Farmer’s Field: All Hope is Not Lost
Springtime in Wyoming is crazy. During all my years on this planet, I’m still not sure I’ve ever seen one spring the same as any other.
This year is no exception. As a farmer, I was grateful for the timely late summer and fall rains last year. Rain at that time of year is an incredible blessing because it is the lifeblood for getting a winter wheat crop well established before it goes into dormancy for the winter.
Now, with virtually no winter when there should have been one, and yet another unpredictable spring – where rain apparently isn’t on the menu whatsoever – we are watching our beautiful wheat crop struggling to survive.
Dry spots of dying wheat are beginning to expose themselves, and each dry day brings a bit more anxiety to the farmer.
Yet, despite our mostly ridiculous climate here in southeastern Wyoming, there is a crop resilient enough it not only survives devasting winds and dust storms, varying temperature extremes and persistent droughts, but in the end, with just the smallest dose of moisture, it can thrive and still produce. It’s quite remarkable.
Wheat is planted in 42 of our states and grown in almost every region on six continents. It is an incredibly versatile and resilient plant. Afterall, if it can grow, survive and thrive on the plains of Wyoming, it must have nine lives. Only God could create such a perfect plant.
One of the miracles of wheat is one seed produces multiple plants. This process is called tillering. When one seed is planted, one sprout emerges initially, followed by many others. Tillering occurs in both the fall and the spring, depending on conditions.
For every one million seeds planted, on average, wheat will return about 30 million seeds. Sometimes, substantially more, depending on environmental conditions.
Even more incredible, wheat regulates itself. When there is more moisture, there will be more tillers. In dry conditions, like this year, the weakest tillers will die first, allowing the strongest ones to utilize any available moisture and eventually produce.
In this scenario, most of the time, fewer tillers will produce larger heads filled with more grain, considering there is ample moisture for the remaining plants to live.
As the green, grassy-looking wheat plants mature, they will eventually shoot a head, each with a multitude of kernels. As it nears maturity, wheat graces the landscape as it weaves back and forth in the wind, providing the imagery of “America the Beautiful” with its masterfully described “golden waves of grain.”
Most people don’t think of Laramie County as a wheat producing county, but it is in fact the largest producing county of wheat and the second-largest county for overall agricultural production in the state of Wyoming.
Over 69,000 acres of land in Laramie County are used to produce wheat, yielding enough production to make over 187 million loaves of whole wheat bread each year.
As I make my rounds from field to field this year, I can’t help but admire this amazing plant. As it currently stands, it’s the only green color donning the landscape – a subtle reminder there is life, even in the toughest of circumstances.
As humans, there’s a lot we can learn from this little plant. Just like the weather, life isn’t perfect. It’s usually quite the opposite. The challenges we all face at one time or another can seem insurmountable, so much so, we may feel like giving up, withering as a result of our circumstances.
Or, maybe just like I sometimes do as a farmer, we result to worrying, often predicting the worst thing that might happen.
No matter what we do, who we are or where we go, there will sometimes be horrific winds, droughts and extreme situations. Through it all, our job is not to worry, fret or give up.
Our job is to hold on, even if it’s just by a thread. All hope is never lost. That is, if our hope is not in the things of this world.
Just as the farmer has faith it will rain, we should all have faith we can weather the storms.
In the Bible, Isaiah 41:10 tells us, “So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
And Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
And Matthew 6 reassures us, “See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you? Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life?”
We all must be led by our faith. Better days are ahead. Even a kernel of wheat knows to do that.
Ron Rabou is president of Rabou Farms, Inc. in southeastern Wyoming, a nationally known author, speaker and co-host of the nationally-syndicated podcast AgInspo. For more information, visit raboufarms.com.
