Hard times ahead

Despite the beautiful weather and fair-like atmosphere at Farmfest this year, bad news has abounded. Expert after expert said it is bad and going to get worse. The forums reminded me of business meetings in which the boss tells the employees the company will pull through, but probably not all the employees. Many tried to put a positive spin on it - Minnesota has great farmers, great innovation, even great weather, but I am afraid it won't be enough. I heard farmers tell of getting out of their dairy herds, hog producers pondering going to grain-only. And through it all, there was the ever-present undercurrent of another problem. The farmers are getting old. Young people aren't going into farming. They are not coming back to the farm after college. There isn't enough money in it to pay off their accumulated debt after four years. So there needs to be fewer farmers, but the old guys can't all retire or there will be no one to replace them when the market turns. The woven web of export markets, food vs. fuel, and, surprisingly heath care, which farmers site as one of their largest expenses, is a tangled one indeed.