Per viewing the trailer of a movie called ‘Food Inc.’ (and per the advice of our friend Glenn), I’ve decided to share our story of modern agriculture with my friends. This movie is an attack on modern food production and how it’s changed so dramatically over the years. And it has changed…our population has grown, the number of producers has decreased significantly, and the number of acres in food production has also decreased. Please share our story of modern agriculture with your friends, especially those who may not have some personal connection with agriculture. It is my hope that I can help you and your friends have a better understanding about modern agriculture and that you will help us spread the real story of food production in the United States. 

My husband Theron and I met in college and married in early 1999. College degrees in hand, we could have headed anywhere to get a 9-5 job working somewhere...possibly even for a decent salary. However, we chose to move back to Theron's small hometown in Kansas to begin building a farm and ranch operation. 

Theron had 32 cows and rented 329 acres of crop and pasture ground. Shortly before we married, we borrowed money to purchase a tractor and 85 cows, and began renting some additional pasture acres from a family friend. Getting into production agriculture is very capital-intensive. We did not have a family farm operation to work our way into. Theron's father did farm some rented ground in addition to being a veterinarian, so he allowed us to borrow his equipment in exchange for us preparing ground for and planting his crops until we got on our feet. Theron also did some custom farm work for neighbors to try to supplement our income as we worked to grow our operation. 

We faced many challenges in getting our operation started, the most significant being that we started farming in the beginning of a seven year drought. Custom farming kept us just barely afloat, but one thing that helped us most was converting our spring-planted crops (soybeans, corn, grain sorghum) to a no-till farming method. The benefits were two-fold; we conserved soil, and we conserved moisture. Since we no longer use conventional tillage for our spring-planted crops, we tend to have more of a challenge fighting invasive weeds which choke out our crops. To prevent this, we look toward seed varieties which are tolerant of herbicide that we may need to apply to our fields. Raising better yields with biotechnology means we can produce more food on fewer acres. That's especially important as acres currently in production are being taken over for industrialization or urban sprawl. 

Because we have a desire to be stewards of God's creation, we work hard to monitor what our soil needs in order to provide a healthy growing environment for our crops. We test our soil so we can add only what fertilizer is necessary and put back any nutrients that previous crops may have used to grow. We also utilize GPS to prevent over-application of fertilizer in our fields. This protects the land, and it protects our pocket books! 

Raising cattle also helped us make it through the drought years. When we weren’t producing enough crops to sell, we still had calves to sell. We’re proud to be producers of quality delicious and nutritious beef. Beef is the greatest natural source of zinc, iron, and protein. We need these nutrients for normal body function and fast wound healing. Beef is not only good for us, it’s good for the environment. The hooves of cattle loosen soil, to allow nutrients and water to pass into the ground so grass can continue to grow. Grazing grassland also helps grass to grow back more quickly. Another important benefit? In drought years, their grazing keeps the grass height controlled, which will help prevent quick spreading of wild fires. 

Raising cattle is my favorite part of farming/ranching. I love working with the animals. We care about them and take good care of them. We have a herd health management plan, which includes tagging calves with their own individual number within the first 12-18 hours of their lives, vaccinating our herd, and administering antibiotics when necessary. Antibiotics are expensive, but we choose to use them when an animal’s health and/or life are at stake. We also tag our calves with electronic identification tags so our beef can be traced back to our farm in the event of a disease outbreak. This could help us prove that our cattle were not the source and allow us to continue to sell our beef. On the flip side, if our herd is the source of the disease, they’ll know to stop the sale of our beef and isolate our herd until the disease is eradicated, protecting consumers. 

Our operation has grown tremendously the past 10 years. We started with Theron’s 329 acres and 32 cows and are currently at approximately 7,000 acres of crop and pasture ground and manage 300 cows. We own 200 of those acres and rent the rest. About a year ago, we incorporated for tax and liability purposes. Theron and I are the sole owners. There are no other stockholders. We’re it--family-owned, family-managed. Most of the farm corporations across the country are just like ours—family farm operations. We’re just a young couple in rural Kansas raising three kids, volunteering in our community, and producing safe, affordable and abundant food for the world and our own family. We have a fairly large operation, but with less than 2% of our country’s population producing food for the world, producers have to take on heavier loads. Fortunately, with larger, more efficient equipment, biotechnology, tested herbicides, and the ability to raise more meat with fewer animals and acreage (due advances in genetic and veterinary technology), we’re better prepared to do so.

Comments?

Nice article Lori. Keep up the good work in telling our story! Your efforts are appreciated from this end.
Denise

Lori, great job! This was an informative and heartfelt article. Thanks for sharing. Alisa