A farmer in North Dakota plowed a message for the NFL into his field….We stand for the national anthem.
77-year-old Gene Hanson of Edgeley, North Dakota plowed that phrase into his bean crops – a massive message spanning the length of two football fields – in response to the controversial protest undertaken by some NFL players who’ve begun kneeling during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
He told fox news, “I go with [President] Trump on this one. If you want to protest, that’s not the place to do it.”
He added: “A lot of people died over our flag. We’re able to voice our opinion because of it. If you’re going to show respect for anything, do it for the national anthem.”
Hanson has a track record of designing and digging massive messages – many political – using his old Massey tractor on his 850-acre farm.
And Hanson doesn’t use GPS or any technology for the work, which he says “works out pretty good in a harvested bean field.”
Then he flies his two-seater plane, and if his design passes the test, he snaps a pic with a Canon camera and posts it on Facebook. He said he’s only been unsuccessful twice.
Hanson said he initially wanted to add an addendum — “We kneel at the cross” — but the plan was foiled by the first frost of the season.
Hanson said, weather permitting, he plans to add that phrase soon.
Hanson and his wife, Darlene, are Lutherans and attend church regularly. He also describes himself as a Republican and Trump supporter, and he had the chance to get a picture of the president when Trump came to North Dakota for a tax reform speech in September.