Tractors kick up more dust than farm workers
On a Sunday recreational flight from Madera to Merced, I could see puffs of smoke dotting the fields below. Only it wasn’t smoke; it was clouds of dust stirred up by tractors. There were three tractors working in fields east of and adjacent to the city of Chowchilla, and the dust clouds they created creeped over and almost blanketed the small city. I wouldn’t want to be playing outside if I lived there, a sad thing on a weekend.
I’ve never worked on a farm, but I can guess that field workers raise less dust than a tractor. A new combine tractor starts at $500,000. At that price, a farmer could provide a lot more jobs to field workers. This would keep the farm in business and in healthy relationship with the community.
Too simplistic? Then maybe it is possible for the tractors to take a rest on Sundays.
M.E. Dysinger, Coarsegold
This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Tractors kick up more dust than farm workers."