View From the Cab             05/04 08:58

   Nebraska Farmer Focuses on Kids, Crops and Community

   Meet Ethan Zoerb. The Litchfield, Nebraska, farmer will report in throughout 
the 2025 growing season as part of DTN's View From the Cab series.

Pamela Smith
Crops Technology Editor

   DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- Ethan Zoerb was only 14 years old when he rented his 
first farm acreage and raised his first crop. Now, with children of his own, 
farming is both a way to sustain a family and build a legacy.

   At 33, Zoerb is also in that time of life that can be wrapped up in the word 
"busy." The combination of farming, running kids to events and being involved 
in community and commodity organizations can make for a chaotic (but far from 
boring) life.

   This summer, DTN readers can follow along to learn more about how the 
Litchfield, Nebraska, farmer juggles commitments as part of the View From the 
Cab feature. In its 21st year, the series features two farmers from different 
geographical regions to learn more about current crop conditions and daily life 
on the farm.

   Also contributing to the 2025 View From the Cab series is Stuart Sanderson, 
a partner in Henderson Farms, of Madison, Alabama. Read more about his farming 
operation here: 
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/farm-life/article/2025/04/27/red-d
irt-grows-big-bushels .

   MIDDLE OF CORN COUNTRY

   The 2025 growing season has started off dry, dusty and smoky in west-central 
Nebraska where Zoerb farms with his wife, Nichole, and his parents, Dale and 
Linda Zoerb, near Litchfield, about 30 miles north of Interstate 80.

   A 0.75-inch rain fell as the calendar turned to May, and it came with hail, 
a constant four-letter threat in this part of the country.

   "It's the first rain we've seen in probably six weeks," said Zoerb. "It 
wasn't expected, and I was so surprised that I can't even complain about the 
hail." Wildfires in central Nebraska haven't been an immediate threat to the 
farm, but smoke is a constant reminder that the area remains in moderate to 
severe drought status.

   The Zoerb farm stretches across Custer and Sherman counties -- not exactly 
the geographical middle of the state but close. The nearest Walmart is 60 miles 
away.

   He's surrounded by cornfields, center pivots and kin -- and that's just the 
way Zoerb likes it. "Somewhere around the farm, there's a piece of concrete 
with my footprint in it when I was about 12 months old or so," he said. "I 
guess you could say I was farming from day one."

   He considers himself a second-generation farmer. Although farming stretches 
back over several family generations, his parents started the current farm from 
scratch in the 1980s. Pigs helped build the operation, but the swine buildings 
were idled years ago. Today, his father runs some cows, his mother has some 
chickens, and there are occasional litters of golden retrievers that chase the 
farm cats, but what's left of the livestock facilities have mostly been 
converted to fertilizer or equipment storage.

   "I might consider getting into chickens, but I'm more interested in the 
manure and what that might do for our crop," Zoerb said.

   THOSE EARLY YEARS

   In 2006, a neighbor came knocking with the opportunity to lease a tract of 
land. The then-teenage Zoerb cut a deal with his dad to trade labor for 
machinery, so he could farm "on his own." The project provided a good early 
training exercise and led to several state FFA proficiency awards during his 
high-school career. In 2020, it was a proud moment when he was able to harvest 
that same 55-acre field as its landowner, knowing he had also done the work to 
improve the drainage and productivity of the parcel.

   Zoerb graduated from Doane College (now Doane University), a four-year 
liberal arts institution about 150 miles away from home, with a degree in 
environmental sciences and minor in biology. But he never really took his eye 
off the farm.

   Lack of cropland availability is a challenge he faces as a young farmer. 
"There's very little tillable land that comes up for lease or rent here these 
days. If it does become available, it's typically a purchase big enough to make 
a banker's eyes roll," he said.

   The home farm currently spans 6,500 acres when custom farming acres are 
thrown into the equation. Four full-time employees help keep things rolling.

   Commodity corn and soybeans dominate production. Ethanol plants tend to 
gobble up the corn, but some goes to livestock producers. About 400 acres of 
white corn grown is raised for an export market. Soybeans head to a crush plant 
in Hastings.

   Most delivery points are at least an hour away. Over the years, the farm has 
expanded grain storage capacity to 800,000 bushels. A plastic bagging system 
helps flex space at harvest.

   In the fall, cereal rye covers up soybean stubble on fields being rotated to 
corn. Corn acres are strip-tilled the following spring. Soybean acres are 
mostly no-till but may get a vertical-till treatment if they are "really 
trashy."

   Field sizes average around 120 acres to 140 acres. The best fields contain 
Holdrege soils -- the fertile state soil of Nebraska that responds favorably to 
irrigation and management. Hilltops are lighter and tend to burn out when 
conditions turn hot and humid.

   With average rainfall of about 24 inches per year, irrigation is critical to 
making a crop. Nearly every acre sports a pivot.

   WATER RULES

   The Ogallala Aquifer, the largest aquifer in the United States and one of 
the largest in the world, runs beneath the farm. Irrigation water is pulled 
from wells, which are monitored to protect the resource.

   "We'll typically get a rain around Father's Day in June. We'll get a storm 
about July 10 and then, it may not rain until September," Zoerb noted. 
"Irrigation is life for our crops."

   He remembers only one year -- 2018 -- when the skies opened and pumping was 
barely needed. "We had a couple of soybean fields that the only time we watered 
was to fertigate," Zoerb recalled. "Our dryland soybeans averaged 92 bushels 
per acre (bpa) that year."

   Dryland soybeans are more likely to yield 40 bpa or less in this area. 
Irrigated soybeans typically average 80 to 85 bpa. Dryland corn yields around 
125 bpa.

   "We're disappointed if we don't hit 275 bushels or better on corn under 
water (irrigated)," he said. "With the price of inputs right now, that needs to 
be our goal."

   Unfortunately, this is the "Wild West" when it comes to weather. Zoerb can 
tell tales of waist-high soybean plants being ground to pulp by freak July 
hailstorms.

   In 2022, he planted a field of soybeans three times. They succumbed to frost 
in May, only to be hammered by hail in early June as the cotyledons were just 
breaking the soil surface.

   "Hail, in particular, can be heartbreaking, but fortunately it doesn't seem 
to happen every year or at least not in the same fields every year," he said.

   COMMUNITY MATTERS

   The summers are a whirlwind of checking irrigation units and scouting crops. 
Zoerb is diligent about pulling tissue samples, which helps identify if more 
groceries are needed to keep crops satisfied.

   He enjoys technology and looking for ways to fine-tune production practices. 
He will fly a new drone this summer with spray capabilities.

   Zoerb also serves on the Nebraska Corn Growers Association executive board 
and feels strongly about the need for his generation to have a voice. The 
networking is nice, but his involvement is with an eye toward preserving 
agriculture's legacy. After all, it won't be long before his own children will 
reach the age when he started in this business.

   For now, sports, church and school activities clamor for attention. He and 
Nichole find themselves volunteering as coaches on the regular.

   Then, there's the by-the-honor system sweet corn patch the farm plants along 
the highway. And the machine shed is constantly being swept out to host a 
community boutique or fundraiser.

   If he gets a spare minute, he might stop by for a cup of coffee at Ash 
Hollow Coffee Co. in nearby Loup City (1,100 population). His sister opened the 
place a few years ago.

   "I know farming is a business and that's the way we treat it, but it doesn't 
have to be at the expense of other things. For me, the best part of farming is 
being with family," he said.

   Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

   Follow her on social platform X @PamSmithDTN




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