Iowa Farmers Adapt to Survive

Conventional farming is a thing of the past—go organic!

DAN MIHALOPOULOS / Chicago Tribune 19jan04

WAVERLY, Iowa—Using technology developed at a University of Northern Iowa research lab, a young farmer turns soybeans into environmentally friendly lubricants that grease railroads across the country.

On the other side of the state, near the western Iowa town of Harlan, a fourth-generation farmer credits organic crops and livestock for keeping him in overalls and farm caps instead of looking for a new line of work, as so many other farmers have done.

Iowans laughed heartily when 1988 Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Dukakis suggested they diversify their approach to agriculture by cultivating Belgian endive. The remark remains the low point for city-slicker candidates who would feign a deep knowledge of rural concerns in seeking support in Iowa's presidential caucuses.

But like many of their counterparts across the country, Iowa farmers increasingly are turning to alternative approaches and banking on technological advances as conventional methods of farming have become less viable.

Even though agriculture's place in Iowa's overall economy has lessened significantly over the last three decades, farming issues remain an essential part of a presidential candidate's repertoire leading up to Monday's caucuses.

Candidates exploit issue

On Friday, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri turned to agriculture to try to undermine a late surge in opinion polls by Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Dean and Gephardt pointed to a 1996 newspaper interview in which Kerry said: "Get rid of the Agriculture Department, or at least render it three-quarters the size it is today. There are more agriculture bureaucrats than there are farmers in this country."

Kerry responded that his rivals were using "smear tactics" against him and again railed against the rise of big agribusiness.

Though Iowa farmers generally are conservative, the social stigma attached to trying innovative farming approaches is fading "as farmers' backs are more and more against the wall" and big agribusiness increasingly dominates, said Mike Duffy, an economist at Iowa State University.

Duffy, who advises students who want to become farmers, tells them they must build big operations or produce specialty crops that can sell at premium prices. The only other option, he tells his students, is not what they want to hear: "Consider alternative employment."

"Society and these politicians going around here have to ask themselves: What kind of agriculture do we want?" Duffy said. "Do we want an agricultural sector designed to produce cheap, bulk commodities or do we want to give opportunities to young farmers?"

To address concerns about so-called factory farming wiping out small farmers, many presidential candidates endorse what has become known as the "packer ban." It would prohibit meatpackers from owning livestock. Critics say owning livestock allows meatpackers to control the prices they pay to independent producers.

All the Democratic senators running for president supported the packer ban, but the legislation stalled in Congress. A major pork producer in Iowa has mounted a legal challenge to the state's own packer ban.

The state's smallest farms, known somewhat derisively as lifestyle or hobby farms, are becoming more common and so are huge farms. But there are far fewer medium-size farms owned by family farmers.

The state's farmers also are aging. Only 10 percent are younger than 35. A quarter are older than 65, and they own almost half of Iowa's farmland.

Larry Ginter, who owns a farm in Rhodes, quit raising hogs in 2001 after watching the market for his animals dwindle to a few buyers.

"Farmers here are going to be nothing but serfs soon," said Ginter, 53. "What happened to the Jeffersonian ideal of a republic made up of small farms? Hogs are completely controlled by a few cartels."

In contrast, specialized products are fetching premiums at a time when margins for commodities such as corn and soybeans continue to shrink.

"What Dukakis said wasn't as outlandish as it seemed at the time," said agricultural economist Neil Harl from Iowa State University. "Iowa farmers are looking more aggressively for niche markets."

More than 120,000 acres of the state's famously rich farmland are devoted to organic farming, which shuns pesticides and forbids pumping growth hormones or antibiotics into livestock. That compares with 22,000 acres of organic farmland in Iowa in 1995.

After growing corn and soybeans and raising hogs in the conventional way, Ron Rosmann of Harlan decided 20 years ago to try a different approach. He gave up on pesticides and began to rotate crops, growing wheat, oats, barley, rye and alfalfa. He and his wife, Maria, also began raising organic cattle, hogs and chickens in 1994.

Neither Ron nor Maria Rosmann has been forced to look for work off the farm to sustain their family. They hope their organic farm can continue to grow so their three sons can keep farming, as the Rosmann family has done for 120 years.

Others are looking to bio-research involving traditional crops. The potential of soy-based industrial lubricants has become another avenue for making the most of what Iowans do best.

The soy grease developed at the University of Northern Iowa lab in Waverly is supplanting petroleum-based lubricants traditionally used to grease railroad tracks.

"This will help farmers, help the environment and reduce dependence on imported petroleum products," said Lou Honary, the lab's director.

Soy grease for trucks

Truckers also are beginning to use soy grease to lubricate the connection between truck cabs and trailers. Some trucks bear bumper stickers that tout soy grease as "better for America."

Agricultural economist Harl and other experts say the potential for supplanting petroleum products with alternatives made from crops is immense. But they warn that niche markets, such as organic food, can be swamped if too many farmers turn to that approach.

Already Iowa's image, embodied in Grant Wood's paintings of pastoral scenes, is being altered dramatically. Driving around the state, the nose often detects the most obvious sign of the changing times: the odor of large-scale hog confinements.

LeRoy Merk, 70, and his wife, Sharlene, 66, have lived on a farm near Audubon in western Iowa for 46 years. Since 4,500 hogs took up residence a quarter-mile from their home, the couple said they have canceled Easter egg hunts for their nine grandchildren. Sharlene Merk said the odor causes headaches, sore throats, loss of balance and vomiting.

None of the Merks' four children went into farming.

"It has gotten so there are two different worlds out here," LeRoy Merk said.

He and many other family farmers believe that, come the next Iowa caucuses in four years, their world will be less a part of the state than ever.

source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0401190205jan19,1,6280102,print.story 19jan04