Agriculture FARM: Dry winter and new farm bill leave farmers hopeful for successful 2014 year March 2014
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Photo by Larry Griffin/Williston Herald
Hard at work Calvin Miller tosses hay from a barn, just one of many tasks he performs on the family farm near Grenora.
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Miller said the lack of snow this winter was merciful, as it left their land fertile for farming soon. However, he said he hopes the summer will bring enough rain to make the crops grow. Though luck was not on Miller’s favor last year, he took it in stride and worked with it the best he could. “We worked longer hours to try and get crops in,” he said. “Last year, it started raining on Memorial Day and never quit.” On the farm bill recently passed, Miller saw both its upsides and its downsides. “I am upset that it tied cross compliance with wetland damage,” he said. “I can see some spots on my field that should be drained, but because of compliance, I can’t because I may drain a wetland a duck will use. It’s my land. I should be able to do whatever I want.” Miller said farmers could do what they wanted with their land with almost no restraints before the first farm bill was introduced in 1985. His father drained his land, Miller said, and that yielded “very productive cropland.” “If he hadn’t, it would have become a swamp,” Miller said. Overall, Miller does see the good a farm bill does by providing farmers with crop insurance. “Farmers need crop insurance,” he said. “It provides them with a safety net. Input costs are very high, such as fertilizer and chemicals. Because of the farm bill, the prices at the grocery store are cheaper.” The future of farming, Miller says, looks grim in one aspect especially: the cost of farming. “It’s going to be expensive,” he said. “Someone starting out will have to inherit and get a down payment for the rest.” Miller’s son Calvin chimed in, saying farming has become more of a specialty practice in later years. “You have to be a diesel mechanic with the equipment necessary to run a farm now,” he said. Miller said there was a huge difference between farming then and now — mostly having to do with the amount of produce generated from the work. He remembered his father in the old days combining 40 acres in a day and filling 1,600 bushels by the end of the day.
Miller said his father was “happy” with that turnout. Today’s yields have eclipsed the days of Miller’s father by so much that Miller said farmers can now clear 1,600 bushels in an hour. The high farming costs are apparent in the machinery used as well, Miller said, with “astronomical” prices for new equipment making it impossible for many farmers to buy their equipment new. “A brand new combine can do what two older combines can do,” Miller said. “Farms are big now. They have to be to afford new equipment, new tractors. New tractors have a buddy seat, so you can train your operator right.” One downside for the modern
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williston herald and Plains reporter