Like most of us who grew up on the farm, Aiden Allen got his first taste of work at a young age, when he experienced the thrill of riding along in the combine with his dad. From that moment on, he was hooked, wanting nothing more than to help his family with the operation.
“I was pretty little, maybe about four when I started,” Aiden said. “I just liked coming out and doing whatever needed to be done when I was out there.”
It wasn’t long before he got behind the wheel of the combine himself, harvesting corn solo at the age of five while his father, Ryan, walked along next to the machine to supervise.
Many farms are family operations, and the Allen farm is no exception. Aiden, 15, is the newest generation to work the Allen farm, which can trackback five generations to his great-great-grandfather, Thomas, who purchased and started working the home place in 1923. As a youngster growing up on the farm, Aiden not only had the good fortune to work with his father and grandfather but also his great-grandfather, Lawrence.
“We had four generations working together,” Ryan said. “You don’t get the opportunity to see that very often.”
Today, the Allens farm about 1250 acres primarily in a corn and soybean rotation near Dell Rapids, South Dakota, and Aiden keeps himself busy with all aspects of it. From cleaning bins and welding to combining and truck driving, as well as operating with the newer, technological side of farming like programming GPS guidance, there’s always a to-do list keeping him busy, and every task brings fulfillment.
“The most interesting aspect of farming? I kind of like all of it,” Aiden said. “I like helping with everything. There’s no specific role. I like doing everything on the farm. But maybe especially tillage; I do like tilling a lot.”
Though Aiden is certain farming will be a central part of his future, he still needs to take some more steps down his own path. While he’ll continue to help out on the farm whenever he’s needed and able, there’s the not insignificant matter of enjoying his remaining years in high school. As a sophomore, he still has a few years to go, and he enjoys playing football, as well as participating in other extracurriculars like FFA and one-act plays. Following graduation, he plans to get additional real-world experience before returning to the farm.
“I have aspirations of being an electrician after high school, then eventually start farming again,” Aiden said. “I plan on helping out while I’m an electrician, but eventually I want to have my own farm.”
Aiden’s father, Ryan, believes it is important for him to expand his horizons beyond the farm, both to develop more skills, but also as a way for him to discover other opportunities and ensure that returning to the farm will be the right path for him.
“I wouldn’t let him only farm straight out of school,” Ryan said. “My personal feeling is that a person should go work for someone else to gain that experience and just to get away, step back, and make sure that’s what you want to do. Working for somebody else helps you gain social experience and teaches you how to work and communicate with people – because in farming, you need to be able to deal with a lot of different kinds of people – seed reps, bankers, the guys at the elevator, and so on.”
If and when Aiden returns to the farm, he will be continuing a tradition of innovation and pushing for higher yields. As a regular participant in South Dakota’s soybean yield contest, the Allen farm is one that is quick to consider ways to realize more yield potential.
“We’re always shooting for 100 bushels,” Ryan said. “We’re going to start with grid sampling, and hopefully that starts to give us an idea of what we can do with fertility. We’re also looking at making adjustments to our fungicide and foliar feeding program.”
So far, 100-bushel beans have yet to show up on the yield monitor, but they’ve been getting closer to that goal. In the 2020 harvest, Aiden entered the South Dakota Soybean Youth Yield Contest and won first place with his entry of 79.74 bushels made with Zinesto Z1900 soybeans. Ryan attributes some of their farm’s success to the great relationship with their friends and landlords Dave and Nicole Wirkus and Bill and Tracey Vega, as well as the guidance they’ve received from their Hefty agronomists over the past several decades. The Allens have had a relationship with Hefty Seed since the company first opened its doors back in 1969. Today, they grow production soybean seed for the company and work with agronomists Tyler Koenig and Joe Schieffer at the Baltic store to select seed and other products to use on the farm.
Aiden’s plaque for winning first place in the 2020 South Dakota Soybean Youth Yield Contest.
Tyler and Joe over at Hefty’s have done a fantastic job,” Ryan said. “They help us pick varieties and hybrids to plant and lead us on our populations. We do our soil sampling through Hefty’s, and they give us fertilizer recommendations. They’ve always treated us fairly, and the information we receive is always backed by research and development. They’re always knowledgeable on the agronomy side, and the chemical pricing has always been really good.”
“Paradise,” Aiden’s grandfather, Richard (at left), remarks to Ryan and Aiden as they view the setting sun lowering over the fields near their home.
Making the right input decisions on any farm means not only making the right choices for crop health but also making the bottom line a top priority.
“I feel like Tyler and Joe are just as concerned about our financial well-being as their own,” Ryan said. “When we go in for prepay, we’re always looking at cost numbers per acre. They always want to keep it as economically feasible as possible.”
If all goes to plan and Aiden returns to the operation, Hefty’s will continue to offer agronomic guidance to make the Allen farm as profitable as possible. But for Aiden, the most rewarding part of working on the farm is who you get to work with.
“The best part for me is I get to spend a lot of family time with everyone,” Aiden said. “That’s my favorite.”