The old milk bucket story

photo: De Ann Paulsrud

There was my old classmate and farmer friend standing at the front of the church, fighting back tears, and pulling a small piece of paper from his pocket to read from. Next to him at the lectern he had placed a rusty old bucket.

He composed himself and told the “old milk bucket story,” a eulogy to his father, who had passed away three days ago. His dad, Fred Paulsrud, was a farmer who lived out his 85 years in good standing with the land, his family, neighbors and friends.

Ted recalled his dad milking cows many years ago with that old bucket, how many he could fill with his big strong hands, a cat or two coming by to lick up the frothy overflow. That rusty old bucket was once all shiny new, he said.

And, Fred, in ill health for a number of years before his death was once a hardy and innovative farmer. He was part of a generation of farmers who progressed from buckets and pitchforks to technologies like embryo transplants and global positioning systems.

I remembered interviewing him for a farm magazine story I wrote back in the early eighties. It was a little intimidating. We called him “Big Fred,” not so much for his size as for his gravity. He was a no-nonsense fellow who I figured could spot a wrong word a mile away, like a broadleaf weed in a bean field.

Ted spent the morning of the day of the funeral pondering what he was going to say in tribute to his father. While feeding cattle, fixing fence, and moving hay, he thought about his dad and what words would work to do him justice. They came a little at a time, like the years in a lifetime.

It all came down to that rusty bucket, once new, and a prayer he wrote for his dad while doing chores.

When we’re gone, it’s good to remembered for when we were young and strong—and with a prayer.

Putting a face on our food

Daphne Holterman speaks out for agriculture

Can modern farmers make themselves heard in a world in which ag is increasingly defined by food activists, organic advocates, and back-to-the-land trekkers? Daphne Holterman, owner of Rosy-Lane Holsteins, Watertown, Wisconsin, believes we must try.

I introduced Holterman as part of a panel session at the Trends in Agriculture conference in Kansas City, Missouri this week. Holterman, whose operation includes an 850 milk cows, and 1,200 acres of crop, told the group that we must be willing to “put a face on our food,” to interact with consumers, students, activists and others. “People want to know where their food comes from,” she said.

In part as a reaction to Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, which was distributed to all freshmen at the University of Wisconsin and was chosen as the focus of a statewide reading program, she has hosted tours of her farm for various groups. She is working with local, state and national media to counter some of Pollan’s much-quoted criticisms of modern agriculture.

David Kohl, a retired Virginia Tech professor and keynote speaker on Tuesday, agrees that individual farmers must be proactive, saying “consumers want to hear directly from producers, not from trade associations.”

David Cleavinger, a Texas crop producer on our panel, is doing his share, even if as trade group member. For example, he was part of a wheat industry project that grew wheat in the middle of New York City and demonstrated to school kids how flour and bread are made. Next, they’re taking the show to Washington, D.C.

Cleavinger is optimistic about the prospects for polishing up the image of modern farmers. “Farmers are Mother Earth and cherry pie,” he said. “People look at farmers in a good light.”

Karen Ross, president of the California Association of Winegrape growers, and another member of the panel, says the image of the grower is central to her work, too. Ross has helped lead an effort to improve the sustainability of production practices used by growers and communicate that message to the public.

“I will retire when the grape grower [not the winery] is the ‘rock star,'"she said.

It was good to hear optimistic, authentic voices representing modern farming in the ongoing debate with its detractors. Holterman, Cleavinger and Ross are the kinds of people who can help change and improve the public perception of production agriculture.

A second job

Custom farming is just one of many of the other enterprises farmers choose

A good majority of farmers have a second ag-related enterprise, and there’s little limit on the imagination people bring to these enterprises, according to a recent Agriculture Online poll. Only 21% of the nearly 300 farmers taking the survey said they don’t have another enterprise besides the farm.

The most popular selections were seed production and sales (15%) and custom farming (12%). Other enterprises on the list included trucking, machinery repair, land contracting, and farm management.

In farmer comments in the poll, the rainbow of ventures possible for people farming the land is seen to be even more diverse, ranging from parting out combines to selling crop insurance.

Many of these second jobs are highly entrepreneurial. A Michigan farmer has set up home-based, USDA inspected meat processing business (http://www.johnhenrys.net/). A Nebraskan has used his past experience in the financial management industry to develop a successful business specializing in agricultural software for farmers (http://www.agmis.com). A Maryland farmer is an hunting outfitter. “Pays better than crops per acre, but you have to deal with the public,” he writes.

Probably my favorite enterprise that turned up in the survey: Operating a mini donut trailer. "Feeding the world in more ways than one,” says the Minnesota farmer. Yum to that.