My Dad is a “Big Ag” farmer. He has farmed all of his life. He took over the family farm and the family debt at 18 when his Dad died after years of battling cancer. By the grace of God, nonstop work, incredible ingenuity and creativity, and decades of blood, sweat, and tears by my family, their farming operation was able to survive and grow. But today, like over one-third of US farmers, my parents face a different challenge, they want to retire. Decades of hard physical work have taken a toll on my Dad’s body.
Like other older farmers, my Dad cannot just retire. The current ag model doesn’t stop taking all it can from the land and farmers. Any farmer who has survived thus far has learned how to live lean, operate with high inputs and low outputs, have little to no employees, and figure out how to make a living during droughts, floods, crashing markets, accidents, sickness, death, and disease. The Big Ag Model works by keeping farmers’ backs against the wall.
The “subsidies” we speak so freely about have been few and far between for most farmers like my Dad, and crop insurance only covers the cost of inputs but does not provide income. Yet, farmers who “made it” have done many things to compensate for the lack of farm income with other jobs (both my Mom and Dad worked full-time jobs in town).
Farmers may have land and equipment, but their costs are astronomical. They have been taken advantage of at every turn. If the enormous costs of operating a farm, planting crops, keeping machines running, and finding ways to work loans, offset taxes, insurance, and worry weren’t enough, farmers now face skyrocketing property taxes and insurance costs (if they can even get insurance). Farmers who want to retire have no choice but to rent their land and equipment to another Big Ag farmer to “survive.”
It’s relatively easy to have never stepped foot on a farm and discuss farming, glyphosate, and subsidies without understanding the origins and the primary beneficiaries of the subsidy and farming programs. I can assure you that it’s not farmers like my Dad who have benefited the most. Please take the time to do some research. EWG has updated research.
I recently sat down with my Dad and discussed his challenges and what it would take to transition his farm to a regenerative ag model.
First: Scale, Transparency, and Intimate Knowledge
- There isn’t a single program that suits all farms.
- Every farm is unique, and every farmer faces unique challenges.
- If we are going to transition farms and regenerate farming, we must do an accounting and stop subsidizing massive corporations and even the USDA. "Analyzing new data in our Farm Subsidy Database, EWG researchers found that $3.08 billion in farm subsidies went to 1,134 financial institutions between 2019 and 2021
- We must sit down with the remaining 1.9 million farms and farmers and learn how to help farmers retire and transition farms into a more scaled-down, profitable, local, and sustainable system.
Second: Costs
- Must address inheritance tax, increasing property taxes, insurance costs, and the liability farms face anytime someone even steps on their property.
- Farmers need ways to sell equipment and machinery without tax consequences. Get rid of the recapture tax for farmers.
- Do away with the capital gains tax on farmland. The 1031 exchange prevents farmers from retiring and transitioning land.
- There must be ways to help farmers build in reserve for the lean years.
- Farmers need ways to make income during retirement.
- Help farmers diversify. The USDA and state Ag programs are little help unless you are willing to continue with the status quo.
- Most farmers need ways, help, and places to produce, process, and sell value-added products without risk and further financial investment.
- Rebuild rural communities and infrastructure. Many rural communities are in food and business deserts. There is no farm-to-table infrastructure in most rural communities. Even if you had new products, those products would need to be trucked hours away to process and sell at urban farmer’s markets.
Third: Land comes first
- Reclaim our farmlands from foreign entities. Farmland is sacred.
- No doubt, we need to stop using poisons and fertilizers.
- We must rebuild the soil.
- Land needs time and periods of rest. Currently, there is no greater need than to give our land rest, which would immediately impact the need for fertilizers and pesticides.
- Ongoing education for current and farmers- places to educate and learn new ways to farm, grow, process products, and raise animals
- Some farms must be dedicated entirely to learning. Teaching techniques are good, but real-life experiences are desperately needed. People need to learn in Nature’s classroom: Places where our feet touch the ground, our noses breathe in the dirt, our eyes see beauty, our hands work with others, and our hearts are open to help creatures and Creation.
- Find new ways to capture pollution and contaminants from road traffic and clean up the waste littering the roadsides. (This includes reducing or capturing oils, fuels, and fluids from vehicles and chemicals used to pave roads that wash into ditches, streams, and onto farms.
- Governments must stop spraying roadsides.
- Clean up the water we use to irrigate crops, feed animals, and use in and around our homes, businesses, churches, and schools.
- Find better ways to dispose of trash, busted batteries, plastics, and food.
- Incentives to plant natives, trees, flowers, and perennial crops
- Stop mowing, bushhogging, and cutting all unused land for hay.
- Diversify crops.
- Give farmers choices. Talk to them. Honor them. Listen to what they have to say.
- Help the average consumer understand how their pollution, waste, and trash end up on farms.
- Help the average consumer support and honor their local farmers.
- Understand what happens when Farmers must rent their land to generate income. Care of the land is not a priority when people farm and need the land to produce immediately to survive financially.
- Current conservation programs are not adequate and very limited.
- Better Farm programs
- Limit the government and municipalities from taking imminent domain, and stop them running fiber, electric cables, etc., and having the right of way through a farm.
Fourth: Crops and Animal Agriculture
- We must decide if we are growing crops to export, feed people junk, feed animals, make fuel, or rebuild local food systems.
- Every restaurant, school, business, and grocery in America should use as much food grown in America as possible.
- Make it profitable again to raise animals the right way. Meat shouldn’t be cheap or imported from other countries.
- Overgrazing is worse than row cropping.
- In the past, cattle have not made more than crops.
- Cattle should not have a capital gains tax.
Challenges for new farmers
- High costs to start
- High land and rent costs
- High risk
- High input costs (seeds, fertilizer, chemicals)
- High machinery, parts, and repair costs
- High gas and diesel costs
- Crop insurance is unaffordable
- High Insurance cost
- High costs to employ (Farmers should be exempt from liability when someone is on a farm.)
- Low guarantee for success
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