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On Many Farms, the Future has Already Arrived

Imagine meeting a farmer with 12,000 acres of crops who rarely spends time on his tractor. Just a few years ago that would have been unheard of. Today, it’s just another day on the farm.

According to Jeremy Jack, a farmer in Mississippi, gathering and utilizing data and technology is the only way farmers will be able to meet the challenge of feeding the world in the future. While many people agree, they are surprised to learn that such methods are being used right now on a number of farms. That’s because farming technology such as self-driving tractors don’t get a lot of media attention.

In his article To Feed Billions, Farms Are About Data as Much as Dirt, author Christopher Mims reports he also was surprised by what is happening on many farms today.

The cab of one of these self-driving tractors is now so full of screens and tablets that it has come to resemble the cockpit of a passenger jet—an accurate comparison in more ways than one, since perhaps only the airline industry can match farming in the degree to which its vehicles have become automated.

In fact, many tractor manufacturers today have thousands of software writers on staff.

 The result is that [farm equipment manufacturers] aren’t just turning out tractors, combines and trucks that can drive themselves and even each other, automatically coalescing into tight    formations as they cross a farmer’s field, like fighter jets at an air show, they are also turning out wirelessly connected sensors that map every field, as well as planting and spraying machines that can variably apply seed and nutrients to a field, as if they were 20-ton print heads for 3D printers.

While this may shock a lot of people, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If farmers are going to feed 10 billion people on perhaps less land and with fewer resources than they have now, they will need to be well prepared. And as is usually the case with farmers, they are prepared sooner rather than later.

Another Summer Ends with a Slight Decline in the Popularity of Farmers Markets

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the farmers market boom over the past decade may be slowing down – just a bit. The USDA also reports that food sales at local farm stands, markets, and other similar venues are also waning.

The USDA reported in January that food sales at farmers markets dropped one percent from 2007 to 2012 after increasing between 32 to 37 percent from 1997 to 2006. And while the number of farmers markets continues to grow, that growth has slowed down considerably in the past two years, increasing by only two percent.

Despite this trend, the number of farmers selling directly to consumers continues to rise. What’s more, this slight downturn in the popularity of farmers markets may actually be a good thing for farmers. Consumers and farmers list the following upsides to the slowing of the skyrocketing popularity of farmers markets:

  1. Farmers markets aren’t particularly cost-effective. Farmers markets offer slim profit margins, especially when you consider the work it takes to prepare for them. Plus, most farmers would rather be farming, not necessarily marketing their food.
  2. Farmers can make more money when they sell their food directly to schools, grocery stores, or co-ops. This is a win-win situation because it means people still want locally-grown food but are willing to look for it in places other than just farmers markets.
  3. Buying local at bigger stores is now an option for consumers. While everyone would love to buy fresh local food straight from the farm, times are tight. That means many consumers simply can’t afford to pay the premium prices that some farmers markets charge. Whether or not it is true, people perceive that grocery store food is cheaper. Now they are able to get local food at grocery store prices.

As is the case with everything to do with farming, ingenuity is key. Therefore, while farmers markets continue to be popular, most farmers realize that they need to sell their goods in a variety of ways. That means selling delicious, healthy foods to co-ops, big grocery store chains, schools, and, of course, to community members at the local farmers market.

Excessive Regulations Hurting Many Farmers

Wendell Berry once wrote, “Farmers farm for the love of farming. They love to watch and nurture the growth of plants. They love to live in the presence of animals. They love to work outdoors. They love the weather, maybe even when it is making them miserable. They love to live where they work and to work where they live.”

Unfortunately, many farmers say that the rules and regulations coming out of Washington today are making it tougher than ever to farm. A hundred years ago, almost one in three Americans worked on a farm. Today, less than three percent of Americans work on farms. During this same time period, the number of farms decreased from almost seven million to two million.

Of course, the decrease in farmers and farms can be attributed to a number of factors, including larger farming operations that have taken over many family farms and migration to the cities. However, many farmers say that they have grown weary of rules and regulations that seem to have little to do with farming and more to do with red tape.

According to Dwight Koops, president of Kansas-based Crop Quest, increasing regulation is one of the most frustrating trends in agriculture today.

“Immense pressure is being put on farmers to track the origin of all commodities and products grown for consumption,” Koops says. “The technology and paper trail that this will require will vastly change how and what gets accomplished on a typical farm operation in the future. The cost to producers and consumers will be a huge burden as well.”

Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation agrees. In a January speech he noted that, “As damaging as the weather or economic winds can be, farmers’ and ranchers‘ biggest challenge these days seem to come from their government.”

Stallman went on to say that while farmers and ranchers care deeply about the environment, excessive restrictions and regulatory costs will prevent them from sustaining the nation’s food supply. In short, farming and ranching will become economically unsustainable.

Many farmers say they are worried that they will be regulated out of farming. They add that complying with all the new regulations will mean that they will not be able to turn a profit. While these farmers understand that some rules and regulations are necessary, excessive regulation is running small and family farms straight out of business.