Picturing the Future!

While most Farm-City celebrations are held in October, I had the good fortune of participating in a local version of this rural-urban outreach this past week.  The Kutztown, Fleetwood, and Hamburg, Berks County Rotary Club members held a dinner and invited farmers from the community to join them for an evening of good food and conversation.  All dressed up, the farmers enjoyed a relaxing dinner away from home and fit right in with the business and community leaders in attendance.  Everyone wore smiles as the steaming plates of ham and chicken poured out of the restaurant’s kitchen.  The room was filled with laughter and a harmonic blend of voices as stories were shared about life from each individual’s perspective.  Everyone understood that friendship was truly the evening’s main course, and it was being served in heaping quantities.

My role was to offer some personal observations on the future of farming in our county.  With no crystal ball to gaze into, I had to rely on my own vision of where agriculture’s future was going to be in the year’s ahead.  As I looked out into the crowd, there were young FFA members in blue corduroy jackets looking expectantly and enthusiastically from their table, all wondering what their futures might hold in store.  Another table was filled with farmers and business leaders in the prime of life, busily trading comments on current events and barely noticing that it was time for my speech.  Other tables were surrounded by weathered faces and hands that quietly spoke of long years of toiling in fields.  It was a grand mixture of backgrounds; all blended this evening in a deliberate effort to get to know one another better.

The invitation to be the prognosticator for the evening had been one of the first calls I received after accepting the offer by the Berks County Board of Commissioners to become the first Agricultural Coordinator for economic development.  I felt the same pressure that Octorara Orphie or Punxsutawney Phil face every February 2^nd when the world counts on these two famous groundhogs to predict whether there will be six weeks of winter weather ahead, or an early spring.  With three months under my belt as the county’s ag czar, I was already racing to fill in the details of what the picture of the farming would be like.  I am working to make sure that agriculture’s canvas is as colorful in the future as our rural landscape is today, with lots of "green" and "gold" for everyone who plays a part in this vital industry.

It is an easier job to look to the past.  How things have changed for agriculture during the last century.  We transitioned from a country where one out of every four families was involved in farming, to our current statistic where one farmer feeds nearly 140 people.  Through innovation and new technologies, farmers have adapted to modernization over the years.  Teams of horses were sold to buy mechanical-horse-powered tractors.  Equipment has gotten larger and more automated so that one person can do the job of many on today’s farms.  This has allowed the majority of people to find other employment and develop skills in fields far removed from agricultural production.  And farmers have benefitted as well as we use computers and new technologies routinely.

But back to the question:  “What is the future of farming?”  I am a firm believer in the ability of our agricultural industry to grow and change with the times.  While many of us in the farm community have well-earned reputations for being stubborn and set in our ways, we also are willing to try new ideas as we strive to earn a living on our farms.

Competition for the land is an ever-increasing challenge for farmers.  High real estate values and high input costs have hastened the conversion of some farmland as the owners who tilled the soil, sometimes for generations, have finally given up the business.  Thankfully, Pennsylvania is leading the way to preserve the land resources future farmers will need to raise crops and livestock for tomorrow’s consumers.  This is a benefit to all the citizens who live in tthe Commonwealth.

Future generations will not have to worry about shipping in food from foreign countries since it will continue to be grown locally, ground water will continue to be filtered and recharged by the land.  And the landscape and habitat we all love will be captured by artists and photographers of the future.  That’s the picture I see in farming’s future.  I believe in our abilities to grow and provide a healthy economy for both the farm community and other businesses.  But, we need to plan wisely for the future.

Part of the planning must include infrastructure that does not encourage farmland conversion to other uses, and yet balances the transportation and public sewer and water needs of the community.  That is far easier said than done.  The ground that lies in the direct path of future bulldozers is often some of the most fertile soil in the nation.  It is a farmer’s gold.  And once it has been destroyed by highways and houses, there is no bringing it back for food production.  It is gone forever.

What will farming be like for my daughter’s generation, and the next, and the next?  I am certain it will be far different than anything we can ever imagine.  Just as the farmers in the 1950s could never have imagined all of the technical advancements available to farmers a half century later, we cannot predict what agriculture will look like in 2050.  But, like those farmers who have come before us, the next generation will pick up the palette and paint a brighter future for the cornucopia of non-farm citizens who will enjoy their cultivated masterpieces every time they enjoy a nutritious meal.

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