View from the Cab: Have faith

By: Kent Casson

Faith is described as a strong belief, trust or confidence in someone or something.

It involves an inner assurance or commitment, often referred to as a conviction of those things not seen.

Nobody knows more about faith than a farmer. We are putting corn and soybean seeds in the ground with hopes the crop emerges successfully, leading to good yields the following harvest.

Since those seeds won’t grow in the bag, we have to go out to the fields and make our best attempt at planting. That’s one of the few things we can control and thankfully, we have ag professionals, agronomists and others to help us do the mechanical things right and keep up on the latest technology.

We never know what to expect once that seed drops into the soil.  Will it come up?  Will there be too much or not enough rainfall? Will it be too cold for the seed to germinate properly? These are all issues we face but we have faith the seeds will overcome the potential challenges.

Farmers must have faith in the weather all season long. How much rain falls and when is all beyond our control. Corn always needs rain throughout pollination and beyond while soybeans must catch those late-season rains in August for a decent crop. We are at the mercy of God and Mother Nature on this one.

As our pastor reminded us last Sunday, farmers can control placing the seeds in the ground properly but God takes it from there.  I look at it as a “God’s got this” kind of thing. Faith can move mountains so it is important as we go about our everyday lives.

I need to be better about the “God’s got this” mentality. Faith such as this can help us all get through our everyday lives. Less worrying and more praying would be a great start.

I am reminded about our blessings when I see all of those small corn and soybean plants peeking through the ground. Overall, things look pretty good this spring despite our streaks of cool, wet weather. It’s hard to imagine parts of Central Illinois were in extreme drought not too long ago.

It has been a somewhat drawn out planting season with rain days here and there, but at least we are replenishing the soil moisture. We may need that come July around here.

The latest ag news, podcasts, market updates and more can be found at www.centralillinoisfarmnetwork.com and by following the Central Illinois Farm Network on social media.