I recently stood with a farmer at the edge of his field munching on just-combined green lentils and discussing the 2025 harvest.
Regretfully, I had to decline the offer of riding along in the combine. But just the thought brought back many childhood memories of the time spent squished into a cab going around and around a field.
It was such a treat to be able to do that, but it wouldn’t have always been so.
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Stationary threshing machines obviously provided no opportunity to ride along. They gave way to combines without cabs, which were faster but still a dusty, dirty proposition.
Some farmers built their own rudimentary cabs from wood, tarps and Plexiglas for those early harvesters. Even the first factory cabs in the 1960s weren’t the best. Goggles could keep your eyes from filling with dust but there was still a lot of dirt to be worn on your face.
But cabs did make it easier for kids, and others, to ride along.
In our case, an improved cab on a Massey 510 probably saved our older male cousins the torment of us begging to ride in the grain trucks. I’m not sure they would remember those days as fondly as I do, bumping over the fields in the empty truck, loading and then lurching back to the farmyard to unload into a long wooden granary. Sometimes they even let us shift the gears.
The combine was magical to a young child. The hum of the large machine eating up swaths of wheat or barley could easily put you to sleep. Moths were drawn to the lights at night and sometimes you could simply watch the moon and the stars.
It’s a different harvest these days in cabs you could describe as luxurious.
For one thing, there is likely a buddy seat for the passenger. They are full of technology and screens providing instant data, a comfortable ride, auto steer, air conditioning, heat and even fridges. Fridges!
I hope that doesn’t negate the need for someone to drive to the field and signal that lunch or supper had arrived, because harvest meals in the field are another fond childhood memory.
Combines are bigger, faster, more comfortable and more expensive. You can go by a standing crop in the morning and find it gone a few hours later. Indeed, eight combines made short work of the lentils.
But I suspect one thing hasn’t changed for the kids riding in them: the thrill of climbing the stairs and entering that world.
