Chapter 1--Hello And By The Way Why Is Agriculture So Disjointed?

Chapter 1--Hello And By The Way Why is Agriculture So Disjointed? 

Since this is my first chapter in my blogging life, I wanted to introduce myself and let people know who aren't familiar with my escapades just exactly how the hog ate the cabbage.  I live on a family farm where I am a 5th generation farmer/rancher.  We raise cattle, hogs, goats, rabbits and we will be getting back into chickens this spring. We are also starting a market garden this spring, so a lot of what you will read will have to do with vegetable production, fertilizer rates, and those damn squash bugs.    I am married, have 3 kids, 2 grandkids and my favorite sports team is the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  I know, I know but I am a Cowboy at heart.  I wanted to start a blog to let everybody know what's going on at the farm but also lend a common sense approach and a very dry sense of humor  to current issues happening in politics and around the world.  Oh by the way I love to give my opinion on things.  So..............here we go.

Why is agriculture so divided?  I really don't know.  In 1790 according to the USDA 90% of the people around were farmers.  In 2000 only 2.6% of people were farmers.  That is a HUGE drop.  Maybe that's why were are so divided.  Maybe its because people don't understand or are unwilling to understand that unless you are filling some sort of niche role you can't make a living on 160 acres anymore like our homesteading generations before us.  Maybe it's the activists that have infiltrated into our industry masked as free thinkers, living a "homesteader's life, or chasing "our"  farming dream that have swayed the pendulum into a very dangerous area.  Maybe its just a combination of everything and agriculture is just slow to move to counteract it.  We have a fundamental flaw in agriculture right now, maybe bigger then ever, and we have to fix it.  Why you ask? Because agriculture isn't big enough anymore to stand up against all the naysayers when everybody in Ag can't even stand up together.  I am an avid Facebook reader, you tube watcher, and will  engross myself in just about anything ag related.  I watch videos about small vegetable production farms, small animal production or whatever YouTube recommends me to watch.  What I haven't ever witnessed in a video is how agriculture better stand together and not let opponents tear us apart.  I have been on both sides of the corporate versus family farm debate.  Let me tell you, there really isn't a lot of debate about it.  There are a lot more similarities than differences.  Let me let you in on a secret.  Are you listening?  Here it comes........We will not feed the world with backyard chickens, 3 rabbits, a small garden, a dairy goat, and by butchering 2 pigs a year that we bartered from a neighbor by helping him roof  his barn.   In my heart, that is an ideal way to live, but in my head it doesn't even start to be practical.  There are too many people in this country and world that don't know how to raise their own food and quite frankly too many people that either spent a lot of their life already working  hard and don't want to anymore or are unwilling to learn how to put food on their families table.  On the flip side, I believe their is a huge opportunity to fill a large niche market for people who want to know exactly where their food comes from, see the fields where their tomatoes were harvested and pet the cow where their milk originated.  That sounds great right?  So what's the holdup on people taking that bull by the horns and running with it?  Well, mostly government regulations.  Where did most of the regulations arise you ask?  From trying to control so called corporate agriculture from taking over family farms and the dreaded phrase, "we must protect the environment against these dreaded polluters".   See it's a two sided sword for sure.  I am passionate about agriculture.  The story goes, my great, great grandfather came to this part of the country from Illinois as an orphan to work and eventually be able to scrimp and save enough to farm in our little piece of heaven on earth.  So between droughts, low prices, complete crop failures and recently, wildfires, our family, just like everybody else involved in agriculture made a life and sometimes a living.  Today I live the good life.  Now if you look at my bank account you would argue, but if you look at my way of life and maybe more importantly my health and sanity you would see that I am a multimillionaire.  I left a corporate job 4 months ago that was getting worse by the minute.  We had forgotten what our initial mission was in the company and had fallen prey to the dreaded bottom line.  Trying to squeak out another 1/10 % instead of doing what was right.  If you are wired like I am that will work on ya.  But that opportunity to fill that gaping niche will never be achieved if we keep complaining about how bad our brothers and sisters are that happen to fill their own role in agriculture, just differently then us.  When I was in the sales industry I was very productive, a leader in the company every year.  People would come to me for advice when they were struggling on how to increase their numbers and to get an idea on how I sold.  I always told them the same story, have a simple message, don't stray from that simple message, and talk to lots of people.  That sounds so basic but that's how I made a living for almost 10 years. Well I think we have to do the same thing in agriculture to be productive and efficient.  Have a clear concise message, don't fall into the trap of bashing other producers for the sole reason they operate different then you, and tell our story to the masses.  Our great country wasn't founded on the backs of salesmen and marketers or, for that matter, people that didn't believe.  The backbone of America was fused with people that had a never give up attitude.  That's what agriculture needs.  Let's quit dragging each other down and lift the entire industry up.  Something to ponder on.........................

Around the farm.............Its a busy time of the year.  In the past week we have received all our seeds from 5 different seed companies for our market garden.  Everything from asparagus to zucchini and everything in between. I'm kinda like a little kid on Christmas morning when it comes to seeing the seed catalogs, ordering seeds and planning out all the garden areas.  If you like what you have read follow my blog.  If you think it was a good use of your time, please let everybody you know about it.  If you have questions, concerns or testimonials you can email me at bodarkspringsfarm@gmail.com. You can also follow what we are doing on Facebook by going to Bodark Springs Farm.  Good times everybody and have a great rest of the night!! #gardeningisawesome