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(Continued from Part 3.)

The Future of Farming

The smallest of agricultural tools demonstrates the largest of problems in farming today. Small funnels are often thought of as almost disposable, but this one and its sticker saying the price survived all of these decades to become a component in this discussion. The funnel is from 1977 when my dad was young long before I was born. It was 59 cents. A comparable funnel today is around 5 dollars. Let us call it almost a ten to one ratio because you have in many states to add sales tax. Corn prices back in 1977 were about $2.30 a bushel. Corn prices 40 years later were $3.61. (I recently had a quote for corn at $4.30 a bushel.

The highest that corn sold for is a little under $8.50 a bushel back in 2012 due to some serious weather issues and decreased production forecasts.) Farmers were selling corn a little over 50 percent more 40 years later while purchasing equipment that could have been 1,000 percent more. Even with increased yields with improved varieties, this is simply not sustainable. Every piece of agricultural equipment that I can think of is higher in that time span. Back in 1977, a 125 hp tractor was about $20,000. Something comparable today can be over $100,000. Even larger tractors can easily cost a million dollars today. There is a lot of truth in the joke of how to make a million dollars farming: start with two million.  There is still money to be made for the most efficient farms, but it requires people to have an understanding about business, weather, and history as much as it is about equipment.Continue reading“Thoughts on Farming – Part 4, by Single Farmer”

(Continued from Part 2.)

Wheat Farming in the Heartland: A year in the life of a wheat farm

We are a diversified family farm actually growing multiple crops to provide diversified income streams. We own all of our acres and have no debt. This will be covered extensively in the part which covers the “Economics of Farming.” Everything is grown that is sold is for profit. If a crop is no longer profitable or has a strong possibility of becoming unprofitable, it is not grown or sometimes grown in a limited amount. Just because we can grow something in quantity, does not mean that we should.

In pre-industrial America, a wheat farmer had to do these tasks by hand: cutting, bundling the sheaves, drying, threshing, winnowing, and storing. When wheat is at the stage which can be expressed as “amber waves of grain,” it describes the color transformation stage from green to amber in the ripening process on the road to harvest. This first stage of the harvest required great physical stamina in swinging a scythe where two acres a day would be a routine amount using a scythe with a cradle. This was an improvement over using a sickle where usually well under an acre could be cut, but this was a forward movement in efficiency.Continue reading“Thoughts on Farming – Part 3, by Single Farmer”

(Continued from Part 1.)

Successful survivalists consider a variety of scenarios including looking at how previous generations survived to glean any wisdom that they can take as compensation for their time. All of us are only here because our ancestors somehow managed to carry themselves genetically forward. For most of human history, it was difficult to get enough calories to barely stay alive and this fact is lost upon most people as they have so many choices today often struggling on what cuisine to eat, and not how to find food.

A common cause of death throughout history has been starvation, due to crop failure. A lot of individuals reading this if asked to name a critical event of the 14th Century would say the “Black Death” — also known as the Bubonic Plague — reducing Europe’s overall population from 1346 to 1353 by about a third with mortality rates of often 80 percent or higher depending on the plague year. Few people know that just a little earlier in the 14th Century there was a large food crisis that is very important to our discussion on farming. Throughout history, people would often go from harvest to harvest and the slightest interruption often meant disaster as crop yields were not large multiples, but were often in low single-digit multipliers in productivity. Often it was two to one or even lower with even higher loss percentages.Continue reading“Thoughts on Farming – Part 2, by Single Farmer”

I want to tell you about an amazing group of people. They make sure that you not only stay alive, are well-nourished, and that you have your choice of a delicious variety of food that Kings and Queens of yesteryear could not dream of, all at relatively low prices. Contrary to what you’ve been told, prices are still fairly low by historical standards and food quality is high. I know that you or someone you know has recently been to the grocery store and you think the prices are high, but wait until you hear about the state of the farm economy and I will give you some practical thoughts that may help your family in the future. In this article series, I am going to take you on a journey through history until the present where you probably interacted with the products from a family farm, probably three or more times per day.

The full depth of an article covering family farms could cover many volumes. So I will not be able to take you down every interesting road showing you every interesting detour, but I do hope to provide you a comprehensive overview of how a seed planted in the previous year harvested midway the following year could become a component in your breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, or dinner — keeping you alive and healthy. I will introduce you to a farm family that survived the Great Depression including one of their stories of thrift, through using something most people today would discard.  There are so many lessons to be learned in these struggles during previous tough times.

Continue reading“Thoughts on Farming – Part 1, by Single Farmer”