Harvest Profile: Jim Romine

Jim Romine is not only a Waitsburg City Council member, retired Walla Walla County deputy sheriff, husband, father, and doting grandfather; he is also a skilled combine operator.

Since Romine was sixteen, he has had a passion for harvest work, driving trucks, and operating combines on the most challenging wheat fields in the world.

"He loves working grain harvest," said Virginia, his wife, who does not share his passion. She knows the dangers of operating combines and worries about Jim almost as much as she misses him during harvest.

Romine was born in Merced, California, and raised in Prescott since he was three days old. He has worked the area's grain harvest since he was 16 until he left to join the navy for six years.

He returned to Prescott after the navy, and after only a month, Romine started working as a deputy sheriff at the Walla Walla Sheriff's Office.

He worked at the sheriff's office for 37 years, and for the last 30 years, he could take three weeks off a year to work harvest-his idea of a vacation.

"He loved taking those three weeks to work harvest because it reminded him of what was real," Virginia said.

After retirement, Romine works the entire harvest, which can take three to four weeks in a typical year. With higher precipitation, this year's harvest is not only late but taking longer. Combines move slower in fields with higher yields, making for long days and weeks.

Romine started combining this year's harvest on July 13 at Erwin Farms outside Prescott. He has worked harvests at the farm for 25 years and, so far, has worked every day but one this season. With weeks to go, it is nice to know there is someone as passionate about the work as he is skilled.