Wheat Farmer (2nd edition)

[Music] every year in the great wheat belt just east of the Rockies the fields turned to gold every year with lust and hard work thousands of families on large and small farms harvest the golden grain this is the story of how one family in Kansas raised and harvested a crop of winter wheat work for the new crop of winter wheat begins just after harvest time or in late summer the earth is cloud and reap loud to prepare a good bit for the wheat seed later a Harrow breaks up the large clods and smooth the ground when the soil is moist enough the seed bed is made ready for planting come on kompis breath in okay here it is that's that's enough that's enough I just the rush to plant in the fall one half bushel to the acre flowing down through the hollow drill the tips are like tiny clouds each making its burrow into which the seed falls and is covered the wheat may grow four or five inches again before winter stops it next spring the plants will grow tall and mature and then if the crop escapes insect pests and plant diseases if it's not destroyed by hail if all goes well next summer there will be a good harvest thanks to today's mechanized farming there's more time for the family to visit in the town nearby time for the boys and girls to meet friends for a swim before the pool closes for the winter time to shop for new clothes to look at new equipment on the farm there's always work with his wife's help the farmer runs his farm like a business in his spare time he studies pamphlets and books to keep up with the best farming techniques most of his several hundred acres are on wheat but a few milk cows help the family budget and of course there's always something leading repair he has to have the skills of a carpenter and mechanic hey Tom what do you want they thought and said let's forget the boys meanings nice I won't we're both on the program thank you deep clean bye they're all work on it okay in some ways 4-h club meetings in the wheatbelt states are pretty much the same as in other farm areas the girls projects range from learning how to prepare and package frozen food to gardening and photography they share their successes and their mistakes but many of the members projects are aimed at the special problems of wheat farming they are guided by reports on the latest experiments being made at the State Agricultural College organizations like the 4-h clubs and the Future Farmers of America combined business and social life for these young farm people most important they help guide them toward the kind of scientific farming done today not only in the wheat belt but throughout the nation [Music] now the warm Sun and the rain have brought the crop to maturity the heads full of mature seeds are beginning to bend with ripeness a simple age-old test krumping the heads to separate the chaff from the grain the grain is full and dry no insects no disease and good weather yes it's ready to cut it's now or never [Music] hello John this is JM bring out two gallons of gas by tomorrow noon I'm going to start combine [Music] from the first morning but the combine and pickup truck head for the fields all life on the farm centered around the harvest around now the neighbors will be cutting to some who don't own their own combine high romantic of the crop they call it custom cutting this is the third year tom has done a man's work at harvest he stands by to take the grain to storage he'll spell off his father on the combine every few hours and this is the combine combine the reaper which cuts the grain with a thresher which separates the straw from the grain cutting threshing cutting fresh at laquetta Skutt an auger delivered the grain to a conveyor belt which carries it up into a tank just behind the driver's seat the straw is blown out back the combine does its work and the tank fills up with grain when the tank is full the grain is emptied into the waiting trucks [Applause] they're doing fairly well getting about 25 bushels to an acre in a very good year some farmers might get over 50 bushels to an acre tom takes the loads to the storage bins on their farm or over to the local elevator nearby his father gets on with the job at the same time on some large-scale farms in western Kansas as many as six combines work at once here - there's the constant tension - cut and store the cops relentlessly without stopping using every hot sunny hour to get the crop cover one by one the trucks load up and drive off the combines roll-on blight insects drought hail but if his crops survive these enemies and reach storage safely the wheat farmers work is done at the storage elevator both the small and large-scale farmers do the same thing he's weighed in on the scales they test a sample for moisture and grain dump the wheat and back he goes for the next load once the bins and elevators are filled with wheat this major food crop becomes an important factor in the nation's business and policies the work goes on for several days now cutting has begun as soon as the morning dew wee evaporates from the week-long hours of hot dusty work pausing only to load the truck put in more gas or eat lunch Tom hurries through the meal and gets back to the combine to give his father a chance to eat so far none of the frequent early summer hail storms have come near all the more reason to hurry everyone works on the wheat from mid-morning to sunset Margaret and her mother have been doing the usual chores at home and bring out lunch everyday they may even take turns driving the truck to the elevator things taste good even in the dusty field the harvest is nearly done on the last morning of cutting the sky suddenly clouds up it doesn't look good might be hail alright then we'll just have to finish cutting before it hits us [Music] [Music] [Music] today though the threatening storm goes by breaking on the horizon someone may have had bad luck over there one minute you've got a crop the next nothing this time our family was lucky and they know it well the crop is in all over the county soon all the wheat in Kansas will be safely stored wheat for bread for pastry flour for livestock feeds some wheat to be used now to flour mills some to be stored indefinitely this has been a good year for our farmer and his family hopefully they'll look forward to next year's harvest to the next golden sea of wheat