Farming is an amazing story
Only a few days ago, it seemed like we were in the middle of the dog days of summer, as the humidity, high temperatures and sunshine pushed crops ever closer to maturity. The fall, maturing crops have, in fact, progressed so well that seed corn harvest has already begun in the area. It is a much more optimistic harvest season approaching, as opposed to last year when many producers ended up completing the 2009 harvest in 2010. Most farmers had to grind through a tough and expensive harvest last year due to late-maturing and slow-drying crops.
However, this year may be a different story, as long as the weather continues to cooperate. With memories of the struggles of harvest last year still fresh, farmers are even more motivated to bring the crop in as soon as feasible. The good news is, just like it does not take long to plant a crop with today’s modern equipment, it also does not take long to harvest a crop, and farmers have invested in the equipment to get the job done.
A few days ago as I was thinking about harvest and how much technology and equipment had changed over the years, I happened to turn on the television and was able to catch part of a special being aired by PBS in Iowa. It was a documentary about a man who wanted to farm more than anything but just happened to pick the worst of times to begin. I believe it was back in the 1930s when he set out to fulfill his dream, but after weather disasters caused three crop failures in a row, the man decided he needed to do something else to support his family.
The man began working for FSA — not the Farm Service Agency but the Farm Services Administration. Even though this man worked with many farm families to assist them with their farming operations, that was not the reason he had become so well known. This man had taken photographs of the farm families he had worked with during his career. I was simply amazed as the documentary showed photograph after photograph taken of farm families doing their day-to-day chores, farm work and family activities.
They also interviewed many of the children shown in the photos that are now older adults. One man described how his family had $100 in the spring, and that money was used to get crops planted and support the family until harvest sales could replenish the family funds. Many shared stories on how their family survived on 40 acres or less. They also talked about having no electricity, no plumbing, no shoes in the summer and the hours of backbreaking work. However, these same people talked about what a good life it was for them as a family and how the lessons of hard work and economic struggles have stuck with them all of their life.
It is hard not to appreciate the struggles the early farmers and their families went through when seeing the photographs, but these photos also give me the impression the families were very content, despite the hard manual labor and lack of economic resources. My dad told me on several occasions that the good old days were not all good, and I know this applies to most things, including farming, but the history of farmers and how farming has evolved is an amazing story that deserves to be shared.
Brad W. Powelson is the county executive director for Bureau County FSA Office.
