Illinois farmer auctions machinery after 70 years of corn farming

Donald ‘Shorty’ Peterson, a 104-year-old farmer from Aledo, Illinois, has decided to scale back his agricultural operations after more than 70 years of cultivating corn. Peterson announced his intention to lease his farm and slow down due to exhaustion.

A recent auction of his relatively modern machinery saw significant results. Most notably, a 2013 John Deere 8235R tractor, which had only approximately 1,210 operating hours, sold for $183,750. This price exceeded the highest recorded price for such a model this year by more than $13,000, according to machinery analyst Greg Peterson.