Clutier area farmer Tom Dvorak, left, smiles alongside his son, beginning farmer Ben Dvorak while standing in one of his fields last Tuesday. Tom’s combine, a 2012 Gleaner S77, is visible in the background. He has owned and operated Gleaners since he began farming in 1990. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

CLUTIER – The view from the cab of Tom Dvorak’s Gleaner S77 combine as he harvested corn in the undulating hills west of Clutier last Tuesday afternoon could not be beat.

“This is our hilliest farm,” Dvorak said with a slight chuckle while expertly navigating one of the 100-acre field’s many abrupt descents from inside his combine. As he spoke, outside the cab’s windows a fierce but warm wind whipped loose stalks and dust around.

“It’s quality corn,” Tom continued, “good test weight – there’s just not enough there.”

Tom has farmed corn and soybeans in Tama County since 1990 – first alongside his late uncle, Larry Dvorak and now with his son, beginning farmer Ben Dvorak – but he’s never seen it this dry, he said.

“Driest I’ve ever had. And probably the lowest yields I’ve ever had.”

The view from the front window of Tama County farmer Tom Dvorak’s Gleaner S77 combine on Tuesday, Oct. 10 while harvesting a corn field in the hills west of Clutier. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

While his beans — which he finished combining earlier this month — have been off about 10 bushels per acre, his corn has been off about 25-50 bushels.

Not the best year, he admits, for a beginning farmer like Ben to make a start — exceptional drought conditions plague much of eastern Tama County where the Dvoraks farm, all of Benton County, and a good portion of Linn County. At this point any rain that does fall will have arrived too late for the 2023 crops.

“It’s going good,” Ben, a 2019 Union High School grad, told the Telegraph later that Tuesday when asked about his first year farming since graduating from Southern Illinois University in May. “It’s just not very profitable.”

Between the two of them, the Dvoraks work six different farms – four of them they own – in Tama and Benton counties including the Dvorak family farm located east of Clutier where Tom’s father Ron Dvorak and his uncle Larry were born and raised — a farm that someday soon Ben hopes to live on.

For better or for worse, one thing the drought has actually been helping the Dvoraks and other Tama County farmers with this year is the timing and the speed of harvest.

Tama County farmer Tom Dvorak operates his 2012 Gleaner S77 combine last Tuesday afternoon in a corn field west of Clutier. Dvorak has owned and operated Gleaners since he began farming back in 1990. Gleaner celebrated the centennial anniversary of its combine this year. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“We’re about two weeks early,” Tom said of the corn harvest. “Everybody is this year. The crop just matured faster.”

While Tom didn’t exactly plan on becoming a full time farmer – after graduating high school he worked as a diesel mechanic and when he’s not out in the fields these days, he works as a union electrician – full time farming has always been his son’s dream.

“I always wanted to farm,” Ben said. “I’ve been riding in the combine or tractor since I was really little. I started helping when I was 13 — running the grain cart.”

His dream came true this summer and although he missed much of the planting season due to college, he’s been with his dad – and his mom, Dori Rammelsberg-Dvorak who occasionally helps out ferrying the two between fields – every step of the way since May.

“We like to start [harvesting] in the east and work west,” Ben explained as he sat in the tractor Tuesday afternoon waiting for his dad to finish transferring corn from the combine to the grain truck.

From the cab of his son's tractor, Tom Dvorak can be seen operating a combine west of Clutier in the Bohemie Alps last Tuesday. Dvorak, who has been farming since 1990, said this is the driest year he’s experienced farming. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“Grandma’s [Linda Dvorak’s] will be the last [farm] we do. We wanted to get these hills out before the rain.”

Hopefully, Ben’s second year of farming will feature more of just that – rain.

The latest Iowa crop progress report from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture showed in the week ending October 15 virtually all of Iowa’s corn crop has reached maturity. Corn harvested for grain reached 42% statewide – three days ahead of last year and five days ahead of average – while corn condition rated 51% good to excellent.

Corn flows from the unloading augers of both a combine and grain cart into a Dvorak Farms’ truck for transport last Tuesday afternoon. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Beginning farmer Ben Dvorak pulls out of a field west of Clutier with a full grain truck while harvesting alongside his dad Tom Dvorak, not pictured. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER