Katie and Andy are seventh generation farmers who grow soybeans, corn, seed corn, and hops on 7,500 acres in northern Illinois with other members of their family, including their 2 kids.

The productivity of their farm has benefited from advances in agriculture over the past twenty years, especially mechanization that has been enhanced with technology, such as auto-steer guidance, documentation, data capture, and use of mobile apps, and new and improved seed varieties, including GMOs and hybrids with herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, diseases resistance, and drought tolerance. These have helped to create better yields on the farm even in very difficult years like 2019. With better genetics and fungicides they manage many diseases well but still need solutions for others.