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Show Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, April 14-17, 2018 The Park Record A-9 Changes in farmland in Summit County since 1997 1997 650,000 total Farms: 476 2002 Total Farms: 557 2007 Total Farms: 629 2012 Total Farms: 618 550,000 450,000 Size in acres 350,000 250,000 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 0 USDA DATA COURTESY OF SUMMIT COUNTY Average size of Farm: Total Farmland in county: GRAPHIC BY PATRICK SCHULZ/PARK RECORD ‘Way of life’ continued from A-8 “When I was a kid we had to drive to Salt Lake to go to a decent-sized grocery or clothing store. It has been nice to see. However, when you start to see more homes coming over the hill you know there are going to be more changes in store.” Landowners, however, contend the Council’s proposal to adjust the zoning districts would take away from what their ancestors worked hard to achieve, particularly the ability to build houses for their children and grandchildren on their property. They An evolving market continues to feel it could also encourage further shift growth that may diminish the rural It’s not just growth and developatmosphere. ment that have impacted the agri“We don’t want to push something culture industry, making it harder to on them, but we want to give them sustain a living as a full-time rancher the ability to create a community,” or farmer. Market forces, changes in Carson said. “It’s kind of a fine line the way people think about food, and between trying to give them rules and labor and land costs have also had support, but some feel like something an effect on the number of operating is being thrust on them.” ranches and farms -- trends affectCarson emphasized her recognition ing farmers and ranchers in Summit of the importance of agriculture in the County as well as the rest of the state. area’s heritage and culture. She said In general, agriculture production it needs to be revered, but as part of has shifted to larger farming operaa governmental agency, she has to tions over the last three decades, even walk a fine line between providing as the number of small farms grows, tools for preservation and not issuing according to a report from the United mandates. States Department of Agriculture. By “You don’t want to put things in the 2015, 51 percent of U.S. farm produccode that could make density so high tion came from farms with at least $1 they will all just sell the ranch to re- million in sales, compared to 31 peralize those profits,” cent in 1991, the reshe said. “They do port states. have a huge investAgriculture rement, and in a lot mains an important of cases that is their economic engine I think we all just retirement. But, you for Utah, with the have to adjust. can’t fault those that industry accounting Not just those in do want to develop for $17.5 billion in all of their propereconomic output, the agriculture ty.” according to Envibusiness, but Carson admitted sion Utah, an orgaeveryone. This the problems could nization that aims to country was based come from a lack of improve long-term understanding from growth planning. on agriculture residents on both The industry genand that’s how the sides of the county. erates approximateKamas Valley was “It’s almost them ly 78,000 jobs and not understanding $2.7 billion in inbuilt and everyone us,” she said. “I come. exists today because think sometimes While the indusof it.” that’s just an excuse try has fluctuated, if they are not getthe number of agDave Cummings, ting something they riculture workers Kamas sheep rancher want whether it’s in over the last 40 planning or whatevyears has stayed er else. We try to do relatively even in as much as we can to support and pro- Summit County. In 1976, there were tect their ranching.” 527 people working in the agriculThere are also those on the East ture industry and 340 proprietors or Side of the county who appreciate non-corporate partners, according to some of the amenities offered in and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analyaround Park City, and the eastern and sis. Those numbers grew to 648 peowestern ends of the county co-exist. ple working in the industry and 559 Joe D. Williams, a mink rancher in proprietors in 2016. Peoa, has a somewhat nuanced view Jeff Young, president of the Summit of what his neighbors to the west County Farm Bureau, said Summit bring to the table. Williams is a sec- County has three types of farms and ond-generation mink rancher and has ranches: operations farmers inhernever lived more than 60 miles away ited from their parents or grandparfrom his childhood home. ents that contribute to their primary “It’s a different lifestyle than in source of income; others where farmPark City, but I’ve appreciated the ing is not the owners’ main source of conveniences that Park City has income, but it keeps the family tied to brought to our community,” he said. the land; and larger-scale operations. “Things have changed quite a lot in our culture and society that has affected the operation of family farms,” Young said. “The interesting thing is the number of farms has decreased, but the number of cows is the same.” Spencer Gibbons, manager of the Utah Farm Bureau’s northern region, which includes Summit County, said there were “literally hundreds of family dairies” when he was growing up in the Cache Valley. Today, he said there are fewer than 50, mirroring what has happened in Summit County. Gibbons blamed a majority of the transition on market forces. About 30 percent of the dairy that is produced in the United States is exported, he said, adding that trade wars and negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement can be “pretty murderous on agricultural markets.” “It’s so different and we have become a global economy whether we like it or not,” Gibbons said. “We are kind of seeing a shift and people are becoming more aware of how they think they want their food produced. Those are the biggest changes for us whether it is a cattle, sheep, dairy or produce farm. The reality of trying to survive is real.” Gibbons acknowledged a shift in consumer preference to locally produced products, which lessens the threat of market forces, has been beneficial. He said farmers and ranchers have to look for opportunities to market their products differently to keep up. “If you want to be successful you can produce more and capture economy of scale or you can market differently and try and capture a niche around you,” he said. “We are in this global market, and if you feel like you can make it, then that’s great. Continue to do what you are doing. But, as margins narrow, you have to figure out what you have to do to create enough margin that there is incentive to continue.” Utah’s dairy industry, in particular, is shifting, Gibbons said, including Summit County’s. The current market in 2018 may be financially devastating to many dairy farmers, he said. There is only one dairy farm left in the Kamas Valley and numbers are thinning statewide. “Those 50 dairy farms in Cache Valley, quite frankly, I would expect one-third to go out of business,” he said. “The lifetime and work and equity they’ve built, it’s not worth it to lose everything to milk cows by attrition. We are losing these guys, but the (size of the) dairies overall are just growing.” According to a 2014 values poll Envision Utah conducted, Utahns still view the industry as important to the state’s future. However, the same study showed that Utahns expressed TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD John Blazzard, a Kamas farmer, closes the cattle gate to his 400-acre farm in the Kamas Valley. COURTESY OF DAVE CUMMINGS Dave Cummings, a sheep rancher in Kamas, took over his grandfather’s sheep operation about 10 years ago to fulfill a dream he’s had since a boy. Cummings said many of those on the west side of the county don’t understand the agricultural industry because they’ve never been directly involved in it. greater concern for housing and cost of living and taxes than agriculture. “But, it’s entirely different to say it with your checkbook,” Gibbons said. “We are trained to have relatively inexpensive food, and we would much rather have that second or third car or second home in Park City. But, these same people will not pay $4 for a gallon of milk.” Some of those same external forces, such as the shifting market and land costs, caused Williams, a mink rancher in Peoa, to get out of the dairy business back in the early 2000s. He said his family was leasing property to raise cows, but it became too expensive to continue. “I would say one of the biggest challenges is just being able to afford to stay in the business,” he said. About 10 years ago during the recession, Williams said, the mink business was prospering. But, he said he anticipated the oversaturation of the business when more people started to enter it. “Now, the mink business is really bad and I would suspect there will be fewer mink ranches at the end of the year,” he said. “One of three in Peoa has gone out this year. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be in the business. But, everyone has their problems so I’m not really complaining.” ‘We stick with it because we love it’ While it’s becoming harder to work in agriculture full time, those who stick it out cite their love of the lifestyle and what it represents as the main reasons for enduring the volatility of it. Cummings, the Kamas sheep rancher, was fortunate enough to be able to repurchase his family’s sheep operation about 10 years ago after it was sold in 1979. When the sheep were being transferred to the new owner at the time of the sale, Cummings told the man he would really like an opportunity to reclaim the operation someday. He received a call 30 years later and called it a “no brainer” decision. Cummings entered the business full time to fulfill a dream he had since he was a young boy working on the ranch. He wanted to “run sheep like both sides of my family did.” Today, he is faced with different challenges than what he remembers his grandfather encountering, including issues with rapid growth and development, as well as permitting and grazing on Bureau of Land Management ground. But, he also has “modern conveniences” that his elders didn’t even dream of. “We are more spoiled now-a-days,” he said. “If you need water for the sheep in the winter, you truck it in. My grandpa didn’t have those luxuries. When they would go to the desert in the fall, they would trail the sheep up Provo Canyon and it would take six weeks. Today, we load them in our own semis and we are there in four hours. Those guys knew how to work and they made it work.” Cummings runs a range operation with two summer herds and two winter herds, producing two annual paychecks: one from the wool and another from the sale of lambs. The money makes his living viable, but the passion goes much deeper than that for him. “I enjoy this. It is something that I just have a love for,” he said. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s rewarding. I get to spend time with family and my kids have been able to work with me. It gives them great work ethic. I just love what I do.” Gibbons, a multi-generational farmer in Cache Valley, is a partner in his family’s dairy farm, working hard to uphold the legacy of “those men who gave their blood and sweat to create a business for us.” “There is that legacy. It is also a way of life,” he said. “It is a culture. Maybe we are a little self-deluded. But, we are providing the food and fiber for not only our nation, but for many nations. There is a real sense of pride and real sense of accomplishment and I feel like it is an institution of freedom because it allows everyone else to do what they want and we are providing for all of them. That’s why we do it.” Growing up, Gibbons said he and his siblings weren’t allowed to open presents on Christmas Day until the cows were milked and calves were cared for. He said baseball games, and, even church, started later in the day, with everything revolving around farming and ranching. Like Gibbons, Blazzard, of Blazzard Farms in Kamas, said it’s a lifestyle. Sometimes he is out all night long bailing hay or helping a cow with a calf and trying to get them out of a storm. But, he wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s in his blood, he said. “Farmers put in a lot of hours, and I’m sure if they figured out what they are making an hour, it would depress them,” he said. “But, we are able to do things outside and we aren’t confined. We spend a lot of time on the mountain and those are the things that make life worthwhile.” TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD A heifer and a calf lay in the grass on John Blazzard’s farm in Kamas. Blazzard owns 350 cows, 110 of which are in Kamas. |