Farming Family's Journey Out West Crosses Generations
Posted
Daniel Riordan-driordan@timesuniononline.com
Some families send their children to Europe for a semester abroad. For the Sands family out of Silver Lake, they head west. West, as in a seven-state tour of the Midwest that ranges from Montana down to Oklahoma through Frederick Harvesting & Trucking. “The goal is to do 100,000 acres in eight months,” said Ryan Sands, 32. It’s a long, grueling journey, but for Aaron Sands, 21, it’s extremely fulfilling. Ryan, Scott, 26, and Aaron are all a part of Sands Farms where their dad, John, serves as the vice president and grandfather Carl is the president. Scott worked for Frederick a couple of years ago and considered that more valuable for what he wanted to do than his time in college. For the Sands family, it’s always been about farming. Carl went on a wheat harvest when he was a teenager. Ryan and John went to college and started families before they had the chance. That is a regret for both. “I’d love to go out there. But I don’t know how my wife and work would feel about that,” joked Ryan. John’s brothers, Steve and Tom, went on a wheat harvest in the early 1980s. “It’s been a blast,” said Aaron, is who currently employed with Frederick. “It’s long hours and you work hard but it’s worth it. Just the experience of it is great. You learn to set up a combine and learn all about different jobs and routines.” Frederick hires about 60 farmers from around the world. Many come from Europe and face a culture shock seeing the vast amounts of land and advanced technology used to harvest land. Other are chosen through an Ohio State University agriculture program. “We’d get up early in the morning, work during the day, eat our lunch out on the combine, work some more then head in for dinner,” said Scott. “And after that we’d go back out and work. “It’s long days and a lot of work but I wouldn’t trade for anything else,” continued Scott. Scott said it opened his eyes to different types of farming. It also opened his eyes to the unfathomably cutting-edge technology that farmers can use. And though Scott only went on his trip a few years ago, the technology that Aaron is using is even more advanced. Gone are the days of pitchforks and small combines. Now, it’s all about GPS units, iPads and remote-controlled tractors. “When Grandpa was doing it, it took two guys to run one combine 16 feet,” said Ryan. But with advances comes higher costs. That hurts an industry that is already operating with paper-thin margins. It takes $3,500 in fuel to run one day for Frederick. The purchase of a combine can easily run north of $700,000. And for smaller operations like Sands Farms, those costs are less, but the need to do more with less remains. While the idea behind the Sands men going out west is to get an education and life experience, when they get back, their goal is to do the educating. Everyone in the Sands family is involved in farming. Whether it’s the wives or kids, they all have a deep appreciation for what agriculture means to not only Kosciusko County but the world. “People need to realize how the food they eat gets on their table,” said Scott’s wife Jenn. Ryan said farmers around the county have not only a deep knowledge of the land in the county but a deep appreciation for it. “We’re here raising our families and trying to work,” said Ryan. “We want people to know what it takes to get that food on their table.” That becomes even harder when there are drought conditions like this year. “The ’88 drought was a bad one,” said John. “But we’ve advanced in what we can do to help the crops now.” With less and less farming taking place, it can lead to higher costs that eventually get passed on to the customer. “It’s a huge risk (to farm) nowadays,” said Scott. That’s what makes the journey out west so important. For the Sands family, it’s about keeping the heritage of their farm alive. “It can get pretty lonely out there,” said Scott. “But it’s worth it.” So a blend of old-school knowledge of farming is combined with blazing new technology. “In this business, if you’re not advancing you’re dying,” said John. As for Aaron, he’s not expected to get home until at least Thanksgiving. The only days he gets off are when it rains. So those free days have been few and far between. But you won’t hear any complaints from the youngest Sands. “I’m loving every minute of it,” said Sands. And that enthusiasm is what helps carry generations of Sands farmers.
