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Summer 2005
Volume 22, Issue 1
Hertz Provides Steady Hand Through Decades of Change
Ralph and Alice Butler own seven Franklin County, IA farms, all managed by Cal Dickson, Accredited Farm Manager and Certified Crop Advisor out of the Hertz Mason City, IA office.
“Our relationship with Hertz began back when mom was trying to manage the farm on her own,” says Alice. Mom called Hertz Farm Management for assistance in 1965 and Jim Frevert (past president of Hertz) started managing the home farm that fall.
Frevert turned over the operation of the farms to Dickson in 1986, when Frevert was named president of Hertz.
The acreage Hertz Farm Management oversees continued to grow as the Butlers’ interests in farmland ownership grew. The original 160 acres left to them by her mother was augmented by another 160-acre inheritance. Then, during the farm crisis of the 1980s, they purchased another 240 acres over the course of two years.
In 1998, they bought another 80 and followed that with another 120 acres in 2003 and yet another 80 acres in 2004. Hertz has been very involved in all the purchases, and today, all farms have been paid for except the two most recent additions.
The last three purchases resulted from the farm having once been the residence of other family members, including one from an aunt and another from grandparents.
Ralph Butler explains the additions to the farmland ownership. “We’ve tried to perpetuate the idea behind the people who gave this land to us, or who kept it in the family. We tried to match in acreage what we inherited from the family. That was our idea.”
Despite the fact they live in Michigan and they’re both retired, the Butlers are active in farmland ownership, management and improvement. “We try to get to Iowa every year,” says Alice. “We really like to come in the fall when we can actually see the crops.”
Since they’ve inherited or purchased their land, improvements have been non-stop. They’ve tiled fields to improve crop yields and reduce soil erosion, resided and reroofed dwellings and garages, built grain bins and moved them to strategic locations, negotiated leases, rents and mortgages, razed old buildings, sold an acreage, converted ground to tillable acreage and established conservation reserve program (CRP) acreage.
But, improving the land is only part of farm management. Dickson has purchased all the crop inputs, selected the custom operators, secured adequate insurance coverage, negotiated farm purchases and dwelling leases to renters. Finally, he was able to persuade the Butlers to change their lease type from 50/50 crop share to custom operation. It’s a subtle joke between the farm manager and the Butlers.
“Today, I’d acknowledge that custom operation is the only way to go,” laughs Ralph. “There is no comparison. Cal had been trying to get us to change to a custom operation for 10 years before we finally agreed. We were concerned about problems, but the resistance to it occurs at the changeover. But Hertz readily managed the discomforts of change.”
He grins when he looks at Cal and says, “Sometimes, we don’t make up our minds very quickly, do we?” Dickson just laughs and good-naturedly responds, “I didn’t say it, Ralph.” One can tell these three are part of a team.
The Butlers were drawn out of the area when they married and moved to Michigan in 1945. Ralph accepted an offer to become the superintendent of a dairy production facility.
Alice’s father died in 1962 and her mother moved to Washington, IA in 1970. That’s when Ralph and Alice became involved with working with Hertz Farm Management.
Today, the Butler’s son, Brinton, says, “I think it’s neat to come and see the farms. Hopefully, they’ll trust me to carry on someday with the farms and the farm managers. I see some obstacles down the road. It’ll be difficult to get everyone in my generation to be on the same page. I want to make concrete, coherent decisions. Hertz Farm Management has helped point us in the right direction,” he concludes in reference to the succession planning offered by Hertz.
“People have different interests,” says Alice, “and there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s probably healthy. We’re looking to keep these farms in the family, particularly the Centennial Farm and those we inherited,” she explains. “Our seven children are growing in their knowledge and appreciation of what will someday be their inheritance. Even our grandchildren are getting interested in the farming business,” says Alice. The Butlers trust Cal to oversee all functions, decisions and inputs for their farms. The positive emotions of farmland ownership are supported by the right blend of compassion and professional management offered by Hertz. Cal has established a crop rotation that maximizes yields, increased planting populations, added 24,000 bushels of grain storage, landed a seed soybean growing contract, implemented pattern tiling and managed all marketing through cash sales, forward contracts and hedge-to-arrive contracts. The farms are profitable.
“We have an interest in having Hertz stick around because we don’t know what we’d do without them,” Ralph concludes. “We really don’t.”
“We have complete trust and faith in Hertz and in what they’re doing,” adds Alice. “They really have our best interests at heart and they really investigate their work.”
It all began with a phone call. There will be, perhaps, hundreds more in the future generations of the Butlers and future Hertz farm managers. The solidity of the heartfelt relationship between Hertz Farm Management and the Butlers wears well beyond the decades of change dating back to the Cloverleaf Farm of 1926. That farm featured a hand-painted cloverleaf on the front of a big barn that proudly looked out over Franklin County. Perhaps that good luck sign was indicative of the relationship between owner, operator and manager.
Through the turbulent times, the ups and downs, the tough economic times and even the future succession times, the steady hand of Hertz Farm Management will continue to be there.
Hertz Adds Strawberry Point Location
Hertz Farm Management has added an office location in Strawberry Point, IA after acquiring the assets of the former Pro Ag Corporation. Marlin Schminke, owner of Iowa Pro Ag, and Julie Meyers, office administrator, join the Hertz staff and will work out of the Strawberry Point office.
Schminke joined the firm in August of 1969, and purchased the company in 1976. He changed the name to Iowa Pro Ag in 1981. Loyd Brown, president of Hertz, said one of the primary considerations in Schminke’s decision to join Hertz was to provide enhanced services to his company’s clients.
The acquisition of Iowa Pro Ag brings the number of Hertz office locations to 14 strategically located throughout Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Nebraska. Hertz was founded in 1946 and today, offers professional farm management, farm real estate sales, auctions, acquisitions, farm and commercial appraisals and agricultural consulting.
