I Kiss a Family Farmer.
Some of the land he farms has been in his family for almost one hundred years. He does all the work himself at this point in his farming career, except for harvest time when two or three other folks have to help. Often those are even all family members, including his town dwelling wife at times. (I can pack a pretty tight module if I do say so myself.) But lately I have come to realize that many of those out there who are critics of farming think that the Farmer I Kiss should not be allowed to be called a Family Farmer. They think that he has too much land, too many tractors, a barn that is too big...they contend that he is "Big Ag" or "
Corporate Farming."
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| My View of the Perfect Family Farmer |
This leads me to look for a definition of any Family Business. There is a family here in town who own my three favorite Mexican Food restaurants. Because they own three restaurants does that disqualify them from being a Family Business? Are you only allowed to own one restaurant to be a Family Business? Can that family hire employees to bus tables or do only family members have to bus tables? If the Farmer I Kiss only owned one tractor, would the critics then let him be called a Family Farmer? Sounds a bit bizzare when you put it in these terms, but often bizzare ideas are quicker to float around the social media world than
truths and facts.
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| Is this tractor too big for a Family Farmer? |
I recently saw a comment on a blog post which reflected the opinion that most farmland is being farmed by corporations. I sited the
EPA's numbers that show 98% of farmers are Family Farmers. The commenter promptly said that may be so, but those 98% only farm 2% of the land. He had no information to site for his numbers, which is pretty common in social media. Just make something up and throw it out there. Other facts from USDA show that his comment is completely incorrect.
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| Do you have to hand harvest to be a Family Farmer? |
I have been around farmers and farming since the day I was born. I have yet to personally know some huge, faceless corporation that farms. Where are they? Who are they? So I started looking at all the farmers I know more closely. I do in fact know some corporate farmers. I won't use names, because it's just plain rude to start talking about folks on the internet without their permission. But for example, lets take a dad and his two sons who farm about 2500 acres with lots of tractors and plows. They have their operation set up as an LLC, Limited Liability Corporation. This makes very good business sense, and it provides some protection of their home and personal assets from lawsuits against the LLC. Now, the dad and his sons do 98% of all the work. They drive all the tractors, plant all the crops, harvest all the acres (except maybe an extra person or two to build modules at harvest, which most likely is a nephew or the Farmer Wife they Kiss.) But, since the dad and the two sons operate under "Dad & Sons Farms, LLC," do they no longer get to be considered as Family Farmers? Are they now a huge, faceless corporation? No.
It seems to me that a lot of this labeling or refusing to allow a label may be a reflection of the
class warfare being waged in our country. There are those who want to put a limit on what is ok to have or have not. If Farmer One has too many acres, he is too big, he can't be considered a hard working Family Farmer. Is it only Farmer Two, who has a five acre garden he handpicks himself, who can be considered a hard working Family Farmer? Is it really too many acres, or is it that Farmer One apperas to be more successful than Farmer Two? I hope our country is not going toward a time when the
American Dream of running a successful Family Business of any size will be looked upon as a bad thing.
I have decided to create the definition of a Family Farmer that will apply to this blog site for the rest of the blog's life: Family Farmer (noun) person or persons growing
food, fiber and fuel who are actively engaged in the day to day operation and process of growing a crop regardless of the size of the operation or processes. The person or persons must care for and about the land they use to grow said food, fiber and fuel. They must go about the growing process in a responsible manner following strict guidelines set forth by the
UDSA,
FDA and
EPA.
I Kiss a
Family Farmer.
Follow our adventure on
https://www.facebook.com/KissedAFarmer
This farm family is the real deal folks. You can believe the Internet pop culture or get the truth from Suzie Wilde.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gene. In all my life long dealings with farmers, I have yet to find one that doesn't fit my definition, big, small or any size in between.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, by the USDA definition,and you'd think they know, but on this one, they are dead wrong, most farms are corporate farms, either by assets, or structure of their business. My family has our farm structured as a corporation for no other reason than to protect our family from someone who might want to sue us if we were involved in an accident with a farm vehicle. By assets we have, because our family has farmed for generations (since immigrating from Germany in the 1840's) in the same general spot, we fall into the definition of a large farm, but our large farm basically supports our family and my in laws, we aren't rich, I drive a vehicle with over two hundred thousand miles on it, and pray everyday it goes another hundred thousand more, can't afford to replace it........ its like so many things, while the official definition sounds grandiose, in context, its often much MUCH different. Great post! :)
ReplyDeleteMany, many small and family businesses operate under some type of corporation structure these days. It just makes sense. Then the statistics go out and it looks to the world like big, faceless corporations are operating all the land. But many of these small corporations have only one member, the farmer! Thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your perspective - it takes a lot of different kinds of family farms to produce food. I own a small business, which is a corporation. It doesn't make my business a factory any more than multiple tractors makes your farm a factory. Thanks for explaining that to people!
ReplyDeleteSo very true Michele. Just because we do something that makes good business sense doesn't make us faceless or factory.
DeleteSuzie:
ReplyDeleteGreat post. You have captured eloquently in words the essence of what constitutes a "Farmer." That is why I am always proud to be able to say I grew up a "Farmer," owned and operated the family farm and since that time have worked diligently for farmers through the Crop Insurance Program.
Keep up the good work!
Bill H.
Thanks so much Bill. You have been an amazing mentor the past 20 years. You have also been instrumental in building the crop insurance program into what it is today, which is why this country still has Family Farmers on the farm. Without it, Family Farmers would vanish.
DeleteI hope everyone shares this terrific blog. Here's the deal folks...we try to be respectful in ag, but if you repeat the lie that modern agriculture is "corporate" you are telling a lie too!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great read! I am now putting a face to the face I saw at Ag Chat 2012. I woke up early this morning with many thoughts and questions that need answers so I can correctly answer our critics. My head is spinning trying to define my role as an agvocate for our profession. Thank you again for the great article. What I love also is to read how everyone else farms. Your perspective is a bit different from up here in west central MN.
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen! Yes, it is a LOT different farming out here next to the largest desert in North America. I also enjoyed meeting so many different farmers and ranchers at ACFC12.
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