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March 15, 2018 By Whitney Belprez 465 Comments

the end of the road

Last week while on our monthly grocery trip, we were shocked to see that milk was selling for $1.50 a gallon at ALDI in Big Rapids.

$1.50.

Stripped former milk house. This room usually serves as the heart of the dairy farm – bulk tank, sinks, pipeline equipment, etc.

“Limit five,” the sign said.

Clearly, most shoppers’ reaction to these prices was to say “wow, $1.50!” and to then stock up.

For us, our hearts sank. Those farmers, their families, their cows. How in God’s name can they survive $1.50 a gallon?

This week, Dean Foods gave notice to 140 small family dairy farms in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio that after May 31 of this year, there will be no truck to pick up their milk. Walmart, the largest buyer of Dean’s milk in the region, has vertically integrated and will now be processing their own milk. But not from those farms. Those farms are too small for Walmart to waste their time with. And now, Dean has no avenue to sell those farms’ milk. After years of low prices, it is, likely, the final nail in the coffin for those farms.

These are the guys who are up at work at 5 AM feeding calves, milking cows, and cleaning barns. Then after breakfast, they don their ties and head into town for their 9-5 “day job” before coming home for evening chores and starting the routine all over again.

Silo & barn foundation – all that remains of this homestead

Truly, over 85% of farms can’t support a family, financially, without added outside income, according to recent USDA surveys.

What was once the most common job in America, now can’t even support a single family.

In a typical year, dairy farmers get only 11 cents from every dollar spent on milk.

From that 11 cents they have to pay for their mortgage, feed, fuel, labor, insurance, equipment, and any debts they have on those items. What’s left to actually feed the farmer’s family?

Stop by the average small farm in America during business hours and no one’s home. More often than not, the post-retirement-age-farmer, whose kids have all grown and left the farm for greener pastures in the city, is gone at work. Working to pay for his habit.

this former farm sits on the edge of a tranquil creek in the woods. It’s easy to see why the original family chose this spot for their family.

His habit? Farming.

A few days ago, we were running low on round bales for our cows – our next semi load wasn’t supposed to be in for a few more days. So, I thought I’d run down the road through Lakeview farm country and knock on doors at any of the small farms I saw with hay bales stacked up. Having recently moved to the area, buying hay is always a good way to connect with neighbors, local farmers and create community.

Not one person was home. The barn roofs sagged in the middle as the ridge beams rotted away. The tractors, mostly over 40 years old, sat rusting in barely standing equipment sheds. The old fence posts looked more like Woodpecker feeders, and the barbed wire fences that once controlled livestock now swung limply in wind.  Paint peeled from the siding, and shingles were missing from the roofs, and no one was home.

Empty tie-stall barn where cows lived & were milked at a local defunct farm

Despite all their hard work, those farmers still couldn’t afford to make ends meet without a towny job. In a few more years, after that farmer has worked until his last day, those tractors will be wrapped in weeds, the barns will be piles of rotted wood and twisted nails, and the houses will sit vacant – too poorly maintained and outdated to even sell.

Eventually, some mega farm will come burn the collapsed barn, bulldoze the house, and try to squeeze out a few more bushels of corn over-top the tomb of some other farmer’s dreams, until they eventually succumb to the same fate.

I don’t say this to be pessimistic. It’s the truth.

The rot and decay in our food system has taken such a hold that, without drastic intervention, the industry will die.

What then?

According to the USDA the average age of the American farmer is 58, with over 31% still running their farm at over 65 years old. Anyone can see that the population demographics in agriculture are dreadful. It didn’t used to be this way. The idyllic farms pictured on the front of every Country Crock margarine container in the supermarket used to be real. Small, diversified, family farms were the backbone of America.

What happened? Who is to blame for the demise of an entire way of life? For the collapse of rural America?

The answer – the 1970’s. No, really. The 1970’s ushered in a radical change in the government policy surrounding agriculture and subsidies.

entrance to former dairy barn

Policy that interferes with the natural rules of supply and demand and encourages farmers to “get big or get out.” Moreover, our government farm subsidies prioritize the growing of commodities – non-perishable food products that can be stored indefinitely in grain-bins and traded on the world market to increase our nation’s GDP, thus giving the government more borrowing power to stem off its eventual debt-defaults from bloated budgets and out of control spending. The deeper you look, the farther the rot penetrates.

The farm of days gone by – of Old MacDonald with his diversified farm of edible crops, cows, pigs, and chickens – has been replaced with endless rows of corn and shiny-new grain bins that stick out of the countryside like cathedrals paying homage to holy corn.

But the rot has spread to these now, too. The price of a bushel of corn was $3.58 on  Dec 2, 1974. In January of 2018, a bushel of corn sold for $3.56, down two cents from 44 years ago. The farmer who planted his first field of corn in 1974 can expect the same prices for his corn as he retires. All the while the price of seed, land, equipment, fertilizer, and fuel have grown exponentially.

It’s unbelievable. It’s an insult.  It’s downright sinful.

tractor forgotten in time

Even now as I write, farmers are taking their planters out of winter storage, they are inoculating their seeds, calibrating the sprayers, and eagerly awaiting to get back out in the fields. Yet, the forecast for commodity futures on corn and soy don’t look any better than they did last year, and sadly, they will probably lose money after a year of work.

So, as the days get longer, and the sun comes out of it’s winter hibernation, take a ride down a country road and see the vacant houses, the barns falling down, the rows upon rows of corn and soy.

But, when you see that veggie stand on the side of the road, stop and buy something. Buy everything you can afford to locally.

Your dollar will have a greater impact when you buy anything directly from a local producer than switching to an organic item at a chain supermarket. Truly.

More and more farmers are finally starting to see the writing on the wall, and they’re trying to save themselves. They are returning to growing food instead of commodities, and more importantly they are marketing that food directly to customers, instead of selling it for pennies on the dollar to multinational packing and processing corporations.

Farmers are fiercely independent, and they are indoctrinated with the “pull-yourself-up by your bootstraps” mentality, but they can only partially save themselves. The consumer has to help save them.

Instead of Costco, spend your money at the farmer’s market. Or a buying club, or a co-op, or any farm. Buy your food direct from the farm as often as possible.

barn collapsed into a field of king corn

Not only is it better for your health, (and your taste buds!), it helps restore rural and local economies. The radical intervention that agriculture needs is here, and it’s to do away with the cheap global commodity food system that helps no one and fails everyone. Instead, opt for a vibrant, local, and sustainable food system built on the relationship between farmers and consumers, without the government and middlemen in the way.

//Guest Post by Dan Belprez

Suggested Further Reading

Global Dairy Industry (Canada & Trump)

The Need for Off-Farm Income

Finding Local Farmers

Filed Under: Farm & Family Life, News & Updates, Philosophy, Production Systems Tagged With: Business, Dairy, Farm Life, Food, Local

September 4, 2017 By Whitney Belprez 4 Comments

A New Season…A New Beginning

blondie-milk-two-sparrows-farmLabor Day weekend either seems to be an end of summer celebration or it ushers in the beginning of fall. This year it seems to the latter. As I’m writing this, I can see bits of color on the trees, the wind is blowing gusts from the west and our apple trees are already ripening. It’s the perfect day to curl up with a book and a cup of coffee!

Fall is bringing a lot of excitement this year {really, this whole year has been exciting – for better or worse!} We have 3 cows that are due to calve this month and 3 more in the first part of October. We have our fall batch of pigs heading to butcher mid-month and we’re one month away from the fall beef harvest! We have just a few quarters of beef available to be sure to reserve yours soon.

We are also hosting our Coffee & Muck Boots Fall Farm Tour this Saturday September 9 at 10:00 AM.

Click here for details and to RSVP, but we’re be providing coffee and fresh, hot donuts from the local Amish bakery…so…yeah. You’ll want to be there. 😉

In September, we’re also working on a few construction projects around the farm. We’re insulating our dairy barn for the coming winter, fixing up our future farm store building, and installing a new pipeline milking system! We also purchased an enclosed trailer this weekend, which we’ll be insulating and turning into a portable walk-in cooler for milk storage and deliveries.

peach-two-sparrows-farmWe’ve already announced our expansion to our herdshare leaseholders but starting in November, we’ll be taking over a retiring herdshare on the east side of the state. With a driver and refrigerated truck, our milk & dairy products will be available at over 20 delivery location in the Detroit-Ann Arbor area. We {& the delivery coordinator} hope to expand into the Saginaw, Bay City and Lansing areas in the future.

We are incredibly excited about this growth, and it has required us to triple the size of our milking herd, upgrade some of our equipment and infrastructure, and scale back some other areas of our farm to make sure we’re scaling up in a sustainable way.

Happy Labor Day to All!

Filed Under: Farm & Family Life, News & Updates Tagged With: Beef, Dairy, Farm Life, Local, Raw Milk, Sustainability

July 11, 2016 By Whitney Belprez Leave a Comment

The {always} unpredictable life on the farm…

a threatening storm but no rain
a threatening storm but no rain

Life on the farm is so much more unpredictable than one could imagine.

It’s unpredictable on a daily basis, of course.

Last Friday we finished up our morning chores early, just in time for a farm tour and walked out to find a newborn calf in our pasture! Our plans that day were promptly reorganized to include supervising mom & baby, waiting for her placenta, making sure baby was nursing colostrum, bringing them in for their first milking, etc. Once we thought the day was finally wrapped up around midnight, we walked out and noticed a sow in labor. Up until 4:00 am with the safe delivery of 12 piglets…and right into the next day’s morning chores.

But, life (especially on a farm) is unpredictable in the long term. I never dreamed, or even wanted to milk on our farm. Now, it’s the cornerstone of our business and I’m content with that. I never imagined we would have our own Berkshire pig breeding stock, either – but here we are, farrowing 75+ piglets every year and finishing almost 50 annually for our customers. Unthinkable to me just a few years ago.

I never could’ve imagined that within 5 years of purchasing our farm we would have all of the property fenced, electric & water run in outbuildings, a new wood stove in our house, free stalls and a milking parlor in our barn…the list goes on. Now, in just one season we can add a farm store AND a new steel roof for our barn to that list!

Beau is less than pleased with the lack of rain around here...
Beau is less than pleased with the lack of rain around here…

For the past 6 weeks we have been working in all our “free time” to renovate what was originally a hog & chicken house, and tool shed, into a working building with purpose. The first task was to dig about 70 years (literally) worth of composted manure, dust and cobwebs from the inside…by hand.

Next, Dan power washed the interior to reveal stunning original wood boards. We had to rent a diamond saw and use a sledge hammer to knock out two cement curbs that had been added over the years…and then shovel that out by hand.

Next, we measured and had 5 yards of new cement poured, leveled and cured. Then, we replaced the windows and fitted a new door, cleaned the inside again and ran all new electrical which included digging a 2 foot deep trench to the nearest building.

We were then able to move clean fridges and freezers in, and add new landscaping around the outside. We touched up paint, moved in a decorative wood stove and still have a few shelves and decorations to add.

After all this work, a mama sparrow decided to move in, build a nest and lay some eggs. Instead of pitching the nest and keeping our new cement clean, we decided to let her hatch her babies and once they leave the nest we’ll remove it…and thus, the name: The Sparrow’s Nest Farm Store.

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Currently, we have our on-farm milk pickup in the store and it’s open 9:00 am – 10:00 pm. Everything is self-serve and honor system. We have whole chickens and pork stocked in the freezers and eggs on the counter. We are working to have maple syrup, honey, natural soaps/lotions, jams and granola available, as well.

Adding a layer of unpredictability to our lives this year has been the current drought we’re dealing with. While the local meteorologists are saying that our region is abnormally dry, the National Weather Service has categorized it as an agricultural drought. That means the water table hasn’t dropped yet but the top soil has little to no moisture left to grow the grass. The longer it is dry, the more difficult it becomes for the soil and plants’ root systems to recover.

grazing our drought reserve in June
grazing our drought reserve in June

As we drive around our area, hay fields are brown and dead, not growing an inch in the heat without rain and the corn leaves are curling from the lack of moisture. The cows have already eaten their way through our drought reserve after just 6 weeks of grazing – this is ground that doesn’t normally get touched until the last week of July and into August.

The best grass growth of the year is from mid-May through mid-June but our pastures have died after being grazed just once. During that period of time we normally receive around 7″ of precipitation – this season we have received just 1″ of rain.

We are planning to add water lines for some irrigation, although it is impossible to irrigate all of our land, and we are already back to feeding hay to the cows. We have to account for the additional expenses of time and money to add irrigation lines and begin buying hay again (the drought is already driving these price up dramatically). Which brings us to our barn roof raiser.

We are in a difficult place – choosing to replace the barn roof that protects our hay during the winter or purchasing the hay itself to feed our animals. The roof cannot wait another year without risking structural damage to the building from leaks that cause floorboards and joists to rot, and the foundation to crack. Yet, we also need the funds to buy hay for the animals during the drought and run irrigation so we have a shot at fall grazing before winter feeding.

Dan kissing a baby piglet...in front of our sad barn with burned grass
Dan kissing a baby piglet…in front of our sad barn with burned grass

All of this is to say that we budgeted for a barn roof but are now having to divert funds to more pressing issues. Without the barn roof, though, we have no way to safely store the hay that we so desperately need to buy. This is where our community comes in. Unlike large farms with coop contracts or government-guaranteed assistance programs, small farms like ours do not have the credit (or subsidies) available that conventional farms do. We have a small line of credit but it’s not enough to help us survive.

We hate asking for help as much as anyone, but if you’re able to make a small donation to help us offset the cost of the new barn roof ($8,200), this enables us to run some irrigation lines (and help our pastures rebound) and cover the expense of feeding hay in the meantime.

Of course, the best way to support our farm is to patronize our business – feeding your family healthy, sustainable, happy food. You’ll find links below for purchasing chicken, turkey, pork and a herd share for your family. But many of you have expressed the desire to go above and beyond in your generosity, or maybe you live a little farther away and can’t buy from our business.

Cecilia and her chicken...
Cecilia and her chicken…

Either way, we are so incredibly grateful for you! If you feel you’re able to spare a little bit, we have some great rewards organized for donors and hope you’ll consider helping a little. As I said, we hate asking for help and try to minimize doing so, saving it for times that we really truly need it. We have been overwhelmed with the generosity of our community already and are so incredibly grateful for that.

Thank you for your continued support, business & generosity!

-the Two Sparrows Farm crew

{Dan, Whit, Cecilia, Beau + the animals}

Ordering for Pastured Chickens & Turkeys

Information for Fresh, Unprocessed, Whole Milk

Farrow-to-Fork Pastured Berkshire Pork

Filed Under: Farm & Family Life, News & Updates, Production Systems Tagged With: Business, Chicken, Dairy, Eggs, Farm Life, Grassfed, Local, non-GMO, Pork, Raw Milk, Simplicity, Sustainability, Turkey

February 24, 2016 By Whitney Belprez 2 Comments

Spring Ordering is Here!

berkshire-pigs-twos-sparrows-farmYesterday was one of those days that you just don’t want to end – the warmer temperature, the gentle breeze and the sunshine! It’s hard not to soak in those first few days of feeling the warmth of the sun again. We found all kinds of reasons to work outside as much as we could – yard cleanup, stacking firewood, cleaning barns, and even a visit to the Lake Odessa Live Stock Auction! It was the perfect day to stand in the sun, bid on hay to refill our supply for the calves and then enjoy the best burger and fries at the auction lunch house. It’s one of our favorite family outings!

We aren’t so excited today looking down the barrel of the winter weather returning today but we’re taking the opportunity to have a “snow day” and slow it down around here. Just the minimal chores, staying close to the fire with a cup of coffee, binge watching cartoons and napping with the kids. It’s a rare moment for us to have a slow, family day and we are soaking in every moment of it.

livestock-two-sparrows-farmWe are also celebrating the launch of our new website! Thanks to the amazing work of our friends at Come Alive Creative, we have completely updated the site, and even added forms to make our ordering and communications more efficient. As any small business owner knows, your business can grow and evolve in such a short amount of time and keeping up with that change can be challenging. Our website is one way we try to progress with the ever-changing demands of our customers (& fans!)

If you are a current customer (of any product) and really love us, we are always looking for feedback and reviews. Its great to share them on Facebook and Local Harvest but you can also email them over to us to be featured on our website! If you weren’t completely satisfied as a customer we need to hear from you too – our goal is to always be improving and better serving you.

farm-kids-two-sparrows-farmWe are beginning our fourth season on this little piece of land we call a farm, and are happy to start the ordering cycle for our seasonal pastured broiler chickens, turkey and now rabbits! Our farm hands, Ethan & Elliott, provide us with much-needed help around the farm – from milking cows and doing chores if we need a night off, to helping with fencing projects and stacking hay bales. We love having these two involved in what we’re doing. For the 4H fair this year they decided to try raising some non-GMO meat rabbits! We are so excited to support them in this endeavor and will be offering them as part of our chicken pick-ups this summer.

If you’ve never tried rabbit, here’s your chance! Dan actually enjoys rabbit more than chicken for deep, moist flavor. You can cook them in any way that you can cook a chicken – from pot pies to the slow cooker and stews…you won’t be disappointed!

Head over to our Eggs & Meats on Pasture page for more information to fill out our order form for pastured chickens, rabbits, and holiday turkeys! You can also reserve your half or whole pig (ready in July) and check out our newly updated Raw Milk Herd Share page!

-the Two Sparrows Farm crew

Filed Under: Farm & Family Life, News & Updates, Production Systems Tagged With: Business, Chicken, Farm Life, Local, non-GMO, Turkey, Winter

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