Monday, July 6, 2009

The Mike Brown Farm located just a few miles southwest of Colby had some special visitors Monday afternoon. Governor Mark Parkinson was joined by Agriculture Secretary, Adrian Polanski. The Governor was given the traditional tour of the year's wheat crop by the Brown family.

Parkinson is no stranger to combines. He made many trips to his family's farm as a child. Afterward, he spoke about the differences between farming then versus farming today.

"We've gotten very good at farming and we've gotten very efficient at it," he says. "As a result of getting very efficient it takes less people. And that's had a dramatic impact on the cities around farms.

"There's three full-time people that farm these 6,000 acres. We've sort of been a victim of our own efficiency."

Parkinson said he enjoyed his tour and says the economic importance of farming is more crucial now than ever.