Fitting Pieces Together: Creative Crop Rotations To Complete the Puzzle

Paul Hoffman returned to his family farm near Earlville, Illinois, to take over the row crop operation in 2014 after exploring a career teaching math. Since then, he has gradually diversified the farm’s rotations to include organic corn, soybeans, wheat, sunflowers, canola, oats, buckwheat, rye, red clover and forages. The forages in his rotations feed the herd of Dutch Belted and Milking Shorthorn cattle, which his mother, Winifred, maintains. Paul’s wife, Trisha, and their kids also help raise 100% grass-fed lambs.

Paul uses his math skills to piece together a crop rotation puzzle that reduces weed pressure, breaks pest and disease cycles and meets the farms economic needs. Attend his field day to learn how sunflowers, red clover, winter squash, livestock and more are each finding their place on the Hoffman farm.