-----Original Message-----
From: Barbara R Buchmayer <organic-harvest@juno.com>
To: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu <sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu>
Date: Sunday, August 08, 1999 7:36 PM
Subject: Future Generations of Family Farmers
>Dear Marian
>
>My view of where future farmers will come from is quite different from
>Ann Clark's.
>
>My husband and I have farmed for about 20 years, never quite conventional
>farmers more like lunatic fringe. We have known a lot of conventional
>family farmers and have seen some of them evolve into sustainable or
>organic farmers. We have also known and been friends with the "new
>"farmers, those that have chosen to farm but were not really raised on a
>farm or even in a rural area. In fact my husband is from a century farm
>and I was raised in the 5 acre suburbs, but I always knew I was to be a
>farmer.
>
>We have recently started bottling our organic milk and selling it in a
>metropolitan area. So after 20 years we have moved from intensive
>grazing on our dairy to not only being graziers but being organic and
>adding value as well.
>
>I believe the future family farmers will be four major groups, depending
>on how you define "family farmers". These groups being: traditional
>farmers that have evolved into direct marketers or value-adders or both;
>"new" farmers that are innovative but not terribly tied to the land;
>contract growers that really are surfs on their own farms for some large
>corporation; and large conventional farmers.
>
> 1) The strongest or toughest of these will be the farmers that
>have evolved or young farmers with traditional backgrounds that are
>drawn to sustainable farming as the only alternative they and the land
>can live with. These are the people who are committed to farming and
>will work their butts off because they can see no other meaningful use
>for their lives that can provide comparable satisfaction. These people
>know how to work and we are talking 80 hours a week as being nothing
>unusual. Some will evolve because they realize it is the right direction
>for them and others will be forced by finances to change or get out.
>
> 2) The "new" farmers will be around, from my experience about 5
>years before they realize they don't have the skills, money, commitment
>or whatever it does take to hang in there. They will add much depth and
>bring a lot of diversity to the farming community but in the end they
>really aren't committed to the land and will move on to greener pastures
>in other career areas. These are the ones that want to farm, have a lot
>to offer the ag community but really don't want to sacrifice too much.
>
> 3) The contract growers will survive on their farms but most of
>their freedom will have been taken from them in exchange for security. I
>don't have a clue how large this group will be but I doubt there will be
>very many "happy campers" among them.
>
> 4) Large conventional farmers will still be around. There seems
>to be no limit in size for these guys and yet they truly are family owned
>and managed farms. How many dairy cows can one farmer deal with? Ten ,
>twenty or maybe even thirty thousand. Its not for me but they are
>expanding every day with the only limits in sight being laws governing
>total numbers of animals per acre and "safe" manure disposal.
>
>Sadly, I don't see a lot of farmers able or willing to be direct
>marketers or value-adders or a lot of "new" farmers with the resources
>and desire to make a go of it. I would like to see lots of sustainable
>and organic farmers for the good of the land and future generations.
>
>I think if we really want to have lots of family farmers we would have to
>impose some type of quota system guaranteeing good prices for specific
>amounts of commodity with any overage selling at much lower market
>prices. Something similar to the dairy quotas in Canada with all the
>pros and cons inherent to a quota system. It boils down to: Are we
>willing to trade our freedom and independence for security?
>
>How far are we willing to go to preserve the family farm?
>
>Barb Buchmayer
>Green Hills Harvest
>organic-harvest@juno.com
>
>
>
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