University class helps youth with the transition back to farming

For as long as Seth Brengarth can remember, he’s wanted to be a farmer. At 23, he will graduate from the University of Missouri with a general agriculture degree in December, and he still holds the same dream.

The son of Steve and Jane Brengarth, he is one of four children. Yet, currently he is the only child with plans of pursuing a farming career full-time. He, along with his father and grandfather, currently do most of the labor on their farm.

“All my life I have wanted to go back and farm to follow in my father, uncle and grandfather’s footsteps,” he said. Brengarth, of Wooldridge, Mo., hopes to continue owning and operating his family’s farm, which was established in the 1870s.

Trend is more education
While their numbers are small compared to other career aspirations, there are students like Brengarth who leave home hoping to go full circle and return to their family farm.

Nearly 25 percent of U.S. farmers have a bachelor’s degree, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service. While a quarter of all farmers doesn’t sound like many, it is up from around 20 percent in 2001 and 15 percent in 1991. Agriculture is quickly requiring a more-educated and experienced workforce.

The University of Missouri aspires to help those students who want to return to the farm. Since 1986, MU has offered the class, Returning to the Farm. Taught by Kevin Moore, the course involves a small number of students each spring semester. The students earn three credit hours by meeting weekly on campus, compiling a working farm plan and attending a one-day seminar with their families.

“The set of skills a successful farmer needs is getting bigger every year, ” Moore said. “Agriculture is such a risky business, which is why this class is based in the agricultural economics department.”

Moore said the class revolves around three questions: Where are we? Where do we want to be? How do we get there?

By sticking to this guideline, the students begin discussing key farm management decisions with their parents, siblings and others involved. “I tell students to use me as an excuse to open discussion on topics that need to be talked about,” Moore said. “The class opens doors of communication and gets people to talk about sensitive financial and personal topics.”

Students such as Brengarth enroll in the course with hopes of easily applying the course’s content to their real-life situation. Brengarth said he took the class to identify ways to make a smooth transition into full-time farming.

Brengarth’s family farms around 1, 000 acres of row crops, and raises 125 head of cattle and 65 head of swine. With such a diverse farming setup, Brengarth knew he needed to take a variety of courses during his college career to best suit his future.

One way he hopes to be successful is to concentrate on one main section of the operation. He sees himself being in charge of the crop side, with his dad focusing more on the livestock, similar to when his dad and uncle farmed together. This situation will give Brengarth some decision-making status while still letting him gain knowledge from his dad. This will prepare him in the transition to eventually be the main decision maker.


Create a successful transition
Timing of a farm transition plays a large role in its success. “One of the main things that determines if you will be successful on the farm is the year you were born, ” Moore said. He described how the cyclical nature of farming greatly affects a young farmer’s potential. If a young farmer enters the field during a good growing season or when land prices are lower, he or she will incur smaller start-up costs.

For farmers like Brengarth, the timing can be somewhat controlled. He can slowly begin to invest in land and machinery.

For others, the transition time is determined by vows. Amy Hodges has never known a life without agriculture. As a native of Perry, Mo. Hodges and her parents, Dwaine and Janet Dunlop, raise cattle and hay, along with producing row crops.

“I enjoy the farming lifestyle, ” she said. “It’s all I’ve ever known.” This past July, she married Mark Hodges, also of Perry, and officially became part of another farming family.

Her rural upbringing and involvement in FFA inspired her to pursue a general agriculture degree at MU. After becoming engaged, she knew she should take as many college classes as possible to assist her in becoming a farmer’s wife. That’s why she enrolled in the Returning to the Farm course.

Now, with her education, she hopes to continue the legacy of the Hodges’ family farm. “Obtaining my degree from Mizzou was the best thing I could have ever done for myself because I am so much more knowledgeable about agriculture as a whole,” she said. “I am excited about being able to apply my education on the farm.”

The Hodges’ farm produces row crops along with a cow/calf herd. Part of the farm has been in the family for five generations.

Mark Hodges has been farming full-time for the past several years. He, along with his brother, Scott, and father, Gary, all work on the farm. Their land is divided up into three different farms, and they share machinery and labor.

Marrying into an established farm includes a lot more than just enjoying a rural lifestyle. With her college degree, Hodges plans to work on the farm and find a job in the agriculture sector to provide supplemental income for the farm family.


Ways to make ends meet
With rising input costs and increased global competition, many young farmers seek various options to add income to their operations.

“Nobody can just say, ‘Hey, I want to be a farmer,’” Brengarth said. “You have to have some kind of equity to make ends meet.”

Along those lines, Brengarth established several off-farm incomes. He is a commercial applicator for the Boonville MFA, a seed representative and an artificial insemination technician for Select Sires. “I do all that just so I can farm,” he said. “Everything I work for from now on is for the farm.”

The money side of farming is one of the greatest barriers to conquer with a farming career.

“Sometimes being raised on a farm does not transition into making it into a career, ” said Ron Plain, MU agricultural economics professor. During the one-day class workshop, Plain encouraged the students and their families to look beyond the emotional attachment of farming. “Think about a farm as a business that produces crops, livestock and profits, ” Plain said.

Another speaker during the workshop also addressed the importance of determining the purpose of the family farm. Mike Sykuta, MU agricultural economics professor, asked the group, “What does this farm provide to you that is important to you?” He said if the reasons are not consistent between all family members, there is potential for conflict.

Andrew Mann, another student in the class, and many of his family members attended the workshop hoping to find that consistency.

Mann, of Shelbyville, Mo., said the course aided his family with its biggest challenge of communication. “It would be easy to sit down and come up with a decision,” Mann said. “But, getting it in writing and a systematic process is a big challenge. I want to see a fair and efficient plan put into place to be rewarding for the three-plus families involved.”

Mann’s grandmother owns his family’s farm. Primarily, his father and cousin operate the farm. Mann also puts in many hours when he was home from college.

The Mann farm is comprised of row crops, hogs and cattle.

Through the workshop, Mann said his family received direction and a good starting point to overcome farming challenges.


New management strategies
As agriculture evolves, the way farmers are involved with the farm also changes. For example, Mann always wants to be involved with his family’s farm, but for at least the next few years, he’ll be doing so from another state.

In a span of 2 months, Mann graduated from college with an agriculture systems management degree, got married and moved to Indiana. His wife, Lindsey, began a grain merchandising consultant position with ADM and Mann plans to enroll in the agriculture systems management master’s program at Purdue University.

The knowledge Mann received from his undergraduate studies inspired him to continue his education. “ASM is a very practical major,” Mann said. “It covers a broad range of topics that deal with production agriculture.”

Even though Mann will be several states away for the near future, his farming days aren’t over. “I would like to still be involved on the farm,” Mann said. “I want to be more on the management side in a specialized area.”

Moore said he sees many students facing the same situation. “Agriculture is becoming more demanding in the level of management and skill needed,” Moore said. He said that understanding the many facets of agriculture, such as marketing, risk management and motivating employees, are needed on a daily basis.

For Moore, the evolving agricultural world continues to make teaching the course challenging. When the class first began, it focused heavily on basic computer skills. Today, the course revolves around teaching common farm recordkeeping software, Finpack. In addition to the workshop, Mann said learning the farming software will help him manage the farm better and keep more complete records.

The diversity of the students’ situation creates more complex farm plans every year, said Moore. He said while many students bring in prior knowledge of many of the production agriculture aspects, few of the students have had the needed exposure to the economic side.

Many obstacles will always face those involved with agriculture. Yet, even with an endless list of challenges, the students in Moore’s class are excited about the future.

Mann said he loves agriculture and knows it will always play an important role and that he wants to be involved. “The economics will change, but good management will make it possible to survive,” he said.

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