Sowing for the Harvest

Wheat planting and harvesting

My introduction to wheat began when I was a five-year-old boy. It was the last year threshers came to our farm in southern Michigan. They brought a monstrous tractor with a big fly wheel and long wide belt to run the threshing machine that shook and rattled near the barn. This noisy mechanical dinosaur gobbled bundles of wheat tossed from wagons at one end. At the other end it blew dust and straw through a long stack slowly forming, next to the barn, a straw mountain that would later be used for feeding and bedding down livestock. In the middle of the thresher, a hopper collected grain which an auger then loaded into wagons. The golden grain was next transported to large bins (called granaries) where it was stored. The whole operation was surrounded with grimy, fantastic noise and hard-working men and women who understood the full importance of the harvest.

Around noon all harvesters stopped to eat the women’s best home cooking. A hired man, Perry Kope, sitting beside me during the meal whispered, Sonny, smell of this shaker and tell me whether it is salt or pepper. In my innocence I took a big sniff. It was pepper; I can still remember the consequences! But next year tractor-pulled combines harvested wheat, and the colorful community threshing days faded into history.

This small episode is one among many varied chapters in the tale of wheat farming with all its vital details that relate to the day-to-day survival of humankind. Perhaps more profound, however, are the crucial details of the spiritual lessons found in planting and harvesting as revealed in the Bible by Jesus Himself relating to the eternal survival of all His children.

In fact, in the aftermath of the cataclysmic worldwide flood that destroyed all life, God still promised Noah and his descendants that there would always be a harvest. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).

But seedtime and harvest were to be by the sweat of our brows, and one four-generation wheat farming family that understands this all too well is the Johnsons of Joplin, Montana, who now work 2,800 acres of wheat. After a time of rest during the winter months (mixed with plenty of equipment maintenance and other farm duties), the key task of planting begins during the first part of April. Do it on a day when the wind is calm and weeds are just starting to grow in the warm ground, explains Paul (P.J.) Johnson, now the grandfather who holds a wealth of experience and knowledge about wheat farming.

In wheat farming areas the ground must be prepared and the seed must be protected in order to grow. Jesus warned about this in the parable of the sower; . . . saying, ‘Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty (Matthew 13:3-8).

P.J. recalls the toil required to develop good soil. Beginning in 1910, his father and mother for five years homesteaded a half section of land (a section is one mile square or 640 acres) located in Montana four miles south of the Canadian border. P.J. and his brother, Victor, hauled tons and tons of rock off the land to clear the way for planting. Any rock fist-sized or larger had to be removed. A fist is about the same size as a stony heart that resists the seed of God’s word. There may be a little soil for the seed, but these . . . are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble (Mark 4:16-17).

When P.J. began farming on his own (taking over from his father around l952) he could plant 30 acres of wheat in eight hours. Today the Johnsons can plant 30 acres in one hour. They begin with a large tractor that pulls a chisel plow to cut off the weeds, and a half a day later the tractor pulls a special 50-foot-wide advanced farming implement called a drill that performs two tasks at once. First, it has knives spaced about seven to 12 inches apart that slice the soil and then seeds are dropped into the ground at just the right depth every two inches. Another tube on the same implement then applies just the right amount of fertilizer so nothing will be wasted. The Johnsons work 14 hour days to get the crop planted in about 11 days. The wheat plants can sprout out of the ground in five days after planting if there is good moisture and sunshine. This way, the wheat can get a head start on the weeds and outgrow them.

The worst weed pests are wild oats, mustard, and Russian thistle. These pests can destroy 50 percent of a wheat crop if not controlled by sprays. When Jesus warned about the seed falling among the thorns that would choke the crop, He later explained, . . . they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful (Mark 4:18-19). Satan’s greatest distractions to keep God’s word from taking root in our hearts and producing fruit are the things and riches of this world (from TV, to material things, to working long hours to attain wealth). They are an ever-present onslaught that take ever stronger defenses of prayer and Bible study to ward off the dangers. In fact, as our sin-sick world worsens, the weeds require more and stronger chemicals to give the wheat seeds a chance to flourish.

Typically, crops are planted on only half the acreage on a farm in order for some of the land to lay fallow, rest, and regain nutrients as well as to preserve the moisture in the under soil because it reportedly takes two years of moisture to produce one year of crops. If the planting were done in one large section while another large section of the farm lay fallow, there would be a high risk of wind erosion on the unplanted land. Therefore, the wheat is farmed in 20-rod strips (a rod is 16 1/2 feet). The strips of tall wheat provide a barrier to cut down on the wind erosion of the soil lying fallow causing the vast countryside to look like a giant quilt of yellow wheat and black earth.

As another means of controlling wind erosion, P.J. began in 1954 to plant caragana trees at the edge of each wheat strip. Every year he planted about 4,000 trees, and if all the trees he planted were put in a straight line, they would extend 64 miles! Today these trees are eight to 10 feet tall and appear as beautiful, long green ribbons stretching north and south through the yellow wheat fields. Their purpose, however, is not beauty but rather to buffer the relentless winds that blow an average 20 miles an hour across the Montana prairie. The wind not only erodes the soil; it can also dry it out. Where the trees are planted, the farmers get double the wheat production for 40 feet on each side of the trees because of the extra moisture retained.

When P.J. was a boy on the homestead, there was a hand-dug well from which they hauled water in wooden barrels on a wooden sled for a quarter of a mile for washing dishes and bathing. In 1917, they put in a 120-foot-deep well hooked to a windmill pump, and today the well and an electric pump still provide good water at two gallons per minute. P.J. said, I thank God every day for good water.

Obviously seeds won’t germinate until man does his part in planting and cultivating. Likewise, every person who has ever farmed has 100 percent faith and dependance on God that a plant will come forth based on the exact genetic code within the seed to reproduce the parent plant. God created wheat seed, as He made the earth, by His word, and by His word He gave it power to grow and multiply as revealed on day three of the Creation week. Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, . . . according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth’ and it was so . . . And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:11-12). It is His indisputable word which still causes the seed to germinate and declare that God . . . spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast (Psalm 33:9).

Jesus told a parable of the growing seed in Mark 4:26-28: The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. There is a point after the sowing when the farmer can do nothing but wait on the power of God to provide a reaping time of bountiful harvest.

Now it is P.J.’s son, Art, and his wife, Patty, along with their five children who cooperate with the Creator to keep the saga of wheat growing through faith as their efforts are united with divine power. Art rents his father’s land, some other land, and adds these two parcels to his own acreage. He sows about 1,400 acres of wheat along with a few acres of barley while the other 1,400 acres of land lie fallow. The Johnson’s future and financial stability is at stake every year as they sow and trust God for a bountiful harvest. But God promises, He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him (Psalm126:6). This promise is intended, not only for farmers, but for everyone who seeks to sow the seed of God’s word in the hearts of young and old hoping that it will spring forth with new life in preparation for the harvest of souls for eternity.

But don’t think that this can be done without a willingness to sacrifice all our resources. Most people realize that farming today is big business, and by the time Art has sowed the seed, spread fertilizer, and sprayed herbicides, he will have invested $80 to $90 dollars per acre (or roughly $120,000) plus countless long hours of hard labor before one spike of wheat pokes its head out of the soil. This year he planted five different kinds of wheat seed, the most common being the Fortuna because it grows a solid-stemmed wheat plant. This solid-stemmed wheat is resistant to the saw fly pest which lays eggs in the usually hollow stem of wheat, causing it to die.

All of this careful planning to avoid pests and erosion, hopeful investing in expensive machinery, and prayerful believing that God will not forsake His faithful workers rests on His faithfulness. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart (Galatians 6:7-9).

At the Johnson’s farm, the harvest (usually around mid-August) will typically take 10 to 30 days depending on the weather and number of equipment breakdowns. To gather in the wheat, Art, P.J., and one of Art’s sons will drive three combines, each with a different sized header a 22-foot, a 24-foot, and a 30-foot (when new, valued at $150,000 each) that gobble up the rows of wheat. A combine is a mechanical, man-made earthquake and wind storm on wheels that can cut 32 acres each hour moving about four miles per hour. Its purpose is to shake out the live seed as a fan blows away all the chaff just as our past is blown away when we prepare for the harvest of God’s people. The shaking part of the combine also separates true wheat seed from weed seeds and dirt. The combine gathers only the genuine wheat seed multiplied from that which was planted. To get the precious grain into storage, an auger can unload 400 bushels from a truck in about eight minutes.

There had been a breakdown the day my wife and I arrived at the Johnson’s farm around dusk (9:30 p.m.). One son still had not come in from combining, and the evening meal was uneaten. After grace, the lively family commenced eating around 10 p.m. God desires that in receiving our daily bread we may see stamped on every loaf the principle of His cross that the gift of life had come from death. For the Johnson’s this is not hard to understand for they witness the miracle of life resurrecting from seeds season after season. But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundred (Mark 4:20). It is a blessing to imagine Christ sharing this parable with the disciples as they journeyed together to save souls and occasionally gleaned raw grain from the fields for sustenance. The parables came to life, as Jesus explained, . . . ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, . . .’ (Matthew 13:11).

Because life can be perpetuated only by death, wheat seeds vividly teach a divine lesson in self denial. In casting grain into the earth, an object lesson from the Saviour Himself represents His sacrifice for us. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain (John 12:24). With this understanding every family meal becomes a sacrament of gratitude. As life and lessons on the farm have become well grounded in all of the Johnson clan, it is no accident that Art’s son, Sean, who just graduated from high school, has decided to attend college this fall and make agriculture his major. He will be preparing his life to be sown in service to aid our hungry world.

Scripture’s first record of wheat as bread is found in Genesis 14:18, Then Melchizedek King of Salem brought out bread and wine; . . . Later in the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with the little boy’s five loaves and two fishes, Jesus reveals His creative power to multiply which is exhibited even today when seeds are cast into the ground and end up feeding billions of people all over the world.

At harvest time there are no idlers. While the more experienced drive the big combines, Art’s wife and other sons truck the wheat to their own storage bins that can hold 50,000 bushels. Excess wheat (or wheat that was previously purchased by contract) will be hauled to co-op grain elevators (tall storage towers) in Joplin, Montana, 12 1/2 miles away where a sign reads, Joplin, the biggest little town on earth.

When these huge cylindrical units are full, the grain travels by trains (55 cars long with each car holding 3,200 bushels) to big millers in the east or west to Portland and Seattle harbors to be shipped to markets abroad. It is estimated that 50 percent of the wheat grown in the U.S. goes to foreign markets. Wheat will usually weigh 60 pounds to the bushel, and this year farmers will be lucky if they get three dollars a bushel the same price wheat sold for during World War II. Eastern millers will blend several varieties of wheat to get a balanced mix that makes good bread. The flour is then shipped by truck to big bakeries or supermarkets for homemakers to purchase.

A friend of mine buys wheat from a local farmer, grinds her own flour, and makes homemade bread for 12 cents a loaf. One bushel of wheat will make 60 loaves of bread. But usually wheat passes through many hands from soil to a loaf in the supermarket, and each hand extracts a portion of profit for their own sustenance. As Grandfather J.P. said, The whole process of marketing and selling wheat is a very complex multilayered operation. Certainly the bountiful and dependable wheat harvest has fed our hungry world and shaped society for centuries. Even America’s pilgrim forefathers, fleeing religious persecution in Europe, remembered to pack wheat on board the sailing ships with the assurance that it would sustain life in the new land.

Behind the noise of big farm machinery, roaring trucks, railroads, and clanking coin, there wafts an aroma of fresh baking bread as the final fruit of the harvest. Throughout the Bible, bread is used as a symbol of life from the Passover bread to the bread and water that is promised during the last days (see Isaiah 33:16). It all starts with a seed that falls on good ground and dies so that others might have life.

With renewed gratitude we can now humbly pray to God, Give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:11) especially the bread of life that is a free gift from the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In His final object lesson before hanging on the cross, Jesus . . . took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me’ (1 Corinthians 11:23-24) so all who believe that everlasting life comes from His death will be included in the final harvest of Earth’s history.

Terry McComb writes from Arpin, Wisconsin, where he continues to explore the wonders of God’s creation. Tom Ish is editor and publisher of Creation Illustrated.