>Many farmers also showed support for water-quality concerns, an important
issue for future polls, Lasley said.<

Poll reveals concern for future of farming
By Hannah Fletcher, Iowa Farmer Today

Who will be Iowa's future farmers? Today's farmers don't recommend farming
to young people and are pessimistic about the quality of life for the future
of their communities, according to the 2004 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll.

Questionnaires addressing current policy, community and personal issues were
sent to 2,099 farm operators statewide by Iowa State University Extension.
Seventy-three percent responded.

The poll, created in 1982, compared results on the quality of life to
previous years and looked at new topics, including health insurance,
charitable giving, taxes and water quality to create two summary reports.

In 2004, respondents were asked about the future of farming. Over half of
the respondents said they would not encourage young people to enter the
profession, and about two-thirds thought it would be limited to the sons and
daughters of current farmers.

"I was surprised with the results at a time when the past few years have
been good and land value is high, but they didn't recommend farming n not
even to their own children," said poll director Paul Lasley, Extension
sociologist.

Financial difficulties were the biggest reason not to enter the profession.

More than 80 percent said start-up investments are too high, followed by 73
percent who felt profits were too low and risk is too high.

Although some respondents felt rural Iowans' economic situation will get
better in the next five years, 20 percent more thought it will become worse.

The results also revealed concerns for the present and future quality of
life for their communities and other families in their communities. Survey
respondents often have expressed these concerns in past polls.

Although 69 percent of the respondents said their community would be a good
place to raise a family in the future, that response was about 10 percentage
points lower than when the question was asked in 1999 and 1994.

"It raises a fundamental question about the nature of, not only farming, but
rural communities," Lasley said.

Most respondents were optimistic about their families' present and future
situation n more than 80 percent felt their quality of life will be the same
or will improve over the next five years n but they were pessimistic about
the quality of life for other families in their communities.

In reference to the previous five years, 9 percent more farmers thought
other rural families' situation have become somewhat or much worse rather
than better, and 7 percent were more negative about the next five years.

In both cases, about half of farmers felt the situation had remained or will
remain the same for other families in their community.

Many farmers are concerned about the state of their communities but the
majority are willing to give back in the form of charitable contributions.

More than 90 percent of farm families gave to a church group, and more than
60 percent donated to a local fire, police or emergency service department.

Many farmers also showed support for water-quality concerns, an important
issue for future polls, Lasley said.

The 2004 results indicated half of the respondents felt the 2003 Iowa Water
Summit's goal to clean up water bodies on the impaired list by 2010 is
possible.

Increased research on water protection was supported by more than 68
percent, and another 77 percent felt it is possible to reduce the amount and
frequency of contamination from hog confinements.

"I think most of us realize Iowa has over 200 impaired waters," Lasley said.
"We have to press natural resource conservation issues in both soil and
water."

Other issues likely to show up on the 2005 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll
include the economic situation, taxes and the role of government


Forwarded from the Iowa Farmers Union by Jane Clark

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