A Farmer on the Farm Situation

Woodrow W. Williams

[Reprinted from The Gargoyle, January, 1978]

The latest economic report sounds encouraging to everyone -- except the farmers. Some years ago, after the Korean affair quieted a bit, some wag remarked "that "everything was booming but the guns." And some farmers added "and the farmers!" Only a week or so ago a big. splash was given to the parade of tractors in Plains, protesting low farm prices. Yet I wonder if those who could afford fuel for their big tractors, or the time to drive them to Plains, has as legitimate a gripe as those staying home and trying to make ends meet.

Farming is such a varied occupation. The one crop farmers in the wheat country have been hurt badly by the collapse in the wheat price . Soybeans are not normally a sole crop, since they are usually rotated with corn. But corn prices are down, too, along with beans. The live stock farmers -- those feeding hogs, cattle or sheep, and the dairy farmers are not being hit quite so hard, but increasing costs have squeezed them, too. Those who depend on buying grain from other farmers will benefit from the lower prices, though. At least temporarily.

It is too often overlooked, though, that a ten percent drop in prices may mean a twenty five or thirty percent drop in net for the farmer. And when prices drop forty or fifty percent, as they did for wheat, beans and corn, the net may drop ninety percent -- -or even more, causing a loss!

But the most overlooked item is the effect of "booming" prices. The price of land made fantastic leaps after the Russian wheat deal, and the boom in ten dollar beans. Farmers who bought must now make payments with six dollar beans, two dollar wheat, and a dollar seventy five corn. There is less left to pay for higher priced fuel, too.

The farmer who sold up to a year or so ago may be fortunate, since land prices have backed off. A couple of farms locally were advertised for sale but failed to bring asking prices, so are being held. I doubt that many will change hands for some time now, except perhaps estate settlements.

There are still a good many affluent farmers who bought land several years ago, and reaped the benefit of rising prices during the boom. But the younger farmers are definitely in a bind, especially those who do not have a well paying-off farm job, or a wife who is employed to help pay the bills. The love the land is strong enough that many will work the long hours necessary to farm in addition to holding a factory job. And this seems to be at least part of, the cause of farm land prices being so high.

Thus, the benefits of good roads to the factory, modern economical auto transportation, and availability of well paid employment is reflected in higher priced land -- or increased rent.

I have strong misgivings as to the future of farming. I still remember that farmers were in a bind for some years prior to the collapse following the 1929 crash -- and I wonder if history is to repeat. But I am told that "things are different" now. I realize that social security payments are helping older farmers hold on and off-farm jobs are helping the younger farmer. But with the fantastic prices for machinery -- $2O,000 or more for a tractor, $30,000 and up for a combine, and repairs rising with every shipment to the dealer -- it seems to me that something must give soon. With farming such a basic industry -- I wonder what happens if and when banks and loan companies must begin foreclosing, and machinery dealers begin re-possessing. I hate to be a prophet of doom, but I do not hesitate to face reality.