The Rural Voice, 1985-11, Page 191
Steve Hodges' plan is to make his farm as viable an operation
as possible. Right now, he needs his off -farm job to sustain
hrm.
He became particularly interested in
intensive cereal management. "What
interested me were the yields they
were getting per acre," he says.
Hodges is experimenting with ICM
and has sown ten acres of hard red
fall wheat. If a spring variety is
licenced by the springtime, he will
plant ten acres of it instead of barley.
With growth regulators applied to
reduce straw length, more nitrogen
can be applied to increase yields.
Hard winter wheat is selling at a
premium of $200 per tonne, and
Hodges believes that the profit
margin will be greater than with the
barley that he sells to local farmers.
"Farmers are only supplying five per
cent of the hard red wheat that millers
can use in Ontario," he says. "It all
comes back to supplying the
demand."
Hodges baled 6,000 bales of hay
from 49 acres in one cutting this year
and will be selling the majority of it
for export to the U.S.A. and to meet
local demand. "In the middle of
winter, there's always a market for
hay," he says.
Despite careful farm management
and maximum utilization of his land,
Hodges has not been able to earn a
living from his farm. His off -farm
job is full-time during the summer
months but dwindles to part-time in
the winter. He sometimes finds it dif-
ficult to juggle his farm work with his
off -farm job. "I get up when it's
dark. and 1 quit when it's dark."
Hodges finds that he can use his farm-
ing experience in his off -farm job,
particularly when he is rebuilding
barn foundations. He is also ar-
tistically inclined, painting portraits
and farm and nature scenes, some of
NOVEMBER 1985 17