Farmers throughout the Siouxland area and elsewhere worked feverishly getting their crops harvested before another blast of winter hits the area like it did a couple weeks earlier. Most soybean crops have been combined, but a number of cornfields were still standing waiting to be picked.
Ho Chunk Farms, a subsidiary of Ho Chunk Inc, a corporation of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska was working hard to complete its harvest on its tribal land. As a child I can remember my father harvesting late into the evening trying to pick as much of his crop as possible before the dew sets in and adds moisture to the corn which can become costly if the crop is harvested when too wet. Although the same is true if it’s too dry. Grain elevator operators like their “porridge” just right.
And the employees timed their harvest just right as Mother Nature delivered another early freezing rain and snow storm recently which surely would affect area farmers just trying to finish a year with debilitating tariff wars and summer storms and ill-tempered politicians who believe people’s lives are their own personal footballs to do with as they please.
As I know from watching my dad, farming is a hard job that while rewarding has sunny days and not so sunny days.
Jerry Mennenga
Sioux City, Iowa
