And there go the prairie potholes....
- Thread starter Justabirdwatcher
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Having been around both- at least ranchers have some semblance of remaining habitat on their working lands. Modern monoculture farm fields are tiled, tilled, plowed, and killed so they are absolutely barren and can’t even support insects 4-5 months of the year.
Gellar
Well-known member
Iowa corn growers association says 62% of the corn grown in Iowa goes to ethanol. 21% goes to livestock feed.
First we need to debate the difference between a rancher and a farmer.
ag is no different than any other profession. A few bad apples spoils the whole basket.
It's interesting the dislike for agriculture on HT. mmtuley
Yep. And here I thought you guys liked me.
Gellar
Well-known member
As our society grows further and further removed from food procurement the sentiment will only worsen as most people only hear about the farmer who rapes and pillages his land to produce the most but they don’t see or understand the farmer who is 70 years old, has his land paid off, works 150 head of cows every day by himself, cry’s when he loses a calf in the spring after he did everything in his power to revive it, works on and fixes the tractor that his dad used on the same farm fields he still farms with it today, shuts his machine down to help his neighbor who had an accident and can’t bring his own crop in, all while he lets the neighbor kid hunt squirrels and rabbits on the back 40.
See this as a problem? mtmuley
You’re right in your post, but that guy is a rare breed compared to a few decades ago. At least here in WI, the number of small family farmers as you’ve described has really diminished in place of large mega farms unfortunately (and they are likely more apt to be the ones out tiling every field they farm).
If he’s 70 and doing it by himself, that means there is almost certainly no succession plan. That farm is not likely to exist as a stand-alone entity in 5-10 years and will get gobbled up by a megafarm or subdivided like the thousands of others have.
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Gellar
Well-known member
That kids think when you want a chicken breast you go to chick fil an and Don’t know anything about the process to get the chicken to choc fil a? Yes.
Speaking for myself on this particular topic of wetlands- it’s not really farmers (as in people), it’s very large farms (as in corporations) for the most part that are making these decisions.
No qualms with farmers at all, in fact I wish there was still a lot more of them here around where I live.
*I will concede that I am applying local observations on this issue to the prairie pothole region, which may or may not be a fair and direct comparison.
A lot of bold statements painted with a very broad brush in the replies. So just a couple of things so y’all know and don’t sound foolish. There are different types of wetlands as defined by NRCS and Corps of Engineers. Some cannot be touched without mitigation, making another wetland to take its place. Then there are farmed wetlands, can do normal farming practices but can’t fill or drain. Then there are prior converted wetlands, those you can do anything you want at anytime. Lastly, if a duck pond raised the water or messes up the drainage on the neighbors, it can be fixed. So without knowing the WHOLE story, any statements about what needs to be done, or can be done, is pure speculation at best, slander at worst.
Forkyfinder
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I dont think any of them are bad people for doing what they do, they are doing what they feel is best for their bottom line. I do the same and would if i was them. I cant stop doing what i do for work, even though its got obvious impacts.
I blame the corporations who have captured the industry, legislators, and regulators.
A lot of whats "farmed" should be "ranched" instead, and would be if heavily subsidzied crop insurance didnt incentivize otherwise.
Gellar
Well-known member
they have whole courses on succession planning for farms at our local extension office. Just because one of your kids isn’t going to farm doesn’t mean it will be sold. I can open onx and show you many landowners who succeeded there parents as landowners but do not farm the ground. The good farmers were responsible and set their kids up so they did not have to farm, but could if that is what path they chose.
That’s true, and perhaps Iowa has done a better job than WI has- around here, the amount of dairy farms overall has plummeted. The ones that still exist have, on average, gotten a lot larger.
Gellar
Well-known member
I watched an online auction in May for a beautiful Driftless Area farm with big ridges, bluffs, cold water streams, etc. A group of the family was trying to buy the land back. Their dad had put in his will to sell the land at auction, he even laid out the parcels. I walked the property with him last fall and he was very proud of it. he knew that it would cause rift between his kids so selling was the only fair way. The group of siblings ended up getting all but 1 of the parcels. The other parcel was bought by a public agency.
Forkyfinder
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Canadian milk tariffs... also killed my families midwestern dairy farm.
Gellar
Well-known member
My neighbor was a dairy farmer. Had about 50 cows. He was a bachelor, no kids, his brother helped him but died of cancer probably 20 years ago. The creamery said it wasn’t worth their time to get his milk anymore. They could go down the road and fill the whole truck at 1 stop verse going to three stops.
Just because a farm has gotten bigger doesn’t mean they are corporate. If a farmer has 3 kids that want to farm they naturally have to get bigger to support all the families. Some families have 3 or 4 generations still farming, naturally they have to get bigger.
Not much knowledge about Midwest dairy farms. Things are way different out here. mtmuley
To be clear- I’m not blaming the farmers. They are doing the best they can under the current economic constraints. Most of the small farmers I’ve met do the best they can environmentally, to the best of their physical and financial ability. Still great friends with the ones I grew up with, but I hear their struggles with what’s going on.Yep. And here I thought you guys liked me.
The entire system is what needs to change. The system that bankrupted small family farms, incentivized bulldozed hedgerows and drained wetlands, and paved the way for corporate mega farms that lost the connection to the land, along with any sense of stewardship or responsibility. The system that says “you must till, kill, fertilize, and deplete” in order to keep what is yours. The endless push for more expensive equipment, seed, fuel, and fertilizer. THAT is what I hate- not the farmer, but the fact that they’ve been forced into this system of endless extraction and diminishing returns.
Small farmers do this also. They have to. Where are you in Montana? mtmuley
