 It was a hot summer day in Hickman County, Kentucky. Mid morning and the harvest of wheat was in full swing. Just 200 ft pass the Hickman County Country Club, on Highway 51 North, Bobby Grogan and his team of skilled men, farm machines and trucks, swept into a field of several hundred acres of wheat. Grogan’s fleet, of harvest machines, included 3 John Deere 9760 STS heavy duty combines, 2 John Deere 8530 heavy duty tractors and 3 large semi trucks.
In less than a half day, of man and machine roaring over golden stalks at this site, Grogan’s team would clear and harvest some 300 acres of wheat. This field is a small part of the 21,000 acres of wheat grown in Hickman County. According to regional experts from the UK Extension Service, the average wheat production per acre is 65 bushels in Hickman County.
Grogan and his family are one of the regions largest farm operations. They are part of a unique breed of agricultural entrepreneurial spirit in West Kentucky. Through skills, family connections, land assembly, favorable bank financing, government payments and good luck in harvesting, these farm families have become a special part of what is defined as 21st Century agriculture.
Giant combines, special seeds, just in-time commodity contract trading from the combine cab, global food and water shortages, impact of hurricanes, droughts and other extreme climate conditions are now framing a new chapter in forces that will shape and structure the future of farming in West Kentucky.
Farming is a big business in the four Kentucky counties that border the Mississippi River. Over 465,000 acres of land in these counties are devoted to agricultural activities. Hickman County has over 125,000 acres. Carlisle County has around 80,000 acres. Ballard County has 165,000 acres of crop land. Fulton County has 112,000 farm acres.
During a period from 1995 through 2006, over 165 million dollars of US Department of Agricultural Farm Subsidy program was paid out to some 2,000 families in Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman, and Fulton Counties. Total Farm subsidy program payments were $167,200,000 million. Of that amount, $156,902,000 million was paid out for five programs: corn, wheat, conservation, soybean, and sorghum.
Hickman County had 34% of the total farm payments in the river counties. This came to $54,000,000 million. Wheat payments were $8,130,000. Corn payments were $27,552,000. Soybean had $8,257,000 in payments. Conservation of land totaled $10,054,000..JPG)
Fulton County was the second largest farm subsidy payments with $36,010,000. Crops ranked as follows: (1) Wheat at $6,000,000 (2) corn at $18,010,000 (3) soybean at $9,000,000 and (4) conservation at $3,000,000.
Ballard County was number three in the ranking for farm subsidy payments. However, it had a crop that did not show up in the other river counties with large payments. This crop was sorghum with $ 1,489,000 being paid out to 485 farmers. Other crops in Ballard County were: (1) wheat at $4,836,000 (2) corn at $16,484,000 (3) soybean at $5,000,000 and (4) conservation at $7,554,000.
Carlisle County was the smallest county along the Mississippi River Kentucky counties with 22% or $ 33,580,000 of the regional total for farm subsidy payments. The crop breakdown in Carlisle County was: (1) wheat at $2,800,000 (2) corn at $15,575,000 (3) soybean at $5,000,000 and (4) conservation at $7,554,000.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, 2,442 farmers live or worked in the four river counties: Hickman-672; Ballard-482; Carlisle-1,095; and Fulton-193.
Within these official facts are the local versions of farm reality. In Hickman county the USDA says there 672 farms. The reality of farming in Hickman County is that some 20 to 30 families control almost 80% of the farm land and have received over 70% of the $54 million farm subsidy payments over the past 10 years.
Why? The answer is because modern farming is large corporate business. Some farmers in Hickman County work annually 10,000 acres “farms”.
21st Century farming and food production is big business with global infrastructure attached to it. Trying to farm to meet the demands of daily changing international spot or commodity markets is not for the small or weak of heart.
Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman, and Fulton County farmers are proving they can compete in a new global marketplace. |
