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Confidentiality Counterproductive For Today’s Farmers [Opinion]

Avatar for Paul Rusnak By Paul Rusnak|June 15, 2015
Paul Rusnak

Paul Rusnak

We all have secrets. For the majority of humankind, the nature of these classified bits of intel is mostly minor. For others, serious business could be at stake.

The value of any secret lies with the gatekeeper. For eons, growers have come up with their own unique ways to produce more, better-tasting, and better-looking crops. Proprietary production methods aplenty have helped and continue to help farmers stand out from others in their competitive set. And competition is a good thing as it breeds new, innovative ideas.

However, the tide seems to be shifting lately to more transparency among growers. One case in point is the Farmers Business Network (FBN). This burgeoning, online-based farmer-to-farmer information network uses high technology to link members and share input and output data from participating farms. No secrets here. And interested parties are paying $500 a year to connect.

Sharing Is Caring

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According to FBN’s website, active members can grow their business through better understanding of their operation’s own performance via detailed analysis and also by gaining insights for improvement thanks to exclusive access to “millions of acres of real-world results.” Sounds simple, but you have to trust pulling back the drape to your own business enterprise before reaping all the benefits. Like anything steeped in technology, the risk of malfunction can be of concern.

Are you willing to take that leap? In a sense, many of you already are with social media. The amount of growers today sharing information not only among peers, but also directly with the general public is hard to fathom. And hey, what about the citrus industry? When a challenge like HLB comes along, strength in numbers is required. Cooperative knowledge and coordinated sprays have become the norm.

In addition, as methyl bromide completes its phase-out, information exchange between growers and researchers has been vital in finding suitable alternatives.

Growth Potential Realized

Despite FBN having roots in Silicon Valley, the network is steadily expanding its reach. Currently, most participating farms are situated in America’s Breadbasket, which is understandable given the row crop appeal this has. As of this posting, there were no takers in Florida, but that could change as new crop segments keep getting added.

So, since no Florida growers are on the FBN network, you probably aren’t aware FarmersBusinessNetwork.com launched a little more than a year ago. I wasn’t either, but was informed when FBN recently made the news thanks to a multimillion-dollar investment from none other than Google Ventures.

On a similar note, we’ve recently reported on Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ business dealings that involve buying up large tracts of farmland — a healthy chunk of those acres in Florida.

Yes, agriculture is a sound investment. More entities outside the sector are coming to the table for their share. This is a good thing. Others are understanding the vital role agriculture plays in society. The “secret” is out.

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Paul Rusnak is the Senior Online Editor for Meister Media Worldwide's Specialty Crops Division, which consists of American Vegetable Grower, American Fruit Grower, and Greenhouse Grower magazines, all Meister Media brands. He is based in Northeast Florida. See all author stories here.

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Avatar for Matt Matt says:
June 15, 2015 at 12:07 pm

This is such a skewed article I don’t know where to begin. “More entities outside the sector are coming to the table for their share. This is a good thing.”

How is it that outside parties, who are coming for “their share”, a good thing? They are interested in one thing MONEY. They care nothing for the farmer or workers who will be “leasing” or “working” the land. They purchase land using dollars they did not earn with their sweat and labor. They purchase farmland using capitol gains that they neither worked for nor place sweat equity in.

I will NEVER accept the idea that leasing my land from someone who is only their for profit nor working for someone who is not physically involved with me in farming is a good thing. It is destructive to agriculture as a whole. It prevents ACTUAL farmers from growing their operations by acquiring land. It prevents new farmers from being able to enter agriculture as anything other than a serf.

If government wanted to do ONE thing to help new farmers, it would be to make certain tracts of land zone Agriculture Exclusive. It would require the landowner to materially participate in the raising of crops. This would mean they would have to actually BE a farmer. Not just some investor looking to extract capitol from leasing land or holding it ransom to a future developer.

BANKS would be more friendly to a farmer. At least in the end the farmer will OWN his land. The bank gets it’s money from the loan they make to purchase the land. This is fundamentally different from land speculators who care nothing about the land or the person working it, only how much money they can extract from it.

I wish we would start getting articles written from the standpoint of a farmer and not a business desk jockey.

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Avatar for Paul Rusnak Paul Rusnak says:
June 15, 2015 at 12:23 pm

Tell me how you really feel, Matt. Stop holding back … Seriously though, we’re always looking for well-written articles from the grower’s perspective. If interested, send us an article (topic of your choice) and we’ll review and consider it for publication. Thanks for the feedback.

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Avatar for Matt Matt says:
June 15, 2015 at 1:07 pm

Hi Paul,

I am sure you had good intentions with your article. I have just worked with too many land “investors” who think that my profit is their rent. They want to know what I am going to grow so they can properly determine “rent.” Many of these land “investors” very quickly put up “Commerical Sites Available” signs. They are not there to help farmers farm. They are there because they think they can make money by purchasing farmland and then waiting for it to appreciate or converting it to other uses. Many think farmers are rich. I have even had one guy try and claim he had a crop loss on MY crop on rented land.

Speculation with farm land should not be allowed. If Bill Gates or some other super wealthy person wants to invest in agriculture, then invest in the FARMERS. When they invest in land they are there for MONEY and not the farmers. If Florida needs more land investors then maybe it is time to figure out what government policies could be changed to help the local farmers become more profitable and sustainable.

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Avatar for Nick Nick says:
June 16, 2015 at 9:09 am

I have to agree somewhat with Matt. If it’s not some investor coming in to buy land, it’s the government coming in to buy land. It’s hard to buy land in an environment where parties are willing to pay values in excess of farming value. But, I certainly understand the economics. If I have a 40 acre block that I bought for $400,000, I can lease it in my area for $400/acre/year. Not only will I watch the value of my land increase, but I will get a nice $16000/yr dividend as well. And all that is assuming I don’t do something savvy like a joint venture. It’s a pretty good investment plan.

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