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'Down-home' Farms Radically Different From Central Ohio
| My life has basically been spent in two contrasting agricultures. I grew-up in Brown County, Ohio, which is very similar to the bluegrass farms of central Kentucky, with the notable exception of thoroughbred racehorses. The vast majority of farms were small hill farms where flat ground was rare and very precious. If you had any flat ground you grew high valued crops on it like tobacco. Tobacco was worth two dollars a pound, where corn was worth a nickel and soybeans a dime a pound.
Most farmers spent all their available fertilizer dollars on tobacco. In the 1950's and 1960's two acres of tobacco was average for a farm. At 2500 pounds per acre, one would gross ten thousand dollars and that basically was your farm income for the year. Livestock and field crops basically broke even after the family consumed part of the production of beef, pork, chicken, eggs and milk throughout the year. In 1971, I ventured out of the hills to the world of farming flat productive ground and lots of it. Unlike "down-home" the vast majority of land in West Central Ohio is prime ground, some of the best in the whole world. People owned big tractors and farmed hundreds or thousands of acres. Unbelievable! What was more shocking was only two farms in Clark County raised tobacco. One was Lawrence Cox and sons on Free Road and I don't remember the other. There are none today. There are two other major differences in farming "down-home" and farming in Clark County. The first difference is the role of women in farming. Yes, there are women in Clark County that feed livestock, drive tractors and /or manage farms. But there is a high percentage of farm-women in Western Ohio that beyond farm bookkeeping; are not involved in agricultural production and that is O.K. One Pike Township farmer told me farming was too dangerous and he would never let his wife drive a tractor. There are two reasons for women working off the farm. One is economic. The farm wife can "go to town" and receive health insurance benefits with her urban job for the whole family, which is a big cost, and concern for our farm businesses. There are many farm wives that are schoolteachers. The second is jobs. Growing up in Brown County there were no opportunities for women or men to work off the farm. That is not the case in Clark County. "Down home" women all work on the farm. Tobacco has a huge labor requirement. Parents and children worked from May to January side by side to raise tobacco. When I was growing up on Free Soil Road in Brown County, the plowing champion farmed five miles down the road. You guessed it - it was a farmer's daughter. Yes, the plowing champion's name was Beverly. There were a lot of Brown County men who were glad they didn't enter the contest that year, and many more who were afraid to enter the following year. The second major difference between "down home" farming and West Central Ohio farming comes during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. This is the time of year when West Central Ohio farm women are working on profit and loss statements and decorating for the holidays. In contrast, you will find all "down home" women working in stripping rooms. Doesn't sound like the Bible Belt does it? In fact Brown, Adams and Highland Counties lead the nation in the number of Churches of Christ for three counties. I guess I better define what a stripping room is in tobacco country. Around Labor Day tobacco is cut and hung on sticks in a barn to air dry. Around the holiday season it is ready to prepare for market. On every "down home" farm the barn will have an enclosed room with a heater in it to keep the family warm while they work all day and into the night. The tobacco is taken down, removed from the sticks and brought into the heated, enclosed room. One receives a higher price if it is divided into three or four grades; trash (lower leaves, highest quality and price), lugs, red and tips. The process of removing the leaves by hand and separating them into four grades is called stripping. Thus, the room that this takes place is called the stripping room. This job requires four or five people, so all family members work in the stripping room. No matter where you live, farm life is stressful and very challenging. Harvest is the reward for the hard work that takes place from planting to harvesting. As we experience the holiday season, may we be thankful for the one and one-half percent of the population that feeds the other ninety-eight and one-half percent. Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Admin. and Director, OSU Extension TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868 Updated: January 2003 |