A-FAN can help create a future for the next generation of Nebraskans
By Don Hutchens | 11/6/2007

Who would have thought fifty years ago that Nebraskans would need to establish an Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska? Today, grower associations for cattle, pork, poultry, corn and soybeans, along with Nebraska Farm Bureau, have organized such an alliance, called A-FAN.

The mission is simple but daunting: “To ensure the continued viability and opportunity for growth of Nebraska agriculture into the future through coordinated outreach, promotional and educational efforts.” It seems that this mission would be one that everyone in agriculture could support, but challenges to the very existence of livestock operations, value added processing and even some crop production practices are faced with dissention.

My father, at the age of 18, started farming in 1927 after his father passed away. He was heavily in debt and responsible for younger sisters and had a mother to care for. He farmed with horses, had 12-15 cows, a few hogs and, of course, chickens. In that generation and throughout the 1930s and into the ‘40s, you had to live off the land and what you produced. My generation — late baby boomers — experienced mechanized equipment, irrigation, hybrid seed, hydraulics and the start of a new age in livestock feeding, which included confinement and some commercial feeding.

Agriculture, while unique in its own way, has and will continue to experience all kinds of change. In fact, change is occurring at a faster pace than ever before. Change is difficult, and with urban and rural areas being more integrated than ever before, thoughts of a pristine environment with no trace of dust, odor or traffic take on a new perspective. If agriculture is going to stay viable, competitive or even continue to exist in Nebraska, then a rational compromise and a vision of growth and change are necessary.

The separation of crop production and livestock, or the lack of appreciation of the interdependence of the two, probably occurred in the 1970s as crop producers saw the rapid expansion of grain exports — we could ship one-third of our crop to international buyers. While the export market remains extremely valuable, it has remained stagnant over the last 25 years even though we have nearly doubled corn production.

It is our domestic livestock industry that commands the vast majority of corn each year, and with the explosion of the ethanol industry, we see even more dependence on the growth of cattle feeding in our state since cattle consume distillers grains, a co-product of the ethanol industry. Because of ethanol, we are experiencing the largest rural economic development phenomenon in Nebraska since the center pivot industry established a foothold in our state. With 2 million head of cattle on feed on any given day, Nebraska can take profitable advantage of the interrelationship of corn, ethanol, distillers grains and livestock.

Nebraska’s economy is still built on the backs of farmers and livestock producers. We are more intertwined than ever before, and it is obvious with the advent of A-FAN that we see the value of teamwork. The Nebraska Corn Board supports A-FAN because the value of expanding the livestock industry is critically important to corn growers in our state. A reduction in livestock operations would drastically affect the number one market for Nebraska corn producers and the market potential for distillers grains.

We have the potential to rejuvenate rural communities with the win-win development of ethanol and livestock operations, which supply a ready-made market for Nebraska’s crop production. We can accomplish this effort while maintaining the quality of our environment.

The establishment of A-FAN is a reflection that we have to work together to create opportunities in order for Nebraska agriculture to survive and prosper. The risk is high that an atmosphere could develop in Nebraska in which livestock expansion is virtually impossible due to over regulation and a lack of community support. Ironically, Iowa wants to once again be the number one cattle-on-feed state, and countries such Brazil, Argentina and Australia want to see the U.S. livestock industry dry up and relocate so they can capture livestock production and processing — and export protein to the world.

As we have stated many times before, Nebraska is nearly the ideal setting for the corn, cattle and ethanol industries. Now is not the time for us to be complacent about livestock and the partnership it can build with a growing ethanol industry, and A-FAN can be the impetus for all of us to work together to create awareness, vision, compromise and a future for the next generation of Nebraska entrepreneurs.