Agricultural News
The Great American Wheat Harvest Movie Shows Huge Risk of Custom Harvesting Business
Thu, 17 Apr 2014 05:21:34 CDT
"The Great American Wheat Harvest" documentary made it's way to Oklahoma on Wednesday evening, as the Oklahoma Wheat Commission and Oklahoma State University hosted a special screening of the film at the OSU Student Union. Film Director and Producer Conrad Weaver was in Stillwater for the showing and he told the audience that the movie shows how wheat goes from the field to the table. The film took almost four years to go from concept to finished project, and Weaver gave his wife credit for urging him to explore how this way of life could be turned into a movie.
Weaver talked with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays about the movie- and he told Hays that the enormous risk that these families take as Custom Harvesters is mind boggling. He pointed out that they really don't have a safety net- "farmers have crop insurance, harvesters do not."
One of the Custom Harvesters featured in the movie was Misener Family Harvesting of Elk City, Oklahoma. Former Oklahoma Wheat Grower President Jimmy Musick of Sentinel was seen in the film, as was Southwest Oklahoma Agronomist Dr. Mark Gregory and OSU Wheat Breeder Dr. Brett Carver. Other Custom Harvesters that were the primary focus of the film were from Kansas and Nebraska.
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear our conversation with Conrad Weaver- and you can click on the play button in the video box to see the trailer for the movie.
The film explores the life of mostly three custom harvest crews who travel from the heart of Texas to the Canadian border harvesting the wheat that feeds America and the world. Weaver says like agriculture, the story has several unexpected turns, as a fourth custom harvest crew was expected to be featured in the movie.
"The one harvest crew that we thought we would spend a lot more time with, actually had a lot very bad year as far as harvest," Weaver said. "They had very little wheat to cut, so we didn't get to spend nearly as much time with them. So I guess that's a surprise and and a twist we didn't really anticipate, but I guess it's kinda par for the course for harvest. Every year is different and harvest season has its own surprises".
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