Young Farmer Leases ‘Century Farm’
By Marlene Lucas, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Nov. 1–SWISHER — A glimpse of a Swisher farm’s statistics on paper may prick the ire of die-hard family farm supporters.
The farm is owned by Californians and the land is worked, cash rent style, by a part-time farmer.
But the situation enriches Iowa by preserving a historical century farm within a family’s lineage and by giving a young farmer a start in a business that almost excludes anyone other than heirs.
Chad Keating, 28, grew up on a Swisher acreage, not a farm, and he knows in his heart that he was meant to be a farmer, he says. While in high school, he took a job with farmer Dennis Cerveny of Fairfax, who “taught me what I need know,” Keating says.
Keating grows corn, soybeans and hay on the 120 acres owned by Lynn Novotny and his wife, Cynthia, who are consultants in California.
Lynn is the son of Joe and Pauline (Stepanek) Novotny and is connected to the farm through his mother.
Lynn bought the farm from Pauline’s uncle, Bill Stepanek.
The Novotny farm was purchased by Pauline’s great grandfather, Joseph Stepanek, in 1857 after arriving in Iowa from what is now the Czech Republic.
Pauline says her son doesn’t want the farm going into a housing development, as happened to the farm where she grew up.
Joe and Pauline help with maintenance on the farm, especially mowing, and they garden there.
Chad also relies on his father, Bill Keating, for help on the farm.
The extra help is welcomed by Chad, who works full-time as a route driver for CR Recycling Inc. and part-time for his cousin, who remanufactures brake shoes for trucks. The off-farm jobs subsidize Chad’s farming.
“I’m still paying off equipment I bought years ago. I don’t have a combine,” Chad says. “The guys farming full time farm 2,000 to 3,000 acres. The only way I can farm is to have another income.
“I farm because I love it. It’s gotten harder every year. Last year, I rented another 55 acres. If the opportunity came about, I’d be interesting in renting more.”
He competes for land with bigger farmers and with housing developers.
Chad’s fondness for farming, even though he didn’t grow up farming, is not unusual, says Michael Duffy, agricultural economist at Iowa State University. He sees others like Chad among students on the ISU campus.
“It’s a difficult way to get going. Small acreage costs are pretty high. In the 400-to 800- acre range is where costs level out,” Duffy says.
Some speak in a derogatory manner about absentee land owners and farmers with off- farm jobs, saying they’re not real farmers, Duffy says.
“That’s not true. He’s farming on a different scale.”
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