Dozens of neighbors drop everything to harvest crops for farmer who had a heart attack

Some of the farmers who helped harvest Lane Unhjem&#039;s crops.

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CBS News)

published 23 September 2020

After word spread earlier this month that a North Dakota farmer suffered a heart attack while harvesting crops, dozens of neighbors showed up at his property with their combines, grain carts, and semis, ready to finish what he had started.

The farmer, Lane Unhjem, lives near Crosby, and grows durum wheat and canola. While he was receiving medical treatment, around 50 or so farmers stopped working on their own farms to harvest his crops. The neighbors wanted to help Unhjem avoid a huge monetary loss, plus offering assistance is "just kind of the farming way of life," Unhjem's friend, Jenna Binde, told KFYR. "You help your neighbor out when they need it, and don't expect anything in return."

It took about seven hours for the crew to harvest 1,000 acres of crops, and when they were done, another group of volunteers made dinner for everyone who helped out. Unhjem survived, and on Facebook, neighbor Don Anderson wrote that it was important for the family to have comfort knowing they just needed to focus on his recovery. "What a great sense of pride we can all have knowing that when we face something like this, we're not alone," he added. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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