Nothing New Under The Sun

Mark Twain once said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes". Yesterday morning during coffee we talked about local old bridges over the Des Moines River. The first year we were married (1975) Jan stopped traffic on the narrow old Hwy 92 bridge just west of Bell Fountain Hill so I could cross with our combine. After 50 years of use that bridge was replaced in 1978.

My goal this morning is to get you to think about history possibly repeating itself. And read between the lines about what might be coming in the near future. 50 years ago there were tens of thousands of tractors built in the 1970s. Our family still owns 10 tractors built in that era. New price on these tractors raised about 10%/yr back then, doubling in that 10 yr period.

My grandparents immigrated and experienced the good times of the Roaring 20s followed by the tough times of the Great Depression during the 1930s. 50 years later I started farming during the inflationary good times of the 1970s. And with God's help, survived the tough times of the Farming Crisis during the 1980s.

Earl Butz (above) was Secretary of Agriculture from 1971-1976. During that time ag policy drastically changed and focused on being the country that fed the world. Planting fencerow to fencerow was encouraged, wanting cheap food for home and exports. Thus the need for all those tractors previously visited about. Then came the grain embargo in January of 1980!

We are finishing up delivering Becks seed and getting the seed tenders ready for ourselves and our customers. Last year our country planted 90.59 million acres of corn. The March 30 USDA intentions report estimates we will raise 95.33 million acres of corn in 2025. With all our current trade news are you starting to see any similarities from 50 years ago?

In the 1970s the average national corn yield was from 90-110 BPA. Last year our nations average was 179.4 BPA. Our family's yields have also doubled in the last 50 years. How has that happened? Seed genetics and traits. Fertility. Earlier planting. Cleaner fields. High tech planters. And yes, better field drainage like we worked on this past week.

So what else happened last week? On Tuesday morning Kurt took 4 of us to Leighton to help Worldwide Mobility load a semi load of 220 scooters going to Sierra Leone, Africa. Volunteers from around our community build around 20 of these little rigs/week and have shipped around 8000  over the last decade.

These scooters have been given to disabled folks in 106 countries all over the world. They are propelled by a hand crank for those who have lost the use of their legs due to polio, landmines, birth defects, etc.

On Monday afternoon I was invited to Colfax to meet our nation's current Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins. Our state's Governor Kim Reynolds, state Secretary of Ag Mike Naig, and US Representative Miller-Meeks, along with Scott Beck were also there for a small round table visit. After the last few years of our country not only forgetting, but defying God, I was encouraged, and thanked all five of them for acknowledging God. Brooke told me she leads a Bible study every week at the USDA in Washington DC.

At 16 years old I joined the Gospel Singers Male Chorus and sang with them from 1972 to 1992. Yesterday afternoon I attended a practice for the current chorus plus alumni for a concert in Pella at 2pm this afternoon celebrating 55 years of singing in churches, prisons, etc.

Ecclesiastes 1: 9 NLT says, "History repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new." For some reason our countries economics go in 50 year cycles. I don't want to run ahead of God. "On the other hand" I don't want to lag behind Him either. He has a purpose for me and you. We are about to enter a season of opportunity. Don't miss it!