Kayla Waldner Goes Back to Her Roots and Rediscovers South Dakota Farming with Jeff Thompson
Having open conversations about food and farming with South Dakotans and the farmers who grow it is what we do. In fact, that’s what Hungry for Truth is all about. We had an exciting opportunity to connect Crooks native, Kayla Waldner with Jeff Thompson, a soybeans, corn, and alfalfa farmer from Colton, to chat about farming, the meaningful work farmers do, and much more. Below, Kayla shares her learnings from her farm visit.
Back to my old stomping grounds — growing up in Crooks, South Dakota - I was happy to be given the opportunity to spend the day with Jeff Thompson, from Colton. If you aren’t familiar, the two cities are only about 10 miles apart and you could consider us past neighbors (not really) but we did come to learn that we both graduated from Tri-Valley High School!
Although most would say I’m a city girl through and through, my Hutterite heritage has given me a deep-rooted appreciation for farming and Jeff solidified that throughout the day with the education and knowledge he shared. During my visit, I got a tour of his farm and shop, checked on the fields, and went off-roading while discussing what a day on the farm looks like.
The moment I approached the gravel road leading to his farm I was in awe of how beautiful the flowers were surrounding his home and well-kept landscaping. I was then greeted by his sweet golden retriever, Josie.
Jeff's dad started the farm in 1949 and it has been in the family ever since making him a 3rd generation farmer on this land. Jeff has taken pride in keeping everything in tip-top shape and still lives in a portion of the original house, which they have since added on to and renovated. Along with the house, there is a large shop, a woodshop, a garden, and even a mini chicken coop — that after further investigation is only a storage shed (you had to be there).
After getting the grand tour it was time to jump in the pick-up to look at the current state of his crops which includes corn, soybeans, and alfalfa; 850 acres total, 340 of which are soybean, 370 corn, and 80 alfalfa. It was a beautiful summer day and I couldn’t help but roll down the passenger side window in his pickup to soak it all in! First up was corn, my personal favorite stop of the day! Jeff explained that he sells his corn to Boadwine Dairy, which is then used for silage. I loved his passion for maintaining relationships with locals in the area.
Jeff also gets all manure from Boadwine’s. He explained that many discontinued using manure until now due to limited resources, with commercial fertilizer being more expensive there is a much higher demand for it again. He let us know he hasn’t had to purchase commercial fertilizer for over 5 years! He pumps 15,000-19,000 gallons per acre through a hose, reaching 10 miles in length. The manure is very regulated by the state and sent to labs to be analyzed.
His corn was planted on May 5th this year, which he explained was later than usual. I was fascinated with the process of corn; during pollination season the pollen has to land on every silk to pollinate the kernel. Every kernel has a silk and when the silk releases from the kernel, it means it’s pollinated.
Did you know corn always has an even number of rows? When I asked why - Jeff’s response was, “It’s just the way it is”! A good ear of corn normally has 18-20 rows, the one we dissected had 16 rows. He explained that it was dry in June, which played a huge factor in why the yield was smaller.
We continued the backroad tour to check on a soybean field, the alfalfa, and two irrigated fields. He even showed me the app he uses to track his pivots all through his cell phone. He stated that it’s been a game-changer!
Overall, I’m so grateful for farmers like Jeff that pride themselves in what they do every single day and take the time to educate people like me. This experience was eye-opening in so many different ways and I now have a deeper appreciation for what it truly takes to be a farmer!
