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Brits fulfill dream of wheat harvestENID, Okla. (AP)--In the 1970s, a BBC program about American custom harvesters caught the fascination of British farmers and brothers Steven and Kevin Clarke. Now, they are living their fantasy by cutting wheat in Oklahoma. "We've always been interested in American wheat," Kevin Clarke said. They have a 200-acre farm in Norfolk County, northeast of London, along the North Sea coast. "We always wanted to go to America and get on a custom crew," he said. "For various reasons we never did and we regretted it." The BBC film, "Yellow Trail to Texas," is a British documentary that was popular in England. BBC sent a film crew and followed custom cutter Dale Starks from Oklahoma to Canada. The film inspired many people in England to come to a harvest run. The Clarkes have friends who came to America and worked for Starks for several years, but the brothers never did. Last year, they came to America on vacation and found Starks, at age 83, still was harvesting. They planned to come back to America this year and harvest with him, but Starks died in November. While they here in 2007, they found Enid farmer Delbert Joyner while driving through the country because he uses Massey Ferguson equipment, just like they do in England. "We run North American Massey combines, and we're keen on their equipment," Kevin Clarke said. They passed a Massey combine, driven by Joyner, and stopped to look at it. They began to chat and exchanged e-mail addresses, Clarke said, and when Joyner's wife brought "tea" to the field they were invited to join them. "Within two hours we met everyone and enjoyed it. We kept in touch," Clarke said. Harvest in England does not start until at least the third week of July and usually in August. If the Clarkes were in England, they would be doing nothing but getting equipment ready and waiting for the wheat to ripen. This time of year is a perfect time to take vacation. And, they love to harvest. When they finish harvesting here, they will go home and harvest there. The Clarkes raise a different, more fragile type of wheat than the hard red winter wheat grown in Oklahoma. The cold and wind in Oklahoma would destroy their wheat, Clarke said. Their crop usually yields 120 to 150 bushels to the acre. In November they bought, through some friends in North Dakota, a Massey Ferguson combine just like the one used in the film "Yellow Trail to Texas." Their friends repaired it and brought it to Oklahoma, Clarke said, and they will leave it here with Joyner when they leave at the end of this month. "We plan to come back next year. This is a hobby, it's enjoyment," Clarke said. The main difference between farming in England and the United States is the extreme weather and conditions. "Your storms are fantastic. We have nothing to moan about," he said. The brothers have considered coming over every year because they like America. "We love American girls, they are more friendly. Americans in general are more friendly. When we were here last year, we drove from Georgia to California, then up north and back across the middle of the United States and met a wide selection of Americans, and they are all friendly," Clarke said. They have fulfilled a lifelong dream to go on a custom harvesting trip, although on a small scale. Now, they can go back to England and harvest their own wheat and remember their days as custom harvesters in America. 8/4/08 Date: 7/30/08 Advertisement
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