EB-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 20, 1988
I*
FARM BUSINESS
INFORMATION - WHERE DO
FARMERS GET IT?
Virgil E. Crowley
Professor Emeritus
I recently had -
an opportunity to f ,m
spend a few days (OMg
visiting with ' Mf
farmers in a small —-tHT
rural town in
Missouri. I knew dH iH
many of these MB IK fll
farmers, indeed I had known some
of them for many years. Thus it
was both an opportunity to renew
old acquaintances and gain some
insight into farming conditions and
problems in Missouri. The conser
vation with these farmers and
among these farmers was typical
farmer talk. How much did that
cornfield by the railroad track
make, and how are your soybeans
turning out? Uppermost in all of
the conversation was “What is the
elevator paying for soybeans
today?”, and “What did the com
market do yesterday?”
Certainly these were items of
concern to these farmers. Price and
yield are important considerations
in determining net farm income.
Yet not once in their conversations
about price did I hear any mention
of pricing information other than
what was obtained from the local
elevator.
On my return to Pennsylvania I
found myself wondering where
these farmers obtained informa
tion on which they made their busi
ness decisions. Did they rely only
on the local elevator for informa
tion on prices, on markets, and per
haps other crucial information
such as varieties of seed, chemi
cals to use for weed control and
etc. This is not to say they are
wrong, if such is the case, for cer
tainly the local elevator or farm
supply center is an excellent sour
ce of information on farm inputs
and commodity prices.
Perhaps my question should not
be where do farmers get informa
tion as much as it should be where
should they get information and
how much. It seems to me that past
events should supply farmers with
a great deal of information that
could be helpful. That means a far
mer’s own records on yields,
prices received for commodities
sold, fertilizer used, and weather
conditions need to be considered.
True these change from season to
season (sometimes from week to
week) but they still provide impor
tant information.
Another important source of
information for farmers is friends
and neighbors. In many farming
communities this is the most
important source. After all, most
farmers rationalize - my neighbor
has the same interests and prob
lems that I have. We grow essen
tially the same crops and have the
same livestock enterprises and
therefore what benefits and works
well for my neighbor should work
for me. While this is a logical
approach, it is often an erroneous
one and can lead to serious mis
With These Participating
takes in farm business manage
ment decisions. It is important for
farmers to consult with their neigh
bors and add the information they
provide to their other sources of
information. However, they
should remember that each indivi
dual is different and what works
for one farmer will not necessarily
work for that farmer’s neighbor.
Other imporant sources of infor
mation for farmers are farm maga
zines, newspapers, consulting ser
vices, and the farmers credit
sources.
An important source of informa
tion that many farmers are often
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unaware of is the Cooperative
Extension Service. Often farmers
are not fully aware of the depth of
knowledge that (heir local exten
sion agents have about farm and
home operations. Also if the local
county extension agents encounter
a problem that they feel requires
additional expertise they can call
on specialists from the land grant
university in their state for assis
tance. Thus, through their local
county extension office, farmers
have access to current information
on the latest proven technology
and research which can be applied
and used on their farm.
Other important sources of
information for farmers include
the Soil Conservation Service and
the Agricultural Stabilization and
Conservation Service. The Soil
Conservation Service assists far
mers in developing conservation
plans for their farm. These plans
often include contour strips, water
ways, ponds, terraces, and field
layout. The ASCS administers the
various farm programs including
Commodity Credit Corporation
loans and conservation payments.
Another source of information
that is becoming increasingly
important is the video cassette.
With more and more homes cither
owning or having access to video
tape players, video tapes become
excellent tools for providing farm
information which farmers can use
at their leisure in their home.
Thus while there are many sour
ces of information which the far
mer can use, the question often
arises as to which of these is the
most important. In my judgment
all of them are important and the
successful farm operator will use
all of them (plus some which I
have probably omitted). There will
be some sources of information
which will carry greater weight
than others. This is often deter
mined by personalities and by the
farmer’s past experience with
sources of information.
Having briefly discussed many
of the sources of information avail
able to farmers (hardly any of these
were mentioned by the Missouri
farmers), it seems to me another
question is important. Are these
various sources of information
providing the information that far
mers want? My 35+ years of work
in farm management convinces me
that these sources provide infor
mation that farmers need, however
it may not always be in a form that
is readily usable and easily
understood.
In some situations some sources
may supply 100 much information.
By this I mean that sometimes the
farmer has to look through or read
too much material to find what he/
she really wants to know. 1 am sure
many people would argue that
often the informational sources
discussed don’t supply enough,
rather than too much. However I
keep thinking about those Mis
souri farmers and the fact their
major information sources
appeared to be their neighbors and
the local elevator. Why? I suspect
it is because they only answered
the questions asked and they
answered them directly. While this
is an approach that apparently
pleases the farmer and satisfied
their need, it leaves a serious void
that many of the other information
al sources do try to cover. What
about alternatives?
For example, the farmer’s
neighbor may not be aware of
alternatives and if so, may not
mention them. The local elevator
operator is not likely to tell the far
mer that another elevator in a near
by town is paying 10 cents more
per bushel for soybeans. Thus a
key point in the information
gathering process is some way of
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