Four Words Farmers Despise

Four words used by consumers that I despise. Everyone has their own meaning of each word and many use it against farms like mine.

1. Corporate (also known as a corporation)
2. Factory
3. Sustainable
4. Real

“I support family farms but I do NOT support corporate farms.”

More often than not, a corporate farm is a family farm. In fact, according the USDA 96% of the 2.2 million farms are family owned.

Here are a few examples as to why a family farm would become a corporation.

Second generation dairy farm, the children are grown up and the parents want to split ownership with the children. Mom and dad will remain 50% owner and the two children will hold 25% ownership each. They would need to change from a sole proprietorship to become incorporated with multiple owners.

Adult children all want to be part of the same farming operation. Mom and dad are going to pass it along to them but first the children have to buy the parents out and split ownership. In order to have multiple owners they would have to become incorporated.

This crazy young guy decides to become a dairy farmer. He works hard for five years and decided that he should start looking for his own farm. He is currently a sole proprietor although he operates a business. His wife sets him down with a lawyer to have the lawyer explain to this young handsome farmer that because he is a sole proprietor there is nothing stopping a lawsuit from taking everything he has worked so hard for. For example if an employee was to get hurt, they could sue this farmer above and beyond L&I or his farm insurance policy. Nothing is stopping that lawsuit from taking his tractors, cows, etc… He simply cannot let something like this happen. So what does he do? He decides that he needs to turn his family farm into a corporation. To protect everything he has worked so hard for, to protect his family.

You see folks; corporate farms are not based on size or how the operation is run. It is simply all about liability and ownership.

“I support small farms but I do NOT support factory farms!”

Recently, I was reading the Hoard’s Dairyman & they had a chart with dairy farm statistics. In 1992 there were 131,509 licensed dairy farms in the United States. As of 2013, there were only 46,960! In 21 years we had lost 84,549 dairy farms. In 1992, there were 9,692,000 cows compared to 9,227,000 in 2013. So let me just make sure that you are following me, we lost 84,549 dairy farms but the population kept increasing. Dairy farming had to keep up with the growing population with fewer farms. In 2008 there were 57,127 licensed dairy farms and that dropped to 46,960 in 2013. In five whole years the dairy industry LOST 10,167 dairy farms. Yet, the population keeps going up.

It’s haunting to drive past all these old farms. Most people do not even realize that they are driving past old dairy farms. They are all over our county. When talking to former dairy farmers, most milked under 100 cows. When asked why the quit these are the two most common responses I get: It was give up the cows or give up the entire farm. Low milk prices and high feed costs. Couldn’t make it work. Now, these are farmers who pastured many of their herds & they still couldn’t make it work. The second response is they had no one to take over. The children saw how hard their parents worked and struggled. They simply didn’t want to do the same.

I personally haven’t been to every farm in the United States. But I have been to farms of all sizes. From homesteads to several thousand cow dairy farms. I am here to tell you this, it is not the size of the farm it is the farmer. I have seen a 1200 cow dairy farm that would put homesteaders to shame. I will even go as far to say that every large “factory” dairy farm that I have been on has nicer facilities than our farm. Our farm has been called a factory farm although we only milk 140 cows and to be honest, I think it’s because we do not have a red barn.

“I only support sustainable farms!”

Back in the day when I was in school, I was taught about sustainability. I even remember that there are three parts: economic, social and environment. I am going to give you my version of what these three terms mean to our farm.

1. Economic– I wholeheartedly feel like a farm is economically sustainable when it can pay its own bills as well as put a roof over the farmer’s head. For example, on our dairy farm we solely rely on our girls. The girls have to pay for their feed, the feed of all our young stock, pay all the farm bills and provide food/clothing/shelter for our family. Those girls rely solely on us. We may not have our own farm or grow all our own crops but we pay our debts. Something to think about is as a society regardless of occupation, how many can truly pay their own debts?
2. Social– So what does this have to do with our dairy farm? To me the social impact of a farm is what it does or doesn’t do for the community.
3. Employment Opportunity– Not only does our farm provide for our own family but we have several employees. Did you know that agriculture is the number one employer in the state of Washington? Farms provide jobs.
4. Local Economy– Every dollar we bring in goes back into the farm. The cows eat, produce milk, our cooperative buys the milk & we start the cycle over again. Our farm purchases all the feed needed for our cows. A farm our size can put $500,000-$750,000 back into the local economy each year. The majority of that stays within the local community or state.

Many farmers are part of the local farm bureaus, cattlemen associations, chamber of commerce, etc… From supporting local youth events to fund raisers… farmers are a huge part of the local economy. You may not drive past the farm to see a reader board of what they are doing for the community but I guarantee you that they are doing more then you will ever know.

1. Environment– Now we all know that life is a constant learning experience. You are constantly learning from your mistakes and making changes for a better future. This goes back many generations. Every day farmers are adapting new practices to control manure, nutrients in soil, etc… Many want to point fingers at past generations for carelessness but I would like to say that they just did not know. We are constantly learning and growing. No one has better intentions for livestock and the land then farmers do. Our way of life depends on it. There is no one way to farm or a one size fits all to farming. You cannot apply what works on one farm to every other farm. Just know that farmers are constantly changing and adapting. From new research to new technology, farmers do have the best of intentions for their livestock and the land.

“I only support REAL farmers!”

A farmer cultivates land or crops or animals.

So what is a real farmer? A real farmer puts in 40 hours before most Americans reach Wednesday. A real farmer is up before most Americans are even out of bed. A real farmer is on call 24/7/365. A real farmer doesn’t get paid vacation. A real farmer doesn’t call in sick. A real farmer doesn’t complain because life isn’t fair. A real farmer stays up late at night to help a first time momma give birth. A real farmer stands next to one of his favorite cows with an I.V. praying she pulls through. A real farmer works side by side with his/her family. A real farmer farms for the way of life not the bottom line. A real farmer is completely devoted to his/her farm, livestock & family. A real farmer puts food in the store for consumers to buy. A real farmer is real regardless of their farming style. 1-2% of the United States population consists of farmers. These people are real life people completely devoted to providing the highest quality products for this growing nation. All farmers are real and they deserve the upmost respect regardless if they farm organically or conventionally.

Society has been pulling away from the farm for a very long time. As the United States loses farms, other farmers have to pick up the slack. Not to mention they have to take on even more because this population keeps growing. In addition to taking on more work/responsibility farmers are constantly under scrutiny from animal extremists, environmentalist, consumers, etc… Everyone wants to have say in what farmers are doing but they do not want to share the work.

As consumers, you demand a quality product at minimal cost to the pocketbook but turn and complain about subsidies that help keep the farms afloat. You go about your day to day life not noticing your neighboring farm sending their last group of cattle to the sale because they cannot continue with low milk prices and high feed cost. You honk your horns and yell at the top of your lungs at the farmer driving a tractor on the side of the road. You judge all farmers by the actions of some in animal rights videos. You are more inclined to believe a television doctor about the practices farmers use than go talk to an actual farmer. You share a celebrity photo on Twitter helping donate millions to animal rights extremists. You want nothing to do with raising your own livestock or growing your own produce but you want everything to do with telling farmers what they are doing wrong and how they should change. You my dearest consumer you need to get off the internet and drive to an actual farm. Shake the farmers hand and ask questions.

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Krista Stauffer

Owner at Stauffer Dairy

Krista didn't grow up on a farm but fell in love with a dairy farmer and now works alongside her husband on their family dairy farm, raising five children. Despite her non-farm upbringing, she embraces farm life, enjoys gardening, and remodeling their farmhouse. She also runs a successful women's boutique, manages social media for local businesses, and serves on the board of a non-profit creamery, showcasing her dedication to entrepreneurship and community service.

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