A44-Lanc«Bter Farming, Saturday, April IS, 2000
Survey:
PARK RIDGE, 111. -
America’s young farmers and
ranchers say government poli
cies to boost U.S. farm exports,
such as establishing permanent
normal table relations with
China, are the best way to
address the top challenge facing
them today - profit.
Those were among the
results of a survey of 302 young
farmers and ranchers from 47
states, ages 18-35, conducted by
the American Farm Bureau
Federation (AFBF), the nation’s
largest farm organization.
The eighth annual survey of
participants in AFBF’s Young
Farmer & Rancher Program
revealed the traditional opti
mism of younger producers has
been tempted by economic chal
lenges, but they continue to
invest in new technology and
business practices to sharpen
their competitive edge and pro
tect the environment.
Overall results of the infor
mal survey, conducted during
February’s World Congress of
Young Farmers, show that the
future of American agriculture
is in competent and caring
hands.
Reflecting present farm eco
nomic conditions, more than a
third (36.1 percent) of the young
U.S. farmers surveyed said over
all profitability was their top
concern, up from last year’s 32.4
percent and considerably higher
than 1998’s 18.6 percent. The
cost of government regulations
was second (13.6 percent), while
the availability of land and
other resources was third (11.7
percent). Over the survey’s
eight-year history, profitability
has topped the list of concerns
five times and regulations three
times.
Like last year, the fourth
largest challenge this year was
urban enroachment on farm
land, selected by 9.1 percent of
the respondents. Fifth on the list
(7.3 percent) was competition
from larger farms, followed
closely by tax burdens (7 per
cent). Labor availability and
related regulations was seventh
(5.1 percent). This year’s drop
other top challenges, in descend
ing order, were the willingness
of parents to turn over more con
trol of the farm, availability of
financing and health care avail
ability.
Young Farmers See Exports As Key
The young farmers view
international trade as the key to
profitability. For the third
straight year, respondents said
boosting U.S. agricultural
exports was the most important
step the U.S. government could
take to help them and their
farms. At 38.4 percent, that
response was a slight increase
over last year. Congress is cur
rently considering a measure to
establish permanent normal
trade relations with China,
which is projected to boost U.S.
farm exports to that nation by at
least $1 billion annually.
A distant second (13.9 per
cent) was federal tax reform.
Strengthening protection for
property owners was third at
11.2 percent. Rounding out
other choices with percentages
higher than 5 percent were pro
viding more financial assistance
for beginning farmers (7.8 per
cent); federal regulatory reform
(6.5 percent); provide counter
cyclical income support (6.1 per
cent); and monitor and enforce
anti-trust laws related to agri
cultural concentration (5.1 per
cent).
Nearly two-thirds of the
young farmers said once the cur
rent farm program expires, farm
income should continue to be
supplemented to some degree by
the federal government (65.5
percent). Only 34.5 percent said
farm income should come totally
from the marketplace. That rep
resents a near turnaround from
just two years ago, when 66.8
percent said farm income should
come only from the market. Last
year, that response was evenly
split.
The use of technology by
young farmers and ranchers
continues to skyrocket. Internet
access among young farmers
rose sharply to 77.2 percent, up
a full 25 percentage points from
last year. Figures show that
nationally, only about 43 percent
of American households are con
nected to the Internet. Just four
years ago, only 10.5 percent of
young farmers reported having
Internet access.
Overall, computers are used
on the farm by 90.7 percent of
those surveyed, up 11 percent
age points from 1999. While just
5.6 percent of respondents'
reported having their own
Internet home page (2 percent in
1999), there was a 17.9 percent
age-point jump in the number of
young farmers who communi
cate through electronic mail
(65.2 percent).
The use of cellular phones
increased by 4.6 percentage
points, to 87.4 percent of respon
dents, while more than one
fourth (25.5 percent) of the
young farmers reported making
online purchases using e-com
merce. The use of computer
online services (42.7 percent),
fax machines (51.3 percent),
pagers (16.9 percent), and home
satellite dishes (36.1 percent)
largely held steady.
Another technology area that
increased was the number of
young farmers who plant
biotech crops or plan to do so
within the next two years. This
year’s 59.3 percent response was
the highest ever and 2.1 per
centage points above last year.
The use of global positioning
systems and global information
services, where satellite technol
ogy is used to plot precise field
activities, saw an increase of 8
percentage points, to 23.5 per
cent.
Mirroring past surveys, this
year’s respondents reported a
strong commitment to conserva
tion and the use of environmen
tally beneficial farming prac-
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tices. Nearly two-thirds (64.6
percent) said they employ con
servation tillage on their farms.
More than six out of 10 respon
dents (60.3 percent) said they
regularly test soil or crop tissue
prior to the application of nutri
ents, and 53.6 percent said they
practice crop rotation with three
or more crops. More than a third
(38.4 percent) said they use inte
grated pest management tech
niques such as field scouting to
reduce crop protectant use.
Regarding other practices,
28.8 percent regularly test their
private well water; 24.5 percent
use contour farming or strip
cropping; 23.5 percent leave
buffer strips to benefit wildlife;
23.2 percent have land enrolled
in the conservation reserve pro
gram; and 16.2 percent owned
wetland resources that they
actively manage.
Approximately 95 percent of
the young farmers surveyed said
they select farming practices
based on both the environment
and economics. According to the
survey, 74.7 percent said both
with a slight emphasis on eco
nomics, while 19.9 percent said
both with an emphasis on the
environment. Those results gen
erally mirror the findings from
previous years.
This
reveals
year’s survey also
that young farmers
employ a number of special
management and marketing
practices and services to gain a
competitive edge. The most com
mon was marketing information
services, used by 51 percent of
respondents. Second was the use
of futures and options markets,
which continues to rise at 49.7
percent, compared to 40.4 per
cent in 1999. Professional
accounting services were third
with 45.7 percent.
The use of professional crop
consultants (40.1 percent), pro
duction of farm products
through contract agreements
(37.4 percent), and the use of
marketing and management
consultants (28.2 percent) held
steady compared to 1999.
To supplement farm income,
71.3 percent of the young farm
ers surveyed said that they,
their spouse, or both work off the
farm. That’s up from last year’s
67.9 percent. From that group,
wives were the sole source of off
farm income 61.2 percent of the
time and husbands were the sole
source 11.2 percent of the time,
both spouses contributed to off
farm income in 27.7 percent of
those cases. Of those young
farmers reporting off-farm
employment, 51 percent said the
availability of health insurance
was the primary reason.
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