How do they do that?

[kbear]

Because I was uncertain how this would be recieved as a subject of interest I gave this a fair amount of consideration regarding posting . So, for better or for worse?

Since I was a boy I've found farming to be fascinating to say the least. I've always loved the huge equipment used to do the field work. I really didn't care what particular field work just work. I grew up in rural America most of my life so I've been exposed to a fair number of different types of farming. Where I currently reside farmers here grow winter wheat, oats, barley, alfalfa and grass to feed livestock, corn, sugar beets and some green beans. I live in the richest agricultural county in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, it leads the state in the value of agricultural products sold, and is typically in the top ten richest overall nationally. This county is also the leading producer of beef cattle in Colorado.

This video popped up on my feed today and I found it fascinating because I never knew how it was done. If you're into potatoes as much as I think you are heres a video of a farm in Idaho who plants those wonderful odd shaped orbs we all love so well. I'm always into learning new things and now I know how potatoes are planted.

 

[Kimmie28]

I live in idaho and it is amazing how potato farms work. I worked on on for a little while and got to see a lot of it first hand

 

[kbear]

I live in idaho and it is amazing how potato farms work. I worked on on for a little while and got to see a lot of it first hand

I don't think a majority of the country really realizes just how difficult it is or what it really takes to produce the food we all enjoy so much. I do appreciate what these men are up against. My hats off to these men AND women who feed us. ✌

 

[kbear]

Same farm.

Wow, harvesting those potatoes. Again, I never knew what it took to produce such a large amount of potatoes. What, also, amazes me is the amount of mechanical engineering that goes into the machines that produce all that work. Very cool indeed.

 

[9x19]

Mike Rowe on a purple potato farm

 

[kbear]

I mentioned, in another thread, that I live close to what's called a "Beet Dump". Local farmers bring their sugar beets to this central location so they can be shipped to a Sugar Processing Plant. Hard to tell from the pictures but the tons of beets that are here is really amazing.

 

[Speed Chaser]

I don't think a majority of the country really realizes just how difficult it is or what it really takes to produce the food we all enjoy so much. I do appreciate what these men are up against. My hats off to these men AND women who feed us. ✌

The majority of the country doesn't understand how higher energy prices result in higher food prices so I doubt they know 1 percent of how much work goes into farming.

 

[CertifiedMike]

The majority of the country doesn't understand how higher energy prices result in higher food prices so I doubt they know 1 percent of how much work goes into farming.

Growing a garden at home is reasonably involved! Ppl just don't do it like they used to.
On a different note... I've been growing couch potatos for years and I've never planted them like this!

 

[WickedFog]

Because I was uncertain how this would be recieved as a subject of interest I gave this a fair amount of consideration regarding posting . So, for better or for worse?

Since I was a boy I've found farming to be fascinating to say the least. I've always loved the huge equipment used to do the field work. I really didn't care what particular field work just work. I grew up in rural America most of my life so I've been exposed to a fair number of different types of farming. Where I currently reside farmers here grow winter wheat, oats, barley, alfalfa and grass to feed livestock, corn, sugar beets and some green beans. I live in the richest agricultural county in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, it leads the state in the value of agricultural products sold, and is typically in the top ten richest overall nationally. This county is also the leading producer of beef cattle in Colorado.

This video popped up on my feed today and I found it fascinating because I never knew how it was done. If you're into potatoes as much as I think you are heres a video of a farm in Idaho who plants those wonderful odd shaped orbs we all love so well. I'm always into learning new things and now I know how potatoes are planted.

You would just love this show. I learned more about farming in just a few episodes than I ever knew. Great show to boot. And hella funny. Just watch this...

 

[Jerold]

Picked apricots as a teenager. We (pickers) got stuffed in a little hole next between the engine and the conveyor belt. The smell of diesel fuel, rotting fruit mixed with the cool morning dew is something I remember to this day and the main reason I hate apricots.

The machine would grab the tree and shake the living crap out of it. The fruit would fall in to an upside down umbrella, then to two conveyor belts on each side of it. The belts went to a bin in the back of the tractor.

That was fun for about an hour. Then we got out of the hot hole and sat on the edge of the tractor, stooped over the belt. By the end to the day we were walking.

Our job (as pickers) was to pick the bad stuff off the conveyor belt - Stick, leaves, rotten fruit, birds, snakes... you know all the good stuff.

I made a lot of money that summer, spent time with my friends. It was a great experience and encouragement to get a better job. Having spent one summer (which was more than enough) I have a lot of respect for the farm workers. It's hard work, with long hours in the hot sun. I never question their paychecks, they earn it.

The tractor/picker/shaker looks a bit like this.

 

[WickedFog]

Picked apricots as a teenager. We (pickers) got stuffed in a little hole next between the engine and the conveyor belt. The smell of diesel fuel, rotting fruit mixed with the cool morning dew is something I remember to this day and the main reason I hate apricots.

The machine would grab the tree and shake the living crap out of it. The fruit would fall in to an upside down umbrella, then to two conveyor belts on each side of it. The belts went to a bin in the back of the tractor.

That was fun for about an hour. Then we got out of the hot hole and sat on the edge of the tractor, stooped over the belt. By the end to the day we were walking.

Our job (as pickers) was to pick the bad stuff off the conveyor belt - Stick, leaves, rotten fruit, birds, snakes... you know all the good stuff.

I made a lot of money that summer, spent time with my friends. It was a great experience and encouragement to get a better job. Having spent one summer (which was more than enough) I have a lot of respect for the farm workers. It's hard work, with long hours in the hot sun. I never question their paychecks, they earn it.

The tractor/picker/shaker looks a bit like this.

I detassled corn 3 summers from '85 to '87. I was 14 the first year. I did that for about 4 or 5 weeks each summer. Hardest job ever. Very first day, 2 busloads of kids were hauled about 15 miles to a field that had rows that were a little over 1 mile long. Our little 6 man group got lucky. Our very first walk into the field was in an area that held water for a few days after a rain.

We started in about a foot of standing water on the field and about a foot of soupy mud. Each step required quite a bit of effort to lift your foot out of the soup. Our pants were soaked above our knees, and everything from shin level down was caked in mud. That went on for I'd say 100' into the field. I had made the mistake of wearing my Air Jordan's. They were ruined.

By the time we made a few passes down and back, it was lunch time. All the kids that quit were parked on their butts beneath a huge oak tree. It was approximately half the kids. And they were mostly all the kids I viewed as rich, entitled brats, along with a bunch of kids you could just look at and tell they were lazy. I would never quit. I had a Commodore 64 computer on my brain, and I just had to have it.

The next day, I thought it might be better to wear my hiking boots, which were heavy and uncomfortable. Big mistake. My feet hurt so bad, and I had blisters the size of quarters in about 5 places on my feet. That night I was in tears. But I suffered through til the end.

My dad raised me to know what really hard work is, and I got to keep what I earned for myself. We had about a 1/4 acre garden, burned firewood as our only heat source, and raised chickens and rabbits for a time. If I wasn't pulling weeds or tending to the animals, I was slinging 100 lb logs around and chopping firewood. And my dad LOVED his hickory and Ash, which make really heavy logs lol.

It's funny. Overall, I haven't ever really considered my dad as being a great father, because he was such an a-hole. But in reality, he taught me the value of hard work.