His Story

Mike Marks, 36, operates a 500 acre farm and manages a 60-head beefalo herd with his father, 61, and his younger brother, 30. Some of the land where they plant their corn, soybeans and wheat is rented and some is owned by the family. Off the farm, Mike is a mechanic for a local car dealership.

“I love being my own boss. Working a regular job as a mechanic has taught me plenty about working for someone else. It isn’t bad, but I definitely prefer the freedom that comes with being a farmer. I’ve worked with great people in my time, but nothing beats working in the fields alongside your family.”

“Weather is definitely a big part of what I worry about every season. It’s just something that you can’t control. There is no getting around it. My father was farming during the drought of ’88 and he always brings it up because it just shows that you can only plan for so much. The weather is going to do whatever it wants whether it is wet or dry and you just have to deal with it.”

Mike says that one of his biggest problems is trying to expand his operation. His 500 acre farm is plenty to manage after he gets home from his job, but he hopes to grow his acreage in the future. For now, he is working land that he originally purchased from his grandfather.

The last two years, Mike has seen more extremes when it comes to wet weather during the planting period. “The wet springs have really showed me that you need to get out there and plant your crop as soon as you can because the rain could hold you up for over a month.”

He heard about Total Weather Insurance (TWI) through his local crop insurance agent and decided to go to a presentation about the coverage options. “It just seemed like something that could cover the problems that we’ve been encountering with rain recently. I set up my policy and checked the Website every day to see how much rain I was getting. We lost a lot of time due to wet fields this spring, but my TWI policy eased the blow of those lost bushels.”