The Wilder Farm Background on the Farm (Exhibit B)

Part of the Minnesota River Decision Cases (other cases available)
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In the 1890s, Hickory Wilder bought a section of land from the railroad and established a farmstead on the north side of a branch of the Chippewa River. Twenty years later he hired a carpenter to build a new house on the south side of the river, where Jay Wilder would later reside. Hickory’s son Leif, while helping in the construction of the new house, fell in love with the carpenter’s daughter, Cora. Later, the two were married and moved into the new house.

Leif and Cora grew flax, corn, and oats in the beginning years. Leif also raised and sold hogs, cattle, sheep, and draft horses. The low-lying land on both sides of the river was maintained as pasture. It flooded seasonally and was considered unsuitable for cropping.

In their later years, Leif and Cora raised corn and soybeans. Meanwhile their grandson, Jay, attended college, where he studied animal science and agricultural economics. Upon earning his degree in 1976, Jay bought the farm from his grandfather. The next year he married Laura.

In 1976, drought brought hard times to the corn/soybean farmers of Jay’s region. The section of river running diagonally through 300 acres of the Wilder farm became dry enough to "get in a pickup and drive the river bed to [town]." But to Jay Wilder, this was also a time of optimism and new possibility. The Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative had opened for business in 1975. Jay saw the possibilities and began acquiring shares. "The potential was there economically speaking, and the challenge attracted me," Jay said. Today sugar beet farmers in Jay’s region are some of the most prosperous in the state. The Wilders also raise 40 head of beef cattle on their farm.

Currently, Jay rotates a year of beets with two years of corn to break pest cycles on his 1,100 cultivated acres. This provides the 350 acres of sugar beets per year that Jay is permitted to produce for the Cooperative. His cultural practices for the beets and corn are geared to maximize beet yields, and the corn, like the beets, is planted into clean cultivated fields. Jay harvests about 18 tons of beets per acre with a sugar concentration of 16 to 17%. Both tonnage and sugar content factor into his beet revenue. Average profit above all costs for sugar beets during the period 1990 to 1994 in West Central Minnesota was $243 per acre. This compares with a $19.00 per-acre profit for corn. (Source: 1994 Farm Business Management Annual Report, Hutchinson-Willmar Technical College.)

The Wilder farm is drained with tilelines, combining subsurface and surface intakes. The tiles run under the soil surface, draining water away from the fields into the river and into a ditch that flows into the river. The cropland is mostly flat with mild hills and depressions. One field is cultivated to the edge of a low bluff on the north side of the river. In other places, the cropland is periodically flooded.

In the fall, next year’s sugar beet fields are moldboard plowed. In the spring, this is tilled to prepare what Jay considers an ideal seedbed for beets, firm and free of surface residue. Plants are planted to stand 5 inches apart in 22-inch rows to ensure maximum sugar production. The beets are not rotated with crops such as soybeans because of herbicide carry-over concerns. Jay applies frequent but low rates of herbicides and applies protectant fungicides to the legal limit. He uses nitrogen sparingly to keep sugar content in the beets high.

Following is Jay’s description of the sugar beet harvesting procedure: "First we run a defoliator over them and take all the tops off. At that point you have a black field full of beets. Then you have a sugar beet harvester that will pull the beets out of the ground, clean the dirt off them, and elevate them into a truck." The harvest takes about 10 working days spread out over September and October. After the harvest, Jay chisel plows and lets the field sit until the following spring.

Part of the Minnesota River Decision Cases (other cases available)
View Decision Case or Teaching Note for this case.