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Harvest was terrible, and my mental health sufferedHarvest was terrible, and my mental health suffered

Two Hearts, One Harvest: The fall harvest was a real downer on the Reskovac farm.

Mike and Sheilah Reskovac, Bloggers

January 14, 2025

3 Min Read
Silhouette of a cowboy with his head down during a sunset
SUN SETS ON BAD YEAR: The bad harvest was a real downer for Mike and Sheilah Reskovac, so they’re ready to move on. Matthias Kulka/Getty Images

One topic that seems to be brought up a lot is farming and mental health. After this past fall, I can see why. 

There were some pretty good vibes on the farm last year. We grew some pretty good wheat. We got to host the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance summer field day. Our sunflower crop was good, and our fall agritourism excelled. 

Then, harvest came. I knew that it wasn’t going to be good, but I was trying to be optimistic that it would be better than I thought. I was wrong! 

We cut a lot of beans that had single-digit yields. It was disappointing. The acres were knocked out, and hauling them back to the bins was easy, but the truck was never full. I kept telling myself that harvest would be done sooner than ever, and that I could get back to the list of projects that didn’t get finished this summer. I was trying to be positive.

When corn harvest started, the only positive thing going for us was that we didn’t have to dry anything. Most of our corn came out of the field dry; some fields got as low as 13% moisture. Our yields were horrible. More than half of our corn crop averaged less than 30 bushels an acre. 

My friends and neighbors experienced low yields, too. If you have never harvested corn that bad, let me tell you, it’s not easy. It’s stressful. The ears are low, they don’t feed, the combine doesn’t clean, and things still break, especially the snouts on the corn head when you run it that low to the ground day after day.

It got so bad that our daily repair bill was greater than the daily harvest. This lasted for a good 10 days, and it felt like the deck was stacked against me. 

Nothing was going right, including things on the homefront. Everyone in the house had an issue of some sort. Nothing major, but this just added to the stress. And the parts bills kept adding up, too.

Sleep was one of the first things I noticed I couldn’t get. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t sleep at night. My mood was bad, too. Sheilah tried her best, but I didn’t want to talk, and I couldn’t smile. The thought of being done earlier and catching up on things never happened. I slowly drifted. I was negative about most things. This wasn’t me at all.

Two weeks before Christmas, we had our tax planning session for the year. This was something I was not looking forward to. But while things were not great, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We talked about our concerns for the coming year.

Then, while loading out the last of our soybeans for the year, I got a voicemail from a friend who was also friends with our accountant. He said to give him a call because he had heard that I might be a little down given the crop we had. An hour or so later, I called him back. We had a good conversation about all that’s been happening. 

From that point forward, things have started to look up, and I’ve been able to get my head on straight. I’m slowly catching up on things that needed to be done six months ago.

The struggle of what we do is real, and just being able to talk to people who live it and know it, too, makes it easier.

Call and check on your friends and neighbors. Complain to one another about your problems, and don’t hold it in, and know it all comes out in the wash. 

Read more about:

Mental Health

About the Author

Mike and Sheilah Reskovac

Bloggers

Mike and Sheilah Reskovac are farming together, near Uniontown, Pa. He's a first-gen farmer who met his fourth-gen farmer-bride online, and married in November 2012.

Mike grew up next to and working on his neighbor's Fayette County dairy farm through high school and college. After graduating from Penn State University in 2002 with a B.S. in Ag Systems Management, he worked as a manager at Tractor Supply stores for three years.

In 2005, he began farming his neighbor's land. Today, he and Sheilah farm 900 acres of corn and soybeans, plus do custom planting and harvesting.

Mike is president of the Pennsylvania Corn Growers Association. He also serves on the local Penn State Extension Board and is a Farm Service Agency county committee member.

Sheilah grew up on her family's Indiana County dairy farm. She graduated from DuBois Business College in 2008 with an associate's degree in Specialized Business and Medical Assistance, then worked for DuBois Regional Medical Center for four years. She also volunteered as a firefighter and EMT for the local fire company.

Since moving to Fayette County, Sheilah has been chief bookkeeper and farm assistant, along with taking classes at Penn State Fayette for Nursing. She enjoys “taking care of” groundhog problems, raking hay and mowing cornstalks.

While she enjoys cooking and baking, Mike enjoys eating the goods. Both enjoy hunting, attending concerts and county fairs, and spending time with family.

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