Sunday, August 18, 2013

Crop dusters in flight over Chickasaw County

There is a certain time to do certain things when it comes to farming and this past week out at the Les Parker farm, southeast of Nashua, it was time to have the crop duster come in and make the sweep that would protect Parker’s fields against fungi.

In fact, crop dusters are a familiar sight around many farms in the area this time of year, and Parker said even though the spring and early summer rain caused problems for many farmers, he was one of the lucky ones.

Parker was raised on a farm by parents who began farming in the mid-forties.

“I always knew I was going to be a farmer,” Parker said. “There wasn’t anything else on the horizon for me.”

Parker farms at least 1,300 acres and does quite a lot of it on his own.

“I have some help from my son, Lee, and my daughters and wife have all been very helpful over the years as well,” Parker said. “We are a true farming family, that’s for sure.”

Pleased about being an early bird this year, Parker said, “I was able to get my corn in and planted by May 15, and I got my beans in by May 20.”

With the season starting like it did however, he said there were many farmers that were hoping that it didn’t frost until Nov. 1 at least.

“I would be okay if it frosted on Oct. 1,” Parker said, “I was lucky how things turned out to be pretty normal this year.”

Overall, Parker said he thought things had evened out pretty much for many farmers and said they could even do with a little more rain over this next week.

Story and Photo:    http://www.nhtrib.com