Obituaries CO Daily Record C7 fl. Courier LA TMllV1 I TWA Local hero Missionary who lost his life in Bolivia in 1975 remembered in his home town. Pago C2 Section JJjM Mi XUJJ 1 Sunday, October 22, 2000 Nancy Raffensperger Newhoff, Managing Editor (291-1445) H. James Potter, Assistant Managing Editor (291-1481 ext. 363) Jim Stanton, Regional Editor (291-1451) Storm clouds hang over family farms Study casts doubt on the future of agricultural tradition CALL THE COURIER Questions concerning local Issues are taken on a special Courier phone line at 234-3566.
Q. When there is a death of a student at one of the schools In Waterloo, is it a policy for the school to have an assembly to inform the students of the death, or how do they deal with the passing of a student in school? A The school district follows a plan to address the needs of students and staff affected by the death, according to spokeswoman Sharon Miller. Although circ*mstances vary, It is generally preferred to notify students In smaller groups such as in their homeroom. Additional counselors are made available to assist students and staff as needed. rS -I fr.A A A I Q.
What caused the car to be on fire last week on the other side of Janesville going towards Waverly? A. "At this point in time, we don't know. The cause is still under Investigation," said Janesville Fire Chief Bryan Destival. He said no one witnessed the fire, so there is no way of knowing exactly what happened. "If there are any further questions, or someone knows something about the fire, please feel free to call me," Destival said.
He can be reached at (319) 987-2781 GREG BROWN Courier Staff Photographer Brent Hansen of rural Hudson works on a sore hoof of one of his family's dairy cows. He scraped the injured area to drain fluid to start the healing process. He owns Hansen's Bo-Pedi-Care a dairy cow hoof-trimming business. Q. Why is the house at 319 S.
Hackett Road all boarded up and the grass not mowed? A. The house has been "red-tagged" by Waterloo Fire Rescue as unsafe to occupy. It is still privately owned. Weed and overgrown lot complaints should be directed to the Sanitation Department at 291-4455. Sf art-up costs for a new farm What does it take to start up a 400-acre grain operation from scratch in Black Hawk County.
Information based on an average $2,298 per acre for crop land based on 1999 Iowa State University Agriculture Extension Service figures and the cost for used John Deere equipment in built in the 1980s. Waterloo Implement owner Harry Olson provided estimated costs for what he would recommend a young farmer to buy to begin grain Land $919,200 (not including buildings and a house) Equipment: 4640 tractor Name: Brent a Hansen Age: 27 Residence: rural Hudson i Education: 1991 graduate of Hudson High School, three years at the University of Northern Iowa majoring in music and business. Family: wife, Amy. Expecting first child in January. -Business: Owner of Hansen's Bo Pedi-Care a dairy hoof trimming business.
Part-time dairy farmer with father, Jay Hansen of rural Hudson. Q. Where can I write to Bill Keane who does "Family Circus" in the comic section of the Courier? A. Write to Bill Keane, CO King Features Syndicate, 235 E. 45th New York, NY 10017.
4440 tractor 24 ft. field cultivator (spring tillage) $7,000 ing one type of livestock. Expensive chemicals are more widely used and livestock, especially hogs, tend to be raised in more costly confinement buildings. Young fanners tend to be college-educated and have an off-farm source of income, which allows them to survive while breaking into the business slowly, usually by buying into an existing operation. Farmers now most likely will be in their late 40s before they own or are running a similar size operation as their predecessors.
The amount of capital needed to buy land and equipment outright is also too great. All these factors indicate it was easier to start up fanning 40 to 50 years ago than today, Edwards said. Hansen, who works part time on his parent's 230-acre, 125-hcad dairy farm west of Hudson, would like to farm, but striking out on his own is financially impossible. In fact, his three younger brothers and sister have all talked about returning to the family farm, but there isn't enough income generated to support that many people. This seems to be the case for many would-be farmers.
Many would like to start full time, but can't because the family farm isn't able to support an extra person. They end up getting an off-farm job and waiting. "We (young farmers) don't have the collateral. After going to school for four years, who's going to loan you Hansen said. "You need a backer, a co-signer.
A kid who graduates has no tractors, land, feed storage or cows to milk." Unlike many farmers in Iowa who apparently don't know who's taking over the farm, that's not the case in the Hansen household. In this case', there are five potential heirs to assume responsibility. Brent's parents aren't looking to retire for quite some time, he's supporting his family with a dairy cow hoof-trimming business. "I can make money trimming and helping here while they (siblings) make up their mind. I'm buying time," Hansen said.
"Kind of like being in cruise control." Hansen hopes at least one of his siblings decide to come home. Because the dairy business is a sev-en-day-a-week occupation, he would like to share the duties in order to spend more time with his family and continue the hoof-trimming operation. Hollis is the most established in farming of the three. He was fortunate to find a couple hundred acres to rent in college and trade labor for a reduced custom rate, in order to use his family's equipment to put in his first crops. After college he was able to buy shares into and co-manage Porkhaven Farms the family's farrow-to-finish hog operation, and find considerably more land to rent.
"I started planning ahead and tapping into (family) relationships already established," he said. Over the past four years, Hollis slowly bought some equipment, such as a planter and a tractor. His machinery is included in the family's overall operation, just like buying stock. The goal is to incrementally acquire the entire farming operation, while paying his parent's fair market value and providing for their retirement. "I enjoy the miracle of watching the crop grow and the challenge of running a business.
Those are the two biggest things in farming for me," Hollis said. The three young farmers contend it's more profitable to have equity in equipment and buildings early on, instead of land. Renting at this stage, either on a crop share or cash rent basis, and slowly becoming part owners of property is more economical. When it comes to do the final buyout, they already have equity in the operation and a lending institution will be more likely make the loan. "I won't totally come into my own as a farmer for some time.
It's a constant learning process," Hollis said. AH of the young farmers believe a college education is extremely helpful, but not necessary to succeed. And an off-farm income, each said, is almost a must until a person is firmly established. In Bovy's case, both statements hold true. Bovy, an agriculture stud-See FARMERS, page C3 Name: Blake G.
Hollis Age: 26 13 ft. soil saver Q. Does Waterloo have a ordinance similar to Cedar Falls with respect to the camouflaging of telephone towers? A. Yes. Residence: rural Waterloo Education: or disk chisel (fall no-till or minimum-till tool) $7,000 1 High School in I 1 6620 combine with a win a By MATTHEW WILDE Courier Staff Writer WATERLOO Farming: The Next Generation.
A sci-fi action thriller it's not. But the story has all the drama, suspense and intrigue of a box office hit. As Iowa's aging fanners near retirement, many still don't know who's going to take over their farms. Will it be individuals or corporations gobbling up farm land purely as an investment or young people hoping to make a living off the land? In a study to be released in about two weeks by the Beginning Farmers Center (BFC) at Iowa State University in Ames, researchers have discovered startling information about the future of agriculture in Iowa. According to the unpublished report, 71 percent of Iowa's farmers said they didn't know who is going to assume their operations.
'This isn't a totally, 'Oh my scenario, but it is a source of concern. People should be planning for retirement at 30 instead of 65," said Mike Duffy, an ISU Extension economist and BFC director. The survival of family farms could be in jeopardy if they aren't passed on to an heir or another young person willing to continue the operation, Duffy said. If farms are simply sold to the highest bidder, he said, most likely investors will begin owning a bigger share of Iowa's farm land. While most of Iowa's tillable ground is still being purchased by existing farmers, that trend is changing.
A 1999 survey of Iowa's real estate agents by ISU showed 30 percent of the crop land sold that year was snatched up by investors, the same figure as '98 and significantly higher than 1997. In south-central Iowa, 60 percent of farm land sold in 1999 was to investors. Eventually, Duffy said, corporations could own the majority of land and farmers would be relegated to employees rather than owners. This could lead to dramatic changes in Iowa's culture, society and environment. "(Family farmers) do a much better job managing ag resources," he said.
"With tenant farmers, it's not the same care; whether it's conservation, wildlife or water. "If we move toward more of an industrialized model and go away from that, then we're living in a fool's paradise. Look at history. If we take resources for granted, usually that's the start of a decline of a society." The BFC survey was sent to 1,400 farmers, and 418 were returned. Duffy said that's enough to get a accurate picture of the state.
A number of reasons are behind the number of farmers who don't have a line of succession, Duffy said. They include smaller family sizes, farmers thinking they'll farm forever, people not wanting to make a tough decision on what to do with the farm and those who simply don't want to think about their own mortality. The average age of Iowa farmers is 52.4 years, according to the 1997 Census of Agriculture. "Existing farmers spend all their life building up a business. Are, they willing to let it die?" Duffy asked.
The answer is yes in many cases. But it doesn't have to be that way. One of the Beginning Farm Center's main functions is to match young people wanting to farm with established producers looking to retire and pass on their legacy. To date, the center has about 600 people wanting to farm and only 20 people seeking a successor. "When people say there aren't people willing to farm, that's simply not true.
The problem is finding willing, older retiring people," Duffy said. While a new generation of farmers may be waiting to take flight, it could be a bumpy ride, according to agri- bSkti 1992 and Iowa 6-row corn head and A a 15 ft. platform $30,000 State University in 1996 majoring in Ag business. Family: wife, Sally Business: Owner of Hollis Farms, a corn and soybean operation. Part-owner of Porkhaven Farms a farrow-to-finish operation.
Q. How much has the bonded indebtedness in Waterloo increased during the Rooff administration? A. The city's bonded debt combining general obligation bonds and sewer revenue bonds has grown from $73.2 million in 1993 to $92.6 million by the end of fiscal year 1999, according to the last available audit. 6-row planter $7,000 4 300-bushel gravity wagons $1,000 each vp6 Name: Brad M. Bovy Age: 22 22 ft.
disk $2,500 Total: $1,021,700 Resld Falls Education: Graduate of Columbus High School in 1996 Cz3 Q. On the birthday greetings on KWWL's morning news, if a birthday falls on a Saturday or Sunday do they run the greeting on those mornings or on Friday instead? A. Birthdays air seven days a week at about 6:20 a.m. and 6:40 a.m., station officials said. and Iowa State University in 2000 majoring in ag studies and minoring in agronomy.
Family: single Business: Full-time Pioneer seed representative, certified crop consultant and part-time employee with Bovy Farms his family's corn and soybean operation south of Waterloo. Q. Is it legal to trap squirrels in the city and transport them elsewhere? A. It is legal to "live trap" squirrels in the Waterloo city limits, but the trap must be labeled with your name and address and must be checked at least every 24 hours under state law, said Jennifer Lancaster-Woodley, a conservation officer for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. However, officials with Cedar Bend Animal Control said the trapper must contact their office to transport the animal to a new location.
takes adequate financial backing, usually from an established family operation, experience whether it's on-the-job training, post-secondary education or both and probably most important, a constant drive to succeed. But why would a young person choose a profession, in the midst of low commodity prices, that literally needs government assistance to survive? U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman recently said the government issued a record $28 billion in direct payments to farmers in fiscal year 2000, which accounted for about half of all net income for the year. Why would someone choose to work in a field that's fairly labor intensive, demands long hours and probably won't be economically rewarding until retirement? It's often said a farmer's retirement package is the land and equipment accumulated over the years. And why would someone choose a job where in a matter of minutes a whole year's work can be wiped out by Mother Nature? Simple: Because they love to farm.
"The desire to farm is still there," Hollis said. He started farming a few hundred acres in college and now owns and rents sfffjstantially more. "It's a good way of life, that's why I came back. I want to raise my children similar to my upbringing. Iowa is a great place to live." Young farmers and agriculture officials both agree breaking into the business can be done, but over time and not all at once.
There's plenty of similarities to how farmers in the 1950s and '60s started to how it's done today, but also many subtle differences. Forty to 50 years ago, the 160-acre, quarter-section farm was the norm. The vast majority of farmers never went to college, raised a variety of crops and livestock, worked with their father to gain experience and earned enough for a down payment on land and equipment. With the help of the local bank, most were able to strike out on their own in their early 20s. William Edwards, an ISU Extension farm management economist, said older, more diversified farms tended to rely more on labor than capital.
Livestock was primarily raised outdoors. He said it takes about three times as much capital now to start farming compared to 50 years ago. For the next generation of farmers, things are different. The average size of an Iowa farm is 344 acres, and farmers tend to be more specialized, focusing on grain production or rais culture Farming has become much more capital intensive, and the margin for error is virtually gone. Three young Northeast Iowa farmers know this all too well.
Each is fortunate to be associated with established operations and families who are counting on them or other siblings to take over the farm. But when and how this script will be played out is still in question. Blake G. Hollis is 26, Brent Hansen is 27 and Brad M. Bovy is 22.
They have either started farming or are waiting in the wings. All went to col-, lege and have returned home to Black Hawk County to farm. Each is optimistic the. land will provide for him and his family. Farming techniques and strategies have changed over the years, but how and why someone gets into the business has stayed relatively the same.
It Q. I noticed the Pulse has stopped printing stars that rate the movies they list. Why? A. The wire service that sends a list of movies with the star ratings does not come across the Courier news wire until after the Pulse deadline. Rather than list only some of the movies with the star ratings, it has been eliminated entirely for consistency's sake.
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