Meet the 2026 Between the Rows farmers

Derek Niese – Putnam County

My wife Ashley and I farm alongside our four kids and my parents, Chuck and Tammy. Together we raise corn, soybeans, wheat and processing tomatoes, along with some cattle. We also run a small you-pick operation with blackberries and raspberries outside of town. It keeps us busy, but that variety is part of what makes farming enjoyable for us.

Looking back at 2025, it was honestly a pretty solid year. We were able to get everything planted in good conditions, and that usually sets the tone for the rest of the season on our farm. Some fields missed out on a few rains during the summer, which probably trimmed the top end off some of the yields, but overall there really wasn’t much to complain about. By the time harvest wrapped up, I was pretty happy with how things turned out.

As we move into 2026, we’re not planning any major changes to the operation. Instead, I like to focus on small adjustments and learning something new each season. One of the things I enjoy most is doing in-season tissue testing, especially in our corn and tomato crops. It gives me the chance to fine-tune fertility and see how plants respond throughout the growing season.

With our tomatoes in particular, we can make adjustments through drip irrigation during the season based on plant needs. It’s a chance to experiment a little and see what improves plant health and yield. Those small trials each year are something I always look forward to.

Greg Ramsey – Ross County

I’m the fourth generation working on our family farm, which has been in my mom’s family for many years. Today I farm alongside my dad, and over the past few years I’ve started taking on more of the management side of the operation as part of that transition. We raise corn, soybeans and wheat, and we’re fortunate to have a couple of long-time employees who help keep everything running smoothly.

Looking back at 2025, it was another interesting year. We started the season extremely wet, and then the weather shifted to hot and dry later in the summer, which I’m sure a lot of farmers across the state can relate to. The crops that didn’t get rained out early in the season did surprisingly well. All in all, I can’t complain. It was another good year, but there were definitely challenges.

As we head into 2026, I am hoping for a more normal year, but at this point, I really don’t know what normal is. One of my main goals is continuing to modernize the farm and get a little smarter about how we manage inputs. I’ve been working with our retailers on things like variable-rate fertilizer so we can better match nutrients to what each area of the field actually needs. It’s something that’s new for me, but I’m hoping it helps us become more efficient and get the most out of every acre.

At the end of the day, I feel pretty lucky to be doing this. Farming has its challenges, but it’s work I truly enjoy, and I’m grateful for the chance to keep our family farm moving forward.

Matt Hartong – Summit County

My family operates a dairy farm in the City of Green in Summit County, Ohio. My dad and I milk about 120 cows, and when you include the calves and heifers we raise, the herd totals around 200 head. Along with the dairy, we farm roughly 500 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa, raising all of our own forages to support the herd. Between caring for the cattle and managing the crops, it definitely keeps us busy year-round.

Looking back at 2025, it was a challenging year weather-wise. We dealt with a very wet spring, which slowed down planting. Our goal is always to have crops in by May or early June, but last year our final corn field didn’t go in until just before the Fourth of July. Then, after a wet start, the weather flipped the other direction. By the end of August the rain pretty much shut off, and we stayed very dry heading into fall. That had a real impact on yields.

Because of those conditions, we ended up making a lot more forage out of our corn instead of shelling and drying it like we normally would. In fact, we didn’t dry any corn at all last year. It wasn’t a terrible year, but it definitely forced us to adjust how we managed the crop and feed supply.

As we look toward 2026, we’re planning to try something new by testing a small field of triticale as a forage crop. As you can imagine, because we live in the city, we lose acreage every year, so we are trying to maximize the acres that we’re working on right now. We have a little bit of a test plot, about a nine-acre field, that we’re going to test out and see if we can kind of change up our forages a little bit so we can maybe attack our planting from a different perspective.

Melissa Clark – Miami County

Farming is truly a family affair for us. My husband and I farm about 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans alongside his family in Miami County. Our kids are nine and seven, and they’re starting to get more involved, especially through 4-H, so our lives really revolve around the farm and everything that comes with it.

Looking back at 2025, it was overall a pretty good year for our operation. We were fortunate to be in an area that caught some solid yields. As we talked to other farmers farther north or south, it sounded like not everyone had the same luck, so we felt pretty blessed with how our crops turned out. We probably could have used some more late-season rain to push yields even higher, but we were still happy with how things finished.

The tougher part of the year was the market. Prices going into harvest were rough, so we relied on storage and waited for stronger basis opportunities later in the season. Being able to capture some of that later-season and early January basis helped our bottom line quite a bit. Even with the usual challenges that come with farming, 2025 was a year we could feel good about.

As we look ahead to 2026, we’re taking a closer look at our input costs and really digging into the financial side of the farm. Prices are a little better than they looked during harvest, but margins are still tight. Our crop rotation will stay the same with corn and soybeans, but we’re focusing on understanding our break-evens and making smarter marketing decisions moving forward.