Views from the Cab

By David Tollefson, Columnist

About a month ago I wrote of my experience going to Farm-fest southeast of Redwood Falls, Minnesota on August 3rd.  At that time, I quoted some history of the event through the years, as well as some of my reactions after being there.

  I think I skipped a couple years due to Covid concerns.

After reading a lot of other folks’ reactions to the event, I will quote a few of them.

Dick Hagen is a veteran attendee of the event.  He’s probably been to many more of them than I have.  He is quoted in The Land Magazine in the August 19 issue as being “Staff Writer Emeritus.”

Here are some of his comments:

Like most Farm-fest veterans, there are certain people and places I like to drop in on each year.  But I’m also delighted when I happen upon something new and different.

There are lots of savvy people promoting their products at Minnesota’s 2022 Farm-fest event—including Duaine Van Der Pol, creator of the “Pit Stop.”  If you load and unload lots of trucks at your farm site, the Pit Stop could be one of the smarter decisions of your farming career!

Van Der Pol is a most amiable young man.  Guys like him make my job as an Ag writer so intriguing.  “I created the Pit Stop to simply eliminate the hassle of getting your truck properly aligned when unloading your grain.  I wanted to help farmers save time and this device does just that,” said Van Der Pol.

He says he sold his first Pit Stop three years ago.  He had 14 Pit Stops at Farm-fest and sold his last device just shortly before my 2 p.m. visit on August 5.  Mounted atop a three-legged tripod adjacent to the dumping pit, the Pit Stop is a stop light the driver can see in the rear view mirror.

“Doing this ‘start and stop’ routine with a truck weighing up to 100,000 pounds wears on the drive train,” reasoned Van Der Pol.  “With Pit Stop, you simply drive your truck slowly over the dumping pit, see the red light, stop and make the dump.  It’s simple, it’s accurate and saves wear and tear on truck and truck driver.”

“At my favorite eating spot in Montevideo, a guy told me that in order to fill his bin site it took 184 truck-loads; but with Pit Stop his drivers had to only stop once with each load.  The driver doesn’t even need to step down out from the truck, then climb back up again.  And that simply speeds the entire process.”

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In past years I’ve had some experience driving semis to elevators and bin sites, sometimes lining up with swing-away augers.  Sometimes an assistant would be there to help you stop at the right spot so the auger could be swung under the correct spot to dump the two sections of most semi-trailer hoppers.

If no one was around to guide me, I would look for a scrap piece of lumber or another movable object to line up with where I could look straight down to the left and determine that when I got out of the truck it would be correct for the first hopper, then calculate the number of steps to move the truck back or forward to unload the second hopper.  But this Pit Stop idea is a good one for highly repetitious hour after hour and day after day stops and starts.  

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Back to Dick Hagen and Farm-fest comments:

Since we both go back a ways, I always like to check in with Lynn Ketelsen.  By the time I made my appearance at the Linder Farm Radio setup in the Wicks building, Ketelsen had departed Farm-fest for his favorite travels……a Colorado visit with daughter and family.  So without Lynn there, Dan Lemke, also a veteran of the Linder Network, was doing the noontime show at Farm-fest.  

I know farm radio guys sometimes shy away from political questions but I usually ask them anyway.  I was curious what Lemke thought of the audience reactions at the governor candidates’ forum.

“I would say it was pretty even—though I noticed a bit more applause for Dr. Jensen,” Lemke confessed.  “Two very different candidates with different points of view.  Yes, you acknowledge the candidate in office already has a track record that can be used against him or for him.  The challenger doesn’t have such so he presents a different perspective.  But I look forward to very interesting campaigns for both these men.”

And perhaps a significant shift in the voting mode of many Americans in the upcoming November election?  “I’m pretty much a ‘middle of the road’ guy on these political moods criss-crossing across America these days,” Lemke coyly replied.  “I’ve voted both ways; but suggest caution until the ballots are counted.  I know here in Minnesota lots of folks who aren’t thrilled about the governor’s Clean Car comments tying us to California edicts.  Needless to say, we live in most interesting times right now.  Despite the posturing of China, I believe our American democracy will survive and strengthen.”

Before I called it a day, I checked in with Kent Thiesse who coordinates Farm-fest’s popular forum events.  Tired but happy, Thiesse was pleased with the 2022 event. “The grounds and exhibit spaces were well filled and we’ve had some pretty good crowds too,” he said.  “So, a nice rebound from Covid issues; and exhibitors I’ve talked with seemed very well pleased—both with attendance and the mood of farmers.”

In conclusion, some comments from the managing editor of The Land Magazine, Paul Malchow:  “ In my mind, Jensen was a disappointment.  He had serious media coverage and an opportunity to lay out an agenda for voters to support.”  

(By the way, the afternoon forum presented later that day had to do with government programs available to farmers.  I didn’t notice any Jensen t-shirts at that one.)

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Please contact David Tollefson with thoughts or comments on this or future columns at: adtollef@hcinet.net