One of state’s oldest farmers keeps on harvesting

As the sun has set on another harvest season in Minnesota, perhaps one of the state’s oldest farmers reaped another bountiful crop, though not a record one.
Within the past couple weeks, Lowell Trom, who farms on the south end of Dodge County, completed yet another harvest. The 88-year-old maneuvered his pride and joy - a John Deere combine with an eight-row head - around the fields of Westfield Township once again this fall, harvesting soybeans and corn. 
He’s been working the fields for three-quarters of a century. Trom began helping his father pick corn by hand when he was 12 years old. 
He has never strayed much beyond his 750 acres in Westfield Township. In fact, he lives in the house that has been in his family for more than a century.
He started out with a farm that was nothing more than swamp land back in 1947, at $48.25 per acre. 
During the harvest earlier this fall, I hopped in the combine with Trom to get a better idea of what makes this farmer tick. His family affectionately refers to him as the Energizer Bunny who won’t give up. He may be operating a little slower these days, but his passion and desire for working the land are as strong as ever. 
Over the years, Trom has undergone at least 20 different surgeries. 
“Everything has been replaced. You name it, I’ve had it,” he says. 
He rattled off a long list, including nose, eyes, ears, fingers, toes, knees, and open-heart surgery. He has joked with his nurses that they are bound and determined to keep him alive forever. 
Trom scoffs about taking a break from the harsh Minnesota winters and heading south. 
“Nope, I go to Rochester (Mayo Clinic) to get tuned up for next spring,” he said. 
Though he gets a little confused with the computer controls operating his combine, I found he isn’t really missing a beat at all. His love and compassion for farming and tending to the fields are unprecedented.
Asked if he ever thought he would be harvesting this long, Trom quipped, “Longer.” He quickly added, “It’s just getting interesting now.”
One day this fall Trom found himself burning the candle at both ends as he combined soybeans for 18 hours straight until 3 a.m. 
“When it’s fit to go, you’ve got to go,” he said.
But, he pointed out, that’s nothing compared to his younger years. 
“When I was younger, I would go 40 hours without a stop,” Trom said, adding he did that at a time before tractors and combines came with enclosed cabs. 
Trom will be the first to admit he’s not normal - at least when it comes to working. 
“Everybody else lives a normal life. I don’t,” he said. “I never get sick of it. It just gets better every year,” he said with a chuckle. “It keeps me out of mischief.”
Bring up the notion of retirement to Trom and you’ll quickly get a cross-eyed look from him. 
“What the hell … there is nothing else to do,” he said sternly. “I missed that day. I’m just an old fart.”
When I inquired if farming ever gets old for him, Trom replied: “Hell, no. Every year is a challenge.”
Trom’s quick wit and sense of humor keep him from getting too down about farming that offers sagging commodity prices. 
“It’s horse (bleep),” he said of the current farm economy. 
He finds himself getting lonely at times as his wife, Evelyn, continues to fight advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease at a local care center. 
Trom figures he’d better keep farming just to pay the hefty nursing home bill each month. “I don’t have any choice,” he said. 
Though he’s quickly approaching 90, Trom isn’t ready to give up.
When asked how many more harvests he has left in him, he replied: “Forever.”
Trom says he gets excited every spring after planting crops. 
“We no more get done in the spring and we’re already figuring out how we’re going to do it differently next year,” he said. “I’m always working to make it better.”
There’s obviously no taking this man out of the farm. He’s already planning ahead to next spring when he’ll be in hot pursuit of producing yet another bountiful crop.