Farmers in Idaho rallied to harvest a neighbor's potatoes

[Gman]

I'm a sucker for these kind of stories. I love it when people step up to help others in need.

Farmers in Idaho rallied to harvest a neighbor's potatoes as a deep freeze threatened to ruin them

With meteorologists predicting a hard freeze in southeast Idaho for Wednesday, farmers rushed to harvest all their potatoes before the surprise cold snap ruined them.? Jason Larson Farm workers arrived en masse to help a neighbor whose crop was in jeopardy.

One farmer in Hamer, Idaho, about 30 miles north of Idaho Falls, wasn't able to take in all his crop in time.

So other farmers sent their workers, and "a ton of members of the community" came to help save his crop, Jason Larson told CNN.

Larson, who works on a nearby farm, said his farm sent about 25 employees to help. The convoy of trucks included nine harvesters and he estimated that 50 people in total showed up.

He posted a video showing a convoy of trucks heading to the farm with snow swirling in the air.

Many of those who showed up had been up until midnight the night before clearing up their own fields. Starting at 11 a.m., Larson said the emergency harvest was complete by about 8 p.m. that night.

He estimated they saved several hundred thousand dollars' worth of potatoes.

"What people do is they help their neighbor," Larson said. "There really wasn't a second thought about it."

Potatoes across the state were threatened

On Tuesday CNN affiliate KIFI reported that farmers throughout the Idaho Falls area were rushing to harvest potatoes before the frigid air temperatures penetrated deep into the soil.

Farmer Brook Bybee told KIFI that his team had been working 16-18 hours a day to get all the spuds out of the ground.

Producing 32% of American potatoes, Idaho is the nation's leading producer of potatoes, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

An estimated 15-20% of Idaho's potatoes were still in the ground Wednesday, Travis Blacker, the director of industry relations for the Idaho Potato Commission told the Idaho Statesman.

That deep freeze risk is unusual, Larson said. Asking around town, he said people told him there hadn't been a deep freeze this early in the season since 1985.

But at least in the case of the convoy he caught on video, some of that crisis was averted.

"This is a story about helping your neighbors," he said. "This kind of thing goes on every day across America."

[theGinsue]

THIS! This is what it's supposed to be like everywhere. I was certain that this sort of behavior had already disappeared from our society - and I'm glad to see I was wrong.

[ray1970]

Glad to hear it. Should help keep the price of vodka down.

[Hummer]

It's heartening but probably pretty rare. Farmers are typically independent sorts and most have their hands full doing their own work.

I was in Palisade as the storm approached. I pulled my irrigation pump and drained lines for winter. Local growers were hurrying to harvest the last of the apples and late-variety peaches. My next door neighbor pulled all of his hemp from the field and started drying in the greenhouses. Other hemp farmers didn't get it done. Not sure the consequence of that but the storm and frost wasn't as bad as predicted.

[ray1970]

It's heartening but probably pretty rare. Farmers are typically independent sorts and most have their hands full doing their own work.

I don?t know. Every movie I see with farmers or ranchers it seems like they are always jumping in to help their neighbors in a crisis.

[hollohas]

I don't know how common this kind of thing is, but I see a story or two just like this every year. Sometimes it's a farmer who's fallen ill and others come harvest their crop to help them out. Other times it's a farmer who's equipment failed. All number of things, but there have been more than a few stories like this over the last few years.

[Gman]

I don't know how common this kind of thing is, but I see a story or two just like this every year. Sometimes it's a farmer who's fallen ill and others come harvest their crop to help them out. Other times it's a farmer who's equipment failed. All number of things, but there have been more than a few stories like this over the last few years.

Yep. I remember reading one about a farmer growing corn that had a health issue and the neighboring farmers jumped in to help out.

These folks are probably very self-reliant, but they also are a community that look after each other when something bad happens. It?s the Golden Rule in action.

[buffalobo]

This sort of thing happens more than people think and this was a big one.

The Golden Rule comment is 10 Ring.

Also better for community at large.

[Squeeze]

THIS! This is what it's supposed to be like everywhere. I was certain that this sort of behavior had already disappeared from our society - and I'm glad to see I was wrong.

Me too. Sure is hard when we live in a society where we see & hear about so much negativity. I'm originally from a small town in Iowa and it's still like this in a lot of ways back there. I miss the simple life. I can't wait to get back to it when I retire.