Persistence pays off: down in rough and rocky Pulaski County, Bob Thurston has carved out a future as an up-and-coming farm leader

摘要

Back when Bob Thurston got out of college, he had two choices: one, an interview with his county FSA office, and two, the chance to rent some southern Illinois farm ground. He picked two and the rest is history. Thirty years later, he regards that watershed decision as one of the greatest of his life. "In spite of all the hard times, I'm glad I farmed," says the Pulaski, Ill., Master Farmer. Indeed, there have been hard times, including he and wife Judy's first year on the farm. Bob, 52, recalls theskies during the fall of 1972 as having "rained and rained and rained and rained. We really did a lot of duck hunting that year," he quips. The ground got so soft that his cousin essentially buried the combine -- so deep, in fact, that the pair shoveledmud for nearly six hours before they could pull it out. "My father asked me what the 'book' said to do in this wet and muddy situation," Bob remembers. "I told him it didn't!"