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WINONA LAKE - Community leaders listened to what the future of agriculture could potentially like at the 12th annual Barn & Business Breakfast at the Rodeheaver Auditorium in Winona Lake Tuesday.
Dr. Nate Bosch, director of Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams, said the purpose of the breakfast was to bring together farmers, business leaders and educators in the community. He said he was asked to speak on the future of agriculture from the point of view from the Lilly Center.
The three primary drivers for Kosciusko County’s economy are agriculture, lakes and orthopedics, he said. The lakes and agriculture each bring in over $400 million annually. The orthopedics field brings in billions more.
The Lilly Center considers the ecological relationships when working to make the area lakes cleaner. Similarly, there are many relationships between the three key economic drivers when considering the future of agriculture.
Bosch said the agricultural field has one of the highest rates of muscular-skeletal disorders. Orthopedics help farmers with muscular-skeletal disorders do what they love long term. Many that work in agriculture also enjoy the lakes and what they provide.
Since about 80% of the land in Kosciusko County is used by agriculture, Bosch said it makes sense agriculture influences the lakes as well. Soil and crop land can erode and nutrients can run off into the lakes and streams. If there are too many of the nutrients, it can cause issues like cause toxic algae and that reduces the recreational ability of the lakes and streams.
Both the agricultural and lake communities share the same goals, Bosch said. Farmers don’t want to lose valueable top soil or waste money on extra nutrients from their crops or nutrients that run off their fields. The lakes community doesn’t want to see those extra nutrients come into the lakes and inhibit their access to the lakes.
Bosch said the Lilly Center anticipates the future and launched a program, LakeRX, which develops custom prescriptions to fix the county’s lakes. The Lilly Center sees a future where the lakes and agriculture continues to drive the economy forward and provides the best quality of life for residents.
Rob Parker, president and CEO of the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce, moderated a panel discussion after Bosch spoke with three members of the area agriculture community: Zach Tucker, director of substantiality and corporate social responsibility with Maple Leaf Farms; Tyler Bouse, a hog farmer on the south side of Kosciusko County and a worker for an international feed company; and Steve Miller, with Creighton Brothers.
Parker asked where agriculture was going in the next 10 or 20 years.
Tucker said 10 or 20 years is a long time, adding he could see a lot more consolidations with some of the larger corporations happening.
“After consolidating, I know another place closed their doors because of regulations,” stated Miller. “Those are hard things to recover from. We’re going to continue to farm.”
“There are thousands of hog farmers, but there are only a handful of duck or poultry farmers,” said Bouse. “So, we don’t have as much of the strain as the poultry industry does.”
Miller said a project many poultry farmers within the state will have to deal with is other states instating cage-free laws to poultry, which has affected where they can sell their eggs and in which markets they can sell.
“We all invested a lot of money into these projects … You have a lot of people who spent a lot of money hoping to sell that product … and they can’t. We will do what the consumer wants, but we just wish the goal post would stop moving,” said Miller.
Parker asked how technology is affecting agriculture.
Miller said the electronics are all data driven, so Creighton is able to know exactly what their tractors are doing. Technology helps in their efficiency and helps to them know they are doing the right things in the right parts of their fields. Technology also helps in saving in the labor force as well.
Bouse said there are energy-efficient technology that are used to manage livestock. Animal health and security are essential in creating a good meat product. He said he is able to use technology to see how the ventilation is in the barns and to see if the hogs are getting enough water, among other things.
Tucker said using technology helps with automation, which gets a bad wrap. Automation helps create a more consistent product, which is what the customer wants.
Tucker brought up repetitive motion injuries, which is an aspect of poultry processing. With implementing certain technology, Maple Leaf was able to eliminate certain areas that contribute to potentially debilitating positions. They can allocate people to other positions.
Using technology has also increased Maple Leaf’s output.
Miller said using technology also gives a work-life balance to people in the agriculture field. If the COVID-19 pandemic taught people anything, it’s family is important, Miller said.
Parker brought up data centers and asked how it affects agriculture.
Miller, who said what he was about to say was his own opinion and did not reflect on Creighton Brothers, said, “We’re so data driven, these places have to go somewhere.”
He said he understands the issues of making sure the data center matches with the electrical grid. He thinks there’s a lot of misinformation out there.
Bouse said in the next five years, as the need for technology grows, the need for data centers will grow. He said there are different types and sizes of data centers. He agreed people need to gain a better understanding about data centers.
“Unfortunately, they’re going to need them in some shape or form,” he said.
Tucker said there are definitely questions about the grids. He also there are also opportunities to possibly upgrade the grids in some of the places looked at for data centers. Change happens is the only certainity in life. Data centers may possibly be an opportunity to grow an area’s tax base.
