View from the Cab: Not that different

We may live across the globe from our Australian friends, but we really aren’t that different.

An area visit from those of the land down under last week brought this to light. The group of around 30 toured the Prairie Central Co-op grain elevator near Pontiac and area museums before stopping at Clayton Rosenberger’s farm near Chenoa the same afternoon.

Ross Withers, CEO of an ag implement company in Australia, told me it is always interesting to compare the differences in machinery and farming practices between his country and ours, but there are many similarities between the two.

“These days, we are all trying to get better yields and better coverage,” Withers said.

Withers appreciates chatting with his American counterparts to get new ideas and to be able to interact with others who work in the same field. In Australia, they use pieces of equipment we often use here such as vertical tillage tools and field cultivators. They don’t use planters though. Instead, they pull big air seeders behind tractors to plant mostly wheat each year.

I found it interesting that western Australia is very dry. In fact, the farmers there often jump for joy at the slightest amounts of rainfall. We truly are blessed here in our part of the world.

Many of the Australian visitors commented on all of the green grass and crops around here. When a clap of thunder was heard in the distance and dark storm clouds started to fill the Central Illinois sky, they quickly got out their cameras to snap a few photos.

Rosenberger was gracious enough to open his farm for these visitors to see what farming is all about here in Illinois and to begin a very important dialogue of our end goal of feeding a growing world together.

(The View from the Cab is powered each week by Petersen Motors in Fairbury)