USA
March 14, 2019
Innovation, Precision and Partnership Abound at RimRock Ranches
When you picture wheat growing, chances are you picture a golden crop blowing in the breeze in an expansive, flat field. The terrain is a bit different on Ben Hermann’s fourth-generation wheat farm. The Idaho grower, who farms with his father, Jim Hermann, at RimRock Ranches in the Palouse, uses innovation to help him get the most out of every field — even those with a 40 percent slope. The Palouse region of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho is one of the most unique wheat growing areas in the world, with rich soils and high annual rain- falls in rolling hills.
“I’d rather harvest on the side of a canyon than drive on a freeway.”
Ben says technology plays a pivotal role in helping them manage their terrain more efficiently and sustainably. Yield maps, GPS and satellite imagery help the father/son team zero in on their diverse acres so they can allocate resources to those acres that will be most profitable and sustainable.
“Our ground is highly variable in terms of both elevation and productivity,” Ben says. “Technology allows us to take a site-specific approach to managing it.” While these data insights help them to plan and predict to better manage soil and crop health, innovations in farming practices have also improved their quality of life. Ben uses variable rate seeding and fertilizing to help him get the most out of every acre while being sustainable.
Growers are innovative and resilient by nature; a crop or practice that works on one wheat operation may not be a fit for the one right next door. While they consider RimRock Ranches to be a wheat operation first and foremost, the Hermanns grow a wide array of crops they’ve found to thrive in their conditions, including garbanzo beans, peas, canola, lentils and mustard seed. “We basically try growing every dry commodity we can because corn and soybeans are not an option for us,” says Ben. “However, this is wheat country first; it’s tried and true. If you farm in this area, you grow wheat.”
What does it take to succeed as a wheat grower? Ben attributes his high wheat yields to innovation, persistence, time...and WestBred® wheat.
“We’ve been growing WestBred Hard Red Winter wheat for as long as I can remember.”
“It’s hard to beat, even on our marginal ground — and our wheat yields really explode on good ground,” he says. With an annual rainfall of 18-22 inches, this beautiful wheat country can see some high yields, when managed properly — and understanding which wheat varieties and seeding rates work best for an operation is crucial to a successful season.
“We conduct on-farm variety trials with WestBred wheat each year to identify the best varieties for our land,” Ben says. “My WestBred Technical Product Manager, Lindsay Crigler, is great to work with. Seeding and harvest are among the most rushed and chaotic times of our growing season, and I wouldn’t be able to manage plot trials on the scale I do without her help.”
Innovation, precision and partnership — three attributes Ben puts to use each day growing wheat in the Palouse. To see more about what it takes to succeed in wheat and to read more WestBred grower stories, visit WestBred.com/thetiller.
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