By Bill Barth
Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame.
Autumn brings crisp cool air and a burst of color as Mother Nature stages her big annual show.
It also brings the farm harvest season, which is the topic for today. Big machines move across the ground in rural America, bringing millions of bushels of grain to market. Drivers along nearby interstate highways see the clouds of crop dust rising toward the sky.
Farmers produce a variety of crops and livestock, but I’m going to focus on corn and soybeans because that’s what is raised on the Barth family ground in Edgar County, downstate Illinois. I was raised there and spent formative years working the land with the men in my family. Journalism took me on a journey, but as my mother often told me, “You can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm off the boy.”
Since Dad passed a couple years ago it has fallen to me to manage farm business affairs for myself and my sister, Kathi. I’m not driving a tractor or combine – though I certainly have – because Dad’s brother, Lee, has worked the ground for more than 50 years. We call each other “brother” as well, because Lee is just over four years my senior. We were kids together and now the farm has brought us full circle.
What I write about today, though, involves economics. Or, more specifically, the constant whining about the high price of what we eat. Call this essay “Don’t Blame the Farmer.”
I’m reminded of a quote. Different time, different topic, but somehow apt: “Never … was so much owed by so many to so few …,” said Winston Churchill, speaking of the brave pilots of the Royal Air Force. The same sentiment could apply to America’s farmers, the surprisingly few who feed not only this nation, but much of the world.
Let’s look at some statistics:
- America began its story as an agricultural society. As late as 1900 nearly 40% of the workforce still toiled on farms. By 1950 the U.S. population had risen above 150 million (it’s about 330 million today), yet only 7.6 million worked the farms. By 1990 the number dipped to just over 2 million – a decline of 74% – and has stabilized in that range.
- Family-owned farms still make up more than 90% of the total, which puts the lie to the notion that China or some other country is buying up all the land. Even so, the total number of U.S. farms has dipped below 2 million, a 7% decline since the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture, which is taken every five years.
- Total acres in production declined 2%, and the average family farm is 463 acres. The Barth farm falls in that range, just a few acres larger.
- Hired farm help has risen slightly in recent years. Here’s the key statistic. Nearly two-thirds of hired farm workers are of Mexican or Hispanic heritage. About half are U.S. citizens. Ask yourself: What will happen to production and food prices if America follows through with the threat of mass deportation of these crucial workers?
The foremost issue in this political year, as usual, is about the economy. Specifically, rising prices of staples like fuel and food. Economists would argue much of the inflationary pressure occurred due to pandemic shutdowns, too much money pursuing too few goods as production ramped back up, and disruptions in the supply chain. Not politics. This much is certain, though: Farmers aren’t getting rich along the food chain.
Here is a breakdown of where your food dollar goes: To the farmers, 7.8 cents; food processors, 15 cents; packagers and shippers, 6 cents; wholesalers, 9.1 cents; retailers, 12.6 cents; energy, finance and advertising, 10 cents; and food services (that’s restaurants and fast food) 36.7 cents. Not only do Americans spend too much money eating out, it’s making us a portly pack in the process.
By the way, trend lines are going the wrong direction, at least for farmers. Remember, on our farm we raise corn and soybeans. The price farmers get for beans has fallen around 40% in a year. For corn, it’s the same story, approaching a 50% drop. Meanwhile, our cost for inputs – think seed, fertilizer, herbicide – last year rose nearly 10%. One need not have a degree in agricultural economics to understand that poses a scary scenario.
Farmers are a tough and independent lot, though, so they’re not crying for compassion or rescue. They just work harder, with the eternal optimism that next year will be better. And maybe it will. Or not.
A little understanding, however, would be welcome from the vast majority of Americans, who think food grows on grocery store shelves. A relative handful of people give the masses the plenty they have come to expect. Farmers do it not for the money – there’s not a lot of that – but for the traditions and freedoms on the land.
Let America’s grand intellectual father, Thomas Jefferson, explain it:
“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands. Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.”
Bill Barth is the former Editor of the Beloit Daily News, and a member of the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame. Write to him at bbarth@beloitdailynews.com.
