JB: Do you limit your farming to this strain of corn or are you more diversified? And how can a smaller farmer make a living these days?
GM: I do seed production on my farm for the popcorn. We also grow sweet corn, tomatoes, squash, potatoes and other vegetables for sale at local grocery stores. We farm organically and I also grow rye, buckwheat, and alfalfa. I use and sell the rye and buckwheat for cover crops and sell the hay to local farmers.
I think smaller farmers will make a living these days by being diversified and selling to niche markets. They can grow crops that can be sold at local markets. They can raise chickens, turkeys, beef, or even pork and sell direct to their own communities. Local production of foods is becoming a big thing these days.
JB: Agreed. How much acreage do you have, Gene, and who works the land with you?
GM: We have 33 acres here where we raise the seed and the other crops. We contract out 200-500 acres for popcorn production. We need to spread it out because of weather conditions. If it was all in one place and we had a disaster, I could be without inventory.
My wife and her brother along with one of my employees help on the farm, as well as processing and packaging the popcorn.
JB: Can you give us an idea of how to translate 200-500 acres of corn into Tiny But Mighty Popcorn packages? I'd like a better sense of the scope of your operation.
GM: Sure. If we average 2500 pounds/acre, on 500 acres that would be 1,250,000 pounds. That would translate to about 1,000,000 packages or 166,666 cases of popcorn.
JB: That's a lot of popcorn! How has farming changed since you started in 1999? Can it still be considered an enjoyable enterprise?
GM: Farming today has a lot more technology: GPS controlled tractors, planters, fertilizer spreaders, and combines. The equipment today has air conditioned cabs, CD players and computer controls. You don't even have to steer a tractor across the field anymore.
Here, we use older equipment without the sealed cabs and enjoy the smell of the earth as we cross the field. You can enjoy the sight and sounds of wildlife such as deer, birds, rabbits, and pheasants. I think agriculture has changed the way farmers think of the land and their closeness to the soil. The land has become a commodity, a way to make money for some instead of a life style. Farms use to be a diverse system where each farmer had some cattle and pigs and other livestock. They grew hay, corn, beans, and oats. They rotated their crops and fed some to their livestock and returned the manure to the soil. It was a little ecosystem.
Today, it's an industrialized system where the livestock are raised in confinement and corn and beans are raised by the grain farmer. This is not true for all but for the majority. I think it is moving back slowly to more diverse systems. I enjoy very much the life on the farm our family has.
JB: It sure sounds like you do. Are you working 24/7 or do you have time to sit back and relax a bit? If so, what do you like to do with your "free time"?
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