By Traci
We’re wrapping up harvest season out here. That means long days, heavy equipment, and roads filled with tractors, combines, grain carts, and semis hauling the literal fruits of our labor.
And every year, without fail, we see the same thing:
Impatient drivers flying around farm equipment in no-passing zones.
Tailgating semis like they’re sports cars.
Swerving into blind spots of machines that weigh 20 tons and have zero visibility behind them.
Let me be clear:
You are not just being rude. You are being dangerous.
These aren’t joyrides.
These are working machines operated by exhausted farmers trying to feed your damn country.
We’re not blocking the road for fun.
We’re not crawling along to ruin your commute.
We’re moving slow because we have no choice.
And if you can’t wait 90 seconds for a safe place to pass, maybe you should ask yourself what your time is worth—because it sure as hell isn’t worth someone’s life.
You want to know what it takes to run a combine?
To haul grain in a semi on a two-lane road?
To maneuver a tractor with a 40-foot implement behind it while watching for mailboxes, potholes, and impatient drivers?
It takes skill.
It takes focus.
It takes nerves of steel.
And it takes respect—which is in short supply when folks treat us like obstacles instead of the reason they have food on their table.
So here’s my Farm Table Talk:
If you’re driving behind farm equipment this season, slow down.
Back off.
Wait for a safe place to pass.
Wave if you want to be kind.
But don’t be an asshole.
Because the next time you blow past a tractor in a blind curve,
you’re not just risking your own life.
You’re risking ours.
And we’ve got enough to worry about without dodging stupidity on the road.
You can’t eat without us.
So slow the hell down.
