Farmers were among Americas first entrepreneurs. The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship has a link to a new study on the current state of the entrepreneur farmer in America.
Consolidation and the rise of corporate agriculture have created tough times for the family farm, but in many regions, farm-based entrepreneurship is growing. A recently posted report from Iowa State's Department of Sociology examines the issues around farm-based entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship has become a critical component in local efforts to preserve family farms. An earlier survey in Iowa found that 21% of farmers operate a second business outside of their farming operation. Most of these businesses are in agriculture-related fields, such as manufacture of farming equipment or other types of food production. The challenges facing these business owners are not a whole lot different from those facing urban entrepreneurs. At the top of their list of challenges was access to outside financing and access to more sophisticated business services--especially in the area of marketing.
In addition, let's look to the other side of the globe for ideas. I wrote this post recently about the turn around of farming in New Zealand thanks to aggressive deregulation. Farming is still a highly regulated industry in the US as can be seen on this article about the trials and tribulations of a milk farmer. If we want to help American farmer entrepreneurs let's put our efforts toward open and free markets.
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