Page 17 - KMA Ag Mag 2020

KMAland 2020 Overcoming Current Challenges in the Ag Community 17

of anything and everything na- providing services to other pro- tion cost, but we can always sell
ture and the economy throws ducers such as custom work. grain (and usually livestock) if
at them. Today’s farmers are Farmers have always faced we need money for a farm pay-
much more sophisticated – challenges and supplemented ment, etc. We can even sell
they are businessmen whose income with other work. My what we haven’t yet produced.
business is agriculture. Their great-grandfather came to Imagine, on the other hand,
analytical and risk management what later became Randolph say a furniture store. They may
abilities are light-years ahead of in 1870. He supplemented want to sell a sofa for e.g. $800.
when I started farming in 1973. farming 80A. with moving dirt If they cut the price to $700 or
Decrying the lack of young when they built the railroad $600 they still may not be able
farmers has been going on with mules and being the jus- to sell. They would love to be

for forty years that I know of. tice of the peace. My grandfa- able to price the furniture now
The facts are different – young ther was partners in a hardware they’re going to receive next
people are getting into agricul- store and had stockyards in fall. We can do that!
ture through both traditional Randolph as well as the farm. Agriculture will always be a
and non-traditional means. Ev- I’ll close with the one big ad- cycle. Figure out a way not to
ery community of which I am vantage we have in farming over drown in the trough, and get
aware has some good young almost any business I know of. ready to surf the wave. Good

farmers. Some join family op- We can always make sales. We luck!
erations, some also work off may not like the price, it may
the farm, and some find a niche be lower than our true produc-