http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_121853.shtmlBy David Hall
Oct 25, 2020
Occasionally I write a column about something I really know very little about, this will be one of those columns. Before March of this year most of us had never heard about coronavirus or the term essential jobs. When we really think about it farming is one of our country's truly essential jobs that many of us know very little about. Coronavirus has changed our lives; we can surely get by without coronavirus but we can't get along without our farmers.
It surprises many people to know that several of "Our Founding Fathers" actually owned farms, in fact they could also be referred to as "Our Founding Farmers." George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson are some that come to mind right now. In all sixteen U. S. Presidents through George W. Bush have either lived and/or worked on farms and ranches.
In Colonial America agriculture was the primary livelihood for 90% of the population, as our new country became more commercialized factories began utilizing some of those workers who might otherwise be working on the farms. The number of American farms peaked at 6.4 million in 1910, the most recent count is just over 2 million. Today farm workers comprise less than 1% of our nation's salaried workers.
Some farm trivia, in no particular order:
Texas leads the nation in the number of farms with just under two hundred and fifty thousand, second place Missouri has just under one hundred thousand. Today there are slightly more than two million farms in the entire United States.
The average farm size today is just under 450 acres, an acre is 43,560 square feet or 640 acres to a square mile. Maybe an easier way to picture the size of an acre is to know that a regulation football field consist of 1.32 acres. A single acre can grow 50,000 pounds of strawberries or 3,000 pounds of wheat. A fact that is still difficult to grasp is that a strawberry is technically not a berry.
Farming has changed in every state in the last 100 years. In 1920 in Texas there were 436,033 farms and the average size of each one was 261 acres, today there are 247,000 farms but the average size has increased to 514 acres.
The average age of a farmer in Texas today is 59.
Very large scale family farms comprise just 2.5 % of our nation's farms, however they account for over two thirds of dairy production and more than half of fruit and vegetable production. Another interesting statistic is that today women make up more than one third of all our nation's farm operators.
A farm is a place where crops are grown or where livestock is raised in order to collect resources from them, a ranch is generally thought of as a large farm where the main product is livestock.
Today the famous King Ranch in South Texas covers approximately 900,000 acres; it is one of the largest ranches in the world. In comparison John Malone is the largest individual landowner in the United States with 2.2 million acres of land. Media mogul Ted Turner is our nation's second largest individual landowner with two million acres, one of his many interests is restoring our country's endangered bison population.
Warren Buffet's son Howard is America's richest farmer, he has spent most of his life in that profession.
Mainly through the use of better technology and other improvements today's farmer is able to feed 168 people, this is in comparison with 1940 when each farmer could feed 19 people. There are basically seven types of farms, the small family farm mainly produces enough food to feed the family with little or no surplus for sale. Other types are commercial farms, crop farms, dairy farms, fish farms, meat farms, and poultry farms. Vineyards are also considered farms, this is because grapes are the product of the vineyard and as such are an agricultural commodity.
Beef cattle are generally thought of as the most profitable and easiest livestock to raise for profit. They simply require good pasture, plenty of extra hay during the winter, fresh water, vaccinations when needed, and room to roam. For the small farm smaller animals are better choices.
There are many jobs in our country that deserve much more respect and support than they often get, farming is just one of them. We can't get along without our farmers, after farmers get their work done then truckers are needed to transport the food to grocery stores throughout the country. Farming is just one of the many professions that work together with other professions to make life better for all of us.
Popular country singer and native Texan Willie Nelson gave his first Farm Aid concert September 22, 1985, it was created to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to keep farm families on the land. Willie intended it to be a one time event, however after 35 years it continues each year giving back to our nation's farmers each year.
"The Real McCoys" was a popular television show from 1957 to 1963, it starred Walter Brennan and was about a West Virginia family that moved to California after inheriting a farm. It gave some insight into farm life, however not much about the many very involved aspects of all the work that farmers really do. While watching the show I used to think that real farm life must not be easy, after all it's not a 9 to 5 job with two days off each week. Through the six year run of "The Real McCoys" 409 actors and actresses had small parts in the show but the general theme of each episode usually revolved around less than ten main characters.
A good friend of mine has several relatives that are in the farming industry; he tells me that because of increased government regulations and other problems the farming industry is not near as attractive as it used to be. We non-farmers also often tend to overlook the fact that people who make their living off the land are very much dependent on the weather and we can't control that. We all need to always give the American farmers our respect and support, probably now more than ever.
There is so much more material available about farming and farm life that's it's almost impossible to write a short column on the subject, a great deal more material can be found on the internet and YouTube or the InnerTube as a friend of mine mistakenly called it one time. There is also a show named "Cowboy Dan" on TCT (Totally Christian Television) Kid's Network, Dan Harrell is a real life cowboy who was raised in West Texas. While the show is mainly geared towards kids almost every day there is some interesting segment about life on the farm that most of us don't know much about.
