by Mike Orso
As a teenager, John Martin hopped on an open-aired, 25 horsepower McCormick Farmall H tractor to do field work on his family’s farm in western McHenry County. Eight decades later, he’s still farming, albeit a bit comfier after he hoists himself inside the roomy, comfortable cab of a duel-wheeled, 4-wheel drive, 400-horse-powered John Deere model 9430.
“The equipment was so much different than it is now,” said John, who turned 90 in August. “It’s amazing how far we have come with mechanization like self-steer, cabs with heating and air conditioning.”
Born near Roanoke in central Illinois during the Great Depression of the mid-1930s, Martin vividly remembers required rationing the following decade during WWII and shortages of goods such as gasoline and sugar. He recalls a John Deere Model A tractor his father had for sale around that time when new farm equipment was rare, and a potential buyer who thought the family’s $1,300 asking price was way too much.
“So, he started driving out, real fast and slid his tires to a stop, backed up and said, ‘O.K., I guess I’ll have to pay that,’” said John. “He opens his trunk and he has a shoebox full of $100 bills. So, I’m 13 years old, that was pretty impressive.”
John Martin’s parents purchased a farm on the U.S. Grant Highway west of Marengo in the 1950s and relocated the family from a farm in Iroquois County. He met his wife Ella on a trip with a friend to Iowa, and eventually convinced her to farm with him east of the Mississippi River. She comes from a family with 15 siblings, and John 9. They’ve spent their entire lives farming, except for two years, when John was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in its Medical Corps at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio.
“I never ran any machinery until we were married,” said Ella, 85, who grew up on a farm in northwest part of the Cyclone State. “John and I used to raise turkeys, thousands and thousands, and thousands. I remember I was feeding turkeys early one morning and later that day I went to the hospital to have my oldest child.”
In addition to growing crops such as corn and soybeans, the couple also eventually raised hogs. They reared three girls, Sue, Sandy and Stacey on the farm and became active in the McHenry County Farm Bureau (MCFB). Ella helped form the MCFB Women’s Committee in the 1970s and John served as the organization’s volunteer president in 1974-75. Both remain active in the organization today.
“He’s the best,” said Ella when asked to describe her husband, who still can be spotted operating today’s modern farm equipment. It can be three times the size and more in power compared to what the couple used when they started farming together. Today’s tractors can be largely guided by satellite-based GPS, or Global Positioning Systems.
“He’s conscientious about conservation but he also takes in the latest technology,” she said. “When he first got his latest tractor, he said, ‘I don’t even need to have to drive it, I just help turn it and it drives itself.’”
John attributes advancements in agricultural technology as one big reason he has not retired from farming. For example, he cites how GPS allows the precise application of fertilizer for his crops where and only when it is needed.
“I would not farm if I did not have auto-steer,” he said. “I just would not be interested in concentrating like that. With auto-steer, I can go back to that field year after year and the application will be within two inches of that same spot.”
When the Martin’s started farming in McHenry County, the population totaled a little over 50,000. Today, it exceeds 300,000. His parents purchased the northern Illinois home farm for $190 an acre. Recent land sales in the area, he said, have exceeded $10,000 an acre. Despite the changes and challenges, he wouldn’t do anything else.
“What I like to do is farm,” he said. “I’ve always done that from the time I was very young. I’m blessed with feeling well each day and not fighting serious ailments.”
John Martin met his wife, Ella, 85, while visiting Iowa on his 21st birthday. John and Ella have been married 66 years.
John Martin inside his tractor cab doing field work this fall. When asked if he feels 90, Martin replied, “At times, sometimes not. I’m fortunate to be doing what I am doing at my age.”
John Martin, right, with his nephew Ben discussing some tractor repairs on his John Deere 9430 model tractor while doing field work this past Fall in western McHenry County.