Blake Marsden, a junior at Shelley High School in Eastern Idaho, works potato harvest for grower Merrill Hanny. Hanny says the students, who get a two-week harvest break from school, are essential for his operation.

SHELLEY, Idaho — Local grower Merrill Hanny isn’t sure how he’d harvest his 500-acre potato crop without a labor pool made possible by Shelley High School’s two-week fall harvest break.

For decades, Hanny has relied on high school students to provide seasonal help at harvest — driving spud trucks, sorting out defective tubers and ridding conveyors of dirt clods and vines.

He’s among the many Eastern Idaho growers who believe the long-standing tradition of harvest breaks by some Eastern Idaho rural districts provides a vital community service.

“We have to have these kids to survive on our operation,” Hanny said.

Hanny explained harvest breaks started back when workers dug spuds and filled sacks by hand. Larger school districts and many of the biggest farms — which are heavily mechanized and require less labor — have moved away from the tradition.

But there are also growers, such as Steve Christensen, of Shelley, who employ a harvest-time labor force entirely comprising high school students.

“I don’t have any other help,” said Christensen, who shares resources, including a labor force of a dozen high school students, with another grower at harvest. “We appreciate (harvest break) and try to make our gratitude known.”

Christensen acknowledges he worries every year that the harvest break may disappear.

Finding seasonal workers willing to endure 12-hour shifts has become increasingly difficult, for the local growers.

“People just don’t want to do any kind of manual labor,” Hanny said. “We’ve moved to a technology-based society. A lot of people want a job, but they don’t want to work, at least physically.”

But Hanny does count a few adults among his seasonal staff — mostly people seeking to “reconnect with their roots” and “be close to the soil.”

Harold Beckstead, an operator specialist with Thresher Wheat in Idaho Falls, uses vacation time to help Hanny at harvest. The extra income is nice, but he insists he does it because he enjoys the experience.

“I just enjoy working with the guys and working with potatoes,” Beckstead said.

Shelley High junior Blake Marsden has been working harvest since eighth grade, saving for college and a mission with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He said spud trucks get steamy and it’s “pretty much the hardest job I’ve done.”

“It definitely teaches younger kids how to work really hard,” Marsden said.

Kayla DePriest, of Meridian, is staying with grandparents while working for Hanny. DePriest takes online high school classes through the Idaho Virtual Academy and will tend to classwork during early mornings and weekends throughout harvest. DePriest derives a feeling of accomplishment from the hard work.

“It’s given me a really great appreciation for farmers and what they do and what they go through,” she said.

Duggan Grimes, a West Jefferson High School freshman also on a two-week harvest break, is earning money toward a car and dirt bike by working for a grower in Terreton, where he’s moved irrigation pipes and cleaned equipment.

Grimes said the job should help him get in better shape for football, but admits after a 12-hour shift “it feels good to get home.”