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http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_121853.shtml

By 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.

My dad, named Dick, was born in 1922 and grew up and worked on his father's farm, near Foyil, OK, until he joined the Army in WW2. When he came back from the war, he got married, went to college and graduated from Tulsa University with an accounting degree. He got an accounting job with Deep Rock in Tulsa, then moved to Oklahoma City when Kerr McGee bought Deep Rock. He retired as a Vice President of the company in 1984, and moved to the lake here he took up gardening as a past time. He had 320 acres of Oklahoma farm land from 1969 until he retired, which he leased to farmers and cattlemen. At one time, while I was a student at Oklahoma State University, I considered farming the land, and raise live stock. Things didn't pan out, and I ended up back in the Marine Corps when I graduated. I often wonder what sort of life i would have had if I had pursued farming. I admire guys on here like Jim Conrad and their work ethic, and I'm always curious as to what's on their minds. Having observed my dad's work ethic, I think he learned it from the Great Depression era on the farm.



My dad as a young child on the farm


My dad (far right) with his dad and older brother (who had already enlisted) on the farm at the outbreak of WW2.


Dad back home, visiting his sister and parents on the farm after the war

Having grown up on a family farm in the Midwest, I question the author's statement that beef cattle are the easiest and most profitable livestock to raise. My father would often say he wished he were rich so he could afford to loose money raising cattle. He spoke from experience. We raised corn, soybean, and wheat with cattle, sheep, hogs, and chickens. Over the long haul the corn, soybeans, and hogs paid the mortgage. Everything else was just a hobby.

Very good and informative post.
Sadly, family run farms are quickly becoming a thing of the past. I’d say at least 90% of what were once family owned farms in this area are now owned and run by bigger owners who farm several farms.
I can only think of two or three small farms that haven’t been bought up.
Mom & Pop anything’s, be it stores, restaurants or whatever are an endangered species.
Go big or go home is the word of the day.
7mm

If you have OnX, take a look at the names on the farms around you. Most are some kind of corporate name. Because of government intervention, even family farms have to incorporate for tax and inheritance purposes. Just having a 'family farm' is becoming a liability. The initials LLC and INC show up a lot. As the acreage goes up, you start seeing names like XXX Land and Livestock or XXX Grazing Assoc.

So true.

kwg

Only 250k?
I would have thought it higher.
Is that bases on registered "farm businesses"?
I wonder if you looked at tax returns where "occupation " is "farming" might produce a higher result?
How many just file as "self employed"?

Interesting fact about Ted Turner.
Is ranching distinct from farming in your statistics?

I grew up on a farm that my great grandfather started in the 1890s after immigrating from Germany. It’s in west central Ks. My grandfather took it from him. He had three sons. Each of them got two quarters of land (320 acres) in the 1950s. My dad went to WWII, came back and started farming his 320 acres. Next brother went to college and did not farm. Dad leased his land. Third brother made a half assed attempt at farming and eventually sold (had to) his land to my brother and my mom, after my dad died.
Before dad died, he and had grown the size of the farm to about 1800 acres and he leased 3-400 more acres. One of my brothers graduated from college and came home and partnered with dad till dad died in 1992. Dad and brother had 12-1500 acres of wheat, milo and silage. And they fed 6-800 steers. And they sold seed as an additional source of income.
My brother is now 65 and is ramping down a bit, and has dropped some leased land.
I do not know the specifics of his financials. He’s made a decent living, raised good kids, and been his own boss for close to 50 years.
He has had great years and has lost money some years.
Like the old small general store, the one man shoe store, etc, the small family farm is history and never coming back. Scale and efficiency are farming today, just like other businesses.
Looks like there will not be a fifth generation running this farm as none of the relatives have the desire or ability to run it.
That’s sad to me, but time moves on. 130-140 years of this farm is a great run.

Speaking of government intervention on family farms...a few years back I heard this on either Hannity or Rush, can't remember which. A family farm in New England somewhere had been continually farmed for something like 140 years. Then the old folks died and none of the kids wanted to farm it so it lay fallow for 10 years. One of the kids decided to farm it again. Somehow the EPA discovered some kind of wetland plants in a field even though there was no water anywhere near it. They declared the place to be a wetland and farming was prohibited. I don't remember how the EPA got on the place or if it was ever resolved.

I'm sorry I don't know, I'm not a farmer/rancher.

It is, that's a great thing about America.

When I go to the Fort Worth Stock Show and walk by the Ten-In-A-Pen stalls I see signs from family ranches in Texas/Okla. that state they've been in operation since the 1800's, that's remarkable.

The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo has been cancelled for 2021, only for the second time since 1896 (first time was in 1943 during WWII):

"Due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19, the executive committee of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo has cancelled the 2021 Show. Consultations with numerous infectious disease and public health professionals indicate the Stock Show – with more than 1.2 million guests, exhibitors and competitors converging on the Will Rogers complex – would rank as a “very high risk” for further spread of COVID-19 and potentially impact populations and healthcare systems in Fort Worth and beyond the North Texas area. We urge everyone to do their part in the effort to bring this dreaded disease under control."

I retired five years ago from farming here in ND. The dream of a small farm is long gone. Profits here problably average 50 to 100 dollars an acre not counting equipment. Subtract about half of that for equipment. You have to have acreage to make a living.
I started late in life in the early 1990s. Lost money for the first 10 years. Wages from my wife and mine keep us out of bankruptcy. Farming here turned good when the rest of the country droughted out. We had good crops and price. Never bothered by the work but the financial stress gets a lot of them. Edk

The only reason we make any money farming is because everything is paid off.

But we run old equipment.


Input costs per acre on our dryland wheat is about $140/acre. That includes everything from post harvest trucking to property taxes.

Good crop this year and with the current price it pans out to $210 acre.


Lots of the big timers have input costs over $200/acre.



They need more acres to make it work with machinery/land payments, labor, etc...


And then there is the the farm game, aka uncle sugar....

Hell Sam don’t ya know they pay you not to farm. How can ya lose. Edk

I used to have a bumper sticker:

"Crime doesn't pay.
Neither does farming."

It's a good lifestyle, great way to raise family, etc.

Sure ain't gonna make a living by leasing land. If it's been in the family and passed down from generations, hell yeah. But otherwise, forget it.

I never put pencil to paper on a per acre basis before, but turns out, annual input costs on our "wet farm" (i.e. fish farm) run pretty close to a quarter a million smackeroos per acre of water..... Dang, this is an expensive game to play!