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“We’re busier than ever,” says Mark Shortz, a drainage contractor who also farms near Danville, Ill., with family and two partners. “When I’m cutting soybeans I see that time in the combine as my calm before the storm. There’s really no end in sight.” Photo Mark Shortz
Most farmers breathe a sigh of relief at the end of a long harvest season. Not Mark Shortz.
That’s because the east-central Illinois corn and soybean farmer also happens to be a drainage contractor. So when Shortz finishes soybean harvest his next job is just waiting for him – and won’t end until soils freeze up some time this winter.