Meet the Farmer Who Finally Has Time to Farm

Before Mike Gentry retired from his job at a manufacturing plant, the plants that captured his heart, corn and soybeans, had to wait until after hours for his attention. That lasted 30 years. Things are different now.

“Once you get dirt under your fingernails, you just can’t get away from it,” Mike says from his home in Remington, Indiana, on the farm where he grew up and now tends full-time.

During his years as plant manager for a pallet manufacturer, Mike spent a good amount of time managing people. But his favorite part of the job was the equipment. “I really do miss that equipment,” he says, without even a trace of sarcasm.

When called to interview him for this article, he was waxing and servicing his farm equipment.

Mike Gentry and his wife, Marsha, couldn’t be happier to surround themselves with the love of their eight grandkids.

No longer does Mike squeeze farm work into his nights and weekends. It’s a welcome change from the days he would come home from his plant manager job, run out to greet his corn and soybean plants, and do whatever else needed doing. After that, eat supper, go to bed, get up, and go back to the plant.

“When I was away, you know, 50 to 60 hours a week at my regular job, I had to just get the crop in the ground and hope it got itself out of the ground,” he says.

Full-time farming gives him time he never had to finesse his approach. He loves studying biologicals, microbes and every little detail that can make a big difference. He’s not pressured to apply nitrogen right after planting or spray earlier than he’d like.

Now he’s nurturing crops, adding micronutrients, side-dressing his 28 percent, walking his fields in earnest, which are the gratifying things he couldn’t afford the time for in
the past.

Mike farms 450 acres of his own and 350 acres for a friend, plus he harvests another 240 acres for a neighbor. “My neighbor leaves it out till late fall to let it dry more, but I’m the kind of guy that wants to get out there as soon as I can,” he says.

Experience tells him if he can harvest at between 20 and 25 percent moisture, he’s about 15 bushels ahead versus letting it dry down to around 16 or 18 percent. “There’s that invisible shrink in there somewhere, and I don’t know where it goes, but it goes.”

Mike plants about half of his acres in corn and the other half soybeans. About 85 to 90 percent is conventional till. He plants some rye each fall on his lighter soil, and then plants right into it each spring before later killing it off.

He’s head over heels happy with DS-5250AM™ brand and DS-5095AM™ brand, and they will dominate his acres this year. He said you could tell right where the DS-5095AM™ brand stood last year because of how green and healthy it looked all season long.

He once tried his hand at planting seed from another company, but the experience only strengthened his belief in Dairyland Seed.

“A few years ago a dealer wanted me to try his seed. I said, ‘I’ll tell you what, give me six bags of the best you got, and I’ll put in six bags of Dairyland and six bags of yours.’ I ran them side by side in my 12-row planter. Dairyland beat it hands down.

“When he came back the next year, I told him I lost money on his seed. So he had a new variety for me to try. I planted the same way, six bags again running head-to-head. Dairyland beat it again by nearly 12 bushels. It was the only time I went away from Dairyland, and I’ve planted it 100 percent ever since,” Mike says.

Not just any harvest, but a moment in time when Mike harvested his largest corn crop to date, 324.9 buSHELS/acre on 60 acres split between DS-5095AM™ BRAND and DS-4833AM™ BRAND.

Mike doesn’t always farm alone. His son Jordan is an ex-grain originator for Primient in Lafayette, IN, which is a corn processing company that produces food and industrial ingredients made from plant-based renewable sources. That’s where all of Mike’s corn goes. Jordan stops over after work every day with his two boys to help on the farm. A local dentist and great friend of Mike’s also farms with the group. And another farmer, who was a close friend of Mike’s dad before he passed, happily lends a hand wherever needed. He’s been a great friend and mentor to Mike over the years.

“You know, they all just do it for something to do in the evenings, to drive the tractor, and we all have fun.” Mike says.

With more time to tinker, Mike has been able to set up his planter, a 16-row John Deere 1770 NT, with fertilizer units to apply half rate on each side of the seed, about three-quarters of an inch away. It’s another little thing that has made a big difference, especially during the critical time of getting the seed out of the ground and off to a good start.

There’s also more time to visit Dairyland Seed research plots and see what’s new and different with their genetics. Mike does a test plot for Dairyland Seed each year, which allows him to really dive into the details of the hybrids throughout the growing season. His Dairyland Seed DSM, Joe Klaus, picks the corn and bean hybrids. “He knows his seed really well and does a great job matching hybrids to a certain soil type,” says Mike.

Joe deflects credit, characterizing Mike as a tireless worker extremely competitive in everything he does.

“You know,” says Mike, “it’s about just going out in that dirt and getting involved in it, that’s what keeps a man going.”

June 8, 2023: grandsons Crew and Grady stand with Mike in a field of DS-5095AM™ BRAND, one of Mike’s favorite hybrids.