Potential calamities equate to agricultural uncertainty. Abundant looking fields don’t ensure abundant harvests. Farmers learned to stay away from “counting their chickens before they’d hatched.” A crop could be wiped out in short order by wind, hail, disease, excessive rain, drought or insects. This ca. 1936 photo shows, “A field of corn that’s badly damaged by ‘hoppers’ adjoining A.D. Claassen’s farm.” The wise farmer made plans after the harvest was safely in and the money was banked. Note: The picture comes from a collection of Harvey County Extension office documents and photos which are housed at HCHM. The collection provides noteworthy insight into agriculture during the 1920s and 1930s. Photo source: HCHM Collection