04 Jun Jada: Beginning of the season

After the last combine leaves the field, where do the harvesters go? Good question. Once the actual harvesting is over, there are plenty of things to do. One would think there isn’t any work left to do; however, that just isn’t the case. We have to clean up our equipment and get it ready for next year. The paperwork end of things is where our season begins in the winter months. That is one of the things I am in charge of. Whether we are hiring foreign labor or Americans, we post help wanted ads around the United States. We apply for visas, which is a grueling process, and work on improving parts of our business as we deem fit.

In the end a harvesters primary goal is to hire the best crew for the upcoming year, have equipment that is up and running properly when the rush comes again and fix any bugs or issues that occurred the year before. This could be anywhere from paperwork to protocol- not just the equipment itself. While this sums up our goals for the winter, it doesn’t necessarily do justice to the labor incurred.

As spring arrives, our crew also starts arriving. I am always excited for our team members to arrive because in most instances, we have never met our crew unless they are returning from previous years. It is interesting to see who we have been interviewing on the phone and emailing. Oftentimes, I feel we are watching the young crew members grow through the season. They leave their families, friends, home and oftentimes country to join our harvest family. While there are hiccups along the way, it is usually fun for all. Everyone has their own special personality and they fit in differently. Add this up with not knowing what our harvest season holds for us weather and wheat wise and you have yourself a little journey that everyone seems to grow from. We hope you join Hoffman Harvesting once again as we experience another unique journey this harvest season. All aboard!

All Aboard Wheat Harvest™ is sponsored by High Plains Journal and New Holland Agriculture. Jada can be reached at jada@allaboardharvest.com.