He relies on a practice most producers abandoned years ago. But across his 3,000 plus acres, it saves money - to the tune of $10,000 to $20,000 every year.
Skorupa, along with a crew of kids he hires, pull the weeds and wild oats that invade his fields. All of them. "People comment on how clean my fields are," Skorupa said. Born into farming in southern Montana's row-crop country, Skorupa remembers watching the soil flow over the plow blade - while walking behind draft horses. As the growing season progressed, the time for weed control arrived. "Whenever we saw a weed, we pulled it," he said. "That instinct is still in me." But he's not living in the past; he's succeeding in the present. Today, Skorupa farms 1,550 acres of cropland and 1,550 acres of summer fallow just 75 miles from the Canadian border. "We walk every field and pull every wild oat we see. If the kids are willing to work, I'd rather give them the money than the chemical companies."
