By Mike Barnett

I was thinking back over my 22-year career with Texas Farm Bureau the other day, and have truly witnessed some miraculous developments in the way food and fiber is grown in this country. Seems like every year something newer or better comes along.

I remember the advent of no-till and minimum-till farming. I remember the skeptics and the studies. Farmers found it worked in some areas and didn’t in others.

I remember the advent of the first genetically modified seed. I remember the skeptics and the studies. Farmers found it worked really well and now GMO cotton, corn and soybeans are the rule rather than the exception.

I remember the enactment of the Conservation Reserve Program after the 1985 Farm Bill. I remember the skeptics and studies. CRP and other conservation programs have made a huge impact in taking marginal land out of production while enhancing soil conservation and wildlife habitat.

Yes, there have been many changes during the last two decades. I’m sure there will be many more before my career is over.

There are, however, five things that aren’t going to change in the production of food and fiber:

• Soil. It all starts and ends with the soil. Ruin the soil, no more food and fiber. Minimum-till, no-till, crop rotation, returning organic material to the soil—all are methods used by farmers to care for the foundation of crop production.

• Seed. What springs from the soil feeds and clothes us all. Breeders improve it by traditional method and genetic modification, but the farmer plants it year after year, ensuring the circle never ends.

• Water. You can’t grow plants without water. Dryland farmers are dependent on Mother Nature. She can be kind or cruel, depending on her mood. Farmers with the ability to irrigate have an edge, with the realization they are using a limited resource that is in great demand.

• Climate. Always a factor, but such a huge variable. Hail, wind, drought, rain, flooding. Farmers and ranchers never know what’s in store. But they always have to deal with it.

• Tools. Farmers and ranchers have always used tools to feed themselves and their neighbors. Today’s tools may be bigger and better, but they are an essential element today, just as the hoe and horse-drawn plow were to farmers in years past.

But there is another vital ingredient, one more thing that will never change in the production of food and fiber:  Farmers and ranchers, the magicians who put it all together.

Agriculture producers take care of the soil, plant the seed, working the water and climate variables using the best tools technology allows. And although their methods may change to manage the other factors, the farmer and rancher is the last essential ingredient in producing sufficient food and fiber to feed and clothe the world.

So let me add a little side note.

There have been huge improvements in the way farmers and ranchers conduct the business of agriculture. Yet they continue to work with the basics.

One thing farmers and ranchers can’t manage, however, are prices.

The cash price for wheat in Texas on June 29 was $3.10. Guess what it was when I started my career some 22 years ago? $3.20.

Some things seldom change. That, my friends, is another side of agriculture.

Visit the Texas Farm Bureau website at www.txfb.org.
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