By Kriss Marion, Owner and Operator of Circle M Market Farm In America, children are fond of computer games. When my children were young, they played games called Age of Empires and Rise of Nations for hours. These games, still popular today, are strategy-based storylines for which each scenario begins with collecting resources – sheep, coal, … Read More
By Jimmy Dula, NFU Intern Diversity may be the hottest buzz word for agriculture, both large and small. Relying on one product or commodity to support the entire farm can be a gamble, putting the operation at higher risk. As farmers, we need to expand our approach to diversifying farm revenue to access as many potential markets as possible. We have … Read More
By John Hendrickson, Stone Circle Farm and Small Farm Works Tools and equipment appropriate for small-scale, highly diversified vegetable farms have been a passion of mine for a long time. I discovered one of my favorite tools about 12 years ago while living in Japan. I was abroad with my wife, who was doing international … Read More
By Thomas Driscoll, Director of Conservation Policy and NFU Foundation Whether growing grain and hauling it to the same elevator your grandparents did, raising vegetables to sell to your neighbors, managing a small herd or a big one, beginning producers seek greater efficiencies for their farms and ranches. Running an operation efficiently is critical for … Read More
By Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union While some ranchers are nervous about what will happen to their operation when they are ready to retire, David and Brenda Reis are not too worried. “All of our kids want to take over the ranch. That would not be sustainable, but the one thing about having a … Read More
By Del Ficke, Owner and Operator of Ficke Cattle Company This letter was originally published in The Future of Family Farms: Practical Farmers’ Legacy Letter Project To my future generations: In 1860, Johann Ficke made the trip from Germany to settle in the United States. Just nine years later, after first arriving in Wisconsin, he found a … Read More
By Teresa Opheim, Editor of The Future of Family Farms: Practical Farmers’ Legacy Letter Project About five years ago, a farmer stopped during a farm tour and confided that he worried that his son would not be able to continue farming. The farmer’s land-owning mother had just died, and her farmland was being divided among her children. … Read More
By Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union Shadowing an engineer for a few days his sophomore year of college was all the exposure Scott Kolousek needed to realize he would be happier building a career on his family’s Wessington Springs cattle and crop farm. “That experience saved me a lot of time pursuing the wrong … Read More
By Karyn Williams, owner of Red Dog Farm I didn’t grow up in a farming family. In fact, I grew up in the suburbs of Seattle. My great-grandparents were farmers, back in Missouri, during the Dust Bowl years. When they moved out west with my then-6-year-old grandmother, I suspect they wished for a non-farming life for their … Read More
By Jimmy Dula, NFU Intern In previous weeks, the Beginning Farm Forum’s has presented several ways that beginning farmers and ranchers can access capital, including the Farm Service Agency and crowdfunding. Today, we’re examining Farm Credit, a national organization made up of over 70, member-owned cooperative associations that provide financial services to farmers, ranchers and rural business across the U.S. Farm Credit … Read More