WASHINGTON (DTN) -- In celebrating agriculture, a first-generation Pennsylvania farmer told others not to be afraid to experiment and to get involved to help improve the climate for other new farmers in the future.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture hosted a National Ag Day event Tuesday morning which included speeches from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and American Farm Bureau (AFB) President Zippy Duvall. A group of college students also held a panel discussion on agricultural education.
Carl Long, a Pennsylvania farmer recognized last year with a National Outstanding Young Farmer Award, spoke about his farm, as well as the opportunities and challenges facing farmers going forward.
FIRST-GENERATION FARMER
"I am a first-generation farmer, raised by a single mother and I fell in love with farming, working with dairy farmers when I was a kid," Long said introducing himself.
Long began farming at 14 with a $5,000 youth loan from USDA to buy calves. Nearly 25 years later, he and his wife Betsy now farm 2,800 acres of grains and vegetables in Potter County, Pennsylvania. They grow potatoes, green beans, wheat, seed oats and corn.
During his speech, Long detailed some of the conservation practices he and his family are doing in their efforts. "On our farm, our goal is to continually improve and conserve our soil for future generations while focusing on environmental and economic sustainability."
Long said each of the tracts he farms has a conservation plan and he has used USDA programs to develop grass waterways, buffer strips and grow cover crops on the farm as well. He said funding from the Inflation Reduction Act has helped diversify rotation to reduce pest and disease pressure and insecticide use. This year, they will install a pollinator habitat as well.
Long credited both USDA programs and funding from private companies to help the farm develop some of its sustainability projects and goals.
Moving forward, the average age of farmers is 58, but global food production must continue to grow to help feed more than 9 billion people by 2050, Long noted. That provides great potential for younger people to get into agriculture, he said.
"I would encourage all of us to go forward and keep an open mind and not be afraid to try new things," Long said.
OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME
Highlighting some obstacles that need to be overcome, Long said climate change is affecting his farm operation with shifts in seasonal patterns.
"Our winters are getting warmer and we're having cold spells in the summer," he said.
But agriculture is also challenged by losing farm ground to recreational, residential and commercial development. There are also more regulations, such as state agricultural labor laws, and Long pointed to California's Proposition 12, which dictates farming practices outside of the state to sell pork products in California.
"Farmers are also facing federal issues, such as waters of the U.S.," and not providing school children with access to whole milk in schools, Long noted.
He said reforms are needed in agricultural labor for the H2A guest-worker program, "so that farmers have access to the skilled and reliable workforce that we need." Long added, "This list could go on."
Long concluded, "We need to make sure that all of us are not only growing a better environmental climate for tomorrow, but we are also growing a better political and economic climate for tomorrow. I encourage all of you, if you are not involved, to get involved."
DUVALL: RESEARCH REMAINS CRITICAL FOR FARMING
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, who farms in Georgia, began by highlighting that farmers are "salt of the earth people" and farmers "need to be able to continue to tell our story."
He then shifted to highlight the value of research, development and technology to farming operation going forward. Duvall noted that farmers 30 years ago would have needed 100 million more acres to meet last year's production nationally.
Talking about the changes with artificial intelligence, Duvall said he was recently visited by a company that was mapping his farm and wants to use a large drone to spray herbicide on each individual weed. Duvall added, "When a company can come in and offer those services to a small or medium-sized farmer, it's going to be amazing."
But Duvall added new technologies demand investments in research going forward.
"My concern is how do we grow that climate for tomorrow and make it inviting for young people to be able to come to it and be able to sustain their family at a level that everyone absolutely deserves," Duvall said. "We have to make sure we can afford to grow food."
SECRETARY'S COMMENTS
Talking about Ag Day, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack drew on some history of the country and presidents from Washington to Franklin Roosevelt who understood the importance of agriculture to the nation's economy.
"I think it's important and necessary to have a day like this," he said.
While pointing to growing food imports, Vilsack told the youth in the crowd, "You live in a food-secure nation." Other countries, such as China, cannot feed themselves and they turn to the U.S. to help support them. "We don't have to depend on anybody," Vilsack said.
Food inflation has risen, but Americans still pay one of the lowest shares of income on food, he noted. He added that more than 98% of Americans can choose a job or career outside of agriculture because of the country's food production.
"We then have the opportunity to spend our paychecks on a lot of other things" because of our farmers and food supply," he said.
Drawing back on Lincoln's view of rural America, Vilsack said of agriculture, "It is a significant part of who we are and why we are the nation we are."
Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com
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