Short Synopsis:
One hundred years ago, 99 percent of us were farmers growing our own food, while 1 percent lived in the cities. Now those percentages have reversed—and yet we all have to eat. Where does our food come from? Despite shrinking farmland, the decline of the farming family and the rise of big ag, every summer the wheat belt in America’s heartland swells with amber waves of grain. It was a pleasure to document last year’s wheat harvest with the Wolgemuth Brothers Custom Harvesters.
Written Reflection:
One hundred years ago, 99 percent of us were farmers growing our own food, while 1 percent lived in the cities. Now those percentages have reversed—and yet we all have to eat. Where does our food come from? Despite shrinking farmland, the decline of the farming family and the rise of big ag, every summer the wheat belt in America’s heartland swells with amber waves of grain, first in the red earth plains of Texas, then moving steadily up through the pastel prairies of Oklahoma, Kansas and beyond.
Many American farmers still turn to custom harvesters to cut their wheat. Each May, a dwindling number of these harvesters set out in convoys of equipment worth millions of dollars—and nearly as much in weight. I followed one such crew, manned by Eric Wolgemuth, 57, a devout Christian and his exceptionally hardworking men and one woman, ages 20-25, from Lancaster County, PA. It is increasingly difficult for seasoned harvesters to find young men and women versed in the languages of combine harvesters, the CDL license, and computerized mechanics, all while remaining cool under the pressures of hail, hogs, heavy rain, and the occasional tornado. Eric’s thirty-year experience has rewarded him with a reputation for excellence and young men (and a few women) still compete for a place on his crew and the chance to witness the American heartland from Texas to Idaho. They are college students, farmers, and self-taught mechanical whizzes who attend church every Sunday.
Their last stop was in Idaho, smack in the path of totality for the 2017 full solar eclipse. Along the way I listened to them debate GMOs, organics, God, politics, and science as they worked to harvest America's grain. It is an honor to have documented their hard work.
