More than half of family farmers have a second job. It costs more to farm now, and profit margins are thinner. Corporations own their own land, cows, hogs — and they own the packing plant, making competition difficult. The price of farmland has skyrocketed. Farming is hard work, and it’s hard to make a living at it. Sometimes it’s hard to plant that seed of hope on the farm.
Why would anyone want to devote their life to farming? Yet there are good reasons to hold on, and there are trends that suggest family farms are the future more than corporate agriculture. Here are just a few trends to consider:
1. The world needs the food that farmers provide now more than ever. By 2050, experts predict the population on the planet will reach 9 billion. Who will feed these people? Family farmers have the expertise needed to provide that food.
2. Corporate agriculture isn’t sustainable. Big Ag is implicated in environmental degradation with its role in deforestation and tearing up ecosystems for row after row of monoculture planting, its enormous water and resource consumption, its pesticides and GMOs, and because it takes from local communities when it ships all its products out, lining its own pockets. Many are researching and experimenting to find a better path, and it all leads back to family farms, localism and traditional methods.
3. Consumer demand is changing what farmers grow and how they grow it. A growing number of consumers are unhappy with what they’re getting from Big Ag. When asked, the cite health and environmental concerns. People like to know their farmers, know where their food comes from, and they are shopping locally as much as possible.
So how can you benefit from these trends on your family farm, keeping it “in the family?” Start with your kids when they’re young. Encourage their curiosity and desire to learn. Encourage their open-mindedness and flexibility, their willingness to see how different approaches can achieve the same result. Maybe today’s best practice isn’t tomorrow’s. Most of all, respect their thoughts and input. They’ll be your think tank when they get older!
Consider these stories of change, and view life on your farm through different lenses. If you’re locked into an expensive cycle with Big Seed and pesticides, consider what others have done. Think of what you can save through waste reduction. Consider no-till farming methods that are not only good for the environment but for labor time. Think about specializing or growing up or growing in the winter in a northern area, things you can do with your farm to meet consumer needs that aren’t being met. Consider becoming a leader in some aspect of sustainable farming for the future, becoming eligible for grants:
1) Read Letters to a Young Farmer from Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, a book which compiles insight from some of the most influential farmers, writers, and leaders in the food system in an anthology of essays and letters. Start thinking for the future.
2) Learn about Lean Farming, getting the maximum income from the minimum product and energy expenditure.
3) Read these brothers’ story about changing over their farming system to agroforestry — “When Crazy Pays Off.” Then enjoy these additional articles about agroforestry, a sustainable method of farming, harnessing the ecological benefits that trees provide:
- “A Quiet Push to Grow Crops Under Cover of Trees“
- “Carbon Farming: Good for the Climate, Farmers and Biodiversity“
- “The Farm for Trees“
- “Cool Insights for a Hot World: Trees and Forests Recycle Water“
- “What We Need Are Farms That Support Farmers, Consumers & the Environment“
4) How about growing for a local market during the winter? People who want to shop locally would love to do it year-’round. That’s hard in northern areas! Consider ways to specialize or reach more markets. Winter farming is one way. Or experiment on a smaller scale.
5) Precision farming. Now here’s a place you might even be able to partner with Big Ag to grow more efficiently. Big Ag’s money allowed them to develop technology, and some of that technology is available to you through subscription plans. Imagine if you could know exactly which fields, even which plants, need attention — water or fertilizer. Imagine if you knew exactly the amount required, no waste. How much would that save for you?
Family farmers like running their own business. They like growing things, having their hands in the soil. They like the feeling of family sharing across generations, sharing work, values and the ground they live on and work. They like working with their animals and living with nature. They like providing that most important and basic product for our survival on this planet, food.
It’s getting harder to hold to that life, but there’s a lot going on in the world of sustainable agriculture these days. There’s never been a greater need for the time-honored techniques of traditional family farmers. A twenty-first century tune-up based on years of scientific research can make family farms the backbone of our country once again. And younger farmers are urgently needed!
So keep the hope, feel the excitement, think local and sustainable, lean and efficient, open to new/old ideas, look toward the future with confidence that you’re more important than ever, and nurture that seed of hope.
For more ideas about family farming, please contact us.
