Wages rise on California farms. Americans still don’t want the job

[The Scotsman]

Like in the corporate world, the artisan farmer cannot compete when the corporate farm can sell the goods at a lower price then the farmer can grow the crop for.

We have already both agreed that "small farms" cannot compete with large industrial scale models and are currently having a wee tête-à-tête about how smaller farms may wish to adapt in order to survive; possibly carve their own niche in order to have a fighting chance, yes? Research... ..... by smarter chaps than I in the "small farms" business have looked at some the issues we have chatted about.
One is passing farms within the family and those family members not having the right level of skills to perform the task....

This will require advice and facilitation and not just in the usual areas of agronomy, livestock genetics and so on but also recognising the fundamental strengths and challenges of the family business model and addressing issues of succession and retirement planning. Awareness of these issues has improved but awareness is not enough and there is little evidence that clear and unambiguous retirement and succession planning is a common feature of the agricultural sector. Generally, there is a need to upskill the agricultural sector as a whole through the provision of targeted and coordinated advice and training. Farmers should not just be passive recipients in all of this but can and should play an active role, building on the success of various skills and mentoring programmes.

We mentioned the employment of technology and business planning in order to maximise the potential of a "small farm"....

Where appropriate (i.e. recognising that not all farms will want or need to change) improvements to farm management and performance are essential for enhancing the resilience of the small farm (or any farm). To be successful farmers require a wide range of different life-skills and aptitudes. A successful farmer has to have business acumen in terms of financial management (attention to costs and margins) as well as technical knowledge and know-how (agronomy, husbandry, mechanical skills), market knowledge, and social/emotional/familial intelligence and awareness. If this seems to be a tall order, we need to remember that these are the attributes to run a successful farm business. Even more skills may be required to run a diversified business combining farming and other activities.

We discussed the potential of collectivising and adapting which you said was a load of crap...

Shortening the supply chain and gaining a larger share of the value of the end product is one route for improving the economic resilience of small family farms. Small farms are at a disadvantage both as purchasers of inputs (less able to negotiate bulk discounts) and as sellers (some buyers will not want to deal with small volumes). Collaboration between farmers offers one way to gain a scale

 

[The Scotsman]

Then look at an examples nearer to home. We discussed niche farming which as I think we can agree is not easy however, this is an increasing trend within the states as "sophisticated" consumers demand organic (for want of a better word) products sourced locally and sold locally...

More and more of farmers are now selling their products directly to the public through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), cooperatives, u-picks, farm stands, farmers markets and direct marketing.
In 2010, the Thompsons started pulling their custom trailer outfitted with freezers stocked with their meat to the local Moore County Farmers Markets and to a monthly market in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“It is very gratifying to know and meet so many people who appreciate what we do on our family farm. This documentary is just a little more proof of the revival that so many small family farms are experiencing.”

http://www.hilltopangusgrassfed.com/pages/a-farm-legacy-small-family-farm-grassfed-beef

Again on a more home front basis and devloping the theme of collaboration we discussed above....

Local foods sales jumping from $5 billion in 2008 to at least $12 billion in 2014 and could hit $20 billion by 2019. According to USDA, farmers markets in the U.S. increased from 1,755 to nearly 8,476 between 1994 and 2015 – more than a four-fold increase. The USDA 2012 Census of Agriculture placed the number of farmers selling through CSAs at more than 12,000 and the total number of farmers selling directly to consumers or local retailers at nearly 50,000. A more recent development in local foods has been the formation of multiple-farm networks of local farmers. The networks may be called alliances, cooperative, collaboratives, or food hubs such as “Grown Locally” “Idaho’s Bounty” “Viroqua Food Coop” “Good Natured Family Farms” and the “Oklahoma Food Cooperative” are examples of successful food networks. The National Good Food Network lists more than 300 “food hubs”

http://www.ngfn.org/resources/food-hubs

 

[Old_Trapper70]

We have already both agreed that "small farms" cannot compete with large industrial scale models and are currently having a wee tête-à-tête about how smaller farms may wish to adapt in order to survive; possibly carve their own niche in order to have a fighting chance, yes? Research... ..... by smarter chaps than I in the "small farms" business have looked at some the issues we have chatted about.
One is passing farms within the family and those family members not having the right level of skills to perform the task....


We mentioned the employment of technology and business planning in order to maximise the potential of a "small farm"....


We discussed the potential of collectivising and adapting which you said was a load of crap...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/...tematically-wiped-out-of-existence-in-america

 

[The Scotsman]

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/...tematically-wiped-out-of-existence-in-america

Okay.....so.... where to begin. The article seems to be just another doom laden pointless rant at corporate America written by a guy who spends his time ranting about corporate America and the coming christian apocalypse. He states....

Will Christians have to go through all of the chaos described in the book of Revelation? - Is the judgment of God coming to America?
They are convinced that the greatest move of God and the greatest harvest of souls the world has ever seen will happen between right now and the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to this planet.

The article you posted from Mr. Synder, includes citations from the Grace Communication Foundation where with very little seaching you find a plethora of upbeat and interesting articles about how to start, manage and thrive with small sustainable farms and points to other authoratative sites where funding and further information is avaliable - not sure what Mr. Synder was quoting. The article also provides a link to the EPA where again you can find very good and informative advise and information for small farmers - seems to have bypassed Mr. Synder. None of them are doom laden, end of the world prophcies!! Interestingly one of the citiations Mr. Synder includes in his festering pile of shite is a link to an Italian online casino where I couldn't really find anything about small farms but then again my Italian is not up to much....

Sorry mate but you accused me posting crap and not having a rats ass of an idea about what I'm talking about, then you knowingly and with your supposed CV in farming and all thing outdoors post a F**KING USELESS article like this...!!!!???? Written by some dubious christian fundamentalist whack job who claims to be a lawyer but may not be! BULLSHIT!! Sorry mate I'm out.

 

[dogtowner]

Ouch...

Back to farming.
Smaller operations here have been adopting to niche markets as you say. Selling to select resturants, higher margin crops, critters without drugs etc. They let the large operations deal in commodity farming.
While the government factored into this by enabling corporate farming which they had no business doing, it was going to happennp matter what due to foreign competition. The world has gotten smaller and that genie is not going back in the bottle.
I did like your point about how some next Gen family farmers don't quite have the chops for it. You're right. I have a cuz who farms but he got it right. While quite well off he retains the right spirit AND knows to effectively leverage technology.
Change is the only constant. Might as well deal with it lest you get win over by it.

 

[Old_Trapper70]

Sorry mate but you accused me posting crap and not having a rats ass of an idea about what I'm talking about, then you knowingly and with your supposed CV in farming and all thing outdoors post a F**KING USELESS article like this...!!!!???? Written by some dubious christian fundamentalist whack job who claims to be a lawyer but may not be! BULLSHIT!! Sorry mate I'm out.

You were out before you got in:

http://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/Louisville- ACRES USA- Profit QOL.htm

USDA statistics for 2004 indicate that 84% of all U.S. farms generated gross sales of less than $100,000 per year � small farms, by most definitions.[1] Admittedly, some of those small farms might be more accurately identified as �hobby farms� or rural residences, but many others are not. Farmers were asked to list their �primary occupation� � the occupation at which they spend more than half of their working hours. Small farmers are more likely than large farmers to have some occupation other than farming and also are more likely to be retired. But even when considering only those who are not retired and whose �primary occupation� is farming, well over half of all U.S. farms had less than $100,000 in annual gross sales in 2004.[size] Nearly half had gross sales of less than $50,000 per year � classified by USDA as �non-commercial farms.� These are serious farming operations, not just hobbies or rural residences. They are �real farms,� and most �real farms� in the United States are still small.


Most of the farmers who got out of farming were the mid-sized, full-time family farmers who followed the experts' advice to get bigger or get out. Some got out voluntarily, selling their land to neighbors who wanted to get bigger. Others didn't leave farming by choice; they were forced out of farming. The first to fail during the farm financial crisis of the1980s were farmers who had borrowed heavily at high interest rates during the 1970s in an attempt to gain economic efficiency through large-scale, specialized production. Those farmers who resisted the urge to expand, who diversified to cut costs and improve profits, or relied on off-farm income to supplement rising costs of living, weathered the crisis far better. Many smaller farms became �low input� farms and others became part-time family farms. Many people with small farms have survived the reoccurring crises in agriculture while their neighbors on larger farms have failed. They didn't get bigger and they didn't get out.


Today, the mid-sized farmers who survived the farm crisis of the 80s and economic slump of 90s are being told that they will have to become contract producers for some agribusiness corporation if they expect to survive. They are told they will have to find their place in the global corporate �food chain� in order to have access to the technology, the capital, and the markets that they will need to survive. They build large-scale contract confinement animal feeding operations or grow genetically modified crops under some corporate licensing agreement. Under such arrangements, the corporations make all of the important decisions and make all the real profits. Farmers become investors, building superintendents, or tractors drivers and it is questionable whether they have actually stayed in farming or have abandoned real farming for agribusiness."

 

[The Scotsman]

Change is the only constant. Might as well deal with it lest you get win over by it.

Totally agree. Adapt to your market through fair means or foul... or livestock....

 

[The Scotsman]

critters without drugs

 

[Old_Trapper70]

Totally agree. Adapt to your market through fair means or foul... or livestock....

I guess what you people don't understand are the limitations on production. A plant can only produce so much, livestock requires a certain amount of water, and feed, and the list goes on. Therefore, a certain parcel of land will only produce so much. Hydroponics, or Aquaculture, is showing promise of solving some production problems, however, even this is limited. 90% of the increase in agri production in the past 100 years has been due to hybridization, not changes in technology. And it is a process that has destroyed the nutritional value of plants, and thus the organic fad has now held prominence in the market. This also is limited in that organic does not produce the volume of non-organic especially if one wishes to remain with the more nutritious "Heritage" seeds. Same with cattle, dairy, etc.

But hey, I am sure you who have never had even as much as a garden know more then experts on the topic. Or even amateurs such as myself that have watched this market over the years.

 

[The Scotsman]

I guess what you people don't understand are the limitations on production.

Which is why there are a lot of people out their offering advice and expertise in order to help small farmers survive and thrive. Your home State for example...
http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/oregon-small-farms-technical-reports
http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/

Or they offer cheap courses, for example today at $50....
Wednesday evenings March 29; April 5 and 12
This three-session course provides an excellent framework to help new farmers assess their skills and interests, learn the realities of farm business ownership, and become connected to local resources. The aim is to help those thinking about small-scale commercial farming learn what it will take to start and manage a farm business, and decide whether that is something they really want to pursue.

No one's say its easy... no one says its not a struggle, but at least its better to try.

I am sure you who have never had even as much as a garden know more then experts on the topic

oh grow up...... d'ya get it..... grow up...... farming terms.....remember that from my grandads holding....

 

[Old_Trapper70]

Which is why there are a lot of people out their offering advice and expertise in order to help small farmers survive and thrive. Your home State for example...
http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/oregon-small-farms-technical-reports
http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/

Or they offer cheap courses, for example today at $50....
Wednesday evenings March 29; April 5 and 12
This three-session course provides an excellent framework to help new farmers assess their skills and interests, learn the realities of farm business ownership, and become connected to local resources. The aim is to help those thinking about small-scale commercial farming learn what it will take to start and manage a farm business, and decide whether that is something they really want to pursue.

No one's say its easy... no one says its not a struggle, but at least its better to try.

You still cannot ignore the limitations since they have to do with reality. As to Oregon,. here are some statistics:

In the past ten years the number of farms in Oregon has declined from 40,033 to 35,439 while the average size has increased from 427-460 acres. 73% of the farmers have less then 100 acres, and 64.4% earn less then $10.000 per year off their farms.

Feed your family off that.

 

[Aus22]

Having just been to California I THINK most people were happily employed although at lower wages than Australia or other countries. AT least the cost of living was lower with food and clothing very cheap. I DO NOT THINK THIS WAS DUE TO MEXICANS, IN SAN JOSE there were few MEXICANS EMPLOYED IN ELTRONICS. SOME mauy be on farms but there are AMERICAN FARMERS.

 

[PLC1]

Having just been to California I THINK most people were happily employed although at lower wages than Australia or other countries. AT least the cost of living was lower with food and clothing very cheap. I DO NOT THINK THIS WAS DUE TO MEXICANS, IN SAN JOSE there were few MEXICANS EMPLOYED IN ELTRONICS. SOME mauy be on farms but there are AMERICAN FARMERS.

I don't know how long you were in San Jose, but rents there are certainly not cheap. Food and clothes may be, though.

 

[Aus22]

PC ! I Agree rent s very dear in San Jose. thr people I was staying with was paying $1800 a month for a two bedroom apartment. close to the city centre.
THis is dear but after all it is SIlican valley. RENTS for similar apartment close to the city are high here in Australia,
However clothes are cehaper in comparison. I bough coasts for $50 that cost $100 here Socks are almost given away 5 for $2) they cost THE same for one pair here. Food is also chap you can eat out every day there at differrnt mal places.
THis is what happens when you have cheap low wages for some like MExicans and high wages for others like computer workers. I STAY one month in CALifornia but prefer to live in Australia where we are more equal

 

[PLC1]

PC ! I Agree rent s very dear in San Jose. thr people I was staying with was paying $1800 a month for a two bedroom apartment. close to the city centre.
THis is dear but after all it is SIlican valley. RENTS for similar apartment close to the city are high here in Australia,
However clothes are cehaper in comparison. I bough coasts for $50 that cost $100 here Socks are almost given away 5 for $2) they cost THE same for one pair here. Food is also chap you can eat out every day there at differrnt mal places.
THis is what happens when you have cheap low wages for some like MExicans and high wages for others like computer workers. I STAY one month in CALifornia but prefer to live in Australia where we are more equal

That cheap clothing is most likely imported from China. It doesn't depend on cheap labor here.

$1,800 for an apartment near the city center is cheap.