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Mar/Apr 2002: Biotechnology is NOT Saving the World
Jan/Feb 2002: Farm Numbers Dwindling? They Don't Have To.
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Nothing is Inevitable
Editorial from the September/October 2001 issue of Small Farm Today® magazine.
Sue Breiminger, a subscriber from Colorado, recently sent us an interesting article titled, “Credit relief is no substitute for ag income,” from The FencePost.
In this article, Dave Carter, President of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, testified to the Senate Ag Committee that, “Yearly injections of federal financial assistance to agriculture have underwritten the apparent financial health of the nation’s agricultural credit system, but have created a 'house of cards’ that could collapse as easily as during the farm crisis of the 1980’s.”
Mr. Carter brought up three points that you should know and think about:
1) “The number of commercial agricultural banks has declined by 25% since 1992.... Traditional agricultural leaders are now focusing on serving the largest producers,” while the consolidation of the banking systems has eliminated agricultural portfolios from some banks altogether.
2) Machinery companies, seed companies, etc., are filling the lending gap at a price sometimes as high as 17.5%.
3) “The financial sector, and the value of ag land, has been underwritten by $69 billion in federal farm payments since 1996.”
While it is very important to be aware of these points and how they affect you and your farming operation, the most important part of the article was the title, “Credit relief no substitute for ag income.” To be sustainable, it has to be profitable!
Just as I finished the paragraph above, a farmer friend from Alabama called and told me he was having a “Macher moment.” While working in the field, he was thinking, “How is it that farmers, a minority group that work much harder than most folks and produce a quality product, end up on the bottom rung of the pay scale?” He said any other business in this situation would be at the top rung of the pay scale. He finished, “It is just not fair that agriculture is treated this way!”
He is right—it is not fair—but then, most of life is not fair.
In the same vein, I received an e-mail from a farmer and researcher in Yorkshire, England, where, he says, “the family farm is finding it more and more difficult to remain in existence. Many of your small farmers in the U.S.A. seem to have a much stronger will to resist what most farmers over here regard as an inevitable decline. This is reflected, as far as I can see, in many small U.S. farmers taking a more independent, entrepreneurial, environmentally-aware approach to farming.” Here I was thinking that England has been more successful with small farming than us. I guess the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence—or ocean.
Biotechnology comes to us from the same folks who promoted chemicals, except they have expanded their control to seed companies, processing, and even into the retail markets. I suspect their final goal is ownership of the entire plant and animal kingdom.
As dire as all this sounds, there is a bright side. Many small, independent seed companies have sprung up and are doing quite well selling open-pollinated seeds and promoting biodiversity.
Livestock, too, has a diverse future. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) will have a large exhibition (and meeting) at this year’s National Small Farm Trade Show and Conference (November 1-3 in Columbia, Missouri—see link or center of magazine for details). These animals are not under the control of big companies. They are excellent for direct marketing to consumers who prefer their meat from animals raised in a humane and sustainable manner. They are well-suited for cottage industries (e.g., fiber products, such as sweaters), besides saving genetics for the future.
The point I am trying to make: nothing is inevitable. Things are the way we let them be and we change what we really want to change. The two most important things small farmers need for success are the willingness to work together (drop the John Wayne mentality) and to sell everything produced for retail, direct to the consumer.
The best tool in your small farm toolkit is your attitude for success. If you believe you can be successful—regardless of the B.S. coming from the bureaucracies—you can!
Happy and Profitable Farming,
Ron Macher
Publisher/Farmer