Handheld Two-Way Radios Fundamental to Potato Farm

Midland's handheld two-way radios are pivotal to farmer Brandon Hurst's operation based in Idaho. 

He shares how he uses handheld two-way radios on the farm, what he loves about the business, and more.

About Hurst

Brandon Hurst is a fourth-generation farmer in Delco, Idaho on the Snake River Plain. 

There, his family farms sugar beets, corn, potatoes, wheat, custom alfalfa, pumpkins and sunflowers for agritourism, and forage crops like beardless barley.

As the second of four boys, he was always helping out on the farm, but for a time, he thought he life might take a different turn.

"Honestly, when I was growing up and I was in high school, I was really into music and wanted to be a sound engineer. After high school, I came to a realization that's not going to happen and I don't like that lifestyle anyways." 

Finding his way back to the farm

He moved out, went to college, and felt a longing for the farm. After getting married, he returned to the farm and hasn't looked back.

"The biggest thing I missed would be the freedom I felt on the fam and the lack of people around me. The older I get, the more I realize I don't like being around people. I say that, but my wife would tell you that I'm a very social person which is true, but I don't enjoy large crowds. I don't enjoy lots of people." 

When he was young, he gravitated towards the equipment side of farming because it was fun and exciting. However, as he's gotten older, he's become more passionate about the business side of the operation. 

"That's really fun to me- trying to find new markets, trying to organize logistics, timing, people, especially at harvest time. To me, that's way more fun. I also enjoy the problem solving."

Bringing the farm to social media

Hurst's first wife passed away in 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic. While her death wasn't due to COVID, it brought a different set of challenges.

"There were a lot of goals that she and I had together that we didn't quite get to do."

They had talked about building backdrops for photography.

After remarrying in 2022, he sought out to do just that with the help of his wife's passion and expertise in social media. 

"I started doing social media as a way to promote the sunflowers and the pumpkins. I also was promoting my story as to why I was doing the sunflowers. I was already taking so many photos on the farm so I felt like why not just post them. It kind of turned into a bigger thing, kind of naturally."

May on the farm

By the start of May, everything on the Hurst farm should be planted, with the exception of corn. They usually finish up planting corn at the start of the month.

It's around this time the farm transitions to maintenance mode.

"We are irrigating which is different than most farms in the US, something I'm learning on social media. I learned that 15% of US farmland is irrigated so 85% is not which is a wild number to me."

During the month of May, they're also spraying sugar beets and cultivating potatoes. 

Handheld two-way radios for the farm

The Hursts have been using two-way radios since the late 70s and early 80s. 

However, they've only just started using Midland's handheld two-way radios in early 2025. 

They use Midland's GXT67 GMRS 5-Watt Walkie Talkie - GXT67 PRO.

He said they'll most likely get the most use out of the handheld two-way radios during potato harvest season.

"You're harvesting in the field and then you have the potato cellar where you're cleaning all the potatoes, sorting through the potatoes. We have somewhere between 18-20 employees that time of year so a lot of communication needs to happen really quickly between a lot of people."

Speaking from experience, Hurst said a good two-way radio is crucial to the cellar crew. 

"I run the cellar crew. It's loud. You've got electric belts, motors, fans, different things running all the time so the speed and the volume is what we're really looking forward to."

The farm prefers handheld two-way radios because they can move with them. 

"They're fast. You don't have to wait for anyone to answer a phone call. We're always in and out of tractors and trucks."