Like Father, Like Son

No doubt about it, Ted Haberland knows how to grow wheat. Haberland's grain yields consistently approach or eclipse 100 bushels per acre. Twice, he has won the Virginia Small Grain Association Yield Contest--topping 136 bushels per acre in 1999.

Now, it appears Haberland has passed his know-how on to his son Theo. In 2004, Theo harvested an average of 106 bushels of wheat per acre from an 8-acre plot rented from his dad. He won the state wheat yield contest and FFA's State Crop Production Entrepreneurship Proficiency Award.

Ted manages Glenwood Ag Company with 2,000 acres of row crops, including 200 acres of wheat, near Somerset. He's August 2005 Like Father, Like Son been on the Virginia Extension Service's Intensive Wheat Management Practices program for 10 years. This Europeanbased program was modified to fit local conditions. "We put as much management into wheat production as we do into corn and soybeans," Ted says. "Our goal is to produce 100 to 125 bushels of grain per acre. That's doublecropping it ahead of soybeans."

His program begins with an annual soil test conducted by Denny Wayland, field sales associate with Southern States' Orange-Madison Co-op in Orange.

"I use my agronomy background to fine-tune test results," Haberland says. The co-op applies all of Ted and Theo's preplant fertilizer, including lime. The magnesium in lime, they say, ups resistance to diseases such as wheat scab and head smut.

The Haberlands plant wheat behind full-season soybeans. Ted says no-till planting isn't practical to plant behind 70-bushel beans.

"Virginia Tech conducts wheat variety trials near our farm, which is a strong indication of varieties that will work best for us," Ted says. "For the past six years or so, Southern States varieties have ranked right on top in yields. Last year, we planted SS- 520. In 2005, we switched to SS-560."

"We don't just look at yield; we also check test weights," he adds. "That is a good indication of a variety's disease resistance."

Besides using varieties from Southern States, the co-op supplies most of the crop inputs the Haberlands use.

Ted's attention to detail and demand for quality varieties hasn't been lost on his son. After college, Theo plans to return to the farm to build on his dad's reputation. That means Southern States should have a Haberland as a customer for another generation.