- [Austin] Been dealing with contracts this morning.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- [Austin] It usually means we're getting serious.

(upbeat rock music) - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

My name is Rob Sharkey, I'm your host.

I'm also a farmer and as a farmer, I grow corn, I grow soybeans and then I send it down the road and I really don't know what ever happens to it.

But today's guest definitely does.

Today we're talking with Austin O'Neall.

How you doing Austin?

- Good, Rob.

Thanks for having me on.

- Yeah.

You're from, do you say "Le Roy" or is it fancy?

- If you're from Illinois, you have to say all the town names wrong anyway.

- Like San Joe's.

- Like San Joe's, yeah.

So it's just Leroy, Leroy.

- Is it Leroy?

- It's Leroy.

- If I go there, does it have a Casey's?

- Oh, it has Casey's, a big one.

Mega Casey's actually.

- Well la dee da.

- Oh yeah.

- Okay.

- Yeah, we're moving up.

- Some of us have the original Casey's.

- Oh no.

- Where you turn right to go to the bathroom.

- We got the high end one.

- Anyway, if you go into your fancy highfalutin Casey's and say "Where am I?"

What exactly are they going to say?

- Leroy.

- Okay.

- Yeah, don't say "Le Roy," they'll kick you out.

- And they should.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Rightfully so.

- Is that where you grew up?

- Actually no.

I grew up east of Bloomington, Cooksville.

- Okay.

- That's where I'm from.

So no Casey's there.

(Rob laughs) - So your farm, is it in Le Roy?

- It's not, it's actually in Cooksville.

- Okay, so you're just living there.

- I just live in Leroy.

Jeez, now you got me saying "Leroy."

- I know.

(laughs) - Yeah.

My wife teaches in another town over in Gibson City, so it's kind of a halfway point for us.

- Okay, grew up on a farm?

- Yep, yep.

Grew up on the farm.

- What type of farm?

- Corn and soybeans mostly.

We'll do some wheat and we also have a little bit of alfalfa hay.

- [Rob] Okay, but why wheat?

That's a horrible crop.

(Austin sighs) - It's the best time to get the combine out, right?

'Cause the air conditioning never works.

It smells like mice.

- Yeah.

- But actually we really like doing it.

We don't do double-crop beans as much now but it helps us get some tiling done.

- But you're a grain farmer from Illinois.

How do you have time to go to your lakehouse?

- Yeah, I'm still waiting on that check to come through.

- It's a joke.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - It's a funny joke if you're a farmer.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

So did you always know that you were gonna come back to the farm?

- You know, I really didn't.

I knew that our rule has always been go off to school and then go find something else to do.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- Then if there's room for you, we'll ask for you to come back.

My case was a little different.

Right after school, we needed the help.

We were growing pretty quick and Dad says "There's room for you, come on home."

- Okay, where'd you go to school?

- Actually I went to Parkland College for two years and then to the University of Illinois.

- [Rob] Oh, okay.

And ag degree?

- Yep, yep.

Got an ag degree from both colleges.

- So with your dad needing help, you said you did not go anywhere else?

It was straight back to the farm?

- I did, I went straight back to the farm.

- Okay, I did too.

Sometimes I wish I would've done something different.

Do you ever think about that?

- I do, I do.

You know, I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do leaving school.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- I was gonna have an ag leadership degree.

So I thought well, I can go do any type of business that I'd like.

I always wanted to do something that was kinda tied to the farm, I just didn't know what.

- Yeah.

So when you went back to the farm, what was your role?

- So we were farming as well as we were starting our specialty corn business.

Now it's a specialty and soybean corn business.

So they needed help loading some barges on the river.

They needed somebody who was willing to travel, willing to spend some time in some towns and I was young and single at the time and not married.

So yeah, I can go stay in a hotel for awhile.

- Not everybody watching knows what you mean by specialty corn, specialty beans.

Can you describe that?

- Yeah, so we grow, it's all non-GMO corn.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- We do just No.

2 non-GMO yellow, hard endosperm, waxy white corn.

All of it's food-grade.

- Yeah, what's this?

- So this here is just No.

2 non-GMO yellow.

It's a pretty common commodity.

- Which it looks, if this was GMO, it looks just the same.

- You wouldn't know any different.

- Is this a Cheetos jar, is that where you got it?

- I don't know where that came from.

- I'm guessing it's Cheetos.

(sniffs) It actually smells like corn.

- Well, I hope it does.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

It's been in there awhile.

- It's dry.

- Yeah, she's plenty dry.

- Yeah, look over there.

- Yeah.

(Rob spits) - Do you want to try some?

- I think I'm all right.

- Okay.

- I just had breakfast.

- You know what corn is?

- I do.

I remember how it tastes.

- It's a trick though, right?

Because a farmer can tell how dry corn is- - Oh yeah, yeah.

- By chomping on it.

- I watched Grandpa and Dad always pull it right outta the field and (munches).

"Yeah, that's a little too wet still."

- I think the union guys are probably gonna be after me for spitting on the floor.

- Yeah, could be.

- Yeah.

Okay, so this is, so there's no GMO.

So it's not genetically-modified.

- Correct.

- Why would somebody want that specific of corn?

- So most all of our corn, 90% or higher is all going to Japan and they're only using non-GMO in their food products.

So they are not taking any GMOs.

- How do you get hooked up with Japan?

- So actually our business got started many, many years ago.

Actually a guy named Randy Osterbur and his father Lewis, they got hooked up actually with the Japanese way early on.

They were looking for barges worth of corn.

So actually I worked for Randy right when I got outta school and essentially as he retired, we took over his business and essentially they're taking corn all year-round and then storing it and then they just turn around and sell it to other end users for different food products.

It's food adhesives, granola bars, cakes, sodas.

- I've had a chance to go over to Japan.

Fascinating country, have you been over there?

- I haven't been.

They had invited us over right around 2020.

So didn't get to do that trip.

- It's not the best- - Not the best timing.

- Timing for everything.

- Yeah.

- So the thing about them, a very, very rich country.

I mean, they've got a lot of money there.

Very industrious, very hardworking.

Space, they don't have space.

So when you go to their house, I mean when I go to your house, you probably have stuff around or whatever, none of that.

So they spend their money on food.

They want the highest quality food there is out there.

Now is that why they are paying I'm assuming a premium for what you're growing?

- Yes, yes, they're paying a premium.

Usually they're looking for at least a No.

1 or No.

2 corn.

They're looking for high-end product that they know is safe and they also really enjoy getting to know the farmer.

They want to know their product.

Actually the Japanese were just here visiting on Monday.

- Where, at your place?

- At our farm, yep.

- Really?

- Yep.

They came to visit and they want to get to meet the farmer.

They said "I want to meet your dad, I want to meet your sister.

"We want to know-" - Why?

- "Every step of the way."

They enjoy knowing all the way from the farmer all the way to the end user.

- Okay.

I mean, maybe it's just because we live here.

I mean if I went to your farm, I would look out in the field and be like "Oh, there's corn."

Look at your neighbor's field, "Oh, there's corn."

They want to know not the product as much as the person?

- They want to be able to trace that product back.

They want to know where it came from and get to know the farmer that's growing it.

- Okay.

- And a lot of times, they come with an end user.

They come with somebody who's actually processing it.

They've seen the corn but they've actually never seen the plant that it came from.

- Can they not grow this type of corn?

- Nothing like what we can do here.

Especially in the Bible Belt right here in the Midwest.

I mean, it's the best place to grow the corn and soybeans.

- Especially by where you are.

- We're in God's country in McLean County for sure.

- Everybody says that.

- Yeah.

- I mean He owns it all, so I guess you're right.

- I guess, yeah, that's a good point.

- But I mean that is literally some of the best farm ground on earth.

- It is, it is, we are blessed.

- Must be rough.

- Yeah, it's pretty rough.

- Does it get boring on those flat, straight fields?

- Every once in awhile, you see a waterway and you gotta lift up and yeah, it's a real pain.

- Anyway.

(laughs) Is that intimidating at all when they come?

Because they come from across the globe.

I mean, that's the other side of the world.

They're coming to check you out.

Is it intimidating at all?

- Oh it is, it is.

You're always worried about language barriers or you make the wrong joke, you make the wrong comment.

I hope I didn't insult these guys but it's funny, most of the time, they do understand English.

A lot of times, they actually speak it as well.

So a lot of times my sister and I, who I farm with, will be over here whispering a little bit and then all of a sudden, he caught onto the joke I was saying.

- Oh.

- "Oh, okay," you know?

- [Rob] Gotcha.

- He knew more than I realized.

- Uh-huh.

"Ohayo," that means good afternoon.

- Ohayo.

- Ohayo.

- Okay.

- That's literally all I remember, yeah.

"Konnichiwa" I think is something about robots.

I don't know.

- I believe you.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Domo arigato.

- Mr. Roboto?

- I think it's an Italian dish with pasta.

- Okay.

- It's been awhile since I was over there.

All right, so they came here.

Were they happy with what they saw?

- They were happy.

They're always interested to see what the crop is gonna be like.

They're watching the boards, they're watching these USDA reports but they really want to know from the farmer, is this gonna be a good crop or not?

- Oh, so they're checking out their investment too.

- Mm hmm.

- Okay.

- Yes, very much so.

- You were honored by the Illinois Soybean Association.

- Yes.

- 20 Under 40.

- Yes.

- How old are you?

- I'm 31.

- [Rob] Okay, so you could win this like nine more years, right?

- Yeah, I'm good to go.

(Rob laughs) - I mean, what's that mean to you to get named that?

- It was quite an honor.

It's something that you never realize that you're doing that much or making that big of an impact until somebody says "Well, look at all the things you're doing for your community."

And I'm very humbled and appreciative.

- Were you judged?

- I was not judged, no.

I was just nominated by I think probably two people that nominated me, I know of one guy that nominated me.

- [Rob] Yeah.

I mean, do you bribe someone to get this award?

- Yeah, usually I give 'em some money.

- It is Illinois, right?

- That's right, yeah, yeah.

Corruption at its finest.

- Do you get a plaque?

- I don't actually know all what I'm gonna get so far.

- Yeah.

- I got a hat in the mail and it's a really nice one.

- Yeah, you get a hat?

- Yes.

- [Rob] Okay.

Only a farmer- - Yeah, that's right.

- Gets so excited over.

(laughs) - Always looking forward to a hat, yes.

So they're gonna have a meeting later on this winter.

So I'll be excited to see what all will happen.

- Well, that's pretty cool too because you get in a group of other leaders.

- Yes.

- That in itself could inspire you to do more cool stuff.

- And it's interesting, the closest farmer to me was almost an hour away.

It's people all over the state and just in McLean County, we're so heavy on corn and soybeans.

You almost forget about all these other farmers in the state that are doing so many other products and livestock.

- Doing real work.

(laughs) - Yeah, exactly.

- Tell me about the barges.

- Yeah, so we also on top of the farm, we run a business called Osterbur and Associates.

We load the specialty corn and soybean barges.

So my sister and I both go load barges on the Illinois, Mississippi and the Ohio and it's about 60 roughly semi-truck loads.

So we're making sure that the barge gets level to draft, also up to grade.

So we're inspecting each truck that goes on, testing it for GMO.

- Level?

- Yeah, so we need to make sure we put the right amount of corn all the way across the barge because there's certain drafts that we have to make to stay in the level of the river.

- I don't know what that means.

- So the barge starts really high, it's really deep.

- Yeah.

- Starts high on the water and as we load it, it keeps sinking deeper and deeper.

- Yeah.

- We need to make sure that all four corners all stay correct so that it can travel down the river.

- You don't want it deeper?

Yeah 'cause that would drag and stuff.

- Correct, yep.

- Okay.

I mean when you say load a barge, tell people the process because it sounds like it's you and a bucket.

- And a shovel, yeah.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - No, I don't have to do that thankfully.

So most everything's going through a river elevator.

So we never put anything in-house.

So nothing goes actually into the elevator.

We dump directly into a pit, straight out onto a conveyor and that conveyor sits and they open doors on the lids and then they put the grain under each one of the holes.

- Yeah.

60-ish truckloads?

- 60 truckloads roughly.

- So a truckload is 1,000 bushel?

- Roughly, yep.

- Yeah.

Of corn and it's 56 pounds of- - Soybeans, it's 60.

- Yeah.

So that's a ton of weight that's going down the river.

- It is, yep.

- Is that the best way to do it to get it to Japan?

- It is, really river is probably the cheapest way to move grain.

- Yeah.

- It's cheaper than rail, much cheaper than truck.

So it's definitely our best way to get everything there.

It all goes down, eventually it gets to Mississippi, to New Orleans, it's offloaded then onto large vessels and then over to Japan.

It takes about 30 days to get there.

- From when you're putting it on the barge.

- Correct, when I put it on the barge here to when it offloads on the truck, about 30 days, it's in Japan.

- That's not bad.

- It's not bad.

- Really.

- Nope.

- That's a big ocean.

- Yeah.

A lot of the time, it's just getting through the traffic of New Orleans, getting offloaded onto a vessel, then through the Panama Canal and over.

- Okay, I'm glad you said that 'cause I don't have a globe in front of me and I didn't remember if that has to go through the Canal or not.

- Yes, yep.

- Yeah.

Now there, they do have to bribe people.

- I wouldn't, yeah.

- But that's not your circus.

- Yeah, not my ballpark, so yeah.

- I'm gonna say you're rare in farming because you know where your corn ends up.

Most farmers don't.

Do you think that gives you an advantage or does it matter?

- I wouldn't say it gives me an advantage.

It gives me a different perspective and it does help me think about what's going into my product and when we talk about being stewards of the land, it's great to say "I was there every step of the way from the kernel, the day I planted it all the way 'til when it got milled and put into a food product."

- Yeah.

Yeah, I could definitely see where that would give you a sense of pride.

I mean, it's a pride profession because we are feeding people but yeah, in a way, I never know where my corn and soybean goes.

So I think it's very cool that you have this whole idea and you've met the people that are gonna eventually be eating it.

You just need to get over there now.

- I do, I would love to get over there.

One of the guys I farm with, Ben, Ben Scholl, one of the other families we farm with, he's been over to see it and he's got to meet everyone there and he said it's a really amazing experience.

- You'll never eat sushi here again in the States.

- It's just not the same?

- No.

It's like something a dog wouldn't touch.

- I do love sushi though.

- I do too.

I used to love it like here but now after going to Japan, this is- - You're just a sushi snob now.

- It's crap.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, but that's a different show.

(laughs) Okay, you love to hunt, huh?

- I do love to hunt.

- What do you hunt?

- I love to hunt really turkey and deer are my primary.

If I can get out and do some dove hunting, some pheasant hunting, I love to.

With farming, as you know, it's tough to get out.

Both turkey and deer seasons always overlap with harvest and planting.

- Yeah.

- I'm always, I hate to say it but kinda hoping for some rain days in there so I can escape for a few days.

- Do you get a lot of pheasants down there?

- You know, we don't have as many as we used to.

But I'm seeing more and more.

We always try and not mow our roadside ditches all summer long.

Leave the grass a little tall, let some fences overgrow a little bit and then we see some pheasants.

- Okay, that's an interesting point because a lot of the people watching really don't know agriculture that well.

Mowing of the ditches.

Yes, that is one thing.

Now we mow ours because we want it to look good.

You do get a little bit of buffer for when like a deer comes out of the field to where he's on the road.

But there is an argument to where we are destroying some habitat that could benefit like the pheasants and that.

You guys are going that route that you want to help nature.

- We do, I mean we try and do a happy medium.

So we always say we mow the first five feet.

So we mow right between the road and the ditch.

Just a pass where on the small township roads, you can meet another car and not have to drive through the tall grass.

- Yeah.

- But the rest of the time, we're trying to leave it out as long as we can.

- Yeah, you can spend a lot of money deer hunting.

- Yes you can, you can ask my wife.

- Is she not a fan of how much money you spend?

- Well, I try to keep the spending to a minimum.

- [Rob] Yeah, you know she's gonna watch.

- Exactly, yeah.

No Rob, I don't spend very much at all.

- I hardly spend anything, yeah.

I probably make money doing it.

- That's exactly it, yes, yeah, yeah.

- Have you had any luck?

- I usually have some pretty good luck.

I'd love to get out and bow hunt more.

It's always during the beginning of harvest.

So usually I'm trying to get out during muzzleloader.

I get out during black powder.

- Late, yeah.

- Late season, I have better luck.

Turkey hunting, I didn't get to get out at all this spring just because we got in with early planting.

But really turkey hunting is probably my favorite thing to do.

- Do you know for like 20 bucks, you can buy those Butterballs?

They're a lot better than the stuff you're gonna shoot out by Le Roy.

- But if I, yeah again, see, we gotta keep that on the down low from my wife.

Otherwise I can't get away for a whole week and go sit out in the woods.

- Oh, so that's what it's, okay.

- Yeah.

- How long you been married?

- Seven years.

- Where'd you meet her?

- Actually we went to high school together.

- Really?

- High school sweethearts.

- [Rob] Did you date in high school?

- We did, yeah.

- Like what year?

- We started right when we were both 16.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Oh, so you could drive?

- Yeah, oh yeah.

- Okay.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- Seven years?

- Yeah.

- You're still newlyweds.

- Yeah, yeah.

Well they say that seven years though is, you're at that fork in the road.

So it's either gonna go good or bad.

- Who's all involved in your farm?

- So we're actually two families that farm together.

So the O'Neall family, my family and the Scholls.

So it's two father and sons and as well as my sister.

- Okay, your sister, is she older, younger?

- Younger sister.

- Okay.

- She's 26.

- More and more women coming back to the farm.

It's actually not unusual anymore.

- Yeah.

- Was that an issue with your guys' farm?

- You know, my sister actually has a radiology background from school and we ended up needing some more help on the farm.

Said we could use her, she came home and she said "If you can do it, surely I can do it."

And actually she does it better than I do most days.

(Rob laughs) Yep.

- You're trying to make up for what you said about the wife.

I don't know if it helps if you're complimenting your sister.

- Yeah, any points counts I think.

(Rob laughs) - It can't hurt anyway.

- Yeah.

- So what's the goal with your farm?

Are you hoping that your family, you're seventh generation, which is kind of rare.

Usually you only hear sixth but you're seventh.

Are you hoping someday it'll keep going down to the eighth, ninth, 10th?

- I do, I hope it continues to grow.

It's been a great opportunity with two families coming together.

So everyone has their fortes that they can bring to the operation.

So we have Ben Scholl is great at marketing and his father Mark is great for helping us on the finance side and my sister and I are great at just getting dirty and doing the hard work and everybody comes together to really diversify our whole farm so that we can continue to make it a profitable business.

- Yeah, do you know what I've found?

And I don't know how many farmers we've interviewed, I mean thousands over the years.

What I find is it's rare actually for a family just to make a living off of farming alone, raising crops, raising livestock.

There always seems to be some niche and you guys are going the food grade route and that.

Do you think that has helped your farm survive?

- I really do.

I think it's helped to be able to keep the next generation on the farm, helped to diversify income.

I think that's a big part of where farms are gonna have to go as we go forward with the need for insurance and that sort of thing.

It's how can we diversify to help income all year long.

- So do you spend much time on which river, with the barges?

- I spend most of my time on the Illinois but we're on the Illinois, the Mississippi and the Ohio.

- Okay, and I haven't even heard, what's the deal with the lock and dams?

Are they getting fixed, improved at all?

- They are, they've been closing different sections of the rivers to try and get 'em fixed.

It's incredible the age of these locks and dams that we're still depending on- - Like how old are they?

- Every day.

There's a lot of these that they're closing right now that are over 100 years old.

So it's kudos to the guys that built that 100 years ago.

- Yeah.

- 'Cause it has definitely lasted.

- They ain't gonna get built that well again.

- Yeah, they won't be built that well again.

- Now is that what, the Army Corps of Engineers?

- Yes, correct.

- Yeah.

Because I know all these ag groups have been fighting that for years because the process is, you tell me if I'm wrong, you fill a barge and then you have to break that away from where they put all the barges together and you can't put 'em all through at the same time.

So that doubles the time you have to get 'em through a lock and dam?

- Correct.

Every time it has to go through a lock and dam, it does slow it down quite a bit.

So on the Illinois, we can only pair so many barges together.

You get to the Mississippi, you can stack them wider and deeper.

- Do they ever just try to blast through those dams?

- Well every once in awhile, you see it on the news.

I don't think they do it on purpose.

- [Rob] Really?

- So they can get away from you but most of the tug services around here do a really good job.

- I've been by a barge.

Generally you stand beside one, it's amazing how big.

I mean they look big going down the river but if you stand by one, it's just kind of awe-inspiring how big they are.

- It is, it is and it's crazy to actually know about how many of them are going down the river at all times.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- We don't really think about river travel just because we're not on it all the time.

- Yeah, those tugboat captains, they ever tell you about like river monsters?

- No good stories that I'm aware of.

- Why are you winking at me?

- That's for another show.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- We are getting low on time.

- Yeah.

- Are you on social media or the internet anywhere?

- We do have a website, our farm has a website but otherwise I'm not on social media a lot.

I do have Facebook.

- What's the website?

- It's oneallscholl.com.

- Okay.

And is that just kind of an overview of your farm and that?

- That is, that is, yep and it also links us to the grain business, Osterbur and Associates.

- Okay, well congratulations on being named Illinois Soybean Association 20 Under 40 Wonder.

I mean, that's impressive.

That's a lot of people you're competing against and a lot of very smart people.

So I'd be very proud of it.

- Yes, it's a great honor to be on that list.

- Maybe, maybe you'll get more than a hat.

- I'm kinda hoping so, maybe two hats.

Farmers do love their free hats.

- Or a thermos?

- A thermos, oh yeah.

- What is the best tchotchke out there now?

- Well everybody now's gotta have the Stanley's I see, you know?

Now everybody wants those.

- What's a Stanley's?

- Like they're just the new mug that everybody's got to have.

We've moved on from Yeti's to Stanley's now.

- Okay, well here's hoping to Stanley's.

So all right, Austin O'Neall, thank you very much, really appreciate it.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next time.

(upbeat rock music)