Cargill growers from the Midwest share their stories from planting to harvest in another unpredictable year. A consistent throughline that emerges is the value of conservation practices in mitigating the effects of dry soil and intense rainfall events.

Shane Kellogg Works Through Cover Crop Challenges and Cashes in on Timely Rains in Ohio

Shane Kellogg of S & L Farms, located northwest of Columbus, OH, overcame several challenges this year and is on track for the highest corn and soybean yields he has seen in three years. His farm uses strip tillage and strategic vertical tillage, and he highlights reduced tillage for lowering key input costs such as labor, fuel, and wear and tear on equipment.

Cover crops are an important tool limiting soil erosion during heavy winter rainfall events; however, last year’s dry fall led to inconsistent cover crop stand establishment. He flies on cover crop seed mixes into standing corn and soybean prior to harvest to maximize fall growth for winterkilled species such as radishes and oats, but it was October before cover crop species had enough moisture to germinate. Oats and radishes had a tiny window for growth, but cereal rye was able to protect the soil over the winter, emphasizing the importance of planting multiple cover crop species. Shane has noticed that cover cropped areas are showing increasing frequency of cash crop rodent damage. Voles take advantage of the cover crop canopy to evade predators and after the cover crop is terminated, eat corn and soybean seedlings. Shane is using several strategies to control their numbers but said he hasn’t found the perfect solution yet (see https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g4448 for vole control recommendations).

July was dry, and Shane noted the appearance of large soil cracks in the fields. August rains did come to the rescue, though there were intense high-rainfall events. The August rains, Shane thinks, will be responsible for the outstanding yields he expects compared to the past two years, where August and September were very dry and contributed to poor grain fill. Dry fall conditions also inhibited him from running fall strip tillage operations in some areas where the ground was just too hard. He does have some concerns about wetter harvest conditions this year but says he is on track for excellent yields.

 

Steve Wallpe's Soils Buffer Intense Rainfall in West-Central Indiana  

Wallpe is a fourth-generation farmer who manages 1,800 acres of corn, soybeans, and wheat just 94 miles northwest of Indianapolis. He serves as Chairman of the Benton County Soil & Water Conservation District. 

While many growers associate resilience with getting through dry periods, Steve Wallpe has been focused on managing the opposite challenge this season. In his area, rainfall topped nine inches during the first half of August alone, with some storms delivering three to four inches over just a few days. Yet Wallpe says one of the most noticeable changes on his farm has been how little water is leaving his fields. After years of integrating cover crops into his predominantly no-till system, he has observed substantially less runoff moving through waterways and ditches, even during heavy rainfall events. Instead, more water is infiltrating into the soil profile and moving gradually through the farm's tile drainage system. “When you get a four-inch rain over two days, and you're not seeing it run off down a waterway, that's when you notice the difference,” Wallpe said. 

Below the surface, cover crops have helped create a “sponge effect” in the soil. The additional organic matter and root systems improve soil structure, allowing rainfall to soak in rather than run off the surface. This season provided a real-world test. After several inches of rain, Wallpe checked tile outlets expecting to see significant flow but found that much of the moisture had been absorbed and retained by the soil and growing plants. “The cover crops are producing more organic material in the fields, which will hold more moisture for the crops as they grow,” he explained. That stored moisture is now helping support crops later in the season, demonstrating how practices that improve water infiltration can also provide benefits during hotter and drier periods. The combination of cover crops and tile drainage has been especially valuable, allowing excess water to move away when necessary while still maintaining good soil moisture for crop growth. 

For growers considering cover crops, Wallpe recommends starting with a well-drained field that has a good tile system. In his experience, those fields often show benefits more quickly because the improved soil structure created by cover crop roots works alongside drainage infrastructure to enhance field conditions.

As a long-time advocate for conservation practices, Wallpe also maintains buffer strips along waterways, uses robotic weed control, and continues to look for opportunities to improve stewardship. This year's unusually wet conditions have reinforced an important lesson: building healthier soil is not just about weathering droughts. It is also about creating fields that can absorb, store, and manage excess rainfall when Mother Nature delivers more water than expected.

 

No-Till Helps Rod Zessin Manage Extremes in Nebraska

For Rod Zessin, who farms in northeastern Nebraska, adapting to the ever-changing weather patterns of the western Corn Belt has become a yearly necessity. The 2026 growing season has tested that resilience more than most, bringing both extremely dry and wet conditions that challenged crop production from planting through grain fill. 

The fall of 2025 and early spring of 2026 delivered very little moisture across the region. Despite those dry conditions, Zessin's decades-long commitment to practices like no-till and manure application to stimulate soil biological communities has maintained crop performance through soil surface residue cover and increased soil organic matter levels. As the season progressed, heavy rains during mid-July and early August created a stark contrast to the drought concerns experienced earlier in the year. While some low-lying areas suffered from excessive moisture, fields that avoided flooding began showing excellent yield potential.

Zessin recognizes that adopting regenerative management strategies requires continual learning and adjustment and has recently invested in a new planter that allows better seed placement in his strict no-till system. "With the new planter and technology, it has allowed us to be extremely efficient in working within a no-till strategy," Zessin said. 

The season's final results are still to be determined, but one thing is already clear: building resilient soils continues to be one of the most effective tools for managing the extremes that Nebraska farmers face year after year. 

 

Kyle McBride Uses No-Till and Cover Crops to Reduce Soil Erosion During Heavy Iowa Rains

Up in Northwest Iowa, Kyle McBride’s 2026 season started out as good as he could’ve hoped for. The fall of 2025 brought in dry weather that made an excellent harvest season for another year of excellent yields. That weather pattern continued throughout the fall, making for easy running on anhydrous ammonia and hog manure applications heading into this year’s corn crop.

Even planting-season kicked off on time, with the first corn on Kyle’s farm being planted in mid-April. The pattern broke just as the planters got running. Sporadic rains crept through the spring, bringing just enough moisture to slow progress, but lacking any volume to ensure even emergence and excellent stand count. As the earliest corn emerged somewhat unevenly, the last soybeans were being put in the ground in second half of May.

As the long and drawn-out planting season came to a close, so did the rainclouds. Woodbury County in Iowa experienced the first mini drought of the season through the early summer. Thankfully, the sporadic spring rains supplied subsurface moisture to sustain crops, while the dry weather led to excellent timing and coverage for post emergence herbicide applications. In yet another season of precipitation have’s and have-not’s, the first week of July put Kyle’s farm squarely in the first category.

The drum of thunderclouds joined in with the fireworks displays on Independence Day weekend. In a matter of days, the mini drought in Northwest Iowa turned into a monsoon, with heavy isolated rainfall totals reaching upwards of six inches. In another time, on another farm, that much rain in that little time may have been cause for concern, but Kyle has his farm’s regenerative practices to thank for keeping the soil where it should be.

Kyle’s family farm would be considered an early adopter for regenerative practices. Dating back to the 1980’s, they’ve transitioned from conventional till to strip till and no-till, planting cover crops for the past 10+ years. One of the reasons for the transition is the heavy, isolated rain events that are becoming more common. Reduced tillage and cover crops on Kyle’s farm keep the soil insulated from erosion losses that would otherwise strike with heavy rain events and ensure that moisture will be held in the soil if the rain shuts off. With a few weeks before the combines hit the field, Kyle predicts an above average harvest, despite the ups and downs in this year’s precipitation.

The next chapter in their farm’s regenerative story begins this fall, as they continue to experiment with cover crops in front of corn. Oats is the cover crop of choice to be seeded on bean stubble, and as Kyle puts it, it’s a balance of manpower, money, and time to ensure a good growth in the fall that’ll be easy on you in the spring. Whether it’s a dry month in the middle of the growing season or a 6-inch deluge on a holiday weekend, regenerative practices can be key to capturing consistency in the inconsistent seasons ahead.