Buried in the corner of a farm field, down backroads or beneath mountains of legal documents, Chris Bennett is an expert at unearthing a story. Throughout 2021, the purveyor of the pen has tracked down and told a myriad of original stories in a way only he can. Always adept in painting a picture, Bennett has succeeded in tugging at our heartstrings, rallying our sensibilities and teaching our unmovable tendencies about new methods or interesting agricultural pursuits. Use these QR Codes to find a favorite or read them all. If it’s a Chris Bennett tale you won’t be disappointed. -Clinton Griffiths
Where’s the Beef: Con Artist Turns Texas Cattle Industry Into $100M Playground
Fraud is the son of greed. In the span of a few months in 2015, a Lone Star con-man pulled off a stunning livestock swindle, generating more dollar flow than some of the largest beef-producing companies in the United States. In a high-risk, anxiety-inducing shell game with almost $100 million on the table, Tony Lyon pulled the strings on an outrageously intoxicating check-kiting scam, and piled lies atop a teetering Jenga tower for the ages.
The Arrowhead Whisperer: Stunning Indian Artifact Collection Found on Farmland
Hidden for thousands of years beneath farmland, arrowheads wait patiently for the eyes — and hands — of Johnny Dickerson. He puts a knee in the soft, sandy soil, reverently picks up the arrowhead, and feels his adrenaline surge as he tucks it into a denim pocket. Three more hours of hunting? Four more hours? Not a problem.
The flint artifact and a dozen more points subsequently found on the same hunt are destined for Dickerson’s phenomenal collection of Native American stone tools, including 4,000-plus showpiece points. Dickerson, an arrowhead hunting warhorse with a bootstrap tale and little regard for conformity, is a classic American individualist. There are many arrowhead hunters—but there is only one Johnny Dickerson.
Fire in the Corn: Farmer’s Best Crop of Lifetime Burns Day Before Harvest
In the late spring and summer of 2020, David Monk raised the finest corn of his life. After 60-plus crop seasons, he anticipated the highest yields of his career, but inches from the finish line, the script was flipped a single day before harvest. On Oct. 14, David’s corn burned to ash. Gold to black, the Illinois farmer’s top yield hopes went up in flames.
Grizzly Hell: USDA Worker Survives Epic Bear Attack
At the nauseating, audible crunch of bones breaking, 42 teeth of a grizzly bear’s jaws ground into Todd Orr’s body at 1,000 psi — enough pressure to crack a bowling ball. Pinned to the forest floor by 400 lb. of raw power and layered muscle, Orr felt scorching waves of pain surge through his nerves, shoot up his spinal column, and roar into his brain as the bear tore through flesh.
In the annals of survival history, Todd Orr’s account is incredible and magnified by a deuce: He skirted death in two separate grizzly bear attacks separated by mere minutes. His chilling tale defies chance or coincidence, and touches a primitive chord. How deep will a man dig in order to stay alive, and how much pain will he endure? On Oct. 1, 2016, Orr answered the questions in harrowing detail.
Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam
Why does a man need a Bible in hand to convince a farmer about the veracity of an obscure crop? Faith or duplicity? In the early 1980s, during the depths of a $25-million agricultural fiasco like no other, the question answered itself.
Welcome to the Jerusalem artichoke scandal, possibly the most outlandish major scam to curse agriculture in the past century. Built upon pure fantasy, the façade of an entirely new ag industry was erected, promising eternal energy sourced from the blessings of a heavenly tuber. Salvation, in the form of a potato-like plant of which most farmers had never heard, came with dizzying promise, potential, and purpose—but no market.
Beast to Beauty: Auction Find Reveals Historical Tractor and Family Treasure
In the crisp cold of a frigid February morning, as a curious tractor hit the auction block, a crowd of farmers remained silent and still until a small hand broke the canopy of ball caps and darted into the air. A nine-year-old boy bid on a mysterious, 8,000-lb. piece of the past hidden beneath seven coats of paint—an ugly, yellow tractor sporting the unlikely hiss of air brakes. The young boy, through the wisdom of his father, saw what the throng failed to see: An absolutely beautiful treasure of American history.
