Partners in Progress 2020 | Page 10

attracted by features like Fort Bragg, he added, “are gobbling up land in droves.” While this trend of farms growing in size isn’t inherently good or bad, Goforth said, it means the mid-sized farms will become more and more rare. “I do believe, if trends aren’t already showing it, that we will see growth in farms of about 10 acres or less, or up to 20 and 25 acres — over the next five or six years,” Goforth said. “Generally speaking we’d like to see more of the middle size farms — just like the middle class — we would like to see more of those farms hang on.” Left, Chris Yaklin's farm in Richmond County. Yaklin is in care of tens of thousands of chickens and more than a thousand acres of land all together, as well as the future of the farming industry in Richmond County. To that end, he's taken to mentoring young farm- ers, saying that if a new farmer hasn't already grown up around farming, the prospect of taking one on later in life can be too daunting. Right, Chris Yaklin's chicken houses in Richmond County. These chicken houses are outfitted with advanced climate control technology to ensure that each generation of chickens is raised under the same conditions. Yaklin said staying current on the latest technology is essential for farmers to compete against larger farming operations. Yaklin recalled that back in the 1950s and 70s, when he was watching his grandfather tend to his cattle, that farmers could fairly The biggest concern is that you don’t have young farmers coming in to replace (the experienced farmers). We’re losing a lot of knowledge and skill that’s not being replaced. Richard Goforth The mid-sized farms have “felt the pinch” of labor shortages and costs, as well as market access, Clark said. Wood echoed that assessment, saying that what would be considered a mid-size farm that a farmer could make a living with these days has ballooned to between 800 to 1,200 acres, which was large 30 years ago. “(Farming row crops, hay or livestock) is not practical on a small scale of about 20 to 30 acres,” Wood said. “There have to be very specific crops to be profitable on that scale — ten acres of cucumbers or tomatoes, that’s a lot, a pretty big financial investment. But it’s nothing compared to 1,000 acres of cotton.” 10 • PROGRESS 2020 easily plant and sell whatever crops they wanted and have enough money to send their kids to college. In those days they could also pick up people willing to work who would wait outside a restaurant in Ellerbe. But now college is more expensive, and reliable, cheap labor is scarce. “This sums it up the best: if you’re farming today like they were 30 years ago, you’re out of business,” Yaklin said. “Things have changed that much and you’ve got to change with it.” To compete, Yaklin said young farmers have to know their resources available to them: local Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the extension offices, the Sandhills AgInnovation Center in Ellerbe, local Farm Bureaus and the Farm Service Agency. At best, Yaklin said, a new farmer has a mentor who has been through it all. “You’ve got to have a mentor to point you in the right direction so you don’t make their mistakes — you can’t afford mistakes,” said Yaklin. “Young people don’t know how to navigate financial institutions—general business type things like, ‘Am I making money or am I not?’ “Another barrier is you’ve got to use the latest tech,” he continued, “and all of that costs money. If big farmers are doing it and you’re little, to compete with them you’ve got to do the same kind of stuff.” He added that another common pitfall is variable pricing in areas like land grading: grading may cost $20,000 in one area but $60,000 in another area, which can seriously throw off a budget line item. Certain tax breaks, like the present use value tax exemption, are available to farmers, but Clark said many aren’t aware of it. Clark explained that, unlike with new housing developments, county governments make money from farms because farmers spend so much money on their operations and