Charities Benefit from 'Old School' Harvest
Published: Friday, October 28, 2022
Despite the snow earlier in the week, last Saturday was a beautiful day for the Northern Indiana Johnny Poppers' harvest day at Barney Beer's fields in New Paris.
Larry Hurst, a member of the Johnny Poppers, says they are "a bunch of old guys having fun, meeting old friends and acquaintances and doing something worthwhile."
The first load tested at 20-25% moisture, which is a decent crop considering the 3 inches of snow they got, Mark Yoder, the Johnny Poppers farm manager, said.
The snow earlier in the week pushed the corn down in some fields, hindering the harvest. Overall, the nonprofit harvested 214 bushels of corn per acre on 65 acres of non-irrigated land, Yoder says.
Yoder says it's just plain fun to get together and run the older tractors again, harvesting with an extra cause behind it.
The money made from the harvest is donated to 10 different food banks, four FFA chapters, cancer research and to Cross Course Sports. The Northern Indiana Johnny Poppers, established in 1968, started harvesting for charity in 2008.
The group began with plow days and branched out to include harvest days after Barney Beer offered them the use of his land. From there, it grew to what it is today, Yoder said.
"I enjoy turning the dirt, picking the corn, and getting together and telling stories about 'back in the day,'" he said.
The oldest tractor in the group is a 1928 John Deere D steel wheel owned by Labon Yoder. This year was his first year harvesting with the Johnny Poppers.
"It's just a different experience using old tractors to harvest," he said.
The group does own a combine from the '80s that they use to open the fields for the harvest, but for the majority of the time, only tractors and picker-shellers are used.
Karl Bontrager brought out his 1940 John Deere Model A, which is all original except for a few select parts.
"I just like to bring the old tractor out here and play a little," he said. "I like to play with two-cylinders."
Troy Cripe, the vice president of the club drove his 1920 John Deere 4020.
"I think it's pretty cool what we do to raise money for charity," he said. "I'm a farmer at heart. My dad was a farmer. It's in my blood, and it's fun to hang out with some of these other guys, too," he said.
Multiple other people donated their resources for the harvest day, Yoder said.
Rob Henderson of Henderson Oil donated oil, Scot and Matt Morehouse provided chemicals and nitrogen throughout the summer, Leon Schrock and Leroy Waugh volunteered their time and trucks to haul the grain, Barney Beer donated the use of his land and Angela Talby from Cargill marketed the corn.
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