PEORIA MAGAZINE June 2023

Aerial application over corn field

Q: I used to be able to order parts and make repairs on my car myself but anymore I have to take it in to a dealership and plug it in to a computer to find out what’s wrong. I keep hearing about “the right to repair.” Can you fix your own tractors or is it too complicated? A: Similar to your car, farmers can repair most things on their tractors, but when it comes to the electronics, we often need to take it to a dealer to be diagnosed. Q: I keep hearing that farmers only make up 1% of the population. Are most farms owned by big corporations or families? A: We get this question a lot. Today, 97% of farms are owned by families. In fact, since the pandemic we are seeing a growing sector of the population becoming first-generation farmers. Many have taken an interest in the process of what it takes to grow food, what happens when there are breakdowns in the supply chain, and how to be more sustainable.

Sparking an interest in how we grow food is fantastic because it has really opened the eyes of the general public to how much work it takes to grow food and how blessed we are that our food is safe and incredibly affordable. Anyone who is trying to grow a garden this year for the first time or raise animals for food realizes the importance of controlling weeds, timely spraying, meeting the basic needs of their animals, keeping them healthy, and how much time goes into their care. We often interview first-generation farmers on our daily Sirius XM show “SharkFarmer” on Channel 147 at 3 p.m. CST. We find they have an unfiltered way of looking at their business. Q: I saw a yellow plane dive out of the sky and spray very low right over the top of a field of what looked like soybeans as I was driving on the interstate recently. What they’re spraying worries me. Is it safe? A: Yes, it is safe. What you saw was called aerial application. Back in the

day, it was called crop dusting. It is a useful way for farmers to spray crops in a timely manner. In central Illinois, most of the time the planes are spraying fungicide or insecticide, which is safer than using Desenex for foot fungus or Nix for headlice. (Please see Rob’s WTVP A Shot of Ag interview with Harley Curless, Season 2, Episode 26.)

Rob and Emily Sharkey , aka Mr. and Mrs. SharkFarmer, till the land at their fifth-generation farm in the Bradford area. They also host A Shot of Ag on WTVP PBS and a podcast heard by millions, among other media endeavors

JUNE 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 13