‘Ben would have done the same thing’: Friends and neighbors harvest dead farmer’s crops

About two dozen area farmers honored their late friend and helped his family this week by bringing in Ben Arbeiter’s soybeans. Arbeiter, 40, died on Aug. 6 after becoming trapped under an antique tractor in Murphysboro.

“Ben would have done the same thing for my family that I'm doing for his,” said Mike Imhoff to The Southern Illinoian. Imhoff was the best man at Arbeiter’s wedding four years ago. “I'd rather Ben be here and (harvesting) his own property.”

Alinda Heron, one of Arbeiter’s sisters, said the work would have taken her brother and father six weeks to complete. Instead, 10 farmers drove combine harvesters, seven drove auger carts, and 11 others took the soybeans to the grain operator.

This story was originally published October 5, 2017 at 8:22 AM with the headline "‘Ben would have done the same thing’: Friends and neighbors harvest dead farmer’s crops."