Spend any time on the roads of western Sullivan County in the coming months, and you’re bound to get caught behind a tractor or two. 

This is farm country. It’s been farm country for generations. 

And for generations, the tractor has been a mainstay on our farms and on our county roadways. 

From now until late fall, farmers will be using their machines to do myriad tasks from plowing to planting, cultivating to cutting, and they’ll be maneuvering from field to field by way of the roads that we use to get from here to there and everywhere. 

Perhaps you’re used to this and prepared for how to act when coming upon a tractor putt, putt, puttering along the pavement. 

If you’re not, that’s OK. I have the rules right here for you:

1. Do not pass three cars and a tractor on a double line. You’re going to get someone killed, and it might be you. 

2. Do not lean on your horn. The farmer is well aware of his or her surroundings. They don’t need to be blasted out of their seat. 

3. Do not tailgate. 

4. Do not fly past the farmer who has pulled over to allow you to pass and throw your hand with a particular raised finger out the window. 

5. Do be patient. The farmer will pull over eventually. Perhaps they’re waiting for a spot where it’s safe, or perhaps they’re almost to their destination. 

6. Do be kind. The farmer is a hard-working human being with places to go and things to do too.

7. Do share. It’s their road too. They pay the same taxes you do to support it. 

8. Do remember where your food comes from ... and the machines that helped get it to your plate.