Illinois farmers put others first as they help a friend in need

Mike Halpin needed help harvesting his crops

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

A group of about 100 producers, friends and neighbors came together to help a farmer in need after he suffered a serious injuries at a recent show.

On October 5, Mike Halpin, a farmer from Buckingham, Illinois, was unloading hay for his cattle at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. His hand got caught in twine and he fell out of the trailer, hitting his head and sustaining other injuries, according to online chat forums.

The injuries left him unable to complete his harvest and that’s when the community rallied around him.

“We had 19 combines, 20 grain carts, 32 semis, (and) nine sets of tractors and wagons,” William VanWassenhove, one of the harvest organizers, told the Daily-Journal. “There were at least 20 women making lunches and delivering them to the fields.”

Beginning at 6:30 a.m. last Saturday, the group harvested about 620 acres of crops in roughly five hours.

Other farmers said helping one another is part of the DNA that makes up the agricultural community.

“Farmers will always come together when someone needs help,” Robby Moore, a farmer from Clifton, told the Daily Journal.