For nearly all of my life, my parents have farmed for a living. My father, after having served in the military during the Vietnam War, returned to the family farm that my grandfather started. My earliest memories are of that farm. When I was younger, we raised hogs, beef cattle, and even had a dairy cow for a time. But like many Ohio farms, we largely grew grain crops. We raised corn, soybeans, wheat, and for a few years, canola. And we grew sweet clover, timothy, alfalfa and sudex for the cattle. It all seemed perfectly normal to me.  It wasn’t until years later that I realized just how special my family is.

Only 1% of Americans claim farming as their occupation. One percent. Just think about that for a minute. More people attend Ohio State football games every year than there are total number of farmers in the United States. What is it about farming that makes it so unpopular?

Without a doubt, farming is unique. But farmers have benefits that most of us working folks - particularly small business owners - can’t even imagine. For starters, they don’t have to market their products. By and large, farmers produce commodities - namely, food products. And a market for food has and will always exist. You don’t have to produce commercials. You don’t have to create catalogs. No PR is needed. You just take your grain to market and sell it. Oh, sure, the smart farmers sell grain contracts and dabble in commodities markets, but the fact remains, food has built-in demand. And no recession, no war, no other man-made circumstance will ever change that. We need food. Period.

Secondly, farmers’ primary assets, their land, will never depreciate. In fact, it’ll appreciate over time. Show me another business with that advantage. Other businesses make their profits using buildings, tools, technology…all depreciable assets. Oil wells dry up and coal mines are depleted. And all must be replaced over time. Sure, farmers must replace their equipment and livestock, but the land itself is completely renewable, and it can be passed from generation to generation.

In a fast changing world, most businesses require that their workers learn and adapt at a dizzying pace. While farmers are not immune to these changes, farming methods themselves change much more slowly. While it might not be wise to do so, a farmer could essentially run a farm the same way today as he or she did 50 years ago, and still produce a good crop. Even so, farming rewards ingenuity. If a farmer finds a better way to produce a crop, he or she reaps the reward. A savvy farmer can make a very good living.

So why aren’t more people becoming farmers? Surely, the cost of entry is high. If your family doesn’t already own a farm, acquiring one is not something that can be done on a whim. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility, either. There are definitely businesses that require more initial investment. Many people think farming is too much work. If one were to raise livestock, I’d tend to agree. But running a grain farm can be a one-man operation. And while certain times of the year require long hours, other times require no work at all. Sure, it’s harder work than sitting in front of a computer all day, but what real job isn’t?

As farming becomes more and more unpopular, a large problem in this country is being created. If you’re one of those folks who can’t understand why the federal government has so many farm subsidies every year, hear this: it’s a matter of national security. The United States needs to be able to feed it’s citizens, and we can’t count on other countries to do it for us. All the while, farmers are leaving the trade so fast that the government is forced to dangle the carrot of extra funds with the hope that some will stick it out and produce a crop.

We’re thankfully still a long way from not being able to feed our own people. The few remaining farmers are largely keeping up with demand through innovation. But much like the Greatest Generation, our country’s farmers are slowly dying off. And with them, priceless knowledge. You see, farming isn’t something that is taught in very many schools. If you want, you can go to any number of schools to learn how to be an accountant, an engineer, or a lawyer. But few schools teach production agriculture. And like all businesses, even with an education, one must learn on-the-job. As more and more farmers leave their trade and their land is lost to urban sprawl, the opportunity to learn dwindles.

There was a time in this country when the majority of it’s citizens lived on farms. Whether or not they farmed, most folks knew how to farm. That day has long since passed. I fear the day that farming becomes a lost art in this country. But at that rate it’s going, it saddens me greatly to think that my children may live to see it.

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