Visiting With Amish Farmers
Pennsylvania Dutch Country
What are you supposed to do when an 80-something year old Mennonitefarmer starts unplugging things under the hood of your rental Prius? If you’re interested in agriculture, you tendto end up being interested in the Amish at some stage, and – for a while – Ilived an easy drive away from one of the largest Amish communities inPennsylvania, and over repeated trips, I was fortunate to spend time withseveral local Mennonite (a related, but less strict, religious grouping)farmers and others who’d grown up in the community. As it turns out, folks who know how to fixequipment in the field aren’t especially challenged by a Prius. More importantly, they know every dairy herdin the region and are remarkably generous with their time and knowledge.The Amish famously fled religious persecution in Switzerland inthe early 18 th century; there are now around 25,000Amish in Lancaster County, PA. Bestknown for their strict religious beliefs, eschewing of modern conveniences, andhumble worldview, fascination with a different way of life in our midst hasgenerated a $1.8bntourist industry in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and – by someestimates – as many Amish now work off the land as on it. Most of the other visitors that I met camefor the culture; one which they viewed as a utopia, an other worldly lifesomehow less stressful and family-focused than that which they left back home. At times, this was jarring as it contrastedwith what I heard from locals; concerns over drugs and talesof drunkenyoungsters passed out in the back of their buggies, making it home only bythe wits of their horses.
The Agriculture Anomaly
One explanation is inherited wealth; farms are passed down throughfamilies, and thrift is a key part of the belief system. A culture that reveres farming as honestlyand Godly work – and therefore prestigious – the community’s symbols of wealthare extra grain silos, though such lavish displays are frowned upon by theleaders in Lancaster County’s strict Old OrderAmish society. Yet, with thepopulation doubling every 20 years or so, younger farmers are moving furtherafield to secure land at reasonable prices. Though the Amish are notoriously canny businessmen, their negotiationskills can’t be so good as to completely mitigate sharp rises in farmlandprices.
Introductions to the Amish focus most on their supposed abhorrenceof modern technologies, on their refusal to use even so much as a zip inclothing. In fact, plenty of newertechnologies are used at the periphery of farming operations, and are generallyapproved by local leaders if they’re not grid-tied. Solar panels and cell phones (for businessuse only) are increasingly common as they don’t have wires. I saw a couple of homes which werecircumnavigating rules by putting an internet-enabled laptop in an outbuildingon their properties. That said, drafthorses are used in place of machinery on the farm itself, and it’s plausiblethat avoiding debt on farm machinery is partly the source of their economicsuccess.
Amish farms have been described as a “model of the sustainablefarm”, for instance, most animal feed is produced on the farm; feed is just under40% of the input costs of a dairy farm. This aspect of Amish farming has great appeal to sustainability experts seeking to prove that sustainable farms canbe more profitable than their corporate farm alternatives. There’s some evidence, for example, that lessmechanization has meant better top soilretention, which is important for the long term health of the soil. Recently, this ideal has been tainted by EPAconcerns over manure run off (the Amish typically don’t fence off theircattle from rivers and streams), and the use ofGMO seeds, the bête noir of the sustainability movement. Besides, using the Amish model to prove thatsustainability works is incongruous as the Amish never set out to besustainable, their techniques were designed to feed their families whilerespecting their religious heritage.The largest boon that the Amish have is access to plentifulskilled labor as farming practices are passed from father to son and familiesremain large. The profit figures quotedabove were pre-labor. By my estimates, eachhour of labor yields an extra $11.50 on an Amish farm than on the non-Amishone. But the point is moot. Even if we were able to identify the optimum combinationof skill, training and attitude that created this differential, would werealistically be able to replicate it in the “real world”? Sometimes an anomaly is just an anomaly.
Pennsylvania Dutch Country
What are you supposed to do when an 80-something year old Mennonitefarmer starts unplugging things under the hood of your rental Prius? If you’re interested in agriculture, you tendto end up being interested in the Amish at some stage, and – for a while – Ilived an easy drive away from one of the largest Amish communities inPennsylvania, and over repeated trips, I was fortunate to spend time withseveral local Mennonite (a related, but less strict, religious grouping)farmers and others who’d grown up in the community. As it turns out, folks who know how to fixequipment in the field aren’t especially challenged by a Prius. More importantly, they know every dairy herdin the region and are remarkably generous with their time and knowledge.The Amish famously fled religious persecution in Switzerland inthe early 18 th century; there are now around 25,000Amish in Lancaster County, PA. Bestknown for their strict religious beliefs, eschewing of modern conveniences, andhumble worldview, fascination with a different way of life in our midst hasgenerated a $1.8bntourist industry in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and – by someestimates – as many Amish now work off the land as on it. Most of the other visitors that I met camefor the culture; one which they viewed as a utopia, an other worldly lifesomehow less stressful and family-focused than that which they left back home. At times, this was jarring as it contrastedwith what I heard from locals; concerns over drugs and talesof drunkenyoungsters passed out in the back of their buggies, making it home only bythe wits of their horses.
The Agriculture Anomaly
Even from an agriculture perspective, the Amishare a fascinating anomaly; their farms are more profitable than most corporateones despite being smaller and largely unmechanized. One study found that their profit per acrewas 4.5 timesthe national average for small grains. There is plenty of debate as to the root of this success.
One explanation is inherited wealth; farms are passed down throughfamilies, and thrift is a key part of the belief system. A culture that reveres farming as honestlyand Godly work – and therefore prestigious – the community’s symbols of wealthare extra grain silos, though such lavish displays are frowned upon by theleaders in Lancaster County’s strict Old OrderAmish society. Yet, with thepopulation doubling every 20 years or so, younger farmers are moving furtherafield to secure land at reasonable prices. Though the Amish are notoriously canny businessmen, their negotiationskills can’t be so good as to completely mitigate sharp rises in farmlandprices.
Introductions to the Amish focus most on their supposed abhorrenceof modern technologies, on their refusal to use even so much as a zip inclothing. In fact, plenty of newertechnologies are used at the periphery of farming operations, and are generallyapproved by local leaders if they’re not grid-tied. Solar panels and cell phones (for businessuse only) are increasingly common as they don’t have wires. I saw a couple of homes which werecircumnavigating rules by putting an internet-enabled laptop in an outbuildingon their properties. That said, drafthorses are used in place of machinery on the farm itself, and it’s plausiblethat avoiding debt on farm machinery is partly the source of their economicsuccess.
Amish farms have been described as a “model of the sustainablefarm”, for instance, most animal feed is produced on the farm; feed is just under40% of the input costs of a dairy farm. This aspect of Amish farming has great appeal to sustainability experts seeking to prove that sustainable farms canbe more profitable than their corporate farm alternatives. There’s some evidence, for example, that lessmechanization has meant better top soilretention, which is important for the long term health of the soil. Recently, this ideal has been tainted by EPAconcerns over manure run off (the Amish typically don’t fence off theircattle from rivers and streams), and the use ofGMO seeds, the bête noir of the sustainability movement. Besides, using the Amish model to prove thatsustainability works is incongruous as the Amish never set out to besustainable, their techniques were designed to feed their families whilerespecting their religious heritage.The largest boon that the Amish have is access to plentifulskilled labor as farming practices are passed from father to son and familiesremain large. The profit figures quotedabove were pre-labor. By my estimates, eachhour of labor yields an extra $11.50 on an Amish farm than on the non-Amishone. But the point is moot. Even if we were able to identify the optimum combinationof skill, training and attitude that created this differential, would werealistically be able to replicate it in the “real world”? Sometimes an anomaly is just an anomaly.
A friendly cockerel keeping a watchful eye on the hay
A tethered goat, free lawn mowing!
A goat tethered to keep him out of the seedlings!
Solar panel on a perimeter fence
A cluster of typical farm buildings
Drying tobacco in a barn
An Amish farmer plowing with draft horses
A kid goat chilling out in a barn
Distinctive Lancaster County views, with an Amish home (no wires!) in the foreground
