Farming Ups and Downs
Haney Silo Sunrise
I'm amazed at how a city boy like me has gotten so into agriculture.
I guess it's all about where you live - and for me - where and what you photograph. Since I spend the bulk of my time here in Illinois - amongst the corn, beans, pumpkins, and hay - I see more then my fair share. And when you see that much - you oughta get curious - otherwise the drive is going to be looonger then usual.
I was having a conversation with a co-worker the other day. Her husband is retired and now farms quite a bit. She told me they were getting an astounding 290 bushels of corn per acre - sometimes struggling to get the combine through that much stock. It's been a really good year for corn here. At about $4.60/bushel, that's a nice haul per acre. I had no idea. Hopefully fuel prices haven't totally wiped out those profits. You could tell it was a good year from the harvest too. Most of the time it's wrapped up by Nov. 1, but not this year - they're still going hard at it. My informal survey of fields passed the other day has me guesstimating they're about 85% done. But you can still hear the combines driving in the fields at 11pm or midnight. Those farmers - it's kind of quiet for them in the winter but right now - it's making for some long 18-hour days.
And while I'd probably rather be running around the American West photographing that beauty, I guess I'll stick with the motto of trying to find beauty in unexpected places - even if those places are the entire state. Of Illinois.