Farming is one of the most challenging occupations that exist today.  One has very little control over market prices, government policies, trade wars, and the weather (we know not to plant in the winter and that is about it when it comes to controlling the weather).  Despite all the gloom and doom, there are many that profess that they would love to farm if it were possible.

Despite the immense challenges of farming, those who toil the soil list many reasons for pursuing this occupation.  Growing up on Brown County farms in the 1950’s and 60’s, I soon learned that one of the first reasons people gave was independence to be their own boss and decision maker.  Over the past five decades one could have virtually been a hermit and farmed.

True independence for farmers was born with the invention of the combine.   Before the combine, farmers were dependent on their neighbors to get their crops harvested.  Neighborhood threshing teams of 10 to 12 farmers purchased one machine and went farm to farm until all farms in the group were harvested.  The combine allowed everyone to become independent.

Independence on farms flourished until the 1990’s.  Buzz words like contract farming came into being.  With new technology like no till drills being too expensive for a small farmer, friends went together to purchase and share a piece of equipment.  Livestock production began to consolidate into larger units.  Hog farmers merged to specialize in production with some farrowing while others finished.  We lost all our local auction yards: Springfield then Urbana, Washington Courthouse, Wilmington, and now IBP at Lumberton.  Small producers are now teaming with neighbors so they can send semi’s of hogs hundreds of miles to a packing plant.  The broiler industry is almost exclusively contract farming.  Contract farming in hogs is rapidly gaining in popularity to reduce risk in the market place.  Beef Alliances are being formed to share premiums for quality beef from farm to supermarket.

Producers wishing to remain independent have sought refuge in crop farming; but that is rapidly changing.  With little or no profit in generic corn, wheat and soybeans, farmers are finding additional profits by sacrificing their independence.  Contract farming in grain crops is now reality.  By allowing a company to tell you what variety to plant, when to deliver, and how long to store, producers can gain a premium over generic crops.  Some farmers have banded together to buy inputs.  By giving up some independence a producer can purchase inputs cheaper by being part of a larger group with volume discounts. 

With generic soybeans at $4.45 and corn at $1.75, farmers are realizing that marketing niches need to be found worldwide.  Farmers in Illinois are selling direct into Japan and China.  Crawford County farmers are banding together to capture a market for value added crops to gain significant premiums.

While most Americans wait for July 4th for Independence Day, the American Farmer’s independence may evaporate in the new millennium.  With merger mania in agriculture, I do not see a future for farmer independence.  It’s a sad reality.  I hope I’m wrong.
 

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