By Angela Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-947004.mp3
Mayfield, KY – Kentucky has 124-thousand farmers, the sixth largest number in the nation. But the number of farm operators has been declining steadily; the U. S. Census Bureau reports in the past decade 4,000 Kentucky farms went out of business. Fewer people are farming the Commonwealth's land, and those still on the farm are growing gray, literally. The average age of the western Kentucky farmer is 57 . . . and getting older. Owning a farm has never been an easy task, and the barriers to the farm business are only getting higher.
The break house at Griffith Farms is surrounded by a collection of rusted plows and bailers that date back to the days of four-legged plow power. Jerry Griffith remembers using this equipment on his parents' 80-acre tobacco farm.
"We had real small tractors, and we had horses and mules. And we'd work these horses and mules during the week, and on the weekend we'd ride em."
Today Griffith has ditched the mule for over a million dollars in high tech farm equipment. He and his brother John operate the family farm, raising corn, soybeans, and wheat on around 3,000 acres in Sedalia, Kentucky. Griffith is pushing 70 years old, and his brother isn't far off. He says they've planned for farm operations in the near future, but their legacy is uncertain.
"As far as turning the farming operation over to relatives. I've got a son that works at Goodyear, has no plans of coming back, and my brother has got a daughter. She has no plans of getting into the farming."
When asked why, Griffith barely rolls his eyes, and work out a response.
"Uh, it's just they just don't it's just not their thing. They're both involved in their own world. But now farming is a fast pace. It gets pretty hectic here."
Griffith says not many people want to dedicate their lives to a business that's so volatile.
Murray State University Agribusiness Economics Professor Bill Payne says that's true of his farm management students.
"I asked my class, out of about 35 students how many of you are actually going to go back and be involved in production agriculture? And I had two that about half-way held up their hands."
But Payne says that's not necessarily a bad thing, because even though fewer people are going into production agriculture, the land is still getting farmed. The U. S. Census Bureau found that though Kentucky lost 4,000 farms between 2000 and 2009, the number of acres in production stayed the same.
"Larger farmers are the most efficient farmers, and they're the ones who are able to pay a little higher price for the land, because their cost of production y'know per bushel or per pound or per head will be a little bit less than some of the smaller farmers. And so virtually any farmer I know that is of any size is in an expansion mode."
Large farmers can use the farms they already own as collateral for new investments. But that doesn't give those looking to break into the business much chance. Agriculture appraisers in western Kentucky have pegged good crop ground at four thousand to five thousand dollars an acre. They say prices have been going up for nearly a decade, sometimes increasing one percent a month.
"As we frequently say, you either marry it or you inherit it. Because it's so expensive"
Jed Clark is one who inherited land. Clark is 31, and farms in tandem with his father in Graves County.
"I decided to go into the farm business for two reasons. I got to spend a lot of time with my father, and it's something I love."
Clark manages about sixteen-hundred acres of the family grain business. He's built that up over time, getting the land from his father. He prefers it that way, because he has more room to experiment with new ideas.
"And I think that's a big benefit to the way we run our operation. That, we both have great ideas. If one doesn't agree with the other one, the other one can try it. And it if does work, we both can try it, and if it doesn't, well, we can mark that one down."
Having his father around means Clark has someone to go to for advice, a mentor. The U S Department of Agriculture, and the state of Kentucky offer low interest loans to help beginning farmers get a foothold. In addition to a business plan, the Kentucky Beginning Farming Loan program requires farm operators have a mentor to help ensure success. Again, farmer Jerry Griffith.
"If you gave a young farmer a million dollars, and told em to start farming, and even though he knew how to farm, and had any land or any equipment, I don't think he could make it."
Griffith adds that a college education is increasingly important to building a successful farm business. Professor Bill Payne says in 1964, only four percent of production agriculture farmers had a college degree.
"Now the question is, what is it today? Well guess what? It's 25 percent. So what we see is farmers get larger, but the folks that are out there farming are better educated, they're making better management decisions, they're taking advantage of technology."
Of those interviewed, none offered a panacea to the issue of aging farmers. Young farmers can be encouraged and fostered, but they can't be forced. Payne says the few who choose to take up an operation may end up leading Kentucky into an age of mega-farms that are more efficient and which produce better yields. A 2007 University of Kentucky report says while the farms are fewer, their overall market value has increased 59 percent. Jed Clark is optimistic about his business's future.
"Right now we're seeing not record prices, but really great prices for the agriculture market. And um, as long as we make sure we don't get greedy and lock some of these prices in, farming will look good again, for a while."
Clark and his wife are expecting his first child, a daughter, this summer. He says he'd like his children to go into the farming business too, but he says he won't pressure them. It will be their choice.