new farming

What's everyone's input on how the farming industry has changed?

Big business now.

Changed ?? Still plant seeds in the dirt, and milk still comes out of the end of a cows teat. What change ?

I mean there's not many small farms now its mostly big business nd also the new equipment nd such

You could go to the Case forum on page 2 and read Straw Boss's comments on this exact topic.

It sure is not as much fun as it was when I started 20 years ago or even 10 years ago.The last five years have changed almost everything.The big crop farmers pushed out alot of smaller farmers.But with $4.00 corn many of them will not be able to stay in business either.I think the ride is just starting and it is going to get interesting to say the least.

I will do that

Don't want to step on toes , but I was always told you plant seeds in the soil. And dirt is what you sweep out of the house.

Equipment and costs are up. Prices are down. Mules still kick from one end and bite from the other. Cows are still a chitty job, and goats butt. There's fewer farmers, more BFO's, and the farmers that are left are over 60 years old. Whut's changed???

I've gone from struggling to make a go of a part time farm with a demanding full time job to subsidize it to making a good living from the farm. Costs are up, I still feel like a drunken sailor in port when I start paying bills. But, overall, I like it. Part of it is that I've evolved, and gotten to be a better businessman. Part of it is prices are up. The biggest part of it is Im getting too old to keep working harder and I had to figure out working smarter.

In this part of the country..the North East..it appears that the number of farms is actually increasing, along with the number of acres under cultivation. They(governmental entities and land grant universities) are not sure of the hows and whys of it all but in Vermont the total number of farms has increased, while the number of dairy farms has decreased. New York State's Hudson Valley region appears to be experiencing the same phenomena. Private investment is buying up land and leasing/selling to young farmers who are interested in sustainable agriculture. The eat local and eat organic initiatives have spawned the CSA movement. Small somewhat diversified farms are cropping up in support of the eat local/restaurant trade. An Albany NY area cooperative was established a few years back to broker grassfed beef from small producers to the NYC restaurant/speciality butcher shop trade...and is doing quite well. There appears to be a back to the land movement among younger people, who want something better than a 9-5 job. The organic farming growth appears to be the greatest in the North East..for a number of reasons. Even the NY State Senate has introduced, in this years budget, initiatives in support of preserving valuable farm land and supporting the establishment of new farming activities/enterprises, involving young/new farmers..somewhat behind the private initiatives.. Yes, the face of agriculture is changing in the North East..words like sustainable, organic, biodynamic, locally grown, grass-fed-finished, antibiotic free, pesticide free ... along with "community supported agriculture".. appears to have taken hold... and has proven to be somewhat of an anathema to the conventional framing folks...just sit around a Farm Bureau meeting and hear the comments... but in the final analysis proving once again that an educated consumer will eventually shape the marketplace..

Well.......it went from this.....to this.....to this.

Way too much focus from extremist groups on one area of the country. Some areas of the country where large farms and large equipment aren't practical,small farms are still the norm,not the exception. You can prove it to yourself by hitting the road and staying off the freeways.

It was always big business. 200 years ago a farmer got by on 20-40 acres. 100 years ago 80 acres was average and 160 acres was pretty big. 50 years ago a man that farmed a section was a BTO. My dad raised 12 children in the 1960s working himself and the kids to death on 800 acres. Today my brother farms over 800 acres after he gets off work from his paying job.

The guy with a mule couldn't understand how a tractor would ever pay for itself. The guy with a Regular thought a 560 was an extravagance that would drive its owner to bankruptcy. The guy using a 560 thought a 1486 was a sign of idiocy. Then the guy with a 1486 thinks the owner of a MX305 is from another planet.

What's changed? From WHEN? Prior to the tractor Big farmers had lots of help or slaves. After the tractor came around farmers because more productive and hired fewer people but there were new AG related jobs selling and repairing equipment. Lot of farm boys came home from WWII with money in their pockets and that about put the horse out of business. Equipment got bigger requiring less help on the farm and kids started leaving the farm in droves. 80's farm crash put a lot of family farms under and BTO's became more common. Somewhere in there confinement barns for pigs and poultry made production go up, dairies got larger and feed lots became the norm. You still feed cows, pigs and poultry to get meat. Still milk cows and still plant and harvest crops. Hows that for summing up the last 200 years?

Rick