Picking and Combining

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My Mom and my Uncle co-own Ray Smith Farm in
Northwest Indiana. It's only 80 acres but in
a area rapidly becoming suburban, it's a sizeable
piece of farmland. We were lucky enough this
year to see both the corn and soybeans harvested.
As I regularly remind Lynn, corn is picked and
soybeans are combined. Both crops bought
record prices and yields this year. The corn
was picked earlier than usual because a freight
train was waiting at the Malden Elevator and
needed corn to fill it's cars. Normally the corn
wouldn't have been picked so early as the moisture
content was very high, but they needed it no matter
what the moisture content was and were willing to
take it as is.

The only trouble with the record high price and yield
is that next year the prices of fertilizer, fuel and
seed are expected to be twice as high as this year.
Farming is certainly a tough business to be in these
days. Even with record numbers, the farmers don't
get to enjoy their success. Many farmers even have to
work another full time job just to make ends meet.
The farmer across the street has had to work the last
23 years at the nearby steel mills just to make ends meet.
I'm afraid the days of the small family farm may be
numbered.