Fawcett farm benefits from delayed planting

PLENTYWOOD, Mont. – A delay in planting earlier this spring is unexpectedly paying off at the Fawcett farm, where the difference in the plant growth cycle is allowing some plants to benefit from summer rains instead of being damaged.

“Over the weekend, we got three inches of rain compared to the four inches we have had all summer,” Kyle Fawcett said in an interview in late July. “We ended up being a bit delayed in our planting this spring, but that means the peas that would have normally been hurt by the rain didn’t shell out and have been able to take on the extra moisture and look phenomenal. The lentils that were planted about eight days later than we had planned also seemed to be able to take up the rain we got.”

The durum on the farm “looks good” and is about a week away from harvest, although Kyle said the fields are “thinner than we would like.”

Kyle said the farm’s flax crop is also looking a bit thinner than he would like due to some planting issues.

Being able to keep a close eye on the crops by working on the farm and living in a home owned by the family is something Kyle said he doesn’t take for granted, especially considering how challenging it is for people his age in the current economy.

“Young people right now are disadvantaged in having a hostile housing market where they are coming up against corporations instead of a single-family landlord when renting or buying a house,” he said. “I’m lucky to be able to live near the farm and work on it, but I think it’s a societal issue in America to judge living with parents or grandparents.”

Soaring real estate prices in recent years have made buying land to farm or even a house to live in a challenge for most young people, he noted.

“I saw there was a house for sale in Antelope for $430,000 – in Antelope,” he said.  Data sources show the population of Antelope in 2020 was 50 and currently shows zero people living there in 2025. “It just doesn’t make any sense. People are seeing the dollar signs across the country and think prices should be the same everywhere.”

Although some people may say the current generation of young people is “lazy,” Kyle said he feels it’s important to look at the whole picture.

“If people don’t feel that they can afford the baseline of success or the fruits of their efforts, you can see where they are asking, ‘What’s the point?’” he said. “We are running into a tension point that may become a problem in this country.”