Blake Matthews: A Pioneer in Precision Farming
Blake Matthews on the family farm in Oakley, ID. Matthews was a 2024 winner of the CropLife Ag Tech Awards of Excellence in the Precision Farmer category.
Blake Matthews, CropLife‘s 2024 Ag Tech Awards of Excellence winner in the precision farmer category, is a fourth-generation farmer on both sides of his family, writes Editor Lara Sowinski at CropLife. The story of his resiliency and dedication to farming is inspiring and provides the foundation for Matthews’ inclination for trying new things to make continual improvements in his farming operations. In the 1970s, his father’s family went through a difficult financial period that forced them to sell a significant portion of their land.
“They were down to the last 320 acres,” says Matthews.
His father struck a deal with the neighbors to sell the remaining land to them, provided they would agree to sell it back to him within five years at the same price if he could come up with the money. After working for the neighbors for five years, his father was able to buy back the land and start to rebuild his farm.
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On his mom’s side of the family there were cattle and farming. After Matthews’ maternal grandfather passed, the farm stayed in the family and is now part of the current operation that Matthews runs with his father and brother, which consists primarily of barley, wheat, potatoes, sugar beets, grain corn, and cattle.
“We have a mother cow herd as well as a feed lot,” he says, which is supported by the crops grown on the farm. “The way we operate — cattle, crops — there are benefits to that kind of diversification. There’s been more than one year where this diversification saved us.”
At Matthews Land & Cattle LLC in Oakley, ID, Matthews oversees the farm and the shop, while his brother takes care of the cattle and feed lot.
A Problem Leads to a Solution
Matthews’ interest in precision farming got its first nudge about 15 years ago. This was shortly after Roundup Ready sugar beets came to the market. Matthews noticed a 10- to 14-day “lag” in the sugar beets once they were sprayed with the herbicide, so he consulted with a friend (and field man for a local fertilizer company) and the two hatched a plan to put together a micronutrient package with the Roundup to help the sugar beets.
The custom-built strip till bar in action on Matthews’ farm.
“We saw great results,” says Matthews, which set him to thinking about another dilemma, namely the multiple in-season fungicide applications for potatoes that were the standard at that time.
“I was convinced that there had to be something better out there,” so the two started experimenting in search of an alternative and hit on another success.
“A lot of what we did back then has now been tested and validated,” he says, crediting his friendship and the shared curiosity to try new things in precision farming.
Read more at CropLife.
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