HENDRICKS COUNTY — It's all hands on deck, all farm equipment and systems are a go at Brock Family Farms in Stilesville.
"We've been going pretty hard at it for 10 days or so," shared Katie Brock Pennington.
Like farm families across Indiana, the Brock family is in the thick of harvest season.
For some soybean farmers, harvest 2025 got started a little later than usual.
"Usually we would be getting started in mid-September," Brock Pennington continued.
Where does that leave the family?
"Behind what we would normally be," she stated.
What caused a later harvest this year? I reached out to Shaun Casteel, the Extension Soybean Specialist for Indiana.
"It's a good crop, but not a great crop," Casteel shared. "It's a season of haves and have-nots."
For many farmers, planting was delayed because of this spring's rain.
"Some of these areas got four, five, six inches of rain in a week's time, and that pushed us back," Casteel recalled.
Those who did plant early (before all the rain) are reaping the rewards.
"A lot of the soybeans that have been cut so far are the ones that were planted earlier in the spring, so the mid-Aprils to early Mays, and so those are yielding really well," said Casteel.
What happened after all the spring rain? It started to dry up, giving farmers a chance to catch up on planting. The problem through the summer then turned to drought.
"Those that had too much rain early on, so they pushed the planting dates late, now have been dry to the point that we're actually D2 status on the drought," explained Casteel. "They got hit on both ends."
The Brock family knows all too well that a small change in location, even from one field to the next, can mean a big difference in rain totals and yield.
"Even if you've got a storm that had maybe a quarter inch of rain and a couple miles up the road, it was only a tenth, we're seeing as much as a 15 bushel swing," described Katie Brock Pennington.
To break that down, 15 bushels of beans weigh nearly half a ton. That's a heavy difference for the farm's bottom line.
"The farmers have to have cast iron stomachs and have good marketing plans to handle these swings," Casteel said. "Both the weather and the marketing side of it."
"We've been pleasantly surprised with the summer," Katie Brock Pennington shared of their yields so far.
The family has filled up one silo, and they are starting on their second one now.
"There's a lot of supply right now, and not a lot of demand," she continued. "Usually, the prices are lower in the fall. One of the huge benefits of having the bins is we can kind of hold onto our crop and see what happens in the future."
Like most farmers, they're hoping for a better bean market.
Casteel says it won't be a record-breaking yield this year, but numbers across the state still should turn out near normal, even despite the challenging weather.
Since drought conditions remain in the forecast, Casteel reminds farmers to take care of themselves with this endless supply of sunny work days.
"Every farmer's going through long days. Take the moments to rest, because mental fatigue, physical fatigue is going to set in," Casteel instructed. "That's when mistakes can happen, safety issues. We need to rest, too."
