Burton Durost

Burton has been farming for 56 years- he started after he got out of the service. He is not the only one in his family that has been in the farming industry - his dad farmed before him. He has two daughters that work with him on the farm. His wife, Launa, is part of the farm business, too. When he first started, he hired harvest help from Canada. After a number of years, the harvester took the place of hand picking the crop.
He said that technology has changed since he first started. When he first started, he had a 2-row harvester Dahlman. Now he has a 8-row harvester. He used to spray 6-8 rows at a time. Now he sprays 20 rows at a time. His greatest planting acreage was 155 acres;now he farms 55 acres. His storage facilities have been on the farm and in Mars Hill.

We asked him what he feels about farmers now. His said that he feels farmers take care of the crops, but feels that they have it a lot easier than they used too due to advanced technology. When we asked him if he ever plans to retire he said yes, but has not thought about it much.

One of the best things he likes about farming is that he is his own boss. The least is that prices have been too high and that you do not get paid that well.