Cole the Cornstar on Two-Way Radios for Streamlined Communication

Midland caught up with its agriculture partner, Cole the Cornstar. He shares his love of farming, the impact he's hoping to have on other growers, and how two-way radios have streamlined communication on the farm. 

Read his story below. 

Farming is in His Blood

Born and raised in central Iowa, Cole the Cornstar was born to farm. 

He's a fourth-generation farmer, but he knows his farming lineage goes back further than his great grandfather. 

Beyond raising corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and hay, Cole's family also does tiling and works with 18 local cemeteries digging graves. 

A Love for His Profession

While farming was always going to be part of the plan, Cole thoroughly enjoys what he does. He said when it comes to agriculture, there's a job for everyone, no matter their strengths or interests.

"My favorite part about farming is you get to go into whatever avenue that you like. It has every aspect of business associated with it. If you want to talk a lot with people, it has that. If you don't want to be bothered by anyone, it has that. You get to work with giant machines so it's like you're a little kid in a sandbox because you get to play with all thee toys. If you want to dive into technology, you can. If you want to be covered in grease and oil tearing an engine apart, you can. If you want to sit behind a computer and run all the finances and do accounting, you can. You can plan all the logistics and do the future planning on your farm. It has every aspect of business in it, which I really enjoy."

And no two days are the same, keeping everyone on their toes.

"By the time you start getting bored doing one thing, that thing is starting to wrap up and you're jumping into the next thing. There's just a lot of stimulation and action. It never gets boring because it's always something new."

His favorite time of the year on the farm is fall because the operation is harvesting crops. For them, it's an opportunity to see the fruits of their labor, the reward for the long days in the field.

Sharing on Social Media 

Cole began sharing his experience on social media in 2018. 

He was initially looking to share a glimpse of life on the farm with those he met at school.

"When I was in college, I started having a lot of people ask me, 'What are you doing on the farm in February?' I was thinking about that after so many people had asked me that, I thought that these people had grown up living around farming their entire lives, yet have no idea what goes on at a farm. If they didn't know, how in the world is the rest of the world going to know?"

What first started as an effort to explain agriculture to classmates soon turned into a passion to help others succeed in their farming endeavors.

"I really like to teach. I teach the good and the bad that I have done. I want to help people. I feel like if I teach them what worked and what didn't work, they can learn something and get something out of it, that's what makes it rewarding for me."

Upgrading Two-Way Radios

Growing up on the farm, Cole said his family used frustrating hand signals for communication. When they finally grew tired of that, they purchased two-way radios, but they weren't as helpful as they had hoped.

"It was probably 2016 when we got our first set of two-way radios. They were the really bad ones that would hold their charge for only 20 minutes. They were static most of the time." 

In 2022, Cole began working with Midland, bringing a major upgrade to the operation's two-way radio communication plan.

"We had a couple MXT500s, a couple MXT115s, and handhelds. It just depended on what you were in and what you were using. 

Now, to cover the expansive property effectively, they put 50-Watt MicroMobiles in all of their vehicles and machines.

"I like the MXT500s with the SPK200 Amplified External Speaker with AI Noise Cancellation with the privacy channels."

The use of the two-way radios has transformed efficiency and improved safety with instant, push-to-talk communication. 

"You'll have full communication with everybody so you know exactly what's going on. When you're five miles away from the field, you can radio to them. It can be as simple as, 'Hey, do I need to bring another semi out?' Or you're back at the farm, they can radio to you. You can hear everything when you're driving on the road. It makes things a lot faster from an efficiency standpoint."

November on the Farm

Just because harvest season has wrapped up, doesn't mean things have slowed down on the farm. 

Each member of the family is working on their own projects, but they're also reflecting on the previous season, looking ahead to determine new processes, taking care of the fields, and cleaning equipment. 

"Right now, we're taking a look at how harvest went and we're coming up with financial planning. We're able to seal up our Cost of Production reports, figuring out what things actually cost, then we're looking at what trials worked on our farm this year, what didn't, and we can also look at the historical trials that we've been doing for the last several years."