Future of Agriculture
What does the future hold for agriculture in Iowa?
Personal Life
I come from a family that farms, and our family has gone through many generations of farming. There are things that I am familiar with regarding agriculture, and there are multiple things I don't know as well. Throughout the years there have been many technologies and new ideas discovered, and agriculture continues to change.
Aspects That Affect the Future of Agriculture
Increase/Decrease of farm ground in Iowa
Population increase in bigger cities
Patterns in climate
Corn and soybean prices
Technology advancements
Corn and Soybean Prices
- Corn and soybean prices are determined by markets across the U.S., and how much of a supply of the grain there is across the country.
- If the supply goes down because of a drought or bad crop that year, the price will go up.
- If there is more than enough of the grain, like with corn right now, then the price will go down because of that high supply.
- Input costs are high, such as fertilizer prices, seed prices, chemicals, insurance, etc. Renting farm ground is also very costly.
- Right now corn and soybean prices are starting to decrease, and the input costs are still really high. There is a very high supply of corn currently, so the price isn’t as high.
- That makes it very difficult to decide when to sell your corn. This can make it very tough on farmers that rent land or farmers that don’t own as much land.
Climate In Iowa
Technology Advancements
- The GPS systems allow farmers to plant or fertilize their fields without manually driving the tractor.
- You can program the GPS to the layout of your field so that the GPS recognizes your field. You have to line up the tractor with the lines on the GPS, turn it on, and you are ready to go. You are able to turn it off and on at the end of a row so you are able to turn around.
- This takes a lot of the stress of off farmers that would normally have to manually drive their tractors. It also decreases gaps and overlaps that can affect the yield potential while planting your crops.
Population Increase and How it Affects Amount of Farm ground
The population in bigger cities is increasing.
The farms around the bigger cities are decreasing.
The farm ground in the middle of nowhere or the ground around smaller cities isn’t threatened.
With how much the population is growing farming is going to continue to be more important.
In Conclusion
Sources
"Marketing and Outlook." Farmdoc. The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, 2016. Web. 6 Jan. 2016. <http://www.farmdoc.illinois.edu/manage/uspricehistory/us_price_history.html>
Curtis, Pat. "Scientists Say Climate Change Is Challenging Iowa Agriculture." Radioiowa. 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 2016. <http://www.radioiowa.com/2013/10/18/scientists-say-climate-change-is-challenging-iowa-agriculture/>.