Considering the importance farming has long had in the Holly Grove community, I thought this article would interest visitors to the web site -- Jane Dennis
from the July 6, 2006, Monroe County Sun:
Downward trend in area farming concerns officials
By Marci Manley Staff Writer
As area farmers face drought-like conditions during the 2006 season, officials continue their reviews of last year's crop figures for clues to the future of agriculture in Monroe County.
Overall, 2005 saw a decrease in certified farm acreage of about 20,000 acres.
Farming has always been a large part of people's lives in Monroe County, but the years have been hard. The loss of farmers county-wide may continue if conditions don't improve, officials say.
Dolores Qualls, executive director of Monroe County Farm Service Agency, noted that the average age of the farmer is steadily getting higher.
"The average age of the farmer now is 57," she said. "Ten years ago it was 53."
"Family farms" are no longer producing young farmers to take over the business as they once did, she noted.
"Farmers are steadily getting older, and there are no young people to fill their shoes. Those who work on family farms aren't encouraging their kids to get into farming because no one can make a living at it," Qualls said.
John Payne, county agent and staff chair for the Monroe County office of the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, stated that the farmer is having a difficult time in today's economy.
"The cost of doing business is really high. The price farmers receive for commodities is determined by the global market," he said. "Farmers have little control over what they get back and it's difficult for them to pass the cost on to the comsumer like other businesses."
High costs include those for fuel, fertilizer, irrigation and harvesting and transporting the crop, Qualls said.
"Farmers are getting hit in every way by high fuel prices. They need fuel to run their trucks and farm equipment. They depend on fuel to fly their planes for spraying — everything," she said.
There's no living money in farming anymore. What used to be called a profit is now called input," Qualls said.
Kipp Wiliams, an employee of FSA and a member of a local farming family, has felt the impact of today's economy.
"The profits just aren't there," she said. "You work so hard, and it's harder than that to make it."
Payne noted that "increases in energy costs and fertilizer have impacted the bottom line for farmers."
Overall, total farm income in Monroe County has dropped to a level it was a decade ago.
"Total farm income in Monroe County is from crop sales," Payne noted. "In 1994 it was about $50 million and reached a high of $75 million two years later. The latest figure is $52 million."
Barbara Pettigrew, another employee of FSA, noted the reason improvements in the farming industry haven't occurred.
"They (farmers) are getting the same prices for crops that they have been for years, and production prices have steadily gone up."
The state of farms in the county has also changed over the years, going from numerous small farms across the county to larger farms with more acreage.
"Farms have increased in acreage over time," he said, "but that's largely due to the mechanization of agriculture. The number of farms, however, has decreased."
The total number of farms in Monroe County in 1964 was 884. Today, the farm total is a mere 250, according to the Census.
Payne noted that the Census on Agriculture figures reported that 56 percent of farms in Monroe County had sales of less than $100,000 and composed about 5 percent of the total farm sales.
Ten percent of farms had sales of $500,000 or more and equaled about half (48 percent) of the total sales in Monroe County.
The total of individual farmers has dropped as well, according to figures compiled by the Natural Resource Conservation Service.
Tina Wofford, office manager of Monroe County Conservation District, noted that fewer farmers have registered their wells and relifts this year than in the past.
"We've only had 197 farmers come in to register their wells," she said. "That's compared to 220 last year."
If the drop in the number of farms and individual farmers isn't an indication of the future of farming in Monroe County, the decrease in actual farmed acreage of the county's most popular crops may be.
The certified acreage for corn this past year totaled 13,800 compared to 21,200 farmed the year before.
Cotton totals tallied only 12,900 two years ago, but in 2005 the total soared to 21,500.
"Monroe County is among the top three corn producing counties in the state," Qualls said, "but people are beginning to change over to cotton. That's the result you get from high production prices."
Wheat acreage in Monroe County for 2005 plummeted with only 3,000 acres farmed compared to nearly 22,000 two years ago.
"Last year, the weather was bad for those farmers betting on wheat," Qualls noted. "There were about 30,000 acres that were prevented from farming because the land was too wet.
"Many farmers weren't able to get their crops in the ground," she added. "You can imagine what kind of effect that would have on a farming family."
Even soybeans, one of the most popular crops in the Delta area, suffered about a 10 percent drop in acreage in Monroe County.
"Last year 95,300 acres of soybeans were farmed," Qualls said. "But compared to the 104,300 acres farmed of soybeans in 2004, even that is disappointing."
"Farmers are notorious gamblers," Qualls noted. "They face risks concerning the crop yields, market prices, and the weather."
Payne noted that the weather can be one of the farmers' most infamous foes.
"Farmers are at the mercy of weather conditions," he said. "Right now, the county is in a drought situation, and dry weather can be devasting to crops where irrigation is not available."
He added, "But where irrigation is available, input costs soar when irrigation has to be applied."
This type of Catch-22 has long been a problem and arises more often for the farmer than some might think.
"Farmers have to use pesticides and fertilizers to reap a healthy crop. They have to irrigate to keep the crops alive in drought," Qualls said, "so they get accused of not being conservationists, of disregarding the environment."
Furthermore, she aded, "Farmers are conservationists and always have been. They are concerned with water useage and the environment; this is where they live and raise their children, but they also have to make a livelihood."
Farming today also comes with a great deal of responsibility and regulations, moreso than when agriculture was booming.
"Today, farmers can't just go out and plant a crop," Williams said. "Farmers have a lot of people to answer to now. There are a lot of rules that have to be followed, and a lot of procedures."
Renee Neal, Monroe County tax assessor, noted that farmers do indeed face taxes that others don't.
"Farmers are assessed and then have to pay taxes on their farm equipment," she said. "Taxes on land depend on what kind of soil it is and what it is capable of producing like everything else."
Wofford noted that farmers are instructed to register all of their irrigation wells and relifts with her office.
"They are supposed to register their water wells and relifts that they have," she said, "and how much acreage it is meant to service and what crops."
Qualls noted that the agriculture industry has been important to America and the future could be dark throughout the nation if downward trends in farming continue.
"Agriculture is the major industry in this area, and it's a major reason why our country has succeeded," she said. "It's because we can feed ourselves the we have been such a great nation. We can't afford to lose our farmers and farming communmities."
