MIAMI, (Okla.) — “Our corn harvest this year was excellent,” said farmer Zack Rendel.
It’s crunch time at Rendel Farms in Miami.
“We’re in a race right now to get this bin empty in time to start putting soybeans in,” he said.
Zack Rendel is, as the sign says, a sixth-generation farmer.
“I started running equipment when I was 8 years old,” he said.
“We’re coming into harvest season right now, we just finished corn harvest and milo harvest and we’re rolling into soybean harvest,” he said.
For all of its charm, year after year, farming has a notoriously challenging profit margin.
“It’s pennies, it’s dollars, I mean we’re literally working with cents per acre out here to what is break even and what’s a loss and what’s a profit. It is literally dollars per acre,” he said.
This year, adding to the challenges is the price of diesel.
“Five-dollar diesel, that’s a lot of money rolling through, you know that’s almost two grand a day in just combines,” he said.
“A lot of farmer sentiment right now is down. Stress levels are up due to lower commodity prices and higher inputs. Commodity prices have risen in the past month or two, but the problem is our inputs have risen the same amount if not double what our commodity prices were. So our dollars per acre of revenue coming in is still stagnant and staying the same,” he said.
Despite the stresses, Zack always finds a way to push through, including venting to his dog Clark.
“Clark here, my right-hand man, I do a lot of talking to Clark, luckily for me he can’t talk back,” he laughed.
For as large as the obstacles are, the landscape and the history of his family’s ongoing endeavor is even larger.
“I wouldn’t do what I do every day if I didn’t love it. I can’t ever picture myself doing anything different,” he said.