“A tractor is truth.”

That’s something my father – a gentleman farmer, with 13 head of Black Angus out back – used to tell me when I was a kid in Otsego County, New York. The idea, I figured out: Our old Massey Ferguson was a simple machine with not one wasted flourish. Lots of power, though, and a direct line from action to consequence. Like a shotgun, it demanded responsible use. 

Today, contributor Patricia Leigh Brown introduces us to a Nebraska woman who helps instill in young farmers knowledge of tractors and a healthy respect. Can Ellen Duysen’s work curb the kinds of common, serious mishaps that can cut careers short? 

As Ms. Duysen might say, “Heck, yeah.”