Many Americans believe that our rural economies and environment have been damaged by food policy and technology choices that continue to force young farmers off the land. Young farmers need a new path to farm ownership and leadership in agriculture.
Massena Farms Services
To travel this new path, we invite retired and working farmers to sit at the same table with young farmers and local investors.
My company offers a step-by-step process to organize land, markets, and money around profitable farms that can be passed to the next generation within farm families and communities.
We are not in real estate, farm management, banking, finance, or government. Nor do we sell inputs, trade commodities, or market food at the retail level.
Land and Markets
We start by discussing landowner-controlled “production units” with working and retired farmers. A production unit is a group of nearby farms leased by the owners, with purchase options, to a young farm manager selected by the owners. Our preliminary business plans include the results of talks with commodity buyers and local direct sellers. However, more land, better commodity contracts, and improved direct-to-consumer sales are not enough.
Money
Our most important work is helping production unit members reach large numbers of local and regional retail consumers. Iowa State researchers have made the case for farmer-owned retail food brands. Our website explains the planning and development process, including public and investor information events.
Free Preliminary Business Plans
As an incentive for local cooperation, we will write preliminary business plans at no cost. Please contact me to learn more about demonstration projects near Omaha, Des Moines, and Kansas City.
Thank you.
Jim Steffen, President Massena Corporation 402-317-2639 jim@massenafarms.com
Diversified Farms, Public Policy, Disinvestment, and Rural Economic Decline
My dad used to ride the local “milk train” from college at Creighton University in Omaha to his family farm near Fordyce in Cedar County, Nebraska. I don’t know when that train stopped running, but the reasons for its demise can be traced to a disastrous set of public policies that encouraged systematic disinvestment in owner-operated diversified farms.
Diversified Farms
Diversified farmers raised several types of crops and livestock. They milked cows that grazed on open pastures. They fed very little grain and did not use expensive chemicals and equipment. Chickens were raised for meat and eggs and butcher hogs consumed the excess milk and grain. The hogs were trucked to livestock markets in Omaha and Sioux City and the milk and eggs rode the train to Omaha. Although by no means perfect, this farming system operated throughout the Midwest and Plains States.
Public Policy, Disinvestment and Rural Economic Decline
But starting after the Second World War, local bankers and diversified farmers faced competition from big city banks and government agencies. The USDA played a leading role in convincing farmers to borrow ever larger amounts of money to finance the application of petroleum-based fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides on corn, soybeans, and alfalfa. These crops were (and are) trucked to dairy cows, hogs and chickens housed in closed confinement barns and beef cattle held in large feedlots.
Over time, these policy and investment decisions produced a steady decline in the number of diversified farms as well as the processing plants that once supplied nearby Missouri Valley cities, and export markets. The processors have consolidated and moved toward cheap commodities, water and labor. As a result, Missouri Valley residents now spend billions each year on non-local (read imported) fresh produce, meat, and dairy products.
A Sustainable Economic Development Strategy
With the farmer-controlled regenerative and organic production units and local financing, we can compete with imported meat, grain, and fresh produce. Our production units, combined with modern locally owned processing, will create new jobs while reducing water, energy, and chemicals in local and regional food chains.
Diversified regenerative food system have massive economic development potential. It’s not hard to imagine efficient sustainable farms and gardens around every big Missouri Valley city. There are no good reasons why these farms and gardens should not be locally owned and operated by the folks who do the work. Further, sound economic development policy demands that near-by processing plants be owned by entrepreneurs (including workers) who earn reasonable profits and living wages.
Farmer-owned Food Brands
We know smart conventional, natural and organic farmers, ranchers and feeders who are already marketing specialty meats and poultry through established commodity channels. In order to bypass volatile commodity markets, some of these producers want to own retail brands, and yes, contract with locally owned food processors and distributors to supply high-end Missouri Valley grocery and food service outlets.
You can help us get started by considering an investment in regenerative farms managed in local production units by experienced producers. We use Slow Money principles to guide the organizational process. To learn more about farmer-controlled marketing and local financing, please go to our Massena Farm website.
Finally, we are planning to develop our two Omaha area farms to showcase the latest in efficient organic farming technologies and marketing methods. We would be delighted to discuss our plans with qualified investors and experienced organic farmers and gardeners.
