fresh picked
FA R M L I F E I N T H E FA L L H A R V E S T B R I N G S A FA M I L I A R P A T T E R N W I T H N E W C H A L L E N G E S E A C H D AY By Amy Nelson
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Photos by Joseph L. Murphy
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elcome to the new Fresh Picked column! Over the next four issues of Fresh Pickings magazine, I will be sharing my seasonal perspective from our family farm.
Amy Nelson is a fifth-generation farmer who grows soybeans and corn and raises cattle. She is an active member of CommonGround Iowa, the Scott County Farm Bureau Board and the Iowa Soybean Association. She lives near Davenport with her husband Randy and children Jakob and Courtney.
I am a fifth-generation farmer near Davenport. I grow soybeans and corn, and run a beef cow/calf operation. I love to share farm life with people who may not be directly connected with agriculture. I feel like I can relate because for the first 10 years of my post-college career, I worked for a nonprofit in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburbs. When I was invited to come back to help run the farm, I knew it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. It allowed us to continue our family’s multigenerational farming operation, and the rural neighborhood offered the feeling of space and community I wanted for my children. When making the transition, it was immediately obvious that farming is anything but a regular nine-to-five job. There is no typical day. There are
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general patterns that flow with the seasons, but each day always presents new challenges, many unexpected. Farming today also isn’t the same as my father’s or grandfather’s generation. Tools, technology and a global marketplace impact me daily, whereas earlier generations relied on the local weather and noon news markets to make the best decisions for tomorrow. But, like generations before me, I find immense satisfaction in running my own business. Knowing that by working hard and working smart, I really can see the results of my labor. I can see the plants and animals thrive with my care, which in turn, allows my family to thrive. Fall was my father’s favorite time of year. He saw it as the opportunity to see the rewards of his hard work culminate … and to drive the really big tractors! For me, fall feels more like a freight train. There’s so much work that goes into harvesting crops, and each task is dependent on the weather, which is completely out of our control.
