the only reason I can think of to defend my career choice.
Ever run a tractor on a spring day with the wind blowing against you? smell the diesel, the open ground behind you, feel the sun shining down? Did you ever think that you could get paid to feel like that? I did it from a farmall cub, farmall c, allt eh way up to tractors with cabs as new as 2001.
How can you ever get tired of the feeling that you are creating new life, letting it grow until it's natural life cycle is over, and then harvesting it in the hopes that the next year will bring new life for you to enjoy?
It doesn't matter if it is gmo, bt, triple stack, round-up ready, certified naturally grown, open pollinated, or taken straight from satan's hands...
You reap what you sow.
You give a crop all the love you can give and you watch it. You hope that God will provide the rain, and you hope that anything that happens, you can overcome.
When the time comes to harvest, you have that knowledge of a preharvest yeild. You know you did your best, as always, but you know that next year begins just a few months away. You swear that next year will be the year when the rain comes, the soil is dry on time for planting, and that no equipment will break down.
The next year of hope is what drives you. The bounty of the current year inspires you.
To answer your question...
I was 3 years old in 1981. I rode on the fender with my dad and watched him plow, plant, harvest and I just knew that there was nothing else in life that would suit me. I am my father's son. He knew when he was my age at the time that when he sat on the cultivator with the horses in front, he would never be more fulfilled in life than when he was farming. My dad went from horses to climate controlled cabs. He went from 1 row farming to 6 row farming. He went from 50 bushels per acre to 300. In his life time, he never thought his son could break out of a tradition of gleaning with horses. He never thought that a time would come when atrazine would be a 30 year old invention.
What he knows now is that anything is possible and what I do is the cutting edge of farming. He knows now that the cutting edge could lend a paycheck to even the smallest of farmers. Let us little guys still compete without loosing. To him, I am forever grateful. He will be, and forever has been my hero. Before I was born into this world, he was my hero. He gave me so much and continues to give. Although his tone is often harsh I know that every year he is more proud of me and happy to see what I have done than what his father could have ever imagined.
It's a legacy. It's family tradition. It's 238 years of farming the same ground with better equipment adn better techniques. We have been here forever. The one thing that isn't lost is our "never die" spirit. We won't let a brief moment in time stop us from carrying on a way that existed long before our birth, but was instilled in us long before we lived.
I just hope everyone who has a passion for farming knows what it means to live a legacy and tries to continue a legacy of learning and happiness. The minute you think you know it all is the minute you fail. Lucky for me I am never all-knowing. For that is the reason I can keep farming and making my family proud.
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Today's Featured Article - Show Coverage: Journey to Ankeny - by Cindy Ladage. We left Illinois on the first day of July and headed north and west for Ankeny, Iowa. Minus two kids, we traveled light with only the youngest in tow. As long as a pool was at the end of our destination she was easy to please unlike the other two who have a multitude of requirements to travel with mom and dad. Amana Colonies served as a respite where we ate a family style lunch that sustained us with more food than could reasonably fit into our ample physiques. The show at Ankeny
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