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Face of Farming Changes: Increased Costs of Agriculture Threaten Many Area Operations

Posted on: Thursday, 15 June 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Ben Benton, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

Jun. 15--Farmers are becoming fewer and their farms are getting smaller as the nature of agriculture in the area changes with the times, according to local farmers and officials.

"There's very few industries like agriculture," said Ken Frady, University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service agent in Bradley County, Tenn.

"When the farmer buys, he pays retail," Mr. Frady said. "When he sells, he's paid wholesale."

Mr. Frady said Bradley's farmers are sticking to commodities they can sell in nearby markets, where support for the industry is more abundant.

"There is viability in agriculture," he said, "but not nearly what it was."

Tennessee and Georgia landscapes are evolving from a patchwork of farms to grids of residential development. Fuel prices have soared, commodity prices are fluctuating and technology is changing the agricultural scene, officials said.

Sequatchie County, Tenn., farmer Glenn Blevins said life on the farm has changed greatly in his county.

"As far as I know, my family is the only one making a living farming in Sequatchie County," he said about their sole source of income. He said two of his five children still work on the 800-acre family farm, and the others found careers elsewhere.

"I don't know if they can farm the land for what it'll pay, because you can't hardly farm at $10,000 an acre," Mr. Blevins said, referring to the potential real estate value of his land just south of the East Valley Road and U.S. Highway 127 intersection.

During this growing season, Mr. Blevins said skyrocketing fuel costs have impacted his hay, corn, soybean and wheat operation, but not as directly as it has some other farms.

"It's not made a great impact on us," Mr. Blevins said. "We work 'no-till.' We started working no-till for the conservation of it."

He said no-till farming disturbs the soil less, meaning fuelguzzling equipment makes fewer trips over the land. The technique also minimizes soil erosion.

But the impact of fuel costs does hit in other ways.

"Fertilizer's gone up about $100 a ton," he said. Officials throughout the region said higher costs of shipping and petroleum-based fertilizers have more impact on farmers than the cost of fuel for farm equipment.

Agriculture officials on both sides of the state line said changes in the market and pressure for land to develop for residential growth are forcing farms to become smaller and more market specific.

Tim Cross, assistant dean with the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service, said proximity to the market drives the local industry.

"Distance and location are important," Mr. Cross said. The closer a particular processing industry is to the farmer, the more likely he is to use his resources for that commodity, he said.

Farming in the region also could see growth in "agritourism," Mr. Cross said. "Agritourism offers a lot of opportunities," he said. "People have a desire to know who's producing their food."

He said smaller operations can sell fruits, vegetables or trips through a corn maze directly to the customer, while putting a local face with the product.

Large farms are becoming a thing of the past because of development, too, according to one Sequatchie County, Tenn., farmer.

James Condra, a farmer and Sequatchie County's property assessor, said farmlands are disappearing as the population grows.

"Property that's selling here is not selling for farmland, it's being sold for residential development," Mr. Condra said. "It sort of worries me. What's happening in Sequatchie County is what's happening in the country in general."

E-mail Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Chattanooga Times/Free Press

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