Rising food prices

So I decided that even though right now is our slow time here on the farm, I should probably keep up my posts.  I just couldn't decide what to post about this time, and then it came to me today while I was mowing the yard.  I need to post about some of the things that are getting tossed around on the news about food prices going up.  Now just keep in mind that I'm not going to tell you anything that anyone reading this doesn't already know, but I'm going to lay it all out from my little corner of the world. 

It seems that every time I turn on the news lately there is more and more being said about how much grocery prices are going to rise, and I know it's all because us farmers had a bad growing season and we are going to have to use our crop insurance etc.  Well trust me none of us in agriculture like having years like this.  Our industry has actually been a bright spot in the last few years, we've had good yields (how we measure our output), and great prices.  That's meant alot of growth for the farm economy which means lots of jobs for lots of people.  So this year we've had a bad year, and yes food prices are going to rise, but from everything I read the projections are a rise of 3 to 4%.  I realize that a 3-4% increase hurts everyone, but it hurts us as farmers much more.  You see a bad crop for us means that we have to pay those higher grocery prices with less income.  So while your thinking that man this is horrible how much things are going up just imagine paying more while having your pay cut significantly.  I know your saying, but Brad you said in your last post that you had another job besides farming, and I do, but there are lots of farmers that don't.  So I know that it sucks having to spend more to feed your families just remember that we still have the cheapest most reliable food supply in the world, and there are lots of people like me working very hard to keep it that way.

OK that's enough of me on my soapbox.  A friend emailed me after my last post to point something out to me.  I said that we were usually very busy roughly 4 months out of the year.  Well I should clarify that doesn't mean that we only work those 4 months.  We have things going on all year, like right now we are starting to prep equipment for harvest, cleaning up the farmstead, mowing side ditches, scouting fields for insect and disease problems, and most importantly planning for next year.  I know your thinking man you haven't even finished this year, and your already thinking about next year.  Well the truth is we are always planning, right now I am evaluating corn hybrids to decide what we will be planting next spring.  I spend lots of time thinking about how we can improve our operation.  I always like to tell people how far we have come here on the farm.  When I took over in 2004 our average corn yield was roughly 140 bushels per acre, and in 2011 we had an average of 185 bushels per acre.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but I asked my grandpa what his yields used to be when he started, and he told me that the first crop he remembers raising way back in 1952 yielded about 80 bushels per acre.  So we've been able to raise over twice the crop using less inputs than he did.  I got this next bit of info from a facebook page that I follow called agriculture impressions.  Today's farmers can raise twice as much food as our parents did using less land, water, energy and emissions.  Just something to think about the next time someone says something about how we harm the environment in production agriculture.

Thanks for reading this long winded post, I hope that maybe I have enlightened you some how.  I'm always ready to answer any questions, and welcome any suggestions you might have for topics you'd like to know about for my future posts.  I'll try and include some pictures of our equipment and how we use it in my next post. 

Welcome to our world

The title for this first ever blog post says it all.  I'm starting this blog as a way for me to share the story of American agriculture with the world.  My idea is to just tell the story of how and why we do things the way we do here on our farm.  I am by no means calling myself the expert here, and I don't want anyone to think that what we do here is the same on every farm in the country.  This is just a fun thing for me to do, as I love talking about agriculture and farm life with anyone who is interested in listening.  Please feel free to comment about my posts, and ask all the questions you want if I don't have an answer I will certainly find one.  I just want this blog to be a way for anyone that reads it to understand a little better about where the food you eat comes from, and the people like me who are producing it.

Now that I've told you why I'm writing this blog how about a little about me, my family and our little piece of the world.  My name is Brad, and I am a 4th generation farmer.  I run the family farm with my dad John, and my wife Sarah.  We are strictly a corn and soybean farm, which includes approximately 900 acres.  We farm in Hamilton county Indiana, just north of Indianapolis, which comes with a whole set of challenges.  In addition to the farming operation I also sell seed to other farmers across the east central part of Indiana.

I'm planning to post a new blog at least once a month as the year goes on, and eventually I'll start to include some pictures of what's going on here at the farm.  Our business is a little bit seasonal, we are busy in the spring (April and May) with planting, and the again in the fall (September - November) with harvest.  The rest of the year can be kind of slow, but we seem to always have some kind of project going on.

I hope that you enjoy this blog, and learning about farm life, and our family.  Please come back and like I said feel free to comment and ask questions.