Meet the Director: Rick Juchems

April 29, 2025

By Joseph Hopper

What crops and livestock do you grow and raise on the farm?

We raise soybeans, corn, and custom feed finish hogs for my brother in-law. We are 100% cover crops that are seeded around Sept. 1. We have several CRP areas including filter strips, prairie strips, waterways, tree belts and a shallow water area that catches runoff from our living site.

What makes your farm unique?

We were the first in the area to try cover crops in a strip trial, and saw the improvement in soil quality, crop performance and the benefit of weed suppression. Halfway through the 10-year trial we started using cover crops on all our planted acres. We also have a solar array that produces enough electricity to provide energy to our entire farm.

What does success mean to you on the farm?

The easy answer is to have a good ROI. The better answer is that we want to leave the soil better than we started 45 years ago. We would also like to have the water that falls on our soils leave without taking any nutrients with it.

How do you envision production agriculture 50 years from now?

The last 45 years have taught me that agriculture is always changing from hybrids that can endure drought to soybeans that have a very beneficial oil. I think that the ag world will continue to consolidate from farms to chemical and fertilizer dealers. I see more uses of AI in agriculture from the crop side and the livestock area. I hope to see more conservation put in place to protect our most important natural resource, the soil that sustains our livelihood and those around us.

What do you see as the largest hurdle for homegrown soybeans in the future? Largest opportunity?

The largest hurdle in the near future is the tariffs that are being put in place slowing our ability to export our crops. Long-term, we need to find more uses for soy oil and increase our exports of soybeans, oil and meal. The largest opportunity has yet to be discovered through research in the bean genome that could change the quality or structure of the oil so that it has more uses. We need to keep investing in research so we can produce a product that has more uses and is easier to export.

What’s something people usually don’t know about you?

I like to spend time with family and friends. I enjoy cooking and baking, sometimes it turns out well and other times it could be improved. Most of the time it is edible. I also like to play video games with my son and grandson. That started when the first computer came into our home.

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