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Working antique tractor show draws thousands to east central Illinois

The smell of the smoke expelled from the chugging steam engines, the giant American flag waving above acres of antique green, orange, red and yellow tractors, and the excitement of people watching machines in action is something you only experience once every two years here.

Those sights, sounds, and smells of the Half Century of Progress Show on the runways and surrounding acreage of the Rantoul Airport are part of the extravaganza that brings thousands to central Illinois around the Farm Progress Show.

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How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Video: How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Across the open plains of North Dakota and South Dakota, sunflower fields turn the American landscape into a sea of gold. In this farming documentary, we go inside modern sunflower farming to see how farmers plant, grow, harvest, clean, dry, process, and transform sunflower seeds into valuable products used every day.

In 2024, American farmers harvested about 1.15 billion pounds of sunflowers. This video follows the full journey from warm spring planting to combine harvesting, seed cleaning, storage, oil extraction, refining, roasting, packaging, and animal feed production.

You will see how sunflower seeds are processed into cooking oil, roasted snacks, bakery ingredients, birdseed, livestock feed, and useful byproducts. From golden fields to modern processing plants, this is the story of how a beautiful flower becomes one of America’s important oilseed crops.

Watch until the end to discover how sunflower farming connects farmers, machines, factories, food production, and sustainable agriculture.