IN LIFE,
THINGS JUST DON’T ALWAYS WORK OUT.
UNFORTUNATELY, SOMETIMES FARMING IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS…

That’s the experience of Chuck Addy, 70, whose first career took him to the fields on a farm near Bridgewater, South Dakota, while his final career brought him back. Ever since he was a kid growing up on the farm, he was fully enamored with the idea of farm life.

“We lived on the farm when I was 5, but then my mom and dad moved to town,” he said. “I don’t remember the farm too much at all from those days, but as a kid growing up it was my dream to be a farmer. Anytime a farmer needed grain shoveled or rocks picked, I would do it.”

Starting in eighth grade and on into high school, Chuck would work for various operations, gaining experience. Then, during his sophomore year, he started working livestock for a dairyman who had a niece close to his own age by the name of Kay. Eventually, the two started dating, and they’ve been together ever since.

After graduating high school in 1974, Chuck continued working until he was able to get his first ag loan in 1976 and strike out on his own raising dairy cattle and hogs.

“We had very little,” he said. “We started with a small tractor and a disc, and I farmed two quarters and milked with buckets where you strapped them over the cow and carried the milk to the cooler. Then, I farrowed the pigs out.”

Eventually, Chuck picked up more ground to support the dairy, raising a rotation of oats and corn, figuring out as much as he could about how to make a crop without much guidance.

“I was after yield, but back then I didn’t know or attend or go to anything other than trying to learn on my own, and there was nobody to ask or talk to,” he said. “There was my wife’s uncle, but he was more into the dairy and not so much into the farming. The best corn I raised back then was about 30 bushels an acre.”

Then, the 1980s came – a time period that for many U.S. farmers would prove to be the toughest in recent history. Many wouldn’t weather the financial strain. Unfortunately, Chuck was one of those who ended up leaving the profession behind.

“It didn’t seem like I was going to get anywhere, and somebody wanted to buy our farm, so I got out of it,” he said. “I don’t know how to describe that. It was a low that just felt like you didn’t accomplish what you set out to do. It was a feeling that you failed, more or less. You lost what you were hoping to do, and it was just a depressing deal.”

Thankfully, Chuck would easily land on his feet, and over the following decades he would have a series of different careers. After selling the farm, the first job he had was in law enforcement, which was something of a natural fit for him because his father and two of his brothers had worked as law enforcement officers in some capacity. He kept to that for a few years, eventually quitting in 1989 after an intervention by his father-in-law.

“My father-in-law had an airplane, and one day he brought all three of his sons-in-law together and asked if any of us were interested in flying,” Chuck said. “I didn’t think I could do it, and no one said anything. Later, he called me up and said, ‘I hope you’re not mad, but I signed you up for flying lessons!’”

So, Chuck learned to fly, getting his private license, instrument rating, commercial license, and multiengine rating. He would go on to fly charter for Dakota Wings out of Madison, South Dakota while working as a flight instructor and delivering planes. Eventually, that business also went under and the guy who ran it laid everyone off.

The next step for Chuck was to head back home to Bridgewater, looking through newspaper listings and driving everywhere he could in a 50-mile radius looking for work again. In 1991, he started yet another career, this time in construction, where he was part of crews building homes, pole barns, shops, roofs – you name it. He would do this for the next 18 years.

“I was never afraid of trying something,” Chuck said. “It was a life learning experience, everything I tried. I met a lot of different people and made a lot of friends.”

BUT A PART OF CHUCK ALWAYS WISHED HE COULD RETURN TO THE FARM.

“I love being outside,” he said. “I enjoy animals. I enjoy nature, the wildlife. I just love being out in the field.”

IN 2009, AT THE AGE OF 55, HE WOULD GET THE CHANCE TO FARM AGAIN, WHEN HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW REACHED OUT WITH AN OFFER TO FARM SOME OF THEIR FAMILY’S ACRES. FOR CHUCK, IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY TOO GOOD TO LET PASS BY.

“I love farming, and it was like a second chance for me,” he said. “I decided to take that chance. I started out with some older machinery – nothing fancy or new, but totally happy with what I got. I’ve met a lot of friends along that way that helped me, and that’s how I got started with Hefty’s.”

In contrast to back in the 1970s when Chuck didn’t have much in the way of information to expand his crop yields, his return to farming more than three decades later was marked by a much more available landscape of resources. And a primary source of that information came from Brian and Darren and the support of Hefty agronomists.

“I started hearing about all the things they do at Hefty and attending some of the classes they have,” Chuck said. “It wasn’t like when I first started farming. Then, I never had help, never had a dad that I could go ask questions. It was all trial and error until I met Hefty. When I first started going, I felt like a high school kid in a college course – in way over my head, but they make you feel welcome. It’s just unbelievable what you learn there, and they’re inspiring. I love farming, and by the end they always made you feel like you can be proud to get back into farming, that farming is a good way of life.”

THIS TIME AROUND, CHUCK’S MAIN FOCUS IS FULLY ON FARMING ROW CROPS – NO LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT.

When he resumed with crops, his success in the field was already at a higher level than before. Compared to his yields of 30-bushel corn back in the 1970s, in 2009 his baseline was around 155 bushels, and he continues to see growth as he learns new techniques and adopts new practices.

“One exceptional year, I had 240 as my highest, and I think that’s because of all the classes that I keep going to,” Chuck said. “It’s the same thing with my beans – from 45 to on up to 65-, 67-bushel beans. It’s just a thing that, when you get done with it, you feel proud to be a farmer again.”

For him, the biggest difference-maker has been gathering soil test data and improving fertility management, but he’s also seen a benefit in changing some cultural practices, as well as making his own applications.

“It all starts with fertility and the seeds that get planted, all the way down to the $100 an hour jobs they talk about doing all the time,” Chuck said. “I eventually bought a sprayer and spray all my own crops and saved all kinds of money.”

As part of his efforts to improve his fertility situation, this fall Chuck is working with Lane Konrad, his local Hefty Agronomist based out of the Freeman, South Dakota location to get started on the VRAFY platform. Although he’s still in the process of getting set up and learning how the platform works, he is impressed with what he’s seen so far and remains enthusiastic about adopting better precision fertility practices with his crops.

“I’m totally amazed by VRAFY,” Chuck said. “I just can’t believe it and I’m really looking forward to working with it in the future. It’s amazing how when you go through the field, it makes a map, and how they could go through and each item, the calcium, the magnesium, the phosphorus, every one of them and say what you should have and make recommendations for the fertilizer place.”

BEYOND THAT, THOUGH, THE LEVEL OF SUPPORT HE’S RECEIVED FROM EVERYONE AT HIS LOCAL STORE KEEPS HIM COMING BACK.

“I can’t talk enough about how helpful they are,” Chuck said. “The phone calls I make, I sometimes feel dumb asking questions, but they always find the answers for me. They’re so helpful when I’m worried about bugs out in the field or want to make sure I’m not short something. They’re more than happy to come out, every one of them, and check my fields.”

Now that he’s been given a second chance at farm life, this time with the help of the information provided by Brian and Darren, as well as the support of his Hefty Agronomists, Chuck’s outlook on the future of his operation is brighter than it’s ever been.

“They do get you fired up,” he said. “I want to farm and keep going for as long as I can crawl up into the combine. I love planting and working. I just like the Heftys’ attitude. They’re not there to sell anything. They’re there to help farmers, and you can definitely tell that. All they talk about is how they want farmers to succeed. That’s their number one deal. They’re not padding their pockets; they’re trying to pad yours.”