f
F
A
R
ANAGEMENT
What is Your Farm’s
Future?
By Alan W. Strode
Farm Management Agent
For
Chester & Lancaster Counties
What is your fanning future?
Should you sell your farm for
“big bucks**?
These are difficult questions
facing many fanners in today’s
strange economic times. Many far
mers, especially in Southeastern
and Southcentral Pennsylvania are
asking themselves these serious
and life-changing questions.
Residents of Chester and Lan
caster counties are struggling with
these questions, too, as reflected
by the attendance of 270 fanners
and non-farmers at two meetings
sponsored by the Cooperative
Extension which dealt with the
• Preserves and protects nutritional
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• Minimizes spoilage and waste.
• Increase palatability.
• Increases bunk life.
• Economical and easy to use. (One 50 lb.
bag treats 50 tons of silage)
Contact Us Today For More Information
6 S. Vintage Rd.
Paradise, PA 17562
(717)442-4183
(717)768-3301
future of farming in these two
counties.
Love For Farm Or
Farming?
A farmer in this situation must
ask, ‘Where is my deepest love?’
Is it for my family roots and pre
sent farm location, or for my love
of farming?
The answer to this basic ques
tion will go a long way in helping
the farmer decide whether to sell
the farm and relocate or stay and be
creative in the way he deals with
fanning in, or next to, suburbia.
In addition, he will also have to
ask himself important questions
about estate planning, present and
future zoning plans and regula
tions, governmental regulatory
agency interferences, labor shor-
kssMus
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tages, directly marketing one’s
farm product to consumers, and
non-farm income-producing
alternatives.
This process, to some farmers,
may seem like a form of Chinese
water torture where the victim is
made immobile while water drips
slowly on his forehead. But unlike
water torture this question-and
answer session is of great beneGt
to the fanner.
Your estate’s value will deter
mine your future. First, get your
farm appraised and second, have
an accurate balance sheet pre
pared. The balance sheet will
enable you to make informed deci
sions whether it is possible or even
feasible to keep die farm in the
family.
Farmland use evaluation, living
trusts, regular busts, and gifting
programs are all useful tools in
transferring the estate to the next
generation or even to the grand
children. Zoning must also be con
sidered before you make your
decision. ■ When the farm can be
sold for ten to twenty times its agri
cultural value it makes litde, if any,
economic and farm management
sense to keep the farm and struggle
along with high real estate taxes,
low profitability, traffic problems,
neighbor complaints, labor shor
tages and even possibly extensive
loan payments.
Rt. 82
Unionville, PA 18375
(215) 347-2377
Development,
Regulations and
Labor Shortage
It is critically important that you
take time to visit with your local
planning commission and seek
their guidance and forecast for
land use in your area. It would also
be time well spent talking to your
county planning commission offi
cials and questioning them about
county population shifts and
increases, planned housing deve
lopments and road improvements'
and additions, and related subjects.
Governmental regulations that
will impact the farmer are sure to
increase instead of decrease in the
future, especially in wake of the
alar chemical and Chilean fruit
scares. The government is sure to
further tie farmers’ hands in the
area of insecticide and pesticide
usage, manure disposal (Chesa
peake Bay), animal safety and
health (animal rights groups), air
and water quality, and labor man
agement. If these issues scare you
it may be time to relocate to a less
populated area, where there may
be fewer regulations.
As long as the general economy
and/or your local economy stays
strong, finding sufficient labor for
the farm operation will continue to
get more difficult. Most people are
three or four generations removed
from farming now, and most don’t
want to get their hands dirty nor
work the long hours and weekends
involved in farming.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April IS, 1959-A23
Some fanners are presently, and
many others will soon be, paying
non-farm wages to attract compe
tent employees. In some cases a
key to being profitable and “stay
ing put“ will be getting some of the
new money brought into your local
area by the new residents into your
pockets through direct marketing.
You may want to become retail
ers and earn the middle man’s pro
fit margin (and headaches) by
marketing your milk, meat, poul
try, fruit, vegetables, eggs, or other
commodity. It will take a unique,
inventive, resilient family that
loves to meet and work with peo
ple to directly market their product
to the public.
Another way to get some of the
new money moving into your area,
and secure your financial future,
may be to develop a non-farm bus
iness such as bed and breakfast,
saw sharpening, woodworking,
garage, wood cutting, or the like.
Also, many full-time farmers
are taking non-farm employment
and becoming part-time farmers to
retain the farm. As new people
move into the area, a whole host of
new services will be needed and
wanted. As you are deciding your
farm’s future be sure to look at the
economic ramifications of the
decision.
Remember the big advantage
\ye have in the northeast is our
closeness to our markets. If
cooperative extension can help, be
sure to contact your local Coopera
tive Extension office. Penn State is
an equal opportunity financial
institution.