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Show Page ID Lakeside Review Wednesday, March 6, 1985 Farmers, says nn Deb ECawaguchi, Dont get I was a record-breakin- g cold morning the day visitors came to see Deb Kawaguchi's potato cellar. As they stepped up to the old brick 1 farmhouses door, glistening snow blew onto the porch and stuck to the backs of half grown puppies huddled and squirming against the cold. Potato cellers are vanishing in Davis County. If you want to see one, you almost have to dig out a picture from the historical society or go to the museum. Potato farming is disappearing in the county too. It's becoming unprofitable. Those who do farm potatoes just send their harvested potatoes directly to the distributor, making a cellar unessential. Canneries such as the old Woods Cross cannery closed down long ago in the county. Farmlands are fast giving way to apartments and subdivisions. But Deb Kawaguchi still uses the potato cellar which he and his brother built 25 years ago. When Kawaguchi opened heavy wooden door, warmth from the in- the visitors. He seemed in no hurry to show off a potato cellar in weather, but invited them in instead. He offered hot side welcomed coffee. His wife had just started working for the school district, he explained as he looked for a coffee mug. He couldnt find anything. y The ceilings in the old house were very high. A hundred years ago when the farmhouse was built people must have liked plenty of air above their heads. Kawaguchi surely didnt need ceilings that high. He found a cup and offered coffee from a Thermos at a table where the guests had already made themselves comfortable. In what may have once a dining room, now his office, Kawaguchi settled in a straight back chair next to a gas floor heater, rearranged his ball cap and talked about potato and onion farming and raising cattle. His theme-farm- ers are like Rodney Dangerfield. We dont get no retwo-stor- t ' spect. Im just trying to hang on, he said. Three years ago the power bill was $100, this winter it is $300. The price of fuel is four and a half to five times greater than the earlier part of the 70s. Everything we buy is three, four, five times greater. But the product we sell has not gone up that much," he said, pulling out a pencil and figuring numbers on a small blue ever handy paper tablet. Four years ago I did the best Ive ever done. I sold 70 head of steer for $700 a head. This year the price is $500 a head. At present he owns 60 head. His father, now deceased, bought the farm in 1968. There were 11 kids in his family, with three boys. His brother, according to Japanese tradition was supposed to inherit the land. I was always playing second fiddle and always worked twice as hard just to prove to my dad I could do it. That accounts for much of his determination over the years to stick with fanning, he said. When you get fi point about little respect for farmers, Deb Kawaguchi, a Syracuse potato farmer, explains about todays hard times caused iUyilJ'UIU.ICJIliJ! right down to it," Im the type of guy-the- res got to be a challenge in it. He also developed determination in school. He was in the ninth grade at North Davis Junior High when the J 'Ui.wm'.W.H' ! 4 I i vzt.rs Vi KAWAGUCHI stands in the potato cellar years ago. Timbers for the cellar were which was built by him and his brother 25 to sell out. That is, if there are any outstanding debts at the end of the year, farmers should sell equipment or other assets to get rid of the debt. Banks are now more interested in cash flow than assets, he said. Too many farmers are going bankrupt. At a point when his dad was nearing retirement the farm grossed $100,000. He would strain his brain" thinking of ways to keep what he was paid for his goods by cutting down on his overhead, he said, proving his point with a few figures on the calcu- talked about honor and sticking to your word. If he gives a price he sticks to it even if prices go up. He talked about a man being able to hold his head up high, living so he can be and equipment cost rise, Kawaguchi must figure ways to keep his overhead down. f VV". a time. AS GAS ipiwwpm V J lator. He and his dad farmed 230 acres but they later sold 160. Now he owns 40 acres and leases another 40. He talked about a friend who had gone bankrupt by investing his salary into farming against his advice. He V muwmjnf juwwy Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Harold Holt was principal at the time.. Holt sent the Japanese students home for their own safety saying things will cool down in a few days. He told them not to fight unless they had to defend themselves but to tell him if anyone gave them a hard Teachers treated them good, but when grades were given theirs were lower. He got bad grades and for awhile wondered, why even try? But I decided I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. I could learn all the things I was there to learn. (That same attitude) has kept me going over the past three rough years. He showed on paper that even though the price he gets for cattle will go up and down, consumers will pay more and more. The middle man gets the increase, not the cattle owner. On the other hand, Kawaguchi always sells his potatoes direct with no middle man. For 25 years he and his dad supplied the Weber School District with potatoes until the district went to packaged potatoes. They have always sold direct to grocers. Thats why we have a cellar," he explained. Kawaguchi stood up to get closer to the heater, straightened his hat and talked about bank financing of equipment and farm supplies. He recently attended a banking seminar, he said, where for the first time ever advice was given to farmers niw by inflation and lower demand. Still, he persists with hard work and determination to make his farm work. MAKING A Photos by Robert Regan brought down from West Yellowstone. proud of his name. It was now afternoon, the snow had stopped and Kawaguchi offered to show the potato cellar. He drove his truck past machinery and little buildings where he used to keep tomatoes. He stopped in front of the potato digger to explain how the machine separated clods of dirt from potatoes. His three junior high and high school age children helped by tossing out clods that wouldnt sort through. And then, there it was, just a few miles from the shores of the Great potaSalt Lake. A huge, cinder-bloc- k to cellar with a timber supported, straw-thatchroof and a small door to climb through as not to disturb the ed insulation of the structure. The timbers came from West Yellowstone, Kawaguchi explained. His truck was impounded because of limits when he and his were brother hauling them home. Inside there was plenty of room to walk around on the dirt floor. The load-leng- th cellar was large enough to park a pv tato delivery truck and a grader and ; bagging machine. mound of potatoes to one side of the potatoes stored there at harvest time in Octor ber. Then, the potatoes reached the A were but a fragment ceiling. At one time Kawaguchi stored 8,000, bags in the cellar. He grew white potatoes when he contracted with Clover Club, but now he grows only red. timber-support- ed 100-pou- Sometimes I think Im a damn fool for not going to work at Hill Field like my brother," Kawaguchi returned to his theme. But his brother told him hed hate it. Sometimes Kawaguchi hangs out at the local coffee shop. At times government workers there start in on what government should do for the farmer. He shakes his head and walks out. Im not complaining--it just gets back to that same old thing. We dont get no respect." Story by Cheryl Archibald ; |