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Harvesting Cherries At Night To Protecting Apples With Nets, Record Heat Takes Toll On Fruit Crop
Record-breaking heat that blasted the West over the weekend is also proving to be lethal to crops. Even with the heat breaking a bit on Monday, daily records were tied or broken over the weekend across California, Nevada and Arizona, with extreme heat also hitting Idaho and portions of the Pacific Northwest
By Tyne Morgan
July 12, 2021
Record-breaking heat that blasted the West over the weekend is also proving to be lethal to crops. Even with the heat breaking a bit on Monday, daily records were tied or broken over the weekend across California, Nevada and Arizona, with extreme heat also hitting Idaho and portions of the Pacific Northwest.
Much of the West and Southwest have been under a heat warning for more than a week, with more than 28 million Americans seeing triple-digit heat, including Arizona, Nevada, California’s Central Valley and even parts of Washington State. The relentless heat comes just more than a week after the Pacific Northwest saw a “thousand year” heat wave that killed hundreds.
The heat and extreme drought conditions are also fueling wildfires, as well as causing orchards and farm workers to change their schedules in order to beat the heat. That’s as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says last month was officially the hottest June on record.
Trying to Beat the Heat with Nighttime Harvest
According to Reuters, the hottest days last month forced farm laborers to start picking cherries at 1 a.m., earlier than the normal 4 a.m. start. According to Reuters, headlamps and roving spotlights were used to aid the workers in an earlier start time in order to beat the daytime heat that threatened the workers’ safety. The extreme heat also made the fruit too soft to harvest during the day.
Reuters reports Northwest Cherry Growers still expects to see an average-sized cherry harvest this year.
"We think we probably lost about 20% of the crop," B.J. Thurlby, president of the Northwest Cherry Growers, a grower-funded trade group representing top cherry producer Washington and other Western states, told Reuters.
As reported on "The Packer" earlier this month, the Northwest Cherry Growers said the heat will force some growers to abandon a portion of their crop due to the damage caused by the heat. The issue surrounds quality. The Northwest Cherry Growers says fruit exposed to such a prolonged period of intense heat wouldn’t meet the stringent standards upheld by the Northwest growers. Unfortunately, that means that a few growers lost some or all of their crop this season.
The hot weather taking a toll on the cherry crop comes as USDA's latest sweet cherry production forecast showed production higher than 2020, but down 6% from what producers saw in 2019. USDA says the later blooming varieties were well behind the rest of the crop, which is already leading to lower yields.
Shipping Concerns
Also according to "The Packer," with temperatures topping 105 degrees for several days from June 27-30 in Wenatchee, Wash., shipping was also impacted by the extreme heat. Shippers said the heat wave could reduce the crop volume some and hold back sizing temporarily but expressed confidence there will be plenty of high-quality Washington cherries for retailers to promote in July and into August. Some are even hydro cooling cherries and taking other steps to take the heat out of fruit and using advanced sorting technology to send only strong fruit to market.
Eyes on the Apple Crop
But it’s also adding uncertainty to what the Washington apple crop will produce this year. Apples are Washington’s most valuable crop, with an estimated revenue of $2 billion each year. Apple harvest is still six weeks away, but the heat has caused the apples to stop growing for now.
"We really don't know what the effects are. We just have to ride it out," Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission, told Reuters.
The Washington Apple Commission says growers are doing what they can to protect their fruit against sunburn. That includes using expansive nets and spraying water vapor above the trees.
USDA's meteorologist Brad Rippey expects the heat to continue in the West for the remainder of July. View his forecast here.
Lead Photo: Heat and extreme drought are causing orchards and farmworkers to change their schedule in order to beat the heat. NOAA says last month was officially the hottest June on record, as heat continues to blast the West.
Forget Politics, Danny Ayalon Wants to Effect Change on The Ground
Having transitioned from politics to agriculture, Danny Ayalon shares how vertical farming, which provides fresh fruits and vegetables all year round, and lab-grown meat can rehabilitate the environment and dramatically reduce household expenditures
Having transitioned from politics to agriculture, Danny Ayalon shares how vertical farming, which provides fresh fruits and vegetables all year round, and lab-grown meat can rehabilitate the environment and dramatically reduce household expenditures.
Image from: Yehoshua Yosef
The coronavirus pandemic has drawn attention to humankind's carbon footprint. More than ever before we ask ourselves, how can we become more sustainable? Can we prevent pollution? How can we minimize waste? What about lowering emission levels? Will there be enough food for everyone in the future?
Danny Ayalon, a former ambassador and foreign policy adviser to three prime ministers-turned entrepreneur, believes that the answer to many of the world's problems lies in modern agriculture.
Having transitioned from politics to agriculture, he works with Future Crops, an Amsterdam-based company focused on vertical farming – the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers that often incorporates controlled-environment agriculture, which aims to optimize plant growth – and MeaTech, a company that creates lab-grown meat.
"Ever since the coronavirus came into our lives, we realized that man is not in charge of the universe," Ayalon told Israel Hayom.
"Our control over the forces of nature, of Earth, of our future is more limited than we had thought. And when we are no longer in charge of the world, only three things guarantee our lives here: food, water, and energy security. Food, water, and energy are three resources that can be depleted and therefore literally cast a cloud on our world.
"Experts have come to a conclusion that one of the most important fields to focus on is agriculture, and indeed we are currently witnessing the most significant agricultural revolution ever since the first agricultural revolution that took place about 10,00 years ago."
Q: Back then, in the first agricultural revolution, there was a need for a lot of land.
"But today we have technology. The name of the game is to reach maximum output with minimum input in the smallest space possible. This is the holy grail of the new revolution. And that is how technology enters the picture. To grow fruits, vegetables and spices today requires lots of space. The technology we developed at Future Crops allows us to minimize the space, increase production and redefine the food supply chain."
Q: How exactly?
"We have a nine-story hangar in Amsterdam to grow crops like coriander, basil, dill, and parsley. It has LED lights, and each plant gets exactly the amount of light it needs. We are the plant psychologists, [we] listen to all its needs and do everything to make sure the plant grows in the most optimal way.
Image from: Future Crops
"If it lacks something, it immediately receives water. Everything is done without a human's touch. We use algorithms and big data in collaboration with world-class researchers from the Weizmann Institute. It is essentially the application of vertical farming, growing various crops in vertically stacked layers, in enclosed structures, on soil platforms.
"For example, if it takes a month to grow lettuce in an open field, in a vertical farm, it takes two weeks, half that time. There's also a significant reduction in water consumption, and no pesticides or sprays are used at all. Also, the produce is available in all seasons; it does not depend on the temperature. Whoever likes mangos and strawberries, for example, will be able to enjoy them all year round."
Q: So if produce is grown faster and within a smaller space, is it going to cost less?
"The prices might be a bit higher today because this technology and the various infrastructures require an economic return of the initial investment in them. With time, the process will become more efficient, and the investments will be repaid, so in the end, the prices that the consumer will need to pay will be lower than today.
"Let me give you a simple example. Do you know how much a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of basil costs in Europe today? €90 ($108). In Israel, the price is €20 ($24). In the [United Arab] Emirates, where almost everything connected to food is imported – the prices go accordingly as well. Once you have more innovative vertical farms, consumers will pay much less."
Q: Should we expect vertical farm skyscrapers to pop up all over?
"I'm not sure that we will need skyscrapers, as with time the facilities will become smaller. Imagine that in every supermarket there will be a vertical produce stand with all the vegetables and spices, and later also fruits which you pick on the spot, without the need to move the produce from place to place. That is why vertical farming is also called urban farming, meaning there is no need for fields; you can grow [produce] on the rooftop. No resource limits you."
Q: What about the taste?
"Ours is a fresher and tastier product. I ought to give credit to the Weizmann Institute here. The challenge for them wasn't the quality of the vitamins but the taste, and they managed to achieve a great taste. In the Netherlands, Future Crops already sells parsley, and it tastes outstanding."
Q: Regular parsley lasts for about two weeks in the fridge. What about Future Crops parsley?
"Our parsley has a two-month shelf life, and it does not oxidize within a week or two."
Q: If every country will be self-reliant in terms of agriculture, do you think it will affect relations between countries?
"Economies will become self-sufficient eventually, which will ensure security with far fewer conflicts. There is less and less water in the Middle East, which might someday lead to tensions. We hope technology will reduce the tensions between countries, and territory will be less critical. Our world faces crucial challenges. Food and water security have the potential to either divide or bring us together and ensure our long-term existence.
"By the way, in every developed Western country, like the United States, Australia, and also in Europe, issues of food security, climate, and greenhouse emissions are on the top of the political agenda. We are not talking about it [in Israel,] as security and foreign affairs take the central stage, but Israel does have a lot to offer here."
Q: Do we have the potential to become the Silicon Valley of advanced agriculture?
"Israel takes tremendous pride in its actions that help save the world. Will we become the Silicon Valley of agriculture? There is no doubt about it. We can already see foreign investors who come here to look for opportunities, including my business partner Lior Maimon, co-founder and CEO of Silver Road Capital, and Steven Levin, one of the leaders of the US food industry. Silver Road Capital is a holdings and financial advisory firm with a broad portfolio of high-tech companies, as well as agricultural and food technologies, and represents international companies and funds in investments in Israel and the world.
"Future Crops's goal is to raise 35 million shekels on the Israeli stock exchange to invest in enlarging the existing facilities and [set up] other production lines and facilities in Europe and other continents. We cooperate with the Albert Heijn supermarket chain [in the Netherlands] and a leading food chain in France."
Q: Vertical farming is estimated at $3 billion. Google and Amazon have invested hundreds of millions in the field as well. What is their goal?
"A simple answer would be profit. A longer answer is that they [large corporations] understand that food has the highest demand. People cannot live without food and water, and Google and Amazon understand that potential."
Q: US President Joe Biden took office with the largest team of climate experts ever. That ought to give the field momentum.
"Green energy and vertical farming will get a considerable boost. Climate change and green energy are well-rooted in the Democratic Party's ideology.
"It is also possible that large companies entered the agriculture fields precisely because of the Biden administration; they are worried about their future. They are afraid of a certain dismantling, so focusing on secondary fields is part of a security scenario for them."
Q: Biden also wants to address greenhouse emissions, which are the result of the food production industry, mainly meat. Are Amazon and Google's food counterparts - McDonald's and Burger King - looking for meat substitutes?
"Firstly, cultured [lab-grown] meat does not require grazing land, cows do not need to be fed, and so much land can instead be turned into forests that support the environment. This is an optimistic industry that leaves us with a better world.
"As for the meat alternatives market, there are two major companies in the US that produce plant-based protein, Beyond Meat, and Impossible Foods.
"Impossible's burgers are already at Burger King, McDonald's has partnered up with Beyond Meat, and last November, it announced that it would create its own plant-based burger.
"The problem is that pea protein [used in plant-based burgers,] does not have all the amino acids that animal protein contains. Also, they need to add additives to supplement for taste and smell.
"At MeaTech, where I'm a director, we are on our way to producing animal meat, cultured meat, real stakes: we take a cow's own stem cell from which meat can be produced in almost unlimited quantities. We also use 3D digital printing technology. And we also created a thin layer of meat, carpaccio. Needless to say, no cow was harmed in the process."
Image from: MeaTech
Q: Why do you use 3D printers?
"Because there is no need for a human being's involvement. It is relevant now during the coronavirus pandemic when the food supply chain is disrupted. With such printers, your production can continue without delays, whenever you want.
Also, it is theoretically possible to provide food for space flights. Astronauts who go out into space will not have to take food with them; rather, they will be able to produce it on the spot.
"People understand that crises like the coronavirus can disrupt the supply chain and are looking for alternatives. A 3D printer allows restaurants, supermarkets, and butcher shops to have meat without relying on the supply chain."
Q: The death rate from obesity is higher than the death rate from hunger. How will cultured meat affect these statistics?
"It is possible to create meat with much less fat and more protein in each portion and add various nutrients in the future to strengthen the immune system and prevent disease. This, of course, requires a lot of research and approvals. Just like there's talk about customized medicine, so it will be possible to produce food that suits a person's genetic structure and body in the most optimal way."
Q: Will the cost of this meat also be optimal?
"They will cost more in the beginning compared to regular meat because there are initial costs that have to be repaid. When it becomes a mass production, prices will drop over time."
Q: With your vast experience in politics, what do you think of Israeli politics these days? Do you ever consider a political comeback?
"No election campaign goes by without someone making me an offer [to return to politics] but I'm not interested. Unfortunately, the Israeli government, and all governments in the Western world, have not been able to run their countries properly in recent years.
"For example, more of the government's national taks are transitioning to the private market or the third sector. We see that associations [are the ones] who take care of the needy, establish settlements in the Negev and in the Galilee, bring immigrants to Israel and provide Israelis with information. All these things should be done by the government.
"The Israeli government lacks vision, ideologies, every matter is personal and is charged with negative sentiments. If I do return one day, it will only happen after we change the government system which will take its power from small [political] parties.
"In my opinion, we need to transition to a regional choice, by district. This will result in higher quality politicians. How so? Because whoever wants to be elected will need to run and convince the people who live in his area and district, and they are the ones who know his activities best. Also, closed primaries should be avoided because they make all kinds of deals possible. That needs to change."
Disappearing Farmland: Little Protection Exists For Midwest Farmland
America has lost millions of acres of farmland over three decades to urban and rural development.
By Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
9/25/2018
Christopher Walljasper
America has lost millions of acres of farmland over three decades to urban and rural development.
Despite conservation efforts by state and local governments and increased financial incentives for farmers, urban development and the expansion of rural residential real estate over the last 25 years has eliminated farmland across the country at levels not seen since the early 1970s.
Since 1992, nearly 31 million acres of farmland have been developed for residential use around urban centers and rural communities, according American Farmland Trust’s latest report, “Farms Under Threat.”
And as residential development mingles with agricultural production on the outskirts of major metropolitan areas, the tension between the two increases. Recent clashes include lawsuits in North Carolina over odor and disease from Smithfield hog operations and new research on pesticide drift affecting schools and adjacent homes.
MIDWEST LAGGING ON PRESERVATION
In Kane County, Ill., leaders saw the threat and made a commitment to keep half the county’s land dedicated to agricultural use and open spaces.
But that’s a rarity in the Midwest and in Illinois, a state that has lost more than 735,000 acres since 1997.
While nearly 100 counties and municipalities across the country have implemented some form of farmland protection policies, less than a dozen of them are in the Midwest.
In Kane County, the solution was to offer farmers the opportunity to sell the development rights of their land to the county, using something called a conservation easement. Easements ensure the land stay in agricultural production, in perpetuity.
“We were trying to create some balance in terms of what gets developed and where,” said Janice Hill, Farmland Protection Manager for Kane County. While the county was facing development around both suburbs and rural communities, the county didn’t distinguish between the two. “It’s just the pattern of development, because large lot estate zoning is, in some ways, the worst development for ag soils.”
SOME CONSERVATION EFFORTS WORKING
From 1976 to 2016, more than 23,500 parcels of land have been acquired through conservation easement programs at the municipality, county or state level, totaling more than 3.6 million acres of farmland protected nationwide.
Most of these programs are on the east coast, with only Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin offering state-level easement programs in the Midwest.
Most programs are funded through taxes, bonds or appropriation spending, though Kane County primarily funds its easement program through gaming revenues. More than $5.7 billion has been paid to farmers through easement programs at the state and local levels in the last 40 years, according to the Farmland Information Center.
Map: State easement spending. The darker states have spent more at the municipal, county and state levels to protect farmland through easements. Click on the states to see specific figures.
One of the biggest concerns about conservation easement plans is that they are permanent. But Hill said that’s also the appeal for farmers concerned about the legacy of their land.
Read More: Database: Disappearing Farmland
“At any point in time you have to think about policies that are going to work over a 50-year period or a 100-year period, not just what the market is interested in,” said Hill. “If the land becomes a forever farm, as some of our families say, that really gives a lot of peace of mind, especially the families that have their land for generations and pass it down through generations. They truly feel a calling to keep their land in agriculture.”
But there are barriers to conservation easements. Hill said one reason more counties in the Midwest haven’t started programs is that it takes a significant financial investment to start a program. While Kane County easements are primarily funded through gaming revenue, planners are looking at other funding sources, including fees from urban development within the county.
Another reason the Midwest has so few county protection plans is that the threat is still too intangible. Much of the Midwest is still flush with agricultural land.
PREFERENTIAL TAXATION
A more widely adopted method of incentivizing landowners to keep land in agriculture has been preferential taxation, where taxes are paid based on the land’s value in farming, instead of its market value.
“You might have an acre of land that, in a developed use, would be worth $10,000, but only pays its property tax on $800,” said Lori Lynch, professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Maryland.
She said tax incentives have gone a long way to slow down farmland development in the Northeast. Unlike conservation easements, preferential taxation doesn’t lock the land into farming forever. When land is no longer used for agriculture, a conversion tax is paid.
“The county or the state has been getting a lower tax revenue from this land for quite some time,” Lynch said. “This is a way for the county and state to recoup some of that benefit that the landowner received.”
More than easements or preferential taxation, the 2008 recession significantly slowed the development of farmland. But Hill said farmers still wanted to protect the legacy of their land.
“Even when the development pressures slowed down due to the recession, we still had a strong interest in the program. So to me that says that it's not just about the context of the surrounding land pressure for development,” Hill said. “It's also about true conservation principles and protecting the family farm.”
WHO BENEFITS FROM FARMLAND PROTECTION?
Clearly, farmers and ranchers benefit from easements and tax breaks for agricultural land use. But Paul Gottlieb, associate professor of agricultural, food and resource economics at Rutgers University, points out that it’s not the farmers leading the charge for farmland protection.
“Urban and suburban residents in relatively affluent areas have been driving this movement,” Gottlieb said. “Not only driving it but putting up money to pay for the purchase of farmland and for the purchase of development rights.”
Gottlieb said for urban and suburban residents, farmland and open spaces are an amenity. Beyond crop production, farmland provides protection against congestion, traffic, cultural grounding and access to local food. But those benefits to a community aren’t factored into the price of land, which may be why taxation and conservation efforts exist, according to Lynch.
“Those desires are not represented in the market,” she said. “To some extent, that's why the government did come in and set up some of these programs.”
NEW APPROACHES TO THE SUBURBAN/RURAL DEBATE
Kane County continues to evolve its strategy around farmland protection. Realizing that permanently committing land to agriculture may not be realistic for every parcel, planners have created a temporary, or “term” easement, where a landowner with smaller acreage could promise agricultural productivity for 10 to 15 years.
Hill said these short-term plans are ideal for fruit and vegetable producers who operate on smaller farms than traditional row crop farmers. This dovetails with Kane County’s efforts to combat obesity and health problems through a strategy to bring fresh fruit and vegetables to area schools and hospitals.
“I think that also allowing for these term easements to support vegetable farms of any size and other farms that support food for human consumption, that really brings it home for the consumer when they understand that their food could be in the path of development,” Hill said.
Hill said the county has even opened up some of its public land for animal grazing, realizing that preserves and parks may have better use than simply large swaths of grass. She said municipalities should be asking themselves, “Is our land suited for something better than sod? Should we think about leasing it to a small farmer?”
The private market is also looking at blending agriculture into the suburban landscape. In northern Kane County, Serosun Farms is a new housing development that is integrating agriculture into the community, much like parks or a golf course might be woven through a traditionally developed subdivision.
John DeWald is the developer heading up the project, which is more than 400 acres. He said 70 percent of Serosun will remain in agricultural use, including public barns, farmers markets and community farm plots. The area will also include orchards, test plots and conservation woodlands and wetlands.
Communities that mix agriculture and residential development in this way have been around since the 90s but began taking off when the recession pushed developers toward more intentional development. DeWald said researchers have identified more than 100 of what are being dubbed “agrihoods.”
“There are different kinds of farm and food elements to these developments,” DeWald said. “Some of them are more occasional gardens. There’s a participation element to them. It’s a gathering place. Others are large enough and functional enough that they can serve the community to some extent. The intent here at Serosun over the long haul is to build up a much bigger farming and food operation that serves well beyond the borders of the community.”
Serosun is focusing more on integrating fruit and vegetable farming, not large-scale commodity crops or confined animal feed operations.
“It’s something that’s fantastic for people who want their kids or grandkids exposed to farming but still live in a modern suburban home,” Hill said.
DeWald said even though Serosun is residential development of farmland, he is working with Kane County to meet conservation goals as he builds out the residential aspects of the community. But he warns that all “agrihoods” may not be dedicated to responsible development of agricultural land.
“The concern is that developers will use this as a way to get concessions to redevelop agricultural land. They put an acre garden in there and ‘Whoo! We’re an agrihood!’ ” DeWald said. He said while there’s no specific ratio of farmland to development needed to call a development an “agrihood,” it’s a matter of intention. “One of the focuses is preserving agricultural land.”
A LACK OF URGENCY, A LOT AT STAKE
Whether the issue of land development is a far-off concern or knocking on the door, Gottlieb said he appreciates AFT’s focus on the issue.
“I'm all about prudence in acting early to forestall problems associated with the depletion of natural resources,” Gottlieb said.
But without a sense of urgency, it can be hard for the issue to get the attention of lawmakers, or even advocates of the agriculture industry.
“We’ve had so many variables and challenges and threats in agriculture. You’ve got subsidies, you’ve got pests, diseases, markets, international trade. The list goes on and on. It’s a litany of challenges,” said Ann Sorenson, director of research for American Farmland Trust. But she said it all starts with the land. “You're not going to have farming, you're not going to have ranching unless you have the land base.”
This story is the second in a two-part series about farmland loss. To read more about the problem of farmland loss, read Small-Towns Trade Farmland for Residential Development.
Written by Christopher Walljasper for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting is a nonprofit, online newsroom offering investigative and enterprise coverage of agribusiness, Big Ag and related issues through data analysis, visualizations, in-depth reports and interactive web tools. Visit us online at www.investigatemidwest.org
Read more about Farmland
Ninety-Nine Percent of America’s Farms Are Family-Owned. But Only Half Are Family-Farmed.
As land is passed on to kids and grandkids, millions of acres across the country end up being owned by people who are no longer farmers, and increasingly, never were.
The photograph above was taken on an Iowa family farm. The farmhouse has since been replaced and the land sold. Flickr / Don Graham
Ninety-Nine Percent of America’s Farms Are Family-Owned. But Only Half Are Family-Farmed.
As land is passed on to kids and grandkids, millions of acres across the country end up being owned by people who are no longer farmers, and increasingly, never were.
May 24th, 2018
by Beth Hoffman
“My parents were farmers, both of my grandparents were farmers. Probably as far back as ever we were farmers,” says 77-year-old Shirley Gray. We are sitting in the wood-paneled dining room of her family’s farm in south-central Iowa. “My husband’s parents were farmers, his grandparents were farmers. So we have always been farmers.”
Always, that is, until 2009, when Gray and her late husband decided they would stop farming and rent out their land instead. Gray’s kids and grandkids had all moved away from the farm and taken jobs in cities and towns throughout the region, ending the family’s 156-year farming tradition.
“The way it is set up, it will just keep right on being rented out,” Gray tells me when I ask what will happen to the farm when she is no longer alive to make decisions about it. “But we will keep the farm in the family, hopefully.”
Beth Hoffman
Most American farmland will be passed on to the next generation via wills, trusts, or sale to other family members, much as Shirley Gray’s farm is set up
Today, 99 percent of American farms are still “family farms” owned by families, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). But like Shirley Gray’s, increasingly, many of them are not actually family-farmed.
Roughly 355 million acres nationally—almost 40 percent of all farmland—are rented out by non-farming landlords to other farm operators. In Iowa, that number is much higher. More than half of all farmland in the state is farmed by renters, generating rental revenue of $3.7 billion (the second-highest rental revenue in the country, after Illinois).
And although more than 60 percent of America’s farmland is owned by people aged 65 and older, most of this farmland is not expected to come up for sale when owners die. In fact, only about 2 percent of farmland in the country will be sold to people other than family members in the coming years. Instead, most land will be passed on to the next generation via wills, trusts, or sale to other family members, much like the way Shirley Gray’s farm is set up. In other words, it will be kept in and owned by the family—even if the family never farms it.
The double whammy
Part of what is driving this trend in the Midwest and around the nation, is the exorbitant cost of both land and machinery. One piece of new farm equipment—a John Deere combine for harvesting corn, for example—can cost as much as $500,000. Even if farmers buy only good quality used equipment, they are still looking at an estimated initial investment of at least $600,000 to get started.
In Iowa, as in much of the country, land is equally unaffordable. With the average price topping $7,000 an acre, a 300-acre farm in the state is worth a hefty $2.1 million. (The average size of an Iowa farm is 330 acres.) That’s an investment not easily borne by a new farmer, especially since the price of corn and soybeans has essentially flatlined for the last five years.
“A quarter of the land in Iowa is owned by the same owner for the last 40 years; half has been owned for over 20 years. So owners are after long-term returns.”
But most Iowa landowners are not new. “You don’t own land for one or three years,” says Wendong Zhang, an extension economist at Iowa State University (ISU). “A quarter of the land in Iowa is owned by the same owner for the last 40 years; half has been owned for over 20 years. So owners are after long-term returns.”
This pattern of long-term ownership means not only that there is very little land available for sale in Iowa (which drives prices even higher), but also that most of the state’s farmland was purchased back when that land was far less expensive. Shirley Gray and her husband bought their farm in 1958 for $55 an acre, which made the total cost for their 500 acres $27,500—the equivalent of about $238,000 today. That same land in 2018 costs around $4000 an acre, or more than $2 million for a farm similar in size to the one the Grays purchased 60 years ago.
And here’s one other result of the long-term land ownership trend: As much as 80 percent of the land in Iowa is owned free and clear of debt. So as long as the rent pays the taxes, retired farmers and their families can make money on their land even if no one in the family is farming.
When city folk own the farm
As land is passed on to kids and grandkids, millions of acres across the country end up being owned by people who are no longer farmers, and increasingly, never were. Currently, 40 percent of all rented farmland in Iowa is owned by people who have never farmed, and in more and more cases have never lived on the land they now own.
Beth Hoffman
If the only purpose of land ownership is to provide income for both parties, then the level of toxicity from chemicals sprayed, the health of the ecosystem as a whole, and the lasting fertility of the soil become far less important
“I’ve seen an increase in 50- and 60-year-olds who are inheriting the farm from the farmers who have passed away in their 70s and 80s,” says David Baker, a farm transition specialist with ISU’s Beginning Farmer Center. “They have been off the farm for the last 30 or 40 years while their parents farmed. They are now inheriting these farms and need to decide what to do with it.”
But deciding to rent the land out may have its drawbacks. As any of us who’ve rented an apartment or a car will attest, renters don’t often treat things with as much care as they would if they were the actual owner. The same could arguably be said about landowners, who are sometimes less attentive to the land because they are not actually on it. If the only purpose of land ownership is to provide income for both parties, then the level of toxicity from chemicals sprayed, the health of the ecosystem as a whole, and the lasting fertility of the soil become far less important.
“When you have farm owners looking for the top dollar for rental, that often will come at a cost,” says Ann M. Johanns, an extension program specialist at ISU. “That cost might be the long-term conservation or long-term productivity of that land because the tenant is paying the highest dollar. They might not take care of it as if it were their own. They might not put nutrients back into the soil like they should, and so they leave that land worse than they found it.”
How a potential tenant plans to take care of the land is an essential question for owners in search of renters.
Baker agrees. “Those looking for the highest price in cash rent for their farms will search for those who will pay the highest price, regardless of what they will do to the farm,” he says. “And once you sign a lease, you have given up control of that farm to that tenant. Unless you have stipulations in that lease requiring him to farm it in a certain way, you’ve in effect said, ‘I’ve got my $250-an-acre cash rent, it is in the bank, I’m good. Do what you want to with the farm.’”
A new kind of landowner?
But increasingly, says Baker, he is fielding calls from a new kind of landowner—many of whom have college degrees and have lived in cities for years—who remember how their grandparents took care of the land and are interested in bringing ecological values with them to their farm ownership.
“I get calls every day asking questions,” Baker says. “’How do I take care of the farm?’ ‘How do I make improvements to the land, to the water?’” I want them to maximize the income they can receive but also to share some of values that the community has. What does it mean to the state of Iowa instead of just thinking about it as investment.”
How a potential tenant plans to take care of the land is an essential question for owners in search of renters. A 2012 survey on farmland ownership conducted by ISU found that 93 percent of landowners said “good land stewardship” was by far the most important tenant attribute, well above knowing the farmer (52 percent) or even renting to a family member (25 percent).
Long-term ownership not only means there is very little land available for sale in Iowa but also that most of the state’s farmland was purchased back when that land was far less expensive. Pictured above: Knoxville, Iowa | Beth Hoffman
Additionally, farmland owned solely by a woman—sometimes the result of land inherited after a spouse has died—now accounts for a quarter of all farms. And while many of them have never had to make farm decisions alone, they have a “strong conservation ethic,” says the Women’s Food and Agriculture Network, adding that female landowners often struggle to find advisors and tenants whose business plans align with their ecological values.
Baker says this increasing interest in doing things differently has resulted in more requests for information about niche markets—like organic. “There is a strong effort in the 40-50 age groups saying, ‘We own this small farm and we want to know what to do with it. We’ve heard of others raising local products and we want to get involved in that.’” Baker also works with many hopeful beginning farmers who are looking to pursue small-scale production or retail agriculture on their land.
Opportunity Abounds
In Iowa, there’s something of an untapped opportunity to be found in matching new landowners with new farmers—both for conventional farmers and those interested in growing crops outside of the corn and soybean norm. Because land rental is so much more affordable than owning land outright, renting gives those who are new to the trade the ability to make money farming without diving deeply into debt.
“A lot of rental agreements include more than just farming the land.”
Landowners can also encourage “good stewardship” on their land by allowing multi-year leases, which better guarantee that the time and money tenants invest in a farm—to transition to organic or even to use cover crops—is worth it. Not charging top dollar can also take the pressure off farmers to make as much money as possible and can encourage them not to grow “fence row to fence row,” ensuring the sustainability of the farm over the long term. (Proposed cuts to the Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP, that were included in the most recent iteration of the farm bill—which the House voted down last week—would have threatened the ability of both tenants and landlords to put aside land susceptible to erosion or other environmental degradation.)
The particular type of lease a renter and owner agree on can also have a big impact on farm sustainability and the overall economic viability of farming for tenants. While “cash rent” leases can mean even more debt for farmers if crops fail in the case of bad weather or disease, “flexible leases” allow tenants and landowners to share in the costs and profits of the farm, mitigating risk for both. With flexible leases, farm payments like insurance and other government programs are also split between tenants and landlords.
But new tenants also need to understand that taking the time to build a relationship with the landowner is an important part of leasing a farm.
“A lot of rental agreements include more than just farming the land,” says Johanns. “There is a relationship between the tenant and landowner where a tenant may be taking care of scooping the driveway, for example. Stopping in and discussing what is happening on the farm, and having coffee. Little things you can’t put a dollar value on.”
In other words, human stewardship is every bit as important to a successful tenant-landowner relationship as land stewardship is.
Beth Hoffman has reported on food and agriculture for more than twenty years, airing on NPR, The World, Latino USA, Living on Earth in addition to writing for many publications. She has a Masters from UC Berkeley's School of Journalism and has completed several documentary projects, including a year cooking with immigrant women in their homes and telling their stories. She also spends summers on her husband's family farm in Iowa and currently is an Assistant Professor in Media Studies at the University of San Francisco.