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OCTOGENARIAN FARMERS<br />
ers’ health. Instead of being out in dust,<br />
dirt, and heat, they now spend years in<br />
air-controlled tractor cabs.”<br />
The Behns recognize the abilities and<br />
luxuries new technology affords. They<br />
buy a new combine every five years.<br />
“These new combines, they make them<br />
so nice,” said Behn’s son, Darwin. “The<br />
ones Dad had were real crude. Heaters<br />
didn’t work. No GPS. Didn’t have none<br />
of the luxuries.”<br />
But the Behns don’t always feel the<br />
need to keep up with the latest and greatest.<br />
“We’re just a small farmer,” Darwin<br />
said. The Behns started out with a tworow<br />
combine and worked their way up<br />
over the years to an eight-row combine.<br />
“Everyone else has a 12-row combine.<br />
Some big guys have two combines. Put<br />
us to shame. It costs $400,000 for a small<br />
combine, and prices go up from there. If<br />
you got the money, life can be easy. But<br />
we’re happy where we’re at.”<br />
Schnoor has three tractors, but it’s his<br />
Behn drives her tractor to collect her<br />
next load of corn from the combine.<br />
EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO /<br />
BRITTANY NOPAR<br />
oldest one that is hard to run that he likes<br />
to take out and use to lift heavy fence<br />
posts and to clear out brush.<br />
“I think it makes him feel good to get<br />
it out,” Sheets said. But Schnoor has to<br />
constantly make updates to his farm to<br />
adapt to the new technology used by his<br />
renters.<br />
“They got a new combine. I had to<br />
tear out a part of the fence to make it 18<br />
feet wide to fit it,” Schnoor said. He also<br />
pointed out that new planters are 24-rows.<br />
His was four.<br />
Family cooperation<br />
Multi-generational and familial operations<br />
play a role in a farmer’s resistance<br />
to retirement, according to Leibold.<br />
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16 EASTERN IOWA FARMER | SPRING 2024 eifarmer.com
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