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Columnist Defends
'large farming operations'
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In a recent series of articles in area newspapers concerning megafarms, authors Mike Wagner and Ben Sutherly imply that large scale livestock operations were bad for the environment and were driving smaller farming operations out of business. For the past 25 years I have probably been involved in agriculture as much as anybody. I have been on farms, ranches and agribusinesses from coast to coast.
In this article I would like to address the issues surrounding so called "large farming operations". Since they are bringing back the television series, "Dragnet", I will quote Sergeant Friday: "Just the facts, Sir, just the facts." Let's begin by asking the question: "Why large farms?" The answer is: cheap food. The competition for your food dollar is global. With large ships, huge airplanes and new technology for preserving perishable commodities, our farmers must compete against producers around the world to sell you food. Many of these countries have a lower standard of living. Thus, two major cost inputs for producing food, land and labor, are much cheaper abroad, making their produce more competitive. The only way we can compete against them is through quality, technology and economies of scale, otherwise known as getting bigger. This global competition has driven down profit per unit in agriculture. In the 1970's farmers told me their realistic goal was to net $70 per acre raising field crops. Tuition at Ohio State University in 1975 was around $840 per year. Thus, in the 70's it required 12 acres of field crops to pay OSU. Today, farmers struggle to net $20 an acre (OSU budget figures) with 200 thousand-dollar combines and cash rents averaging $90 an acre. Tuition at OSU this year is $4200 per student. If my math is correct, OSU needs 210 acres for your son or daughter. Even at the net of $70 per acre it would still take 60 acres instead of 12. Beef, pork, milk, chicken, corn, wheat and soybeans are virtually the same commodity price as 25 years ago. What have cars, homes, land, machinery, college tuition, health care and everything else done? Ten fold increase in many and that alone is probably not enough. This is why 300 acres or 30 cows today are not enough to feed the kids, much else educate them. The second issue I want to address is: "What are mega or factory farms?" In the mid 1950's the Wyandot County Extension Agent's parents immigrated to Ohio from Holland and set up a 100 cow dairy. Since most dairies then were less than 30 cows, the neighbors began to fuss that these foreigners' mega farm would drive them out of business. I guess some things never change. Today 100 cow dairies are common in Ohio. Fifty years later there are farmers coming to Ohio from the Netherlands setting up 600 to 1500 cow dairies and people are screaming that these mega farms are going to drive small farmers out of business and ruin the environment. I repeat, what is a mega farm? During Christmas Keith and Lois Jean Britton of WEEC radio visited their daughter near Fresno, California. After church services, a local farmer invited them to visit his dairy farm. He had immigrated to America from Holland in 1955. This man was milking 6000 cows. I'm sure he does not view a 600 or 1500 cow dairy as a factory farm. He would probably call them a small farm. North of Lafayette, Indiana there is a 12,000 cow dairy across the road from a 5000 cow dairy. I wonder if a 1000 cow dairy is a factory farm to them. All of these farms are owned and controlled by farm families. Transportation is an important cost. Remember, it takes 1200 cows to fill a semi truck these days. The factory farm series mentioned Ohio Feedlot. Today, they have 10,000 head of cattle - half the number of cattle it had in 1977. No one mentioned it being a factory farm back then. Three years ago I toured 100,000 head beef feedlots in Garden City, Kansas. One operator apologized because he only had 40,000 head to tour. The last issue I will address in this article is large livestock and the environment. There is no question that the largest public relation disaster ever in Ohio Agriculture is Buckeye Egg. But that is an isolated management problem. I have toured large poultry operations in Darke, Mercer and Union Counties that were very well managed, utilizing composting and other technologies to produce an environmentally acceptable product for field crops. In a recent OSU survey Ohioans are concerned about large-scale livestock operations posing a serious threat to the environment. Producers are concerned about this issue, too. No one wants to ruin their community. Yes, many of the large dairies are being constructed by the Dutch. But let's remember that they are used to rigorous environmental controls, which have already been adopted in Europe for decades. Also, economy of scale allows producers to be able to afford expensive structures and technology to prevent damage to the environment. Are four new large livestock operations going to affect our environment? Let's look at the numbers. I will state numbers for the year 1960 and put in parentheses ( ) 2001 numbers in Clark County: sheep 19,188 (800); milk cows 12,467 (250); total cattle 35,009 (11,300); hogs 67,855 (13,900); laying hens 76,568 (<500); broilers 135,500 (0); and turkeys 79,225 (0). As you can see, the manure produced today is nothing compared to 1960. There is actually more cropland today to spread manure on than in 1960. With good management, livestock farms can be good neighbors. Let's work together for a better tomorrow. The real question is, who is doing public relations for animal agriculture? It better be everyone who produces livestock and then some. 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: February 2003 |