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Farming Problems Essay, Research Paper

The complexion of farming is changing radically. The land cannot support as many

farm families as it did in an earlier time. Small farms are being consolidated

into larger ones. General farms, with several kinds of crops and a barnyard of

farm animals, are yielding to specialty farms that concentrate on a single major

crop. Family farms are declining; corporate farms are increasing. Efficiency is

growing. Crops are changing. Techniques are improving. Just as the train,

tractor, truck, and airplane changed farm life in the past, the computer and

robotics are expected to change farm life in the future (AOL, 1997). And the

outcome of this is that during the early 1980’s and continuing, the farmer’s

source of income is indeed being stripped from him. What was once the only means

of survival for these farmers, has now become distant memory. Farming techniques

are undergoing tremendous changes. Farming will surely become more efficient

throughout the world. It will also become more scientific and, in the process

perhaps lose some of its romance. People who formerly lived on farms and have

fond memories of their rural childhood will barely recognize the new farms. For

farmers of the future, it will not be enough to know how to drive a tractor and

plow a straight furrow. Farmers must change with the industry, as it becomes

increasingly more sophisticated. The farmer must become more of a specialist to

compete in the marketplace. This is a reason why many of today’s farm families

are on a decline; that is, that today’s farmers are not able to purchase the

latest machinery or equipment, for they have to be cautious about where they put

their money. The 1980’s sometimes referred to as the "farm crisis"

decade of the 1980’s, while the 1970’s were referred to as the "boom

years". It was in this time period that farms expanded in size and farm

numbers dropped. But in the 1980’s, two unusual things happened. First, older

farmers seemed to stay in farming longer. Some who might have retired didn’t

want to sell their land in a depressed market, unless forced by a lender.

Second, some middle aged farm families with children who might succeed them

quit, or discourage their children from pursuing a farming career. Other younger

farmers who had recently borrowed to start farming or to expand their businesses

were caught in the interest rate squeeze and forced out of business (Looker

1996, pp9). This fed the decline of family farms, for children, who grew up on

farms, did not wish to take upon a career as a farmer, but venture into the city

looking for better work and wages, effects that the farm life couldn’t give. The

decline of the family farm has been heralded for decades, as growing numbers of

people moved from the country top the city, and then to the suburbs. According

to an article in the USA Today, a 32-year-old dairy farmer from Fort Plain,

N.Y., says " You can get an 8 to 5 job, make a good living and still have

(spare) time, and in the dairy business, there are huge cycles in prices. Just

about the time you’ve caught up from a down cycle, another one comes

along". This illustrates why young people are leaving the farm in search

for better living conditions and money. Both the farmers and the academic

experts talk about the key role of money in the decline of the family farm.

" The evolution towards larger farms and more sophisticated equipment puts

the initial investment far out of reach for most young people". "It’s

not a small business anymore", says John Scott, farm management and land

economics professor at the University of Illinois-Champaign. "And because

farming is risky dependant on the weather, at the mercy of crop and livestock

diseases and victim of wild price swings-banks are unwilling to lend money to

finance startup operations, especially after the disastrous defaults of the late

1970’s and early 1980’s, when high interest rate plowed under many farms and

left lender without uncorrectable debts". (USA Today) This shows us how

hard it is for farmers to receive credit, to keep the operation of a farm

working. And without this credit, many farmers face the inevitable, that is,

closing and selling their farmland. Farmers, however, do receive aid from the

Government, to help them with competing prices. According to an article in the

Philadelphia Tribune, it says that if "the Congressional Budget

Reconciliation Act now awaiting presidential action is enacted, the historical

American farm family will finally vanish". The Reconciliation Act mandates

a $13.4 billion cut in agriculture over the next seven years. Most of the cuts

would effect family farmers who already suffer from a poverty rate twice that of

their urban neighbors. "For decades, farmers have been plagued by the low

market prices for their crops. Between 1982 and 1993: those prices rose only

7.5%, yet what they had to pay for agriculture inputs went up 23%, more than

three times what they earned selling their crops. Under the Reconciliation Act,

decline farmers supports payments over the seven years will worsen the family’s

lot. Family farming has always been a hard way to make a living. Since it is

getting even harder, more and more people are fleeting farming for city

life". (Philadelphia Tribune) There is also the problem of competition for

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