It’s Briwood Farm Market Growing Up On The Farm; local families building the future of agriculture — one generation at a time . . . fueled by Kubota.
Today we are looking at the Futcher family . . . presented by Elford Automotive.
For fifth generation farmer Jay Futcher, the dairy cattle and hogs have been replaced with corn, soybeans and wheat on his Fair Acre Farm, just west of Middlemarch in Southwold Township.
He and wife Lorrie, work approximately 500 acres, rent another 200 or so acres and undertake some custom combining.
The husband-and-wife team are a model of efficiency, and you have to look no further than their soybeans.
Jay explains that roughly 70 per cent of those beans end up on dinner tables half-way around the world.
“They are identity-preserved, Natto-type soybeans that will end up in Japan. There’s a premium attached to growing them. A little bit extra paperwork and spraying and things like that to keep them in good shape.”
It’s proved profitable for the Futchers over the last two decades.
In fact, beans have been a staple of sorts on the farm over time.
“We used to always grow white beans on this farm, my grandfather and then when I farmed with my father and my uncle.”
Jay began farming in 1978, right after he finished up at the University of Guelph.
“When I was done Guelph, I thought, well, I’m coming back to the farm. So that was 1978. So that’s 48 years ago.
“We went to the farm meetings and I was still the youngest person.”
Another change over the years, and not for the better, is the cost of doing business on the farm.
Starting with the price of equipment.
“The purchase of it is the first thing,” Jay advises, “but then maintenance and repairs, and fuel. No matter what you look at, it costs a lot more than it used to.
“And yet in the grain business, the prices fluctuate along and I don’t really feel they really kept up to that increase in the cost of production. At least not right now.”
Jay continues, “What’s the market today for corn? I don’t think it’s quite $6 a bushel to sell the corn. We could have got $6 a bushel maybe 20 years ago too. And, it didn’t cost nearly as much to produce it.
A significant roadblock for a young person just starting out on the farm.
“It would be almost impossible without significant financial backing.”
Technology, however, is proving to be a game-changer, Jay notes.
“There is so much that’s going on now in the industry . That’s the one thing I guess is positive.”
Take harvesting, for example.
“The driver and the tractor and grain buggy that comes up beside the combine to unload on the go, it’s hands-free, computer pulls that tractor up to the same speed as the combine and they just keep going. Yeah, well, same with up and down the rows. You do it with GPS. Auto steering up and down the rows, you push a button and you go.”
And then there is the role of artificial intelligence, however, Jay concedes it must might be a little too late in the game to alter life on Fair Acres Farm.
“I don’t know so much about that yet out there. But we have robotics, spraying with drones and things like this, all new stuff that’s coming along for sure. We’re too near the end to probably start into that. We’ll keep rolling along for now.”
Relying on the basics, advises Jay.
“And so if the drone was to not fly and the satellite went out, you still have that knowledge, which new people today are going to go, well, what are you talking about?”
The immediate concern for Jay and Lorrie is estate planning. They have three daughters who are immersed in their own careers and the grandchildren, well, they are far too young to undertake anything beyond playing on the farm.
You can listen to some of our interview with the Futchers below.
Written by Ian McCallum
