Continuing focus on Agriculture for National Ag Week:

Adolf Bryn has seen many changes in the agriculture profession since he began farming more that six decades ago. “I started farming when I graduated from high school in 1930,” Bryn said. “We farmed with horses up until that time. In 1930, dad bought a tractor, so I started with the tractor.

The tractor, along with a four bottom plow that he started with, cost a total of $1,200 in 1930. This is quite inexpensive by today’s standards, but then “the price of grain was 25 cents a bushel for wheat,” added Adolf.

Before they bought the tractor, their farm was fairly self-sufficient. “We are fuel for the horses, but when we bought the tractor, we had to buy fuel.” Said Adolf. They also used the manure fro their horses and cows as fertilizer for their fields. They grew their own vegetables and raised cows, pigs and poultry.

From these they would keep what they could use, then sell the excess to companies in Devils Lake. They sold milk and cream to Fairmont Creamery and Bridgeman. Fairmont Creamery would also buy eggs. Turkeys were a different story. “They didn’t start buying turkeys in town until the mid 1930s, Bryn said. “We butchered turkeys on the farm, then packed them in 30-gallon wooden barrels and shipped them to Chicago.”

They would also haul a load of wheat and exchange it for flour and breakfast cereals when they needed those items. “I suppose the only things that had to be bought were just sugar and coffee,” added Adolph.

Farm programs set up to aid farmers did not come along until the Roosevelt era, said Bryn. In October of 1990, Bryn was awarded a certificate of appreciation, recognizing his 44 years of participation and support of the Federal Crop Insurance Program. Before that, however, farmers were able to buy hail insurance, but not other types of insurance — such as for drought and insects.

Farmers also did not have anything to combat rust — a disease that afflicts wheat — or insects. “Grasshoppers were bad once in a while,” Bryn said. “They tried poison on them, but the Environmental Protection Agency put a stop to that.”

There were also no chemicals around to kill weeds, but Bryn said there seems to be more weeds now than years ago. “The only weed that was a real problem years ago was wild oats,” he said. Bryn said they would fertilize some of their crops with horse and cow manure, and take a chance with it.Ridding crops of weeds was done differently by his grandparents when they began farming in 1883, on land still owned by Bryn. “Grandma used to tell that they had to have the mustard picked before they could go to the Fourth of July celebration.”

Now Bryn uses a little anhydrous and puts spray on for broadleaf weeds. He does not use chemicals for wild oats, but states, “I might have to do that pretty soon, though.”

Most farmers hired crews for thrashing, needing five or six people for the operation. Bryn said the one job of the harvesting process he did not really like was that of shocking wheat. “A binder would drop four or five bundles of wheat at a time, and you would have to stand them up see the heads would dry,” he explained. A shock was formed by 8 – 10 bundles tied together with twine.

“I remember two times when lightning struck a shock and it burned up. I suppose the rain kept it from spreading through the whole field,” he recalled.

Once the grain was harvested, they would store some of it in wooden granaries on their farm. There were no grain augers in that time, so they had to back the wagon up to the granary and shovel the grain through a hole in the wall. The process would then have to be repeated when they hauled the grain to the elevator.

Unloading the grain at the elevator was a little easier process. “Elevators had hoists that lifted up the front end of the wagon. The grain would slide out the back end so you didn’t have to shovel,” said Bryn. A barrier would be put in place so the horses could not back into the hoist.

Bryn hauled grain by horse and wagon until he bought his first pickup in 1948. “I got along with a pickup when Ramsey, Darby and Grand /harbor were open because I only had three miles to go,” he recalled. “I had to get a truck when they closed, because I needed a bigger truck to travel farther.” The year he bought his first truck was 1969.

Bryn started farming in 1930 on two quarters of land, or 320 acres. He now farms about 1,000 acres with his son Gary. Bryn said the size of an average farm in 1930 was about 320 acres. Farms have grown in size since then, with some farmers taking care of 30 quarters or more, he said.

The amount of grain produced per-acre has also increased, “If we got 20 bushels per acre , we had a big crop,” Bryn said. “Now it runs about 30 bushels per acre.”

“One farmer fed 28 people,” Bryn pointed out. Now a farmer feeds something like 128 people. That’s what I read someplace. I’m not sure if those are the exact figures.”

His son Gary has taken over more of the farming operation the last few years. “If I didn’t have Gary around, I might’ve been gone long time ago. He helped me, and now I help him,” Bryn said.

When asked if he still enjoyed farming, Bryn let a big smile show and said, “You betcha. If I quit, I suppose I’d just pass out and die.”

Bryn said there is always something interesting in farming. Over the years, he has found several Native American artifacts on his land, such as arrowheads, hammers and a knife. Just last year he came across a rock that measured six feet in circumference. The light brown color of the rock made him think it might be iron, so he busted off a few pieces from it and took them home. There he got a magnet and sure enough, the rock stuck to it.

“When they were going around campaigning last fall and asked if it was better off now than four years ago, I would say, “yes, of course I am. I’m still alive.” Bryn pointed his finger upward, smiled again and said, “somebody up there is watching over me.”

It is easy to see that farming has not been just a job to Adolph Bryn, but a way of life. A way of life that he has found great pleasure in since he started, 63 years ago.

(originally published in the Devils Lake Journal in the 1990’s, submitted by Gary Bryn)