For Love of the Game

In some ways, farming is a game.

Farmers get to wear sweet unis. Sometimes throwbacks depending on if mom has kept up on laundry.

Typical uniform for the farmers in my family.

It's a game that takes a lot of practice. Many farmers come from generations of people who farmed the same ground they are farming today. My brother is now the 4th generation of farmers to be growing crops and cattle out at our farm.

My dad with his dad on the family cow horse at our farm a "while" ago. 

Farming, like many games, can be expensive. Equipment, gas, land, electricity, seed, feed, oil, tools and among others are all things that farmers spend a lot of money on to play their game.

Tractors, corn seed, irrigation sprinklers and a combine.

Do you ever gamble on a sport? Farmers gamble a lot. Every time they sell a corn crop, they are locking in a contract price. The next day the corn prices could go really low or get really high. It's a chance they have to take. When you are selling hundreds of thousands of bushels? That's a big chance.

Gambling with the markets, weather and input (diesel, seed, fertilizer) contracts happens on every farm. 

At the end of the day, farming can be a very high stress occupation. My dad went to college, got a degree in Agronomy and could've easily gotten a job in an office with air-conditioning, an office assistant and free coffee. However, for love of the game, he decided to keep the family farm alive. Today, my brother is following in his footsteps and doing the same thing. They've gone pro.

Heck, they've won the pennant. 

Tera