Paying attention to the fundamentals of farming is Frank Collop's specialty. This northeast Missouri farmer is proof that good farmers pay attention to details. Field management, machinery maintenance and diversification all play a large role on Collop's 1,500-acre operation.

Frank Collop pays attention to details. His farm is near Brashear, Mo., just east of Kirksville. Small details can make a big difference on a farm, says Collop. They can make or break you some years. Even with new technological advancements occurring every day, Collop is proof that technology and new gadgets can't take the place of sound decisions concerning agriculture's basics.

"He's just a good, well-rounded farmer," said Jeb Weaver, manager of the Kirksville MFA Agri Services Center. "He's involved in his community through agricultural organizations, diversifies his farm with various crops and cattle, and maintains his machinery well. He could be the speaker for a seminar on how to set a combine before harvest for other producers."

Mastering the fundamentals of agriculture has helped Collop throughout the years. He started farming in 1972 after he graduated from Truman State University with a B.S.E. in agriculture. "But I didn't want to teach then," he said. "Farming was good in the '70s, so I bought some land. Then when the '80s hit I was wishing I had gone into teaching," he said as he laughed. "But we pulled through it. I figure I must be doing something right if I'm still in the business."

What kept him in business and continues to do so is his knowledge of agriculture.

Field management
Fertilization is one of those basics. Collop has turned a number of fields around by fertilizing and rotating crops. "Several fields had been in continuous soybeans for several years before I took them over," said Collop. "You can't plant continuous soybeans--not in Missouri anyway." Collop fertilized the fields; they are now producing corn and wheat as well as soybeans when their time comes up in the rotation.

Weed and bug control are also important in an operation. This year Collop planted all GMO seed on his land, which consisted of more than 1,000 acres of Roundup Ready soybeans and more than 100 acres of Bt corn. Collop said there are several reasons why he planted the GMOs this year. Good weed control, chemical savings and pest control are some of his top reasons.

"The beans work really well on no-till land," he said. "The Roundup takes care of the weeds well. And if you plant all Roundup Ready beans, there's no way you can get fields or seed mixed up." Collop has only heard of stories where a producer has sprayed Roundup on beans that were not Roundup Ready only to realize his mistake a week or so later--and that's the way he would like to keep it.

He also likes the flexibility Roundup allows him to have the next year when he decides what to plant. And he doesn't have to worry about waiting periods with the Roundup program.

With the Bt corn taking care of the corn borer problem he had last year, the only pests Collop had to deal with were some weevils early on. After spraying, it was clear sailing. He said he could tell the Bt helped him fight the borers this year. Some neighboring fields showed signs of damage.

Collop's management philosophy is that you have to spend money to make money. Some farmers may look at fertilizer and chemicals as a cost. Collop sees them as investments. "I've probably spent at least $100 an acre on most of my fields this year," he said. But it all pays off at harvest time.

Machinery maintenance
To make harvest go smoother, Collop pulls out his combine and starts getting it prepared for harvest in early August. Collop said a farmer's combine is the single most important piece of machinery to keep maintained. "The biggest loss a farmer can encounter is when he doesn't maintain or set his combine properly," he said.

After checking sieves, concaves and other parts, he greases it and heads to the field. He said setting the combine is just as important as maintenance if he wants to take advantage of his field's full yield potential.

Collop is the first to say that all fields are not alike, and farmers have to change their combine settings to match what's going on in each field. "Conditions change from field to field all the time," said Collop. "Different seed varieties and weather conditions can be reasons for changing the settings on your combine--even if you're in the same field."

But knowing when to change your combine setting or what to change it to is a lot more difficult than it may seem. This knowledge is something Collop says just comes with time and experience.

"It just comes natural after you run a combine for several seasons," he said. "Trial and error is the best way to learn. Setting the combine to the book setting is a good starting point," he said. "The book setting doesn't always work the best though. If you go from there and make changes as you see things happening, you'll be OK."

This attention to detail allows Collop to get all of the grain he can out of his fields. If he didn't pay attention to the changes in the field and make proper adjustments, he could be losing a lot of bushels of grain on the ground.

The hard work is paying off. This year Collop's soybeans are yielding between 40 and 50 bushels per acre. His corn that he harvested by mid-October has averaged 170 bushels.

"Weather conditions were pretty ideal around here this year," he said. "We had a pretty dry spring, but we got rain when we needed it. August was a little dry, too, but by that time the corn was already made, and it didn't hurt the beans much. This is about as good of corn as I've ever raised," he said in mid-October. "I've raised 200-bushel corn before on my river-bottom ground, but I haven't shelled there yet; I've only shelled my hill ground so far."

Diversification
But even the best farmers don't put all of their eggs into one basket. By planting various varieties and types of grain, Collop spreads out the risks farming brings. His 160-head cow/calf operation also helps keep his farm diversified.

This allows Collop to adjust his farm to get the most out of the areas in agriculture where the market is stronger. Because of the low grain commodity prices and recent higher fuel prices, Collop is planting grass in some of the fields he would normally plant to grain and is increasing his cow herd.

"Prices are good for cattle right now," he said. "My fuel costs have increased by one-third this year. That's rough on a farmer when commodity prices are so low."

But Collop also pointed out that it's good to stay flexible. He's sure he will be planting grain in those fields in the future. "Everything runs in cycles," he said. "They say the cattle cycle turns approximately every seven years." So it's likely he may change the field back in the future.

The future
"I've heard experts say that by 2050 the agriculture industry between now and then will change as much as it has since the beginning of the horse and plow compared to now," he said. "That's just amazing."

Collop figures that soon he may be faced with the need to diversify even more on his farm. "I might have to look into alternative crops," he said. "But there's still lots of marketing problems associated with that right now for it to work well."

And Collop knows that the technological advancements of yield monitors, GPS systems and variable-rate application equipment will be a mainstay on most farms in the future.

He figures the next combine he buys will have a yield monitor. But until then, Collop says he already has the ultimate yield monitor. "Right now the scales are my yield monitor," he said. "A yield monitor just tells you what you're yielding in a specific area of a field. The scales still tell you your final yield."