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December 27, 2005

Farmtacular

I
got a farm tour yesterday--some relatives run a soybean & agrochem business in the Missouri bootheel. Here's what I learned: the "farm" isn't contiguous. The 5600 acres are spread out in patches as far as 20 miles from each other. You can grow wheat on a field, harvest it, and then grow soybeans the same year. This close to the Mississippi river, the large center-pivot irrigation systems are running off of wells less than 100 ft. deep. When the tourguide (Uncle Milas) was a boy, his father harvested about 50 bushels of beans per acre; now he gets around 100 bushels per acre; he thinks the land has the potential to yeild much more. Below the fold: one more picture of East Prairie, pop. 3,227.

IMG_12638.jpg

Posted by at December 27, 2005 12:06 AM

Comments

Question for you: do your relatives recognize that they are essentially operating an outdoor factory? I have the same discussions with my "farm" relations, and I have to tiptoe around the fact that their operation resembles a farm of the American national memory about as much as a blacksmith shop resembles a Toyota assembly plant. Wondering if that is the same for other large-scale farms/farmers.

Cranky

Posted by: Cranky Observer at December 27, 2005 10:48 AM

I don't think my relatives would object to the characterization of their operation as industry. Milas is an independent thinker who tends to swing conservative, and we've discussed the politics of large-scale farming on a few occasions. We don't always see eye to eye (as on the topics of what really motivates environmentalists and the proper role of the federal government in the agriculture economy).

But I don't think they idealize the farmer of American myth. I believe that they see themselves as guys who run a successful family business producing soybeans and selling fertilizer. Tiptoeing (thankfully) not required.

Posted by: Lance at December 28, 2005 12:51 AM