SEGMENT: REFLECTIONS & CHANGES IN FARM BUSINESS
Charles Hartke>LPL Interviews A-M>LPL Interviews A-J, Segment 10
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- REFLECTIONS
- Ag Director was best job for him. Wishes he had more travel. Met lots of state directors. Had planned to retire late 2008, but wife got cancer, so he retired early. Proud he held things together in spite of constraints.
- CHANGES IN FARM BUSINESS
- Changes of consolidation in livestock area. Cattle are few in Illinois. Chickens are gone. Grain yield is way up to 150 bushels. More change to come than ever before. Everything will be in energy. More efficient machinery, more conservation. Genetics will increase; designer corn. Family farms will consolidate with 50,000 professional grain producers, 3000 professional livestock producers, 40,000 organic farmers. Talk about nostalgia. Starting farmers don't have the funds to begin. Suggest go to university.
