Christina Lieffring/The Columbus Telegram
Dan Hilger, left, and his son Marc stand
in their sunflower patch. Hilger uses sunflowers and a mix of legumes,
mustard, barley and buckwheat as cover crops.
- See more at: http://www.grownebraska.org/blog/2015/10/hilger-isnt-your-typical-farmer/#sthash.fiSPqWje.dpuf
Christina Lieffring/The Columbus Telegram
Dan Hilger, left, and his son Marc stand
in their sunflower patch. Hilger uses sunflowers and a mix of legumes,
mustard, barley and buckwheat as cover crops.
- See more at: http://www.grownebraska.org/blog/2015/10/hilger-isnt-your-typical-farmer/#sthash.fiSPqWje.dpuf
Christina Lieffring/The Columbus
Telegram
Dan Hilger, left, and his son Marc
stand in their sunflower patch. Hilger uses sunflowers and a mix of legumes,
mustard, barley and buckwheat as cover crops.
October 08, 2015 8:15 am • By Christina Lieffring / clieffring@columbustelegram.com
BELLWOOD — After driving past
corn and soybeans for miles, Dan Hilger’s fields of sunflowers are a refreshing
change of scenery.
Nestled under the yellow canopy, the
field near Bellwood also hosts a mix of barley, mustard, buckwheat, radishes
and various beans.
This is the first year he's grown
sunflowers, but Hilger always has been eager to experiment, both with cover and
cash crops. In fact, he’s managed to make a living doing things a little
differently.
More than two decades ago, he tried
to grow potatoes, but the selling price was low and the window for sales was
narrow. After seven years, he gave up potatoes, but wanted to grow something
natural and healthy for human consumption.
He decided to try popcorn since the
market was more stable and it could be easily stored. Hilger grew and bagged
his popcorn and started selling it at local grocery stores. Two decades later,
he still personally sells his popcorn to area stores but also has a distributor
for Lincoln and Omaha. Stores tell him he sells more than other brands, even
national brands like Orville Redenbacher's.
“A lot of people tell us we have the
best-tasting popcorn,” said Hilger.
The popcorn seeds aren't genetically
modified, and Hilger only uses probiotics, cover crops and fertilizer on his
corn.
“I was into all that healthy stuff
before it was cool,” Hilger said. “But at 69, I’m glad I looked after my
health.”
He rotates popcorn with soybeans,
which are his two main sources of income. Hilger earns a little from harvesting
the rye he also uses as a cover crop for its allelopathic chemicals that
inhibit weed growth.
His sunflower, barley, mustard,
buckwheat, radish and bean mixture has attracted a plethora of insects. Each
sunflower houses at least a handful of ladybugs, and bees are so prevalent one
of Hilger’s beekeeping neighbors left a trailer of hives by the patch, hoping
to collect whatever honey the bees produce.
“Diversity gets you all kinds of
benefits versus monoculture,” Hilger said.
He may be able to sell the sunflower
seeds to sunflower oil processors, depending on if the seeds fully develop
before the frost. And he said he’ll see if any of his neighbors who raise
cattle want to graze on the barley, radishes and buckwheat.
Hilger’s goal with his cover crops
is to not only improve the health of the soil and use natural methods to manage
weeds and pests, but also maximize the use of his land. He pointed out that the
typical corn-bean rotation leaves ground barren six to eight months a year.
“For many years, the big push has
been for us to farm more and more acres each year,” he said. “With the current
low grain prices, we have to be more efficient to survive.”
Originally posted by the Columbus Telegram.
Available at BuyNebraska.com: Shop Now.
Christina Lieffring/The Columbus Telegram
Dan Hilger, left, and his son Marc stand
in their sunflower patch. Hilger uses sunflowers and a mix of legumes,
mustard, barley and buckwheat as cover crops.
- See more at: http://www.grownebraska.org/blog/2015/10/hilger-isnt-your-typical-farmer/#sthash.fiSPqWje.dpuf
Christina Lieffring/The Columbus Telegram
Dan Hilger, left, and his son Marc stand
in their sunflower patch. Hilger uses sunflowers and a mix of legumes,
mustard, barley and buckwheat as cover crops.
- See more at: http://www.grownebraska.org/blog/2015/10/hilger-isnt-your-typical-farmer/#sthash.fiSPqWje.dpuf