55 YEARS AND COUNTING FROM THE TRACTOR SEAT

BY BILL WHITMAN 

 I hope that each home had a wonderful holiday season. Jan. 1 marked the beginning of a new year of challenges and trying to pick up the pieces from a terrible year of low prices and rising inputs.

We’re seeing the tragic results that have damaged American agriculture worse than the Depression and subsequent dust bowl. Survival this year will require that we model our farms in a structure that ensures that we can at least maintain a static existence until the ship rights itself.

There have been so many farms closing their doors recently that there may be opportunity to grow your operation by filling the void they leave. Approaching landowners with cash rent that allows for a rent expense that can be absorbed even in a down year. For skeptical landowners, they offer to let them share the risk by offering to rent their lands on shares. Personally, I think this has many benefits on many levels. Letting landowners see for themselves the fragility of agriculture from a business perspective may help us expand the truth to a wider audience.

In an economic environment where CD rates and T-Bills struggle to meet even inflation rates, it may expose landowners to an opportunity to make a little better return by financing the inputs of their whole farms at an interest rate good for them and good for the farmer. With additional tax benefits it can seriously be a win-win relationship. I believe I can develop a proposal that is simple to understand for all parties. Even secured better than other investments the landowners can make. The key is to know as much as you can about your landowners’ needs and be willing to educate them with the realities that face your operation which will impact them. One thing that helps in the intangibles, mowing fencelines, pushing back encroaching brush, and focusing on building their ground rather than sucking the life from it.

As much as I hate to say this, but you must be prepared to pick up the pieces of your neighbors who have decided by their choice or the banks, to cease operations. With the average age of farmers in the United States being so high, maintain positive relations with the aging community around you. Often it is a farmer who has the best interests of the landowner who will get the lease even over a higher rent offering.

I preach this every year and every year the importance of watching every penny. The adage, “take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves,” has never been more true. Every day, look for ways to cut costs but not in ways that affect your yields. With volatile weather patterns we have experienced in recent years, don’t trade dollars. Make solid, conservative decisions about this year’s crop. Look for ancillary income streams. I promise, they are available to every farm unique to your own situations.

As for 2026, make up your mind to keep your operation going for another year. I saw a similar environment in the 1980s and those that succeeded never thought of failing. That’s where we are today. No matter the circumstance there is a way… find it.

Horse-Sense: It’s important to take pride in what you do every day. After all it’s better than regretting what you didn’t do.

IndianaAg@bluemarble.net