Treat bags delight farmers

Some white bags are popping up in newly planted fields. Filled with water and snacks, the goodie bags surprise some but are a welcome treat to those tilling the soil this spring.

Near Frederick, Lonny Mikkonen saw a white truck pulling out of the field where his brother Rory was working when he noticed the bag. He needed his brother’s help to load some seed. Puzzled, he opened the bag and was very surprised to see chips, pop, water, koozies, gum and much more.

“I’m sure it’s always appreciated, but it couldn’t have come on a better day,” he said on April 30. “I really screwed up my shoulder that morning messing with a cow. I was trying to figure out how to lift seed bags, run the controls on the tractor, etc., to keep planting and along comes this bag that basically says, thank you for farming.”

Brian Lundquist, general manager/owner of Hub City Radio said their crew has a lot of fun delivering Pheasant Country 103 & 930 KSDN Spring Snack Sacks to farmers each year.

“We started off ten years ago as a way to thank farmers for the long days, sometimes 24-hour days, they work,” Lundquist said. “It gets to be long and grueling. We got together with some merchants, put together a bunch of goodies, water and snacks and bagged them up.”

Lundquist said they generally give out 150 bags over a four or five day period and try to hit different areas. On April 29, the truck marked with the radio station logos headed down back roads around Frederick and Ellendale. On April 30, they were near Redfield.

“We try to stop in a field where we see dust flying,” Lundquist said. “Some people will call the radio station to find where deliveries will be made. They’ll see the truck and say, ‘Hey, you drove past me.’ We’re trying to stop where we see activity we but can’t get them all.”

Overall, Lundquist said, it’s about appreciation for the hard work going on at this time of the year.

“It’s fun and gives the farmers a chance to get off the tractor for a bit,” he said. “Sometime we’ll leave the bags on a fence post. We get a lot of calls thanking us and the sponsors.”

Another 50 sacks headed out on April 30. “Hopefully that will be enough bags,” Lundquist said. “It’s hard to thank those in agriculture enough.”

Follow @farmeditor54 on Twitter.