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On the Thursday afternoon of one of the hottest, if not the hottest week, we’ve had all summer, I ventured out to a wheat field not far from Hebron IL. There I found the McHenry Farm Bureau President and our next McFarmer, Bruce Meier. He greeted me from the cab of a big John Deere combine. I joined him in the cab and we drove across the road and started combining the next field. As we went along, I learned that Bruce has served on the Farm Bureau board for nineteen years and is currently the President. He is married and has three children. 

                He graduated from Crystal Lake High school and attended MCC and Illinois State University. Growing up, his family was vegetable farmers and, in a good year, they had around 300 acres planted for production. As the cities developed, they moved their farm to Northern Illinois, in particular the Hebron area. Bruce’s operation has mainly crops, but they also have two show pigs for the county fair. This year they have planted 900 acres of corn, 200 acres of soybeans, and 113 of wheat. As I watched the wheat run through the combine, I noticed that the combine we were in was very different from the tractors I had seen earlier that week at Tractor Trek. This one was equipped with GPS, yield monitoring, and auto steer. All of these technologies help McFarmer Meier track and produce a better product for consumers.

                After I had learned a little about Bruce’s farm, I wanted to learn more about why Bruce farms.  When I asked him why he was a farmer, he said he enjoys being his own boss, but, most of all, he enjoys using his bare hands to produce something beneficial for so many people. He then told me that the best part of farming is setting your own hours and always doing something new. We talked about some of the things he has learned as a farmer; and the main lesson was a strong work ethic. I asked what he thinks is important for a beginner farmer to know, or advice he would give him or her. His response was that simple computer skills are going to be very important in the future as the use technology in the industry increases.

                As we were finishing up, I wanted to know just a little bit more about what some of the biggest changes he has seen over the last ten years.  He has seen better hybrids and improved technologies (GPS and yield monitors). My last question was what is he doing to prepare his operation for the future. Bruce plans to continue using the Internet, seminars and Farm Bureau tools to continuously learn to help his operation thrive.

                Everything about that Thursday was hot.  Despite the heat, I could tell that McFarmer Meier truly loves and enjoys what he does.  Thank you, McFarmer Meier!

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Today I embarked on a trip from my hometown of Harvard to neighboring Huntley. My purpose for this trip was to meet McHenry Farm Bureau Board Treasurer and McHenry County Farmer, Henry Zierer. As I drove down the curvy country roads, I was in awe of the beautiful fields. It was just before ten when I pulled up to the Zierer farm. I was warmly greeted by Henry and we began talking a little about farming.   Henry is thirty-seven years old, has served on the Farm Bureau Board since 2002, and is currently the treasurer.  As I continued to talk with him and walk around his operation, I learned that Henry is a farmer because he enjoys watching and caring for his crops, which include wheat, oats, corn, and hay. He also tends to 75 beef cattle and a few barn cats. Until 2007, Henry was also a dairy farmer. We ventured over to the pastures where I got to meet a few of Henry’s beef cattle, in particular, “Buddy”, who met us at the fence to get his picture taken. It is evident that Henry loves what he does by the passion he uses when he talks about his operation.  After we spent some time with the cattle, we headed to the truck so we could travel down the road a few miles to see Henry’s crops. But not before we stopped off to spend time playing with some adorable kittens that live in the old dairy barn. First stop was the cornfield; there Henry and I talked about how ten years ago he adopted the twin row method of planting corn. He explains that he runs his current planter twice across his fields, with a little adjustment, to allow for more plants in each field. While out in the field we discussed the seed corn Henry uses in his operation.   Henry uses a triple stack corn seed, which is resistant to corn borer, rootworm and a herbicide. This allows him to produce a greater amount of safe food for consumers. As I was leaving, Henry left me with a few words of wisdom for starting farms:  be patient. I could clearly see that these are words of experience from a man who cares about, not only the animals on his farm, but also his crops and the consumers. I am thankful I got to spend the morning with one of McHenry County producers. 

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