Agriculture in the Basin’s high country can be tough even in the good years.

“Maybe, if you’re lucky you’ll have something to pass on to your kids, but how much do you hate your kids?” said Greg Witbeck, farm service agency director for Uintah County.

Witbeck, paraphrasing a comment he’d overheard, was contrasting Ag-life here compared to elsewhere in Utah before an audience of the 7th Agriculture Conference on Feb. 25.

This is “cow-calf country more than farm country,” says Witbeck, who adds the mountain-desert country isn’t good for grain.

Originally from a southern Alberta farming community, Witbeck says “I recall a time when there was good money in farming and ranching. In a time when even small producers could make a living and farmers or ranchers were leaders in the community.”

They still do in some parts of Utah, but its hard on the small producer.

Arthur Douglas, USDA Farm Service Utah State director, says “last year, the USDA pumped $6 million into state farm producers or $28 million in total conservation programs, which in-turn generated a $15 billion industry for the state.”

To realize the full impact of agriculture on Utah’s economy, Douglas says people need only apply a multiplier of 5 or 7 times to see the benefit.

Still, that positive impact has not trickled down to the farmer or rancher in profit.

Witbeck says, “probably 95 to 98 percent of producers in this county today work a second job.”

“Fifty years ago,” Witbeck continues, “a bushel of wheat was $2.10 and wages were about $1 an hour for farm workers. Now, wheat is about $4.25 a bushel and wages are $20 and hour, or five times more than the grain.”

Used to be the grain was more than the wage.

That was back when a combine harvester cost “about $7,000, or about 3,000 bushels of grain,” says Witbeck. “Nowadays, a farmer couldn’t purchase the tires let alone the wheels for that amount of money.”

Today combine-tractor costs around $350,000, which is the equivalent of “80 to 85,000 bushels of grain” offered Witbeck. “In 1952, a sale of seven fat steers could bring in enough for a pick up and today, 45-50 head or about a semi-load of steers is enough.”

He adds that as the consumer price index keeps going down and inflation goes up the dollar is actually worth about 42 cents.

“What it boils down to is ya’ gotta eat, everyday,” Witbeck said, “but the cost keeps going up. I’ll give you an example, bottled water costs about 4½ cents an ounce and beer about 2 cents. That quarter pounder goes for about 45 cents an ounce.”

But the farmer, who gets paid on an ounce per ounce basis, has along with the shrinking dollar a shrinking profit margin.

“The farmers share is quite a bit less,” Witbeck says. “Like the 5 cents an ounce for beef. Compare that to the cost of a T-bone that you buy in a store. The bottom line is, farming and ranching is choked off for the small producer who is on the bubble every day.”

It can go either way for producers in a dicey economy. Witbeck says for those who want more historic information about the farming economy check the National Farmers Union website at http://nfu.org.

mbernard@vernal.com