into worked land and seed it properly, but there’s no advantage to it at all.

“Every farmer that we have done that for (no-till seeding) now owns his own zero-till or min-till, one-pass system,” he said.

Ross is quick to point out that his custom farming sideline also has been a boost to his farm supply business. “It increases my acre-base for selling seed, chemicals, and fertilizers,” he said. “I line up the seed for them. It adds to the custom spraying business, it makes use of our agronomist’s expertise, and fills out (work for) the people I have here.

“My customers rely on me for the knowledge and technology we have within our business. They get the right products on the right crops at the right time, in the right amount and with the best in high-efficiency equipment.

“I rely on them for retailing my products and services. We sell as many farm inputs as possible in an effort to be a one-stop farm center to our customers,” Ross added.

Sometimes work on his own farm must be delayed because a customer’s crop is ready to be harvested. But with two combines, the field work goes fast. “Overall we end up with better quality crops on our own farm. We get things off a little earlier because we’re using two combines.

“Farming is a partnership between farmers, farm input dealers, and agricultural equipment suppliers,” Ross concluded. “The sooner they realize it’s a partnership, not we versus them, the better off they are.”