Slow Moving Vehicle

Modern farm equipment is big, shiny, technologically advanced, expensive, and slow.

I was reminded of this a couple of days ago, when planting soybeans for someone else, I had to travel down a state highway (two of them actually) in order to get to the field.

During morning commute.

It's not that big of deal, but this one particular highway is a fairly hilly two lane highway with few opportunities to pass.

Cruising along in my John Deere tractor pulling a planter at a top speed of 26 mph, looking in my rear view mirrors I could see the cars lining up behind me.  What was I to do?

About the best one can do in situations like these is pull over as much as possible and slow down or stop if possible and let the cars go by.

Some farm machinery is big.  Really big.  At least compared to state and rural roads.  Keep in mind that even the newest and fastest equipment has a top speed of 30 mph, and between trying to dodge mailboxes set too close to the road, overhanging tree limbs, road signs, narrow bridges, road ditches, and people texting while driving, we do our best to get over as soon as we can.

Yes some equipment is about as wide as the road, and yes some machinery has big tires on it that would make even the reddest red neck yell "Get 'er done!" but, keep in mind we can't go any faster, and tractors and combines and spray rigs don't exactly maneuver like a lamborghini.

So if you see flashing lights and the SMV sign on the back of something that looks big and scary, keep in mind we don't much like being on the highway any more than you like being stuck behind us. And, keep in mind that as farm sizes grow while the number of farmers decreases, it's going to require us to get on the highway from time to time to get to our fields.

So save your middle finger and curse words (yes, we see some of you mouthing off at us) for something that actually matters--you know, something important like your sons opposing t-ball team--and try to remember that when you sit down and eat your 8th meal of the day you can be thankful that the worst part of your day may have been that you were delayed a few minutes while driving down the road.