At The Farm Gate
February 2012
By Joanie Stiers

Farm records a weather event in itself

Farming would be much less complicated if farm chores ended with the boots at the back door. Instead, you walk through the kitchen with mail, bills and field documents staring you down and wanting to know: “Today or tomorrow?” I ask, “What’s my deadline?”
As much as winter brings sledding parties and meal experiments from a motivated home cook, it also means a flurry of 1099s, updated balance sheets, and final tax preparation that puts you in a blizzard of paperwork. Sunshine and melting snow comes knocking by March tempting you to the outdoor farm duties, when an office storm is brewing: We need to prepay for herbicide and fungicide (after first predicting how much we need on each field and which family member pays for it), prepare planter records for the next month, and decide which crop insurance product best meets our needs. Oh, then we can go outside and plant corn, then soybeans. Return to the home office to record what crop and variety we did plant, and when and where we planted it. Soon enough the government and our insurance companies want to know, too, and we’re just halfway through the year.
While the acres of paper are the norm on the farm, it seems contrary to the popular belief that farming happens only in a field or a livestock barn. Bookwork certainly is not the aspect that attracts people to the business of farming. In fact, Dad would rather haul corn to an ethanol plant in the light-traffic 2 a.m. hour than sit at a normal waking hour with a cup of hot chocolate at the kitchen table with loose papers as the new table covering. But in the spirit of self-sufficiency, farm families generally do the job themselves, even when the task is overwhelming.
As a kid I remember when bookwork created both neat and tornado-tangled piles across the dining room table and kitchen counter, or put Grandpa’s billiards table out of commission for a few days. Now I’ve joined in, pulling a folding table usually stored until those big family parties. I just need to spread out and hope we don’t have company for a while.
Farm recordkeeping has become more complex, even from just a decade ago. Certainly, technology has transitioned many farmers who didn’t grow up with computers into electronic recordkeeping. Also, numbers are bigger. Marketing and analysis more important than ever. Requirements have increased. The government demands more information and documentation. “Prepay,” or planning and paying months ahead for products like seed, fertilizer and herbicides, has become routine to reduce expenses.
For our farm, recordkeeping is a family effort, and we share in the records that want to turn your brain mushy. Sometimes you just want to go outside. Sometimes you do. After all, out there makes in here important. And vice versa.