(upbeat music) - Welcome to A Shot of AG.

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

I'm a fifth generation farmer from just outside of Bradford, Illinois.

I started a podcast which led into an XM radio show, which led into a national television show, which led into me being right here today.

But today is not about me.

Today is about Dallas Glazik.

How ya doing, Dallas?

- I'm doing quite well, how about yourself?

- Good.

I like people that are named after cities.

- Yeah, I actually got my name, my dad was in the rodeo and he always wanted a son named Dallas and so here I am.

(both laughing) - Now you have brothers, right?

- Yep.

- Is it Houston and San Antonio and?

- Nope, nope.

Those he just went with Will, and not William.

It is just Will.

And then Clayton.

So.

Then also got a younger sister named Abby.

- Okay, so you got the city name.

- Yep, I got the unique one.

- Where do you fall in the age?

- I'm third in line, so my oldest brother, Will, and then middle brother, Clayton, me at 28, and then younger sister.

- Fifth generation farmer yourself.

- Yep.

- So you grew up on a farm?

- Yep, grew up on the same farm that we're farming now, and yeah, I always say I was born in Paxton and raised in Paxton and if I have it my way, I'm gonna die in Paxton, so.

- Does anybody let Paxton know about that?

(both laughing) Where is Paxton, Illinois?

- Yeah, so Paxton, Illinois is two hours south of Chicago, 30 minutes north of Champaign and about two hours directly east of here.

- Of Peoria?

- Yep, of Peoria.

- Okay, so do you get into Peoria very often?

- Here and there.

So my work, I also work as a biologist with Pheasants Forever and we have coworkers out this way so I come over this way to do habitat projects and stuff like that.

- Okay, let's start with you graduated from the U of I in 2016 so not too long ago.

- Nope, nope, not too long ago.

Last year was five years out so we're on year six since graduating and yeah, went straight into to working in the environmental field and then in 2017 started working on the farm.

- Restoration ecology.

I didn't even know that was a major.

- Yeah, so that works really well with my role of Pheasants Forever where we work with local farmers and actually install CRP, or the Conservation Reserve Program, and other USDA programs on their sites.

So we look at a lot of different data ag-related and figure out best ways for that habitat area to be profitable for that farm and then implement a nice prairie or tree restoration instead of an ag System.

- Okay, Pheasants Forever have been around forever, right?

- Yep, 1980s, yep.

- Is it really?

Okay.

Now as a farmer, sometimes you get a little worried when you get like Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited, Whitetail, stuff like that because it seems like sometimes a farmer will get in a mindset to where what you're trying to do is going to deter me from farming the way that I want to, but is that the case?

- No, no, actually, well, what we've been doing is taking a farmer's agronomic data and then we turn that into a profit-loss map and pinpoint areas where it's actually costing the farmer money of where it's cost-prohibitive to farm and so we put that into a program and line it up with their equipment so it actually has no impact on their ag use of that farm at all, mainly taking out point row, stuff like that is what happens a lot of.

- Well, our dad's generation, I mean, they were just at the start of "We want you to farm "fence row to fence row."

That was the country's philosophy.

So anything we could grow a plant on, we grew a plant on, and now we're learning that that's probably not the best scenario.

- Yeah, that's what we've been finding as well looking at the data is more yield does not equal more money.

And especially with oh, prices right now, such as fertilizer, fuel cost, a penny saved is worth more than a penny earned-- - Have they gone up?

- Yeah, I think they've gone up a little bit.

Probably just a little bit today.

- Not in my notes.

(both laughing) I'm sure when this airs we'll be back down to $3.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) - Your farm, though, tell me about it because you guys are organic.

- Correct, yep.

So my dad decided to transition the farm in 2002, so we've been organic for quite some time.

- [Rob] Why?

- And the big reason 'cause we have a lot of family members and close family friends around our area that farm around us.

And at that particular time, in the early 2000s, it was a big push for either expand to make more money or specialize and make more money.

And we decided why fight the neighbor?

Why fight family?

We're gonna specialize instead.

- [Rob] Because it's work.

- Yes.

- Yeah, none of us want that.

- Yep, so that was a 400-acre farm that we decided to, or my parents decided to transition in and now in 2019, we're up to 1,000 acres now of certified organic.

- Wow.

So people that don't understand, I mean, because everybody says organic, right, but a lot of people don't really understand what it means.

So give a little overview of what actually sets you apart as an organic farm.

- Yeah, so the basic definition of organic is no use of synthetic inputs, whether that be chemicals or fertilizers, even having to make sure your equipment's clean.

If you're a split operation, you have to clean out.

- [Rob] Oh, that I didn't know.

- Yeah, so there's a lot of more tedious work involved.

And then there's, if you think of the farm operation, you essentially go back pre-1950.

So whenever my parents were transitioning, I was talking to my grandfather and they were explaining to him what organic farming is and he just laughed.

He said, "Well, we just called that farming."

You know, 'cause right before coming to here, I was actually in the row cultivator so I was cultivating my corn, running- - Okay, not even all the farmers know what that is.

- Yeah, so a row cultivator is you're working in between the rows taking out weeds, so I have a 23-inch cultivator sweep and so that means 23 inches is where this big knife blade is is cutting up weeds.

- [Rob] 30 inch rows.

- Yep, 30-inch rows.

And you drive between 'em similar to side dressing.

Try not to sneeze or smash anything down 'cause if you got seven inches to work with, you're taking out corn, you don't wanna jerk it too hard.

- Iron blight.

It's what they call that.

- We always joke and call 'em lightning strikes.

- Lightning y'all.

(both laughing) I used to do a lot of that as a kid.

And you know, so like on my farm, right.

I use herbicides.

So I'm killing the weeds in between those rows using chemicals basically.

Yeah, not everybody wants that.

So they're willing to pay you a premium price for what you're growing without it, but what comes the extra work of-- - Yep.

A lot more labor involved.

Gonna have to go back to the same field multiple, and actually we found it easier and we get better control using a lot of cover crops and a diverse crop rotation.

So our entire operation is broken up into 20-acre field size.

And with that, it allows us to have up to, we have up to 15 different crops in a given year.

So tomorrow actually we're planning on harvesting our wheat.

Right after that were gonna be oats.

And then we also raise barley, rye, corn, three different varieties of corn and then soybeans, buck wheat, clover, alfalfa.

- [Rob] That's a lot of crops.

- Lot of crops.

Yep.

And we're-- - Most people around you grow two crops.

- Most people, well they have three.

It's corn, soybeans, then Florida.

That's their rotation.

- I mean, you might be making a joke, but it doesn't sound too bad to me.

(both laughing) Now the, like the people that were farming B.C.

right, before chemicals, a lot of the times they would implement the plow into the ground.

Are you guys doing that?

- No.

We've actually got away from bringing out the moldboard plow.

We, we only work within the top three inches of soil and develop a lot of it off a no-till system.

Really the headache is going into the corn year 'cause we can roller crimp our cereal rye-- - Which again, I'm sorry.

I keep stopping you, but you gotta explain it because, tell 'em what you mean by roller crimping.

- So, a roller crimper, it is a big cylindrical drum with chevron blades on it.

You fill it full of water for weight and then you let your cereal rye grow to anthesis.

So it's about five to six foot tall, and then you'll come through and mash it down, but you're, you're just crimping and breaking the zygon flowing with that plant, but leaving the stem and root structure still intact.

And so you lay it down, it kills the top part of the plant.

You get a nice mulch layer and you plant your beans directly into that.

So it would be the similar as adding straw to a garden, but on a 20-acre scale.

- [Rob] And it works.

- Yeah.

- My dad would have a heart attack if I would done that.

I mean, because it's such a different concept than-- - Can't say it looks the prettiest, but it-- - Yeah, but it works.

- It works.

- And here you are getting your premium for organics.

Tell me about the prescribed burns, the fires.

- Yeah, so this year we actually started my role as a biologist integrating wildlife-friendly and native disturbances.

So fire and grazing is how Illinois built its soils.

And so I'm trying to match our farming experience and, and operation to that standard.

So we tried prescribed fire.

So the goal with that is we are planting native legumes, such as Illinois bundleflower and partridge pea to replace clovers and alfalfa, which were introduced in cool season vegetation.

But with the onset of that, we can run a prescribed fire.

So burn off all that residue, post planting corn, and then that allows for that corn to be there, to take up the available nutrients, 'cause you get a lot of nutrient release from a fire.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- You get the same impact as tillage.

So you get a black soil layer.

So it heats up that soil more and as well as you get a release of CO2 to stimulate that corn plant.

So that's why we actually want to do a pre or a post planting.

So we plant first and then burn.

- Yeah.

I think most farmers have a place that they burn every year.

I found that the best thing to do is wait till you get like a 40 plus mile an hour wind and then burn it because it burns faster doesn't?

- It burns faster.

Yeah.

- You don't have to sit and watch it.

- Yep.

We actually operate on the, on the backside.

We want a nice, slow burn.

So that way we keep that heat about two inches above the soil surface and that'll reach about 2000 degrees and kill off a lot of weed pressure.

And that seed is safe underneath of about, it reaches anywhere from 50 to, to 150 degrees at two inches below the soil.

- I, the fire, department's not a big fan.

- Well I'm on a fire department, so it's okay.

I just get in there with my fire truck and go.

(both laughing) - Okay, we gotta switch gears.

I could talk about this all day, but you're doing a lot more stuff to diversify and to make money.

I think it's fascinating.

Tell me, tell me about this.

- Yeah.

So we decided and saw that direct marketing sales is actually more beneficial than even, even the organic standard and, and dumping into a commodity market.

So as closer you can get to the customer and as many middle-men you can take out is gonna increase-- - [Rob] But you have to talk to the customer.

- Yeah, that's a good thing I'm good about talking.

- [Rob] Seriously.

- Yep.

Yep.

So we go around and yeah, we do sales and ride-alongs with our distributor and in 2017, we started distilling our own products here.

So right now I have our Down East Vodka.

Our whiskey is hoping to come out this fall and this is 100% wheat that we grown and have actually been selectively breeding this wheat strain for over 17 years now.

And it was a public strain, so after seven years they say it's your own wheat.

And so technically this is Cow Creek wheat.

And that's what we call it.

- And you doing this legally or is this in the back woods?

- It's 100% legal actually.

- Have you told the government?

- Yep.

The government knows.

The government gets their taxes, so they're all happy with it.

- What?

- Yep.

- So this is wheat vodka.

- Yep.

Wheat vodka.

- Which is like, you know, Titos is corn.

There are some wheat vodkas out there, right?

- Yeah.

The biggest thing I get is everyone's like, "Oh, I thought vodka had to be made out of potatoes."

Yeah, but actually-- - That's a Russian thing.

- Yeah.

There's a, and very few select Polish and Russian brands that actually do it.

A lot are grain based, predominantly corn.

So, Tito, Smirnoff, stuff like that are gonna be corn.

You get Grey Goose, Ketel One are wheat and then Svedka's a rye.

So.

- [Rob] Can we try it?

- Oh yeah.

We most definitely can.

That's why I brought it.

- I've got, I've got official PBS cups.

All right.

I don't know how much you pour.

- However much you want.

- I think that's plenty.

- We picked, picked the later part in the afternoon for a reason right?

(Rob laughs) - It all works out.

Okay.

Do you, do you like cheers vodka or is that-- - Yeah.

- Is that not mainland?

- Yeah, I definitely can.

I think, yeah, you should cheers every drink if you're enjoying it with the person you like.

- Okay.

- So, but yeah, it's gonna give off a nice, more sweet notes due to the wheat.

- [Rob] Should I smell it first?

- I would recommend smelling it first.

That's where most-- - Are you supposed to swirl it?

That's good.

- Taste comes from so.

- Okay.

Well.

- And it's only distilled twice 'cause we do that to keep a lot of the flavor.

So it's a distilled vodka that is, resembles more of a whiskey style.

- Gotcha.

Here at PBS to, to Oscar.

- Yeah.

- The grouch.

(glasses clank) So here's the thing.

A lot of times we get a chance to interview people that have their own alcohol, they distill their own thing and you know, it's a great story.

It's a great cause and they're making a great living and then you taste it and you're like, all right, it's not, it's not as good as like what you'd buy in the store.

That's fantastic.

- Well, I appreciate that.

- Yeah.

- A lot of, and this is a very misconception, especially in the distilling world.

So a lot of the brands you see on the shelf about 85% are actually just bought barrels, predominantly from MGP in Indiana.

And so then they will do, they'll buy the barrel, they'll bottle it in their facility, put their label on it, call it their own brand.

There's only four distilleries in the state of Illinois that actually grow their own grains that they use.

And so we're one of the four.

- Really that's, I mean that is, I would buy this.

- Yeah.

- And I'm particular because I, I don't want to drink a lot, and when I do, I want it to taste amazing.

That's fantastic.

- Well, I appreciate it.

Yeah, we like to say that it's-- - And I'm not a fan of.

- Grown from the ground up.

- Of warm vodka.

- Yes.

This is warm 'cause-- - I like it chilled a little bit.

It was still good.

- Two hour drive and 90 degrees outside, so.

- Can you throw that in a freezer?

- Oh yeah.

Yep.

This will go in a freezer and chill down.

- And it won't freeze?

- Won't freeze.

- Your competitor will.

- Yeah.

Well it depends on if your kids are just watering it down.

(Dallas laughs) - Really?

- Yep.

So alcohol does not freeze at typical freezer temperature.

- Well, it doesn't freeze freeze, but it like it's slushy.

You think they're putting water in it?

- You know, the company might not, but if you got a teenager, I bet they are.

- Got a little talk when we get home.

Huh?

I didn't, I didn't know that.

Yeah.

Where were we?

(both laugh) So you got whiskey coming?

- Yep, whiskey's coming.

We are hoping to have it out by this spring, but with everything going on, there's actually a glass shortage.

So I'm having-- - That's something.

- I'm having to order bottles in January and they, the company said "We hope to have it to you "by after Christmas."

- [Rob] Oh wow.

- So that's, that's gonna hurt a lot of craft distilleries and stuff out there because if you can't bottle it, you can't legally sell it.

So.

- I see it all the time on TV.

They're putting the moonshine into milk jugs.

- Yeah.

- You ever thought about that?

I'd buy a milk jug.

- Milk jug.

I'd rather sell it by the barrel.

(both laughing) - What are you making the whiskey out of?

- So our whiskeys, we have a Bloody Butcher Bourbon.

So that's a red open-pollinated corn.

It was actually designed and bread for bourbon and grits.

So it gives off a-- - Bourbon and grits?

- Yep.

Bourbon and grits.

- Like the cream of wheat and grits?

- Yep.

- Okay.

- That's what this corn was bred for and it gives off a nice earthy sweetness to it.

- Yeah.

- So it has a rich, I would describe it a little bit more like a carrot cake instead of a corn bread.

- [Rob] Really?

- If that gives you kind of a better idea.

- [Rob] You could have brought one of those.

- Yeah.

Well we don't have the bottles yet.

So.

- Believe me that would've not stopped me.

- And then we have wheat whiskey, rye whiskey.

And then what we're, I guess what I'm most happy about is actually a four grain.

So this series we're calling it the Tillers, is actually to highlight the grains we grow on the farm.

So it is wheat, rye, oats, and corn mixed into this particular batch and all those got put into Illinois barrels.

So it is looking to be Illinois's first 100% grown whiskey since prohibition.

- Really?

Wow.

Well congratulations.

- So the tree came from Illinois, the grain came from Illinois, distilled in Illinois, coopered in Illinois.

We work with the Illinois's only cooperage, Crozehead Cooperage, out of Monee.

And went up there and made the barrel with them, which that is a very complex art form.

- [Rob] To make a barrel?

- Yep.

- I mean, I've never done it, but it didn't, it doesn't sound-- - Doesn't sound hard.

And actually you can mathematically make a barrel.

And if you machine it perfectly-- - Not me.

- It'll actually leak.

So it is one of the only shapes that have to have imperfection to hold liquid.

- [Rob] Really?

- You have to have all the staves at different widths and for it to, to apply the pressure in the right spots and-- - The things you know about barrels.

Makes you appreciate it more.

You, with all your success, have been awarded.

Illinois Soybean Association has named you one of their under 40 winners, 20 under 40 award winners.

- Yeah, I was nominated, so I got a call and it said, you were nominated for this.

And I was happy to hear it.

It's was always nice to hear that all the, the sweat and blood that goes on the ground is actually being heard and appreciated.

So.

- An award like this, it is nice because what we do is a little more isolated than a lot of other professions.

So you kind of get on your farm.

You just, you don't really know sometimes what's going outside your fence rows, but for someone to come in and say, "Hey, you're doing a great job", it's gotta feel good.

- It does.

It feels really good.

It really does.

- Yeah.

You're married?

- Yep.

Got married in 2018 to my wife, Courtney.

So she is six-foot tall blonde from Teutopolis, Illinois.

Grew up on a dairy farm and-- - [Rob] Well you're tall.

- Yep, six-three so.

- Okay.

It's always good to be-- - She was happy.

She goes, she can wear heels at the wedding.

So.

- That would put you guys probably level right?

- We're about flush, yep.

- Okay.

Did you go out and try to find some lifter boots?

- Nope.

No, I didn't go do that, but.

- [Rob] Well at six-three, you probably never worry about-- - Yeah, I.

- [Rob] Looking tall.

- Nope.

Nope.

Mostly, most of the time I have to look down on people.

- Yeah, okay.

You're taller than I am.

That's fine.

(Rob laughs) And so it was 2018?

Where'd you meet her at?

- Actually, that's a funny story.

So I saw her in church and then bumped into her at the bar that night.

That's how I knew she was a good Catholic girl and decided to go for it.

I decided to pursue.

- Well, you saw her in church.

Were you looking through the windows or were you in there yourself?

- Nope.

I was in there.

It was just after communion.

She was walking back and I was sitting with a friend of mine-- - Dude.

You're not supposed to be thinking about that stuff in church.

- Well, I got nudged from a friend of mine 'cause they were from the same hometown.

- So your friends are just as bad as you are?

- Yep.

Yep.

(both laughing) - So what's next for you and all of your businesses?

- Well, the next step is releasing whiskeys and we are remodeling our distillery building in Paxton, Illinois.

So we are gonna have a full tasting room and set up to give tours and stuff like that.

I'll be able to tour the farm, be able to tour the distillery, all that.

So that's next on the list.

And then growing into a little bit more of the rhythms, working with the native legumes, trying to perfect that with the goal of a organic, no-till system, is the goal of using those native legumes that are warm season compared to cool season, that will actually benefit and grow with the corn.

So yeah.

So that's the goal, hitting that organic, no-till and being able to take as much grain as we can and pump it into whiskey.

- So you're kind of farming all along all summer basically.

- Yeah.

Usually we get the planter done.

And the combine is rolling out just about the same day.

We finished two, finished planting beans two Wednesdays ago.

Oh I finished planting.

My brother was already running the row cultivator and we're just finished the last field of corn, getting ready to roll cultivate some beans and combine wheat on Thursday.

Oats probably two weeks after.

So it's a nonstop, nonstop ordeal.

- Will you plant behind the wheat?

- We don't.

We have clover and stuff.

And so we do what we call a Fallow or Idle year to where we put in legumes to pump in some nitrogens back for the end of the soil.

- Gotcha.

Well, it's not even really Fallow.

I mean most people are just not-- - It's not technically Fallow, but yeah.

- But I, it seems like the double crops seem to be moving north.

Used to be we never used to try it up here, but now it seems to be common practice.

- Yeah.

I think one, one crop that we thought we could really double crop would actually be barley.

So barley you're actually gonna be harvesting at more mid-June, so that, you know, wheat's always 4th of July.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- Rye's quickly after that.

Oats are end of July, 1st of August, but barley comes on a lot earlier.

So we've thought about doing that, of double cropping some barley acres, but haven't tried it yet.

- Do you like what you're doing?

- Oh yeah.

Nope.

If I didn't like what I'm doing, I wouldn't be doing it.

- Well, I mean, there's a lot of times where the farm kid is almost, feels obligated.

Maybe not really happy being back on the farm, but that's not the case for you.

- Nope, no.

With the farm and with my job and stuff, I'm able to integrate it all together and thoroughly enjoy it.

So I get to poke out all the avenues of interest that I have and due to the farm, being at the base and the roots, it allows me to grow up and always be connected back to it.

So without the experiences that I had growing up on the farm, I wouldn't be here today.

So.

- Are you, people gonna find out more about you, more about the distillery, where do they go?

Like on social media or the internet?

- Yeah.

So our farm, Cow Creek Farm does have a website for that.

Then our Silver Tree Beer and Spirits.com is where you can find about the distillery, plus there's links to each on the websites.

- Very cool.

Well, Dallas, thank you so much for being on.

Congratulations-- - Thank you.

- For getting the 20 under 40 from the Illinois Soybean Association.

I think we can all see why they awarded it to you.

It's very impressive.

I'm gonna be a customer.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

We're available pretty well across the state of Illinois, in 49 states with online distribution.

- Dallas Glazik from Paxton, Illinois.

Thank you so very much for being here.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next week.