The young lions of ag

Dustin Marolf

One of the things I noticed in several cross-country farm tours this year is that the generational transfer of the family farm is really starting to take hold. In a number of cases, you could see that the older farmer in the operation was stepping into the background and letting the younger member take the limelight. This was a little bit the case on the Marolf farm in eastern Iowa, for example. Jerry, the father, seemed plenty content to let Dustin give me a tour of their operation. Obviously, they were both plenty capable and articulate. But young Dustin did the talkin'.

I was at a Kansas farm in June to shoot video for our cable TV show of one of the winners of our All Around the Farm Idea of the Month. Cody Zabel, who had just graduated from high school (as valedictorian), was the winning inventor, and his mom and dad had just left the whole business for him to deal with. Earlier that day, he'd been putting up hay. When we arrived at the farm, he was tearing into a truck motor. Clearly, Cody was already stepping into some big shoes on this top-notch operation.

If you look at the new Farmers for the Future social network, you get a feel for the new faces that are emerging out on the land. They give off a kaleidoscope of impressions. The photography section shows scenes of farm work, favorite farm machinery, favored farm animals, young children, goofy scenes of guys doing guy things, and beautiful farmscapes. Check out the slideshow view, and I think you'll see what I mean. The sense I get is one of a strong, young people ready to take the reins of agriculture.

Who can't but welcome these young folks into the world's most important industry? And it's good to see the older folks letting them have at it.

In praise of barn cats

I started thinking about farm cats recently when our middle-aged house cat, Tuffy, was diagnosed with diabetes. Jeepers, where did that come from? Of course, we're going to try to take care of him, but there was a part of me that questioned whether I was going too far in intervening in nature. I wondered what would happen if old Tuff were a barn cat?

Well, he might get a little extra feed and water. But how likely is it that he would get insulin shots twice a day?

I don't know how this thing with our cat will pan out, but I have to admit that darn cat is part of the family, and we aren't going to stand by and do nothing.

The incident started me thinking about the place of farm cats on the farmstead totem pole. In a recent Agriculture Online poll, dogs were the run-away winner in the farmer's vote for most useful animal.

Seems like cats earn their keep, don't they? They patrol rodent populations, they bring a certain dignity to the place with their calm demeanor, and they can pretty much fend for themselves. What's a dog do to earn its elevated status? Bark at the moon and chase cars? Yet dogs get to ride in the pickup, appear in seed corn commercials, and maybe even pose in the family Christmas card photo.

By the way, check out that farm animal poll, and you'll see there are some other nominations for our appreciation. There's the horse, of course. But anybody keeping mules? Says one farmer, "If it weren't for the mules we wouldn't be farmin'." Or what about guineas? Great for tick control, as well as eggs, one farmer says.

What animal do you think is most useful around the farm?

The real hard times

My grandparents, Otto and Alma Betke

In a new Agriculture Online poll, farmers express major concern about the ag economy. Uncertain times it is out on the land as well as on Wall Street and Main Street.

The financial meltdown we've all been living through, drawing comparisons to the Great Depression and other worst-ever scenarios, has had me thinking about personal roots and old stories of hard times.

My greatest heroes are my grandparents, Otto and Alma Betke, who farmed through the Depression and the Dust Bowl in Buffalo County, Nebraska. Grandpa once told me what it was like during the Dust Bowl days, one year to have the entire wheat harvest be two sacks of grain. "That's all we took to town," he said, shaking his head.

In the picture above, taken in another tough year, Otto and Alma were pretty proud of their wagon load of corn. Their faces are wind burned, and they look dog tired, but they took the time to pose with an artistic touch, getting their German shepherd to hold an ear of corn in his mouth. Picking corn by hand was always one of the toughest jobs on the farm, I'm told. Here is what the real hard times look like, and the folks took some passing pleasure in their humble harvest.

I don't think the Betkes ever looked to town for a financial bailout. They planted windbreaks, tilled a bigger garden, and expanded their eggs-and-butter business. They faithfully planted their crops until the good times returned.

So when I start worrying about the current financial crisis, I try to remember to take a look over at this picture in my office and remind myself what real hard times look like. The Betkes got through it, and lived long, happy lives. So will we, I suspect.

Eternal search for land and cattle

Starting out in this business many years ago by writing for a purebred cattle magazine, I discovered early on how many cattle operations are based on outside money or inherited capital. Lots of the leading breeders were from other industries. I wrote stories about engineers, airplane pilots, and doctors who were raising cattle as a sideline, tax writeoff, or hobby. Prosperous farmers had purebred cattle, too.

So, now when I hear the questions from young and beginning farmers and ranchers about how to get more land, and get started in cattle, you think, well, maybe you just as well ask how do you get rich. Or what is the meaning of life?

Two discussion threads in Agriculture Online this week explore the knotty questions of how you rent more land and how you make money in cattle.

On the land question, well, the tips include:

* Marry a woman who owns 1,500 acres.
* Put an ad in the paper.

There is also this bit of advice:

"Other than offering more money for cash rent, there are some in our areas trying a base cash rent with a share in any excess bushels for the landlord when the yield per acre is above a set trigger number. Some of the local landowners in our area are renting for your choice of $375/A paid up front or 75 bushels of dry corn delivered to the elevator of the landlord's choice."

Add your two cents in Farm Business Talk

On the cattle question, "Is there money in cattle," a would-be cattleman is given a good range of advice:

* Base the operation of direct marketing to consumer.

* Take it slow while you learn the cattle business and figure out where your energy level is. The energy you have determines a lot about the size and type of your operation unless you're rich and can hire everything done.

* Watch your costs closely and feed byproducts when possible to cut those costs.

* Find someone who will let you work with them to learn cattle. You should find out real fast it that is the animal for you. Then if you're still interested, look into using rotational grazing for your operation.

* Start small. But be big enough to get your feet wet. Just don't be so big that if you screw up it will break you.

* Don't skimp on the quality of the cattle. Work with a reputable dealer or go to an auction where you can buy a straight load or half a load of good quality cattle from one owner. This will save you a lot of the headaches of health problems.

* Buy yearling cattle, not fresh weaned calves, again because of the health.

* Small operations need to lock in profitability via futures or option hedges. Otherwise, you are just playing chicken with the market, given the wide swings in prices from week to week.

Have anything to add? Join the discussion: Is there money in cattle?

Where pretty comes with a payoff

What's to learn from small farms in Austria and Slovenia, pretty as picture post cards, but seemingly not much more productive than a typical hobby farm in North America?

As a visitor to the Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, which concluded in Portoroz, Slovenia, this week, I came away with several main impressions of Europe's smaller-scale agriculture. Take a tour and see if you agree.

* Farmers as "park rangers." Several top farms we visited were receiving at least half their revenue, one 70%, from government subsidies--mainly for taking care of the countryside. Europe wants its farms to remain picturesque and has put stewardship of the countryside on par with food production.

* Dual purpose cattle still rule the mountains. The dual purpose, meat and milk Simmental breed make up 80% of Austria's beef herd. Farms I visited demonstrated the demand for locally branded meat, sometimes with an organic label. An alpine farm we toured is getting 2,000 Euros for a 10- 12-month-old Simmental beefer sold direct to consumers. Exchange rate that day: 1.6 dollars. Do the math.

* Decoupling is liberating. In getting payments that aren't tied to a certain commodities, Euro farmers appear to be much more free than their U.S. counterparts to explore new crops and enterprises. Some are cashing in on the appeal of their farms for tourism and premium-priced products.

* Agritourism is a growing gold mine. In the tiny country of Slovenia alone, there are some 500 tourist farms. The ones we visited looked highly prosperous, propped up by subsidies and a growing desire by city folk to experience the authenticity of farm life. People are looking for "slow food" and a relaxing life, said one Slovenian.

* Authenticity is in high demand. Central Europeans appear to want their agriculture to weave the past with the present, the practical with the traditional. They want red-and-white cows, traditional fences, heritage fruits and vegetables, and unspoiled agricultural vistas. And, they're willing to pay for it through premium prices and federal funding.

* Small is beautiful. European Union ag leaders don't seem to see globalization as a get-big-or-get-out trend. Franz Fischler, former EU Commissioner for Agriculture, told me that "we don't all have to do everything the same under globalization. Small farms and environmental stewardship are desirable, too. We can have all kinds of farms in the world."