John Deere

For 150 of Knox County’s 198-year history, Dave Rylander and his ancestors before him have been farming in this west-central Illinois locale.

With rain in the forecast, the Smolkovich brothers hoped to wrap most of the corn harvest after a slight delay for equipment repair. John, Joe, Alan and Marko had 20 acres of corn remaining.

Marvin Frederick expected to be drafted into the Army since he had a 23 lottery number. “I knew it was coming so I waited for the letter in the mail,” he said.

Ted Mottaz was fresh out of college and all set for a career in agriculture education, but Uncle Sam had other ideas.

Taylorville FFA of Illinois was named the 2023 Premier Chapter: Strengthening Agriculture during the 96th National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis.

Chris Gould started harvest combining his Plenish beans and is pleased with the results for the first time he has grown the high oleic soybean variety.

Visitors to the Midwest Ag Industries Expo were able to see the third-year evolution of See & Spray technology. The John Deere exhibit featured the the next edition in the See & Spray lineup.

August is the month for maintenance jobs and preparing for harvest on Chris Gould’s farm. “We finished sweeping out the bins so the wheat and corn are all gone,” he said.

It seems like a short month since I penned my last column, but it has been a busy month for sure, with one guy doing this, one guy doing that and some other guys doing something else.

Todd Crowley has seen a lot of signing ceremonies, when athletes officially sign a commitment to attend a college or university to play their chosen sport or to play for a professional team.

Cars — and auto and diesel mechanics — provided Levi Nodine a roadmap after high school. “He really didn’t have a goal. This all happened this year,” said Nodine’s mother, Brandi Clift.

On his way back to farm full time, Eric Ebersole is making a stop at Prairie State Tractor. “My end goal is to farm full time some day," said Ebersole, who graduated from Milledgeville High School.

It’s been steady-as-it-goes at Smolkovich farms and the brothers are using the downtime to clean and check the combine in preparation for harvest.

The road to Illinois FFA Major State Office is not a smooth path and the officers learn quickly that their term is very busy; however, it is among the most fulfilling journeys on which a teenager can embark.

John Deere will display its newest farm equipment and technology Aug. 29-31 at the 2023 Farm Progress Show in Decatur.