I grew up on a farm. I learned to drive when I was 10 on a 1946 flat bed truck while haying. I have moved way more than my share of irrigation pipe and I have jumped out of haylofts into big piles of hay and ridden my horse bareback into the river. I love our farm. I wish we could pass this childhood on to all our children and grandchildren. But unfortunately we can’t do that, and here are the reasons. Our farm is 350 acres. 350 acres sounds like a large amount of land, and it is, but only as a single family residence. As a farm it is much too small for commercial profitably. Also here in the Willamette Valley, we only have about a 120 day growing season. Even with our most productive land we can only get one crop per year, yet we are competing in the international business of food production. The same crop I can grow here can be grow and shipped here from Mexico or S. America at less than half of my costs. And speaking of expenses, if they ever stop the flow of illegal immigrants you can expect to pay $10 for a tomato or an apple.

We as a society have romanticized the farm family and by doing so, imprisoned the farm family in a business that is no longer viable economically. Farmers themselves are as guilty as anyone in perpetuating this fantasy . If the weather is better next spring or if we can pull all the tansy this winter or fix all the fences, we will somehow make a profit next year . But even with the tax breaks that we have being zoned EFU and the fact that we homesteaded our land and don’t have a mortgage payment, we still have to work an outside job in order to support ourselves. The burden of providing green spaces seems to have fallen solely on the shoulders of those among us who statistically have the least cash reserves to draw upon, namely the farmers. Hence the expression “land poor”.

We would like nothing better than to share the rural lifestyle with as many people as possible. In fact I believe that one of the main goals of the DLCD is to protect farmland. It is an excellent avenue to teach your children a good work ethic, responsibility for animals, having a vegetable garden and just having the fun of being able to run free on your own property. But right now the minimum we can divide the land in our area is 80 acre plots, but only if you can make $88,000/year in agricultural income two years in a row. An unrealistic figure since we have never make $88,000/ year on the entire 350 acres. 5 to 10 acre plots are plenty large enough to give a family the rural lifestyle that I found so rewarding, without the burden of owning a huge tract of land. Please save our lifestyle and allow us to divide our land into more manageable size acreage for hobby farms or organic farms.

I have tears in my eyes thinking that the family farms are disappearing. i grew up in Philadelphia, west, row houses after house. I had a wonderful, safe, friendly neighborhood. When our family would take the train once a year to go to Atlantic City or maybe by car it was a thrill to see the NJ tomato farms, cows, chickens etc. I live in Monterey County in California now and do see large farms or ranches, however, some are being made into subdivisions Sad. Sad..

Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My daughter dreams of growing up on a farm .. I plan to make it a realty... Wish us lot.. I believe we all need to go back to farming and get away from the big city ... where they made 99% of the population move to just to insalve our minds and spirts .. Now we import 99% of our food from 3rd world county and they get RICH!!

As a pharmacist, I started out in a Mom and Pop store. Now I work for a Corporation. Differences I see are prices and store hours. Mom and Pop stores can't compete with larger buying power and 24 hour stores. Customers today cannot manage their time and they want the cheapest price. Who cares what you have to sacrifice to get these two things, they think. This is the erosion of the grassroots of America. Mom and Pop stores are more personal to a community than big business. Consumers need to re-evaluate their priorities and manage their own needs better but, in a country where foreclosure is at a high, it seems personal management is always left to someone else. Passing the buck.

Well said, I just posted but not sure where it will pop up at. Even tho I've only been shipping for going on 5 yrs, I've been involved, my Dad & I milked in the early 80's but then his health failed & he wanted me to keep my day job, which I quit in 2003. I made the comment to somebody just the other day that most people don't have a clue what it took to get that milk to the store. We don't crop only do hay & this year the rains won't stop long enough to get 1st cutting done. My cows are on rotational pasture but with all the rain we've had, they're up to their udders in mud getting to the parlor. I don't want to sell my cows or lose my farm, but the credit cards bills are getting me down. Our monthly insurance premium is due today, that's $1014/mo. Most people have insurance thru their work, I use to, but lost it when I quit in 2003.

GOD bless you and the hard work you did fo us! I really believe that we are at the end of our world and the people, of government, have it to blame!! NOT US.........but them!!

Thank you for sharing your experiences on your dairy farm. It wounds like a lot of hard work. Not too many people would trade places with you. Have you ever thought about advertising in the large cities for youth who could work your farm for the sheer experience of getting a fell of country life in exchange for room, board, and an education on agriculture?

I agree 100%. Very well said. I lived on a farm in Richland Center, Wisconsin when I was in 7th & 8th grade. It was even hard to make a living then and we had to move back to Illinois. Those Wisconsin days were some of the best in my whole 51 years of life. The people are very genuine. (You don't get much of that in alot of places). I'm still friends with people there from way back then. I remember the farmers working so unbelievably hard every single day (not just when they feel like it) EVERY DAY!!
I have so much respect for them. Just like the crop farmers, so much of their livelihood depends on weather and such. One bad season can really wipe them out. My dad was born and raised on a farm in Michigan, and he was the nicest person EVER! He and my mother instilled the down-to-earth personality in me that I will never forget. Kids on the farms make their own fun, friends walk or ride their bikes miles to see one another, everyone helped each other (not for any other reason, but just to help). You are right, everyone should grow up on a farm. This world would be a much better place.

No organic milk for me!

Keep up the good work.

Kathy

It is very sad to see the American Dream vanishing;
something has got to change. I wish there could be a freeze on all prices to stay the same no higer no lower and let the value of the dollar try to go back up. any thing to help the farmer such as goverment grants because they help feed all Americans;without the farmer there could be a lot of hunger;let the farmer recieve grants for growing sugar cane that would be turn into fuel for every auto, like they are doing in the country Braizl; they have no foreign depency on any oil or gas. If we prosper the farmer richly. we could all share in not going hungry and the goverment and all Americans could be very blessed. I hope I have not may anyone angry. but any idea is worth a try; Instead of everyone let things stay the same and to do nothing at all ,but to complain and then suffer.

Dairy farming is tough work (I worked on one in my teens) and going organic does have restrictions but it may be cheaper in the long run. The farm I go to for milk, the cows are only fed a small amount of feed while milking (to get them to come into the barn) but the large majority of their diet comes from grasses.

The farmer grew up milking conventionally and found that the cows got sick A LOT less when they ate grasses as opposed to a higher diet in corn feed. The corn somehow lowers their immunity. With the higher immunity, they also rarely get mastitis.

Just some thoughts, not trying to tell you what to do. You never know where an "A HA!" moment may come from. Good luck to you! :)