What Do Farmers Wear?

This post is sponsored by Seed Consultants, Inc., but all opinions are my own.

Harvest has begun on the farm, which means shorter days and cooler nights are setting in.  The change in seasons also means we’re rotating the wardrobe that our farmers wear.  I’ve had several people ask me, “What do farmers wear?”.  So I thought I would share some of the farmer attire worn on our farm.

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What Do Farmers Wear?

There’s a wide variety of ways that farmers dress, but I think they all have one thing in common.  The commonality in farmer dress code is being prepared for anything!  Since there’s no set schedule on the farm, equipment breaks down and animals need help giving birth, the key to dressing for success on the farm is being prepared for any job that pops up throughout the day.  And knowing that your clothes may get ruined, so the farm clothing budget is typically pretty low for everyday clothes.

I shared the story of how we feed animals on the farm and looked back at the clothing.  My son was wearing a shirt given to him by the Ohio Soybean Council and another shirt that a neighbor had given as a gift.  This is typical of our chore clothes.  We wear older stuff, hand-me-downs or shirts that agribusinesses have passed out at some point.  One item we do buy is the kid edition of Dickie work pants, my son LOVES them!

My side of the family has always worn jeans on the farm.  My husband’s side of the family has always worn Dickie or Red Kapp work pants (which is why my son started wearing them).  Long pants are a must on the farm because farmer’s legs need protection from scratchy bales of hay and straw, when walking through weeds or growing crops, and my exceptionally pale husband said pants protect his legs from sunburn.

My dad usually has a pair of gloves in his back pocket for extra dirty jobs and for hand protection.  My husband always has a partially used blue shop towel in his back pocket.  Since they’re a more expensive towel he leaves them in his pocket and washes them, multiple times.  And I used to think those things were disposable!

Farm Clothes Are Generational

So many aspects of farming are generational, from clothing to equipment to the type of seed farmers plant.  Here my son and dad are getting ready to unload some of the first corn harvested for the season.

Farmers are given a lot of clothing when buying supplies, farm equipment, building something new or buying inputs.  We love those clothes because we don’t have to spend extra money to buy what we need!  As I shared in the post Are Farmers Really Rich or Poor managing your expenses is critical.

My son was also excited to get a special edition jacket just like the adult farmers get from Seed Consultants, Inc.  He wore it to school immediately and he loves wearing it on cool fall days too.  He takes pride in being like his grandfather.  His grandfather takes pride in spending time with him and transferring generations of farming knowledge.

Everyone likes seeing the fruits of their labor.  I imagine these two are discussing plans to keep harvest moving and they may even be looking ahead to planting a successful crop next year.