The Iowa Ag Expo not only was the first large show held at the complex since the beginning of the pandemic, but is the country’s third largest indoor farm show.

Luft and Sons

Despite the pandemic and a potentially lower crowd visiting this year’s show, Luft and Sons from Pocahontas decided to take the chance and exhibit at the Iowa Ag Expo for the first time.

“We wanted to see the amount of farmers that come through here – to get our name out there,” said Jeff Luft.

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
Wells Fargo Arena was full of ag equipment ranging from tools to sprayers and more during the Iowa Ag Expo held last week in Des Moines

Although Des Moines is a far distance from their Pocahontas business, and oftentimes visitors to the Iowa Ag Expo come from all over the state of Iowa and beyond, the Lufts still felt their presence at the show would be a great fit.

“We will travel statewide if the client is right, if the job is right,” said Jake Luft. “It all depends on what we are looking at for a project.”

Being at the show seemed to pay off for the Luft brothers.

“It’s not too bad. It is a little slow, but we’ve gotten a couple of leads and have given out a lot of our swag and stuff. We are doing what we came to do – get our name out there,” said Jake Luft.

Luft and Sons offers land improvement specializing in system tiling, large main installation, demolition, terrace and waterways, septic and leach fields and general excavation.

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
Tad Baumgartner, left with Four Star Services Inc., was assisted by Humboldt area farmer, Ron Collins at the Iowa Ag Expo. Four Star Services Inc. was there to visit with producers about their Agri-SC liquid soil conditioner.

This may be their first visit to the Iowa Ag Expo, but they are nothing new to the industry.

“We are a third generation business that started with grandpa in 1948 or 1949,” said Jeff Luft. “We have that 70 years of knowledge behind us. We stay up to date with the latest technology. We don’t let much slip by. We are always doing continuing education and using the latest methods and staying as efficient as we can and competitively priced with high quality work.”

Some of the state of the art technology allows Luft and Sons to fully design a tiling job right from their computer.

“We really don’t need to survey anymore” said Jake Luft.

“We can bring up a customer’s 160 acres right up on my computer, see it at every angle, fully design it,” said Jeff Luft. “I like to tell people we really don’t give you an estimate, but give you a guaranteed price.”

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson
erry Stevens, Jeff Luft and Jake Luft represented Luft and Sons at the Iowa Ag Expo last week. This was the first year for the company to exhibit at the show.

The Lufts said they will also help with consulting and designing of land improvement whether they do the actual digging or not.

“You can install the tile off of our finished design,” said Jeff Luft. “We have probably designed 30 to 40 million feet with this new program so we have quite a bit of experience. Now a days, design is everything. Anyone can run the equipment. It is the knowledge of design that is important.”

Tiling a field can be something to consider when thinking towards better conservation practices.

“It helps with runoff,” said Jeff Luft. “If you didn’t have drainage and you just got two inches of rain it soaked it up and you got two inches again the next day, it is not soaking in. It is going to run off down the hill.”

Agri-SC liquid soil conditioner

Ron Collins, a Humboldt area farmer, was at the Iowa Ag Expo giving his testimonial to other producers visiting the show on a product he truly believes in — Agri-SC, liquid soil conditioner from Four Star Services, Inc.

“I would not farm without it,” he said. “Economically, the return on investment is not only based on yield, but if you are pulling a ripper through a field or your double disc openers on your planter — it pulls so much easier, saving so much fuel.”

In addition to saving fuel, those ripper points and other pieces of tillage equipment will see longer life.

“We can talk yield, and return on investment, but you need to look out further to the investment of what is behind the tractor,” he said.

Tad Baumgartner, with Four Star Services, Inc., said producers could see immediate results within the first year of applying the Agri-SC liquid soil conditioner.

The liquid soil conditioner can be applied with a pre- or the first post-emergence herbicide application right onto the soil.

“A soil conditioner breaks a bond in the soil that allows water to infiltrate faster and then that same bond that breaks also reduces the shear strength of the soil which increases the ease of tillage,” Baumgartner said. “Most people that are running a conventional tillage operation will be able to tell where the product is on the field because of the reduced shear strength.”

Some people, Baumgartner said, call the Agri-SC liquid soil conditioner a “liquid tile.”

“We can’t do what tile can do, but if you have tile on a field, we can help get water to the tile system,” he said.

Agri-SC, Baumgartner said, will go to work on the moisture in the soil right away, and it is recommended the product is applied during the times of year where there are higher soil moisture chances – such as spring or fall versus the middle of summer.

With the potential of continued drought conditions, Baumgartner said the Agri-SC liquid soil conditioner could still be a benefit.

“Some of our best yield data has come back during dry seasons because if you are needing any rainfall that does come in, if it can penetrate into the soil, versus running off,” he said. “When you think about all of the benefits that occur when you are increasing water infiltration and reducing shear strength, it ends up leading to a yield benefit – there is no doubt you will definitely see a payback.”

Becker Ag Sales

Dick Danielson, owner of Becker Ag Sales located in St. Joseph, has been exhibiting at the Iowa Ag Expo for four years now.

“Attendance this year, I would say is about 50 to 60 percent of what it normally is,” Danielson said.

Although attendance seemed down, Danielson said they were still getting plenty of exposure.

“We got quite a few leads, it isn’t a normal year, but there is more here than I thought there was going to be,” he said.

Danielson said it pays to exhibit at the show each year.

“I can send two salesman out and they are never going to see the people we are going to see here,” he said. “We get a lot of leads and for the next two to three weeks we will be following up on those leads.”

Danielson said Becker Ag Sales, which covers about a 100 mile radius of St. Joseph, which is located between Humboldt and Algona, is seeing a lot of demand for grain bins this year and a lot of that demand is coming from the derecho area.

Becker Ag Sales offers Sukup and GSI products and helps cover every aspect of grain handling from hauling grain up to building and repairing new grain bins, legs, millwright and more.

“Our whole adage is to really service and make sure the famer is satisfied with what we are doing,” he said.

Next year’s Iowa Ag Expo is planned for Feb. 1-3, 2022.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

• Yes
• No