I’m not really a farm boy. I’m a quasi-farm boy. My relatives farmed and I grew up around farming tangentially. My parents both were raised on family farms doing all of the chores that farm kids do, and then some. When my Grandpa Henry got sick, my Dad’s father, the three boys ran the farm. The oldest, my Uncle Thorwald, was fourteen years old at the time. It’s just what you did then. World War Two had recently broken out for America. The Depression was still lingering in the rural countryside. Most farms in the United States had yet to get running water and electricity. People did what they had to do in order to survive. It’s what farm families still do, so that the rest of us can have food on the table.
Dakotafest just concluded. I was out there on the Wednesday and Thursday of the event. There were big crowds milling around enjoying lots of activity and varied vendors. I’m always amazed by the size and complexity of modern farm machinery. Farm equipment today is a far cry from the chipped and faded Allis Chalmers I drove on my grandparents’ farm when I was but a stripling of a lad.
In 1960, the average American farmer fed 25 people all by his lonesome. Today, the average American farmer feeds 166 people. In 2023, farms generated $203.5 billion in United States’ Gross Domestic Product, about 1% of the nation’s total. If one adds in all food related industries in the United States then the total output is just over $1.5 trillion and adds up to nearly 6% of the US GDP. Farming is big business and essential to our survival, in more ways than one.
In 1960, there were 15.6 million Americans down on the farm which made up 8.3% of the workforce. There were 3.7 million farms with the average size being 303 acres. In 2023, there were 3.4 million American farmers living on 1.89 million farms with the average size of 464 acres. Today’s farmers work 879 million acres. That’s down from 900 million acres in 2017. Only 2% of the population of the United States is involved in agriculture and they feed the world.
The average price of an acre of land in the United States is $4080 and in South Dakota it’s $2920. The government says you can get started as a farmer with a $2 million capital investment. I assume that’s walking behind a plow that your horse is pulling, because that figure seems awfully low to me considering the price of land, the number of acres that one needs for economy of scale along with the amount of equipment it takes to put a crop in the ground and harvest it. Benjamin Disraeli, a Prime Minister of Great Britain in the 1870’s, said “There are three types of lies – lies, damn lies and statistics.” I think that’s true when it comes to statistics about how much money it takes to get started in agriculture.
That’s one of the reasons farmers are so old in this country. They got into the business back when it was more affordable to do so and by skill, luck and the Grace of God have lasted this long in agricultural production. The average age of an American farmer is 58.1 years and in South Dakota it’s 57.2 years. Sophisticated equipment and technology have made it easier for folks to farm into their golden years, but farming is an occupation that we will need forever. Who will be the next generation of farmers? Even if young folks are willing, how will they be able to afford to do it?
State and federal policies around issues like the inheritance tax, depreciation allowances and how to count cash in the bank – as “personal” income or “business reserves” – all factor into how “affordable” getting into farming as a business will be. People are talking about hydroponic this and greenhouse that as alternatives to current farm practices but with a burgeoning population we still need land to grow food on.
That land is getting harder to come by. It’s so expensive because as Mark Twain said, “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” In addition, urban encroachment is bidding up the price of acres and older farmers can be forgiven for cashing out and retiring by accepting the higher bid from a property developer rather than the lower price from a fellow producer. Look at Marion Road in Sioux Falls as an example. A decade or so ago, Marion Road was practically all farm ground with a house or two dotting the road along the way. Now, it’s all housing developments from the interstate to Sioux Falls proper. The same thing is happening all over this country.
At the turn of the 20th Century, President Theodore Roosevelt saw the nation growing and valuable land being snapped up. He knew Twain was right, there wasn’t going to be any more land unless some of it was saved. So, Roosevelt set up the national park system. The US government owns some 650 million acres, about 30% of the country, with 80 million of that tied up in national parks (like Badlands and Wind Cave national parks in South Dakota) and national monuments (like Mount Rushmore). I wonder if someday some future American President will set aside land for just growing food. Land that can never be sold with a national agricultural service dedicated to producing food. You never know, stranger things have happened.
When I was in elementary school my teacher asked, “Where does food come from?” Most of the kids in my school in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota said, “The store.” With relatives on the farm, and frequent visits there, I knew differently.
The kids can be forgiven. I remember when I was about 13, we were at my Mom’s folks for Thanksgiving. My older cousin brought along a girl from the big city he met while he was in the Army and who would later become his wife. Seeking to fit in and being genuinely curious she asked, “What’s the difference between the all black cows and the white and black cows?” Farm people know she was asking about Angus and Holsteins. My Dad had a wicked sense of humor and before anybody could give Big City an honest answer Dad said, “The black cows are ripe and ready for market. The black and white cows are in the process of ripening and when they turn all black they will go to market too.” He said it with a straight face, and everybody fell in line. She bought it hook, line and sinker. She was in the proverbial boat flopping with incredulity and naivety. My cousin filled her in with the truth a few minutes later. Love will ruin a joke every time. She was a good sport about it, and they are still married.
I urge you to look up radio broadcaster Paul Harvey’s 1978 speech to the FFA called “So God Made A Farmer”. There has never been a truer statement or a better tribute to American Farmers than “So God Made A Farmer”.
A big THANK YOU to all involved in production agriculture. Thanks for your hard work, dedication, stewardship of the land and long hours you put in so the rest of us can eat. While the work itself may be rewarding, I still wish it paid better.