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Hello again from Dixon, where we are catching our breath after a furious race to the finish of harvest. Our family farm finished on Thursday, and while there are still some fields still standing, most farmers can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty to do between anhydrous, tillage, and other odds and ends before it freezes too hard, but it is always a sigh of relief when the crop is in the bins.
We were blessed with a good crop, given the late start and wet field conditions, and had a fairly smooth harvest. Personally, I had a different perspective on this year’s harvest, after my wife and I had our daughter, Ryleigh, at the end of July. She has absolutely changed my world, and to anyone who has kids, you can appreciate where my mind was this fall.
It was extremely tough to only see my baby girl for a quick 10-15 minutes each night. It was at the point when my wife would take her home for the night to put her to bed, that I came to the simple realization that I love what I do. As tough as it was to put in those long hours, it is with no doubt that it is what I was meant to do. Now I know in our industry, we are unique in being able to work with our families, and our “whatever it takes” attitudes, but it still impresses me to see what we do as an agricultural community each and every year.
It is easy to love what you do when the going is good, everyone says that, and it’s true. But when the going gets tough, and that corn market that you think can’t go any lower, gets another report of an even larger surplus than expected, keep your heads up. Move forward and keep loving what you do, because no one can take that away from you, and it is what will keep your farm, your family, and your future alive and well.