Editor's Note:
December naturally had us thinking back over the year that was, including the stories we've created. So, we again asked DTN/Progressive Farmer writers to think back on 2023 and choose a favorite story from the archive. They range from hard-hitting investigative journalism and national scoops to farm family features and fun discoveries made while traveling U.S. farm country. We hope you enjoy our writers' favorites, with today's story by Progressive Farmer Senior Editor Joel Reichenberger.
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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (DTN) -- I loved Wisconsin from my first visit, a brief stop in Milwaukee a decade ago on a baseball road trip.
There was a restaurant down the street from the hotel promising 24/7 bratwurst. The nice restaurant we went to on the first night in town had three (three!) different varieties of fried cheese curds and the beer at every stop was unique and delicious.
I'd never felt more at home in a place.
So, I was excited this year when I realized another trip to Wisconsin was in the cards, this time to visit and photograph Brad Laack, one of Progressive Farmer's selections for our America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers program.
That program may be the best part of my job.
I've traveled from the border wall in southern Texas to the cold plains of North Dakota, from Idaho to Arkansas.
My first instinct in photographing a year's crop of Young Farmers and Ranchers was to try to stop by when farmers weren't busy. That may be convenient, but photography works a little better when there's something worthy of photographing, so now my travel is more targeted at harvest or at least seasons of action. I do spend a lot of the weeks preceding my visits promising farmers I'll be around, but not (too) in the way.
I've been there for harvest of everything you'd expect -- corn, soybeans, wheat -- and some that's been new to me, including cotton and rice, two things we certainly didn't grow on the family farm in south central Kansas where I grew up.
This year, for the first time, I saw sugar beets harvested while visiting Rachel Arneson's farm north of Fargo, North Dakota.
I love going from farm to farm and seeing how different each operates, as well as what they have in common.
This time around, what really stood out about the young farmers was how every operator communicated. Arneson and Laack each had Bluetooth headsets all-but surgically attached to their heads. Heath Bryant, in Washington Court House, Ohio, didn't have the headset, but constantly fielded calls through his truck's infotainment system as he dashed around his large operation putting out fires.
Tyler Knott, meanwhile, doesn't have cell service across 95% of his ranch high in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. The one exception is the crest of a ridge where he grazes sheep. He'll often pause there to return calls and emails while the Knott children push the herd.
So, my favorite part of the year is often that travel, but I was even more excited than usual when I realized this year's trip included a stop in Wisconsin.
After a long day of following Laack around as he prepped for harvest, he suggested we grab a late dinner at nearby bar and grill.
There were plenty of highlights, from the New Glarus Brewing Company's Spotted Cow, on-tap and sold only in Wisconsin, to a bowling alley. "A bar at a bowling alley, those are everywhere," you might say. But it wasn't a bar at a bowling alley, it was a bowling alley at a bar -- it's subtle, but there's a difference -- with very lane full at 10:30 p.m. on a Tuesday.
I had a brat burger -- God, I love Wisconsin! -- for $5.50.
"How many restaurants in Wisconsin are like this," I asked.
"I don't know ... maybe half?" Laack replied.
I took a wrong turn coming back from a field where I was taking photos near Laack's operation and rolled right through the international headquarters of the Johnsonville brat company.
There was a gift shop. I did buy a t-shirt.
I swung by Laack's actual hometown to snap a few photos and an arch awaited downtown proclaiming the small city of Plymouth, Wisconsin the "Cheese Capital of the World." I didn't bother checking the veracity of that claim with, say, Gruyere in Switzerland, Gouda in The Netherlands or Parma in Italy, but why bother worrying about Europe when heaven might be as close as Wisconsin?
In all seriousness, I love those visits for the Progressive Farmer Best Young Farmers and Ranchers issue more than anything else on my calendar because they more than anything have shown me the true breadth and strength of American agriculture, the vast variety of approaches, sizes, crops and plans that modern farmers use to realize the same goals many of their ancestors did: Make ends meet while they produce quality commodities.
I just love it a little more when there are cheese curds and brats on the menu.
Joel Reichenberger can be reached at Joel.Reichenberger@dtn.com
Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JReichPF
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