b'FARMERS FACE UNCERTAINTYIN COVID-19As COVID-19 continues to grow in the United States, farmers face new, unprecedented challenges. Seed World sat down with four different farming operations to hear how theyve been fairing during this time.Laura HandkeFluctuating Weather MeansFluctuating Emersion As a first-generation farmer, Karl Dirks love for the land and desire to farm came at an early age. I was babysat by a childless farming couple, so from a very young age, thats all I wanted to do, Dirks says, I have always worked around agriculture, and when I got out of high school, farming was all I wanted to do. Farming in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed area between Hershey and Lancaster, Pa., Dirks Wolgemuth Farview Farms, grows corn, soybeans and wheat, along with a seed dealership and hog finishing operation that sees 15,000 head pass through its doors each yeara diversified approach that many opera-tions in the area implement. We have a lot of livestock in the area; we have a lot of dairies, eggs and hogs. And the livestock kind of dictate what our rota-tions are going to be from year to year. Most guys plan their rota-tions based on their livestock numbers for the year, Dirks says in response to the crop rotation shifts many areas of the United States have seen in light of COVID-19 agricultural market disrup-tions and below-breakeven forecasts. Dirks says that, just as we have come to expect from the year, the 2020 growing season has not been without challenges. Sharing that while the pandemic didnt necessarily change the way he is managing his farming operation, the weather has been an obstacle presenting as a very mild winter, followed by an unseasonably warm March and unseasonably cold April. It has been and interesting year. We had a mild winter with no snow to speak of, really. March was warm and we saw wheat and barley take off and get a few weeks growth on where we 12/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2020'