Panel discusses farm life
A panel of both new and wizened farmers kicked off the recent New York Corn & Soybean Growers Association 2026 Winter Expo, discussing soil health to farm survival strategies.
David Whitaker and Corey Hillebo with the “Farm4Profit” podcast based in Slater, Iowa, formed the panel with Tom Corcoran, known for founding the SUMBITCH (Some Unique Machines Brought In To Commemorate History) Tractor Show in 2018 in western New York.
“I was 40 the first year we started,” Corcoran said.
As a first-generation farmer beginning in 2010, he had to acquire all his equipment. Instead of going deep into debt, he bought used equipment.
In his second year farming, he had a bad harvest and no crop insurance. It was a tough lesson for Corcoran. Now that he has larger equipment, some people outside his farm rib him about “having it easy” but don’t see all the hard work, the faith of his wife, Diane Hunt-Corcoran, and the support of his banker and Farm Credit that went into the farm’s success.
Now Corcoran farms 1,800 acres – 450 of sweetcorn, 60 of field corn or soybeans and 375 in winter wheat for the straw market. The rest is Christmas trees, which he planted in 2020.
He farms 64 fields and the average size is 28 acres – much smaller than those of his co-panelists in Iowa.
About half of Corcoran’s field corn goes into ethanol and the other half for feed.
“Some of our soybeans are used in New York,” he said. “Some are exported. Dairy uses a lot of beans. It’s a pretty big thing in New York State.”
His popular tractor show began as his farm hosted a seed show before Labor Day. “I’d have extra food and call friends to come over,” he said.
In 2018, he began hosting it as a tractor show. By the following year, he had a friend help him set up an Instagram account.
“I said, ‘Set me up as a farming sumbitch,’ and it stuck,” Corcoran joked.
He felt comfortable meeting acquaintances in real life that he knew only through social media. The camaraderie helps buffer the isolation that many farmers experience in their lifestyle of long hours and often solo workdays. Online, he found farmers can talk about rents, machinery and other aspects of the business more freely, as those acquaintances are not competitors because of geographic distance.
Although the tractor show proved successful nearly immediately, “you can’t have a tractor show for no reason,” Corcoran said.
As the event became an annual occurrence, he utilized it as a fundraiser. In 2019, they raised $3,000 for Alzheimer’s research. During the pandemic, the show shut down, so he sold T-shirts online. The show rebooted once the pandemic eased and he’s raised up to $42,000 a year since. Participating tractors drive a six-mile loop before parking for the show.
Instagram helped the SUMBITCH Tractor Show become more popular. People have attended “from all over – even Italy,” Corcoran said.
He serves on the New York Corn & Soybean Growers Board, and through them, he travels to the state capitol a few times a year to lobby for farmers on issues such as a proposed ban on neonic seed treatments.
“You’re our front-line defense,” Hillebo said. “Do people in D.C. listen?”
“They do,” Corcoran said. “When farmers are there, looking them in the eye, how do you not listen?”
Whitaker asked Corcoran about the use of drain tiling; he replied that he uses the strategy to deal with excess water. Then Whitaker asked the audience about tiling. Nearly all attendees use it. When asked about irrigation, very few raised hands to indicate usage.
Another difference between Iowa and New York is the soil. “We spend a lot of time picking rocks,” Corcoran said.
When he began farming, he used strip tilling primarily for saving time, as he was still working a full-time job. “Then I saw the soil health benefits,” he said.
He also uses cover crops on all of his acres using winter wheat, rye, clover and oats.
Despite his farm’s growth, he still farms with a good many older implements and pieces of equipment. Using old equipment is a secret to his success as it has spared him from staying cash-strapped by making big payments on new equipment.
Monetary motivation also helps him be a better land steward. “We have some great relationships with neighbors,” he added. “One landlady charges more if we don’t put in a cover crop.”
He’s also learned to diversify revenue streams, from crops to Christmas trees to his tractor show to Sumbitch Beer, a private label brew developed to augment the tractor show.
“A friend serves beer at our tractor show, so he asked if he could brew beer with something we grew,” Corcoran said.
He also sells branded Sumbitch apparel through direct messages to his Instagram channel, @Farming_Sumbitch, and his YouTube channel, The Way We Farm.
The Iowan panelists discussed their Midwestern challenges and markets, reminding the New York attendees of how different farming can be in other areas of the country.
“Ag is very diverse and everyone is very resilient,” Whitaker said.
Still, the nature of the work and lifestyle of farming can be unifying.
“In New York ag, we’re all competitors, but also very good friends,” Corcoran said.
