In his 61 years of farming, Mike Buis has never had one season exactly like another. As he drives along the Morgan and Putnam County roads, home to the land that he has farmed for more than six decades, he can recall the different experiences they’ve had throughout that time:
Last year, 2023, was their best year, with great weather, good corn and bean yields combined with good prices.
In 1974 they got hit with northern corn blight, a disease favored by wet, humid, cool weather that can spread long distances to affect fields.
The late 70’s were among the worst years. Interest rates for loans farmers needed were high at 16 to 17%. Land that was selling for $3,000 an acre suddenly dropped to around $1,000 an acre. In 1980, the United States implemented a grain embargo against the Soviet Union, causing prices to drop and leading to many farmers filing bankruptcy.
2012 was a drought year, but fortunately the Buis family had crop insurance to recoup some lost revenue.
Mike and his brother, Jeff Buis, have owned and operated their farm together as the Mike & Jeff Buis Partnership since 1988 and have managed to lead their business through it all – the good, the bad, and everything in between.
FARMING FOR GENERATIONS
At age 75, Mike said that these days, he may not be out working on the equipment and doing what he once did, but he still keeps himself plenty busy.
“A day like today with things going on, I’m a dispatcher here,” he said. “Every day I make a list, with Plan A, B, and C because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Mike rented his first parcel of land at just 14 years old, purchasing his first tractor, and planting and harvesting his first crop while he was still in his early high school years. He graduated from Purdue University in 1971 and earned his master’s degree from DePauw University in 1974 all while farming 500 acres with his brother.
He taught school and coached basketball for six years at Cascade High School and while he said he loved both professions, he had to make a choice between the two. He left teaching to run his farm full-time and has been doing the same ever since.
Jeff takes care of the machinery while Mike does the bookwork and marketing. If there’s something that needs to be done, they’ll both jump in to do what they can. They also have four part-time employees, all retirees with backgrounds in farming and a college student working in between classes.
“They all know what to do,” he said. “Something goes wrong, those guys can take care of it.”
Mike resides in Martinsville, just west of Eminence, in the house that belonged to his grandfather. Back in the 1950s, his dad, dad’s brothers, and grandfather farmed approximately 3,000 acres. His father built a grain elevator which still stands today and even though the Buis family no longer own it, it borders land they do own – a source of pride in their family history they enjoy seeing it as they drive by. His dad soon after left farming to teach, eventually becoming assistant principal for Eminence High School. At that point, Mike said he began farming with his grandfather. He and his brothers purchased some of that land from its trust in 1992. It’s always been a family business, and one Mike said he hopes can stay in the family.
FARMING TODAY
Mike and Jeff now farm 3,000 acres in Morgan and Putnam counties. They own approximately 1,200 acres and rent 1,800. There’s one parcel of land they farm which Mike said he began renting in 1969 and still rents today, from the great-grandkids of those original owners.
They primarily grow corn and soybeans but also some wheat and rye.
Cover crops are a relatively new program for their farm, something they began doing eight years ago. Cover crops are plants grown for the purpose of improving soil health, preventing erosion and functioning as weed, pest, and disease control. They work with different companies who provide the seed that they use which also works to capture the carbon in the air. Mike said they’ve already noticed advantages of this program in the field such as weed depression, breaking up/loosening the soil, and less soil erosion.
They also work with the USDA in its Conservation Stewardship Program to keep an area of land unmowed and left as a habitat for wildlife.
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