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Looking Forward With An Eye To The Past
RANDY P. KROTZ
ST. LOUIS, MO.
Just a few weeks back, I authored a piece titled “A Life on the Farm” about my 89-year-old father who had spent his entire life living on the same piece of land and in the same house in North Central Kansas. Ten days ago, we lost our family's patriarch to complications associated with pneumonia. He would say he had a wonderful life but was ready to live much longer in order to enjoy his grandkids, potential great-grandkids, and the friends, neighbors, and extended family he held dear.
Thousands upon thousands of farm 'kids' can tell the same story. Their parents, born in the '20s, 30s, and 40s, passed away with none of their children left on the farm. In the 1930s, twentieth-century farm numbers peaked in the U.S. at nearly 7 million. Today that number would be slightly north of 1.7 million. So apparently, what just happened on our family farm has occurred repeatedly the past two or three generations. Some proof pointing me toward that hypothesis is farm size has nearly tripled in a similar time frame.
Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1965, did not always choose to leave the farm, but often there were seemingly more significant and new opportunities away from agriculture. College education was becoming more prevalent, and for the early boomers, post-high school education was rarely brought back to the farm. That has changed significantly in the more recent decades. Speaking entirely for myself, the decision not to return to our Kansas farm post-college was simply because the agricultural economy in the mid-'80s was horrific. My dad had expanded our pig operation, attempting to make room for me, but it just was not possible. After landing a terrific ag industry job, the opportunity never seemed to present itself again.
The consolidation of farms has played a role in nearly every aspect of the rural communities shrinking and disappearing across America. My home counties population peaked at almost 20,000 100 years ago, today it is less than 5,000. In that same expansion of time, numerous small towns that served rural residents have wholly disappeared, 'country' schools have vanished, restaurants are more difficult to find, and the entire county is slowly combining into one location. Implement dealerships have gone from approximately ten down to one, and though the healthcare is excellent, it is difficult to get professional medical personnel to locate in farm country.
I have participated in many conversations over the past 30 years, where individuals have blamed the expansion of Walmart for the erosion of business around the town square. Undoubtedly, a super-store 30 minutes away has challenged rural businesses. Still, simple population decline has been even more impactful in the big scheme of things, and that started long before the big box store came to a town near you.
Time and time again, the right idea to stave off population decline and bring forward economic growth in small towns has been implemented. Federal, state, and local programs have been executed, generally with modest results, although there have been some exceptions. Importantly, let's not forget the manufacturing that once, and in numerous cases still exists in small towns across this country. Many companies have gone out of business, some due to trade opportunities, and regrettably, this has added to the strain in farm country because those jobs served as a second income for farm families as they sought ways to manage income decline and increased living expenses.
Esteemed economists have conducted assessments of farm consolidation and the fading of rural communities for years. Though every time I read an overview of what has occurred the past 70 years I am left feeling key factors are missing. Does it matter at this point? Maybe not, but rural living is trendy these days, and there may be an opportunity or two to grasp. The current pandemic may drive some population out of major cities, but I am doubtful those people will end up in Republic county Kansas or Pope county Arkansas. Many predicted the internet would hand a potential advantage to rural communities. Primarily, that has not yet occurred, but it likely has slowed population decline in certain areas, allowing a few to maintain the desired lifestyle while remaining on or near the farm.
My city cousins are continually questioning the government support provided to farmers, ranchers, and rural communities, and that is a topic I will cover in a future article. In the meantime, our lands across agriculture will continue to consolidate with family members or friends whose family has remained on the farm, and farm size, as a whole, will continue to increase. Exceptions exist, and the trend could change. After all, the consumer continues to seek "local farm" products.
I am humbled by my deceased mother and father's contributions to their community and country, and I wish me or one of my siblings would have been there to step into the operation three or four decades ago. It would have meant the world to my parents, but they also wanted all of us to seek our own path, and we have. His passing has brought us together to manage the land on which he and his father thrived. Hopefully, we are up to the challenge. ∆
RANDY P. KROTZ: CEO AgWiki
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