Take a snapshot of farming in Northwest Arkansas.
Allen Moore harvesting wheat outside of Prairie Grove. Dennis McGarrah spraying weeds in his vegetable field along the highway in Lowell. Mitchell and Tyler Young tending to their first flock in three new broiler houses near Elkins. And Ryan Neal checking his blueberry bushes in his new patch in Rogers.
Four different farms with one thing in common -- each plays an important role in the tapestry that is the Northwest Arkansas economy.
The region recently surpassed the half-million population mark, according to Northwest Arkansas Council estimates, and it has one of the nation's fastest-growing economies. But farm numbers are holding steady despite increasing prices for land, equipment and startup costs. Northwest Arkansas farms are adapting and evolving. Large farms are getting even bigger and an increasing number of people are experimenting with small fruit and vegetable operations.
"Farming is part of our social fabric, and we don't want to lose that," said Curt Rom, professor for the Department of Horticulture at the University of Arkansas.
Zach Taylor, director of marketing for the Arkansas Agriculture Department, said farming is the state's largest single industry, adding $17 billion to the economy annually. It accounts for one in six jobs.
Bigger, Bigger
The Moore family farm outside of Lincoln started in 1955. Ralph Moore began farming the land in 1974 and built his first hen house in 1977. His sons -- Curtis, 25, and Allen, 37 -- joined the farming operation after taking some time after high school graduation to work at jobs in town.
"At first I didn't think I would want to farm and did an 8-5 job for a while," Curtis Moore said. He lists bookkeeper and real estate agent alongside farmer on his resume. "Eventually I decided I wanted to head back to the farm."
Allen Moore said he serviced water wells and installed septic systems from 1994 to 2006. He then invested his earnings into his farm operation.
"You can't just jump in," he said.
The U.S. Census of Agriculture counted 4,659 farms on 616,570 acres in Benton and Washington counties in 2012. The U.S. Department of Agriculture releases new farm census numbers every five years. The agency released the 2012 report in May. A farm had to produce and sell $1,000 or more of agricultural products, including government subsidies, in a year to be counted in the census.
The number of farms and acreage in Northwest Arkansas dropped a bit from the 1978 census, but more people are calling themselves farmers.
Curtis Moore said the family owns 110 acres and leases an another 200 adjacent acres. The family also leases additional, nonconnecting land for a total of almost 500 acres. He would like to add acreage to the operation.
"You have to keep growing every year," he said. Expanding the farm helps spread out risks from unexpected problems such as weather or disease, he explained.
Curtis Moore also said farm equipment is expensive, and they build up their machinery one piece at a time. Last year they purchased a 1994 combine for $60,000.
Ralph and Curtis run the family's four chicken houses. They are contract growers for George's. The younger Moore is building four additional houses that will each hold 28,000 birds for five or six cycles each year.
Allen handles crops, growing wheat, corn and soybeans.
Poultry, Livestock
The Young family's farm near Elkins has about 80 head of cattle and three turkey-breading houses for Cargill.
Brothers Mitchell, 23, and Tyler, 22, recently received their first flock from George's for four new chicken houses. The 46-foot by 520-foot houses each will hold 28,200 chicks for the 52-day growing period five times a year.
Poultry and livestock accounted for 99 percent of agricultural sales in Benton and Washington counties. The market value of poultry and livestock sales totaled $529.1 million in Benton County and $443 million in Washington County in 2012, according to census numbers.
"Benton and Washington counties are No. 1 and 2 in all the animal ag statistics, which surprises a lot of people," said Steve Eddington, vice president of public relations for the Arkansas Farm Bureau. "People know about poultry, but the area also leads in beef."
Johnny Gunsaulis, Washington County extension agent, said poultry farms have changed over the years, and he doesn't see a lot of new chicken farms starting in the area because of high start-up costs and a shift to larger farms.
"In the 1970s, it was usually two houses a farm with 30,000-40,000 chickens. Now farmers are building more and larger houses," he said.
Neal Mays, Benton County extension agent, agreed.
"You just don't see people on a large scale growing without an integrator," he said. The integrator provides a grower with the chicks and feed, and the farmer provides the facility and care.
Poultry is big business in this corner of the state, and farmers are contract growers for many companies including Tyson, George's and Cargill.
Taylor said it often takes at least four houses for a poultry operation to be profitable, and that can easily be a $700,000 capital investment.
"Unless you have grandparents or parents willing to pony up some money and help, it is very hard to get into the industry," he said.
Curtis Moore said his four new houses are about a $1.2 million investment, and the bank required 25 percent down. He said his parents helped him with the down payment with cash and equity in the farm.
"Financing is the biggest issue new farmers face," he said.
Taylor sees growth potential in the poultry industry as companies expand into areas such as school lunches.
"High beef prices and rising pork prices are helping making poultry a major player in protein," he said.
Poultry farms often double as beef operations. Farmers can use chicken litter as fertilizer on crops such as corn, which in turn is used to feed cows.
Taylor said the state's dairy farm numbers have shrunk to about 70 statewide, but the majority of what is left is in Northwest Arkansas.
Growing Crops
The larger livestock and poultry farms account for most agriculture sales in the region, but the number of smaller farms is increasing. Small farms of 49 acres or less made up 43 percent of farms.
Row crops, such as corn and soybeans, account for a small piece of the area's agriculture puzzle. Mays said specialty crops are gaining steam based on the number of inquiries he's received from people wanting to enter farming. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines specialty crops as "fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture."
"It's just easier to get into the business with some of these other crops, and it is an avenue for people interested in getting into farming," he said.
Rom said an increase in farmers markets and the public's heightened interest in buying local produce has helped specialty crop farmers. Fayetteville had the only farmer's market in the area in 1990, but today there are 18 in the two-county area, he said.
McGarrah sells his products at both Harps and Allen's as well as local farmers market. He operates four farms: two each in Lowell and Pea Ridge. Both sites have pick-your-own berries and Pea Ridge has a pumpkin patch and grass maze.
McGarrah grew a majority of his vegetables this year on a nine-acre lot he leases off Bloomington Street in the heart of Lowell. The field has a variety of products from the 2,400 pepper plants to 2,000 okra plants. Tomatoes and pumpkins are his largest crops. He has 10,000 tomato plants.
Neal is just getting his farm operation going. The 31-year-old had his first batch of blueberries ready this year at a pick-your-own field in Rogers. He planted the berries on an acre of a 25-acre parcel his father owns. He plans on adding another acre-and-a-half next year. Neal said he's learning how to maintain the farm from 175 miles away and is getting a better idea of when and how to market the farm.
"This is was a steep learning curve this year," he said.
Neal put his first plants in the ground in March 2012. The farm is a part-time operation; he works full time at the Heifer International Ranch in Perryville.
The Census shows more than half of the area's farms' principal operators call something other than farming their primary occupation.
"This was just a hobby for years," McGarrah said, adding he worked in manufacturing for 32 years. He started farming as a full-time operation five years ago.
Neal said he probably wouldn't have pursued starting a blueberry farm if he didn't have the land and tractors already there for him to use.
"I pursued a degree in agriculture in soil science with the intention of doing something with the land in Rogers," he said. "Right now I'm coming up on the weekends with the intention of eventually doing enough to move up there full time."
Room For Farms
Increasing population and land prices are pushing farmers away from the urban areas and sometimes out of the region.
"You would be turning a blind eye to reality if you didn't look at how the area's growth is impacting farming," Eddington said. "The housing and retail development in the area has changed the pricing dynamic."
Many agriculture lots outside the Interstate 49 corridor range from $2,000-$3,000 an acre. The prices pushed Grant Keenen, 34, out of Northwest Arkansas and into investing in a 160-acre farm near Carthage, Mo. He bought the land in 2003 from his grandfather.
Keenen has 125 beef cows he owns with his father and rotates crops between soybeans, wheat and corn. His farm isn't his only job. He manages the Walker Charolais Ranch in Springdale and lives in Prairie Grove with his wife and young daughter.
He tries to get back to his farm on the weekend and hopes to have it paid off by the time he hits 40.
"Between last winter and the drought of 2012, if I hadn't been working a job outside the farm we wouldn't have been able to hang on," he said.
Keenen's family has a long history of farming in Northwest Arkansas and his grandmother, father and uncle still have some cows on about 60 acres they own on the corner of Bellview Street and I-49, near the Pinnacle Hills Promenade. He said a land deal for the property fell through at the market's height.
Tom Reed, a partner with Streetsmart Data Service, said some land was going for $40,000 an acre and higher at height of the real estate market. Prices has since dropped back to $15,000-$25,000 an acre for the most desirable spots, he said.
"If you really look at ag land on the outskirts of cities, the price just does not justify the use," he said.
Price barriers also help to push the average age of Northwest Arkansas farmers upward, following a national trend. The census reports the national average age for principal operators was 58.3 years old -- it was 58.7 in Benton County and 59.1 in Washington County. The average age in 1978 was 50.9 in Benton and 50.7 in Washington counties.
"We really need young people to get involved in farming," Gunsaulis said. "You are never going to get rich being a farmer, but we need to have them."
NW News on 07/20/2014