2009: Farmer Josh Sells his Corn

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By Josh Baynes

Story Created: Nov 25, 2009 at 12:44 PM CST

Story Updated: Apr 18, 2010 at 2:48 PM CST

I recently took my corn to market to sell it. Brian Lensch helped me with that process. We first had to retrieve the corn out of the bin and put it into the semi trailer. To do that, we used an auger to move it up and out of the bin. I harvested 639 bushels of corn. Brian hauls corn quite often, so he eyeballed about what that would be in the trailer, which was about 3/4 full. Once it was loaded, we headed to Cargill in Cedar Rapids to sell the corn. Unfortunately, I was unable to drive the semi truck because I don't have a commercial driver license. It's too bad, because I would love to try driving one!

As we pulled up to Cargill, I had to radio in that we were coming. Once we were clear, we headed to the grading station to get my corn tested. Cargill will not take just any corn; it has to meet certain standards. The corn-testing process only takes a few minutes and mine passed with flying colors.

After testing, it was time to dump the corn. To do that, we pulled up to a location that essentially has a pit to "catch" the corn. Once over it, I opened up the hopper to let it out.

I asked Brian what happens to the corn and he told me that it is made into starch, wet feed for livestock and corn syrup.

Did I make a profit? After checking my financials, I did make a little profit. Doing the math, I made just over $143 for the 2.85 acres I farmed. That comes out to about $50 per acre, which is close to average according to Iowa State University Extension. All of my expenses were donated, so all money received for the sale of the corn, will be donated to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

I would like to thank all of my sponsors for this year's project, especially the main sponsors, GreenValley Ag & Turf and Iowa Farm Bureau. Also, a big hats off to Jim Lensch and Brian Lensch for donating their time, energy and equipment!

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