This Week In Ag #100

Farmers grow food. That’s a simple and straight-forward premise. Or is it? We continue to shake our heads at survey results that reveal many consumers think their food comes from the grocery store. But what about the industry itself? If we’re being totally honest, we should ask: are we largely focused on growing food, or producing commodities?

Much of our modern ag system has been about generating the most grain for the least amount of money. Efficiency over nurture. That’s not necessarily a reflection of the will of the farmer, but current economic realities. Much of our commodity-based infrastructure – 315 million acres worth – is set up to grow, insure, process, store, ship and trade grain. Growing up on our Illinois family farm, this was not always the case. That’s because along with a variety of crops, we raised beef and pork. Some of it would find its way in our deep freezer. So, a portion of the crops we grew fed and bed our livestock, and our livestock fed us. We also grew sweet corn and sold it directly to consumers and local grocers. Over time, specialized monocropping systems, absent of livestock and direct-to-the-plate food crops, changed things. This is further extenuated by the fact that 40% of US corn goes to ethanol plants. From a farmer perspective (or for any producer in any industry, for that manner), the further removed you are from the final product, the easier it is to lose sight of the end product. And when efficiency is the driver, and short-term profits are the goal, it’s easy to overlook the potential adverse effects of biotech, synthetic salt-based products, monocropping and tillage. Not to mention the downstream impact on crop quality, soil health and  human nutrition. Fortunately, the regen ag movement is helping shift the mindset back to where it was a couple of generations ago. Sure, potential new revenue streams for sustainably grown crops – emanating from both the private (food and fiber brands and retailers) and public (via government-imposed tax incentives for biofuels) sectors – are riveting. But it’s high input costs and a frustration with the current system that’s leading many farmers to explore and employ regenerative agriculture. And a renewed focus on food, via better stewardship, is indeed a well-intended consequence.

This marks the 100^th entry of This Week in Ag. My sincere thanks to all of you who read, comment on and support this blog, and most importantly, share my passion for the world’s greatest profession.