Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting with preparations for incoming bad weather. Doug has already put most of his equipment away for the season, with the exception of what he’s still using. Looking back at stats over recent years, farming operations have faced some significant weather with early frosts, extreme winter weather, droughts or heat waves, and how events may intensify because of global warming and how we can prepare. Key advice includes staying informed on incoming weather and who to call when in need, develop an emergency protocol for evacuation, stock and maintain emergency supply kits, keep up-to-date inventory, have fire prevention measures in place, and discuss protocols with your family and farm staff.
Moving on, Doug shares some statistics of not about the number of farms going down. There are less and less farming operations as time goes on. Doug poses the rhetorical question, “why?” Many reasons, of course. There are less and less generational farmers as families have either lost their land, couldn’t keep up with on-farm jobs, or kin moving on to other careers. Another reason is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for new farmers to get started if there isn’t already farmland in the family. Commercialized farming is also taking over due to convenience for consumers, but with low quality, highly processed products. When you look at that food and how it’s keeping our citizens sick, it’s no wonder many have to spend so much money on health insurance and health care in general. Spending more money to support family farmers, getting better quality food, is less expensive in the long run when you’re not eating food that makes you (and keeps you) and your family sick.
In other news, companies Uncommon Farms and Total Acre have a new strategic partnership to expand technology and expertise to growers and farmers all across our country to help with tools to empower farmers to manage both performance and business profitability.
Lastly, Doug opines on President Trump’s announcements of plans to bring down the price of food. Other focus lies on bringing down the price of beef, but a result of the deal with Argentina to import more beef from them is causing the live cattle market to drop.
Website: AmericanFamilyFarmerShow.com
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