A person may see many things sitting on a tractor seat — a doe and twin fawns moving slowly across a just-planted field, birds of prey on the prowl and wildflowers in bloom.
Bill took a short break from planting corn to call with a smile-inducing observation — the fellow next door with a much larger planter and newer tractor than his easily lapped him each trip across their neighboring fields.
Bill, who prefers land over new equipment, wasn’t envious of the tractor equipped with a global positioning system, a swivel chair and air conditioning.
The rabbit and turtle came to mind as did the thought that the technology of the 1980s and ‘90s has been elevated to near-antiquehood.
It’s been a great planting season in these parts of southern Minnesota, with almost all corn in the ground and with soybean planting starting before the end of April. The positives in agriculture have otherwise been hard to find given the setbacks of recent weeks.
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Dairy farmers have dumped milk because processors can’t use all of it and hogs and poultry have been wasted because of closed packing plants. Several ethanol plants, which represent a great economic opportunity for farmers, have retooled to producing disinfectant.
The food supply chain, as a Tyson executive recently said, is threatened. So, too, are consumers. It is surreal to see in our land of abundance the long lines of people waiting for food handouts in metropolitan areas.
Food insecurity is a problem that has existed for several years. Statistics show that 37 million Americans (including 11 million children) are food insecure. That number will certainly increase in our virus-dominated present.
The problem is made worse by abysmal waste. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service estimates that 30% to 40% of U.S. food resources are wasted annually.
Bill, who is blessed because he lives in the same farmhouse in which he was reared, hopes like other farmers to harvest 200-plus bushels per acre corn. It is an amazing number, given that in the 1930s, when his father was getting established in farming, the average U.S. corn yield was less than 30 bushels per acre. It was the era of open-pollinated corn — modern hybrids didn’t gain a foothold until the 1940s.
My father used what was called checked-row planting for corn in 1930 for better weed control. He continued to do so 20 years later. Somehow, corn ears and fodder produced enough to feed the cows and hogs. He, like my mother and so many others, was forever scarred by the Great Depression.
While breadlines and soup kitchens flourished in cities, the fruits of farmers’ labor were next-to-worthless. President Franklin Roosevelt came up with a radical solution — farmers should kill their piglets to reduce production and raise market prices. Roosevelt’s approach was condemned by the public, who said the piglet slaughter was inhumane.
Although he never had much money in his pocket, he splurged to purchase a new Allis Chalmers WD and an International baler in the late 1950s. There are, of course, many fewer farmers now. However, support for farmers among the general public is strong.
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Wife Kathy, who has never benefited from sitting on a tractor’s seat, is upset about wasted livestock, poultry and milk and committed to helping farmers. For that reason, she recently made an online purchase of butter and cheese from a small Wisconsin dairy cooperative and had it delivered via the mail.
"You have to change your way of thinking," she responded when I complained about the cost. "You, of all people," should understand what farmers are going through.
I do indeed, but change is never easy.
Spring, as it has always been, is a time for optimism. Corn and bean rows will soon emerge, wheat fields will once again wave in the wind, and the countryside will be blessed with sunshine as well as rain.
Mychal Wilmes is the retired managing editor of Agri News. He lives in West Concord, Minn., with his wife, Kathy.
