In 1991, Mike Appert started farming with his father about 40 miles southeast of Bismarck. When asked if he had a long-range plan at that time he laughed. “After the 80s, our long-range plan was survival. The 80s were tough on people here. A lot of people quit farming. Then in the mid 90s, between retiring neighbors and others just quitting, a lot of land became available.”
Appert hasn’t added more land on an every-year basis since the early 90s – but just about. “At first I wasn’t actively looking for land. People who were quitting or retiring needed somebody to farm their land or buy it,” he says. “We considered the location of the land and the proximity to the rest of the farm. Seventeen miles is as far as we want to go from my yard.”
Through the years, Appert has taken on all kinds of land, some good and some in poor shape that a farmer wants to dump. “With the price of fertilizer and inputs, it’s not cheap to build up land, and you have to consider how adding more land affects the whole operation.”
Appert says 20 years ago when they had an old, mostly worn-out line of equipment they took on more acres to spread out and cover costs. “In survival mode we were just trying to spread costs and gain some economies of scale,” he says.
Appert is no stranger to pushing the envelope. On more than one occasion they considered adding another 5,000 acres to justify their capital investment in seeding and harvesting equipment, but sometimes that plan backfired, if only temporarily.
“At times we’ve probably taken on more land than we had the equipment to handle,” he says. “We wanted to push that capital investment and spread the machinery cost over more acres. We think we’re caught up with our equipment now – caught up to the land we’re farming. We’ve got pretty good balance.”
The Apperts’ biggest land gulp at one time occurred in 2008 when son Derrick got home from college. “I think we added almost 6,000 acres,” Appert says. “We added a combine and a sprayer. At present, we have two sprayers and three combines, and we’ve added a few more bins. This has mostly been an impact of Derrick coming back to farm.”
Appert says adding more acres makes sense to spread your fixed costs and become more efficient – or if you want to bring children into the operation. “Then you need to do it,” he says, “If you’re not generating enough income to be viable, adding more acres can help. Sometimes you just need to work with bigger numbers to generate more revenue. And sometimes adding more acres makes sense so you can fully utilize your equipment.”
By anybody’s standards, Appert is a big thinker, but he says not big enough compared to what he encountered in Brazil. “I see now that even from day one, I just didn’t think big enough. I got back from Brazil and, honestly, it’s like none of us are thinking big enough at all, compared to what they do. But in the beginning I just didn’t have the vision. I grew up in the 80s, and as I said, it was all survival mode. The goal was to not go broke. Growth wasn’t offense, it was defense.”
Appert says that farming big acres has boosted his grain marketing a notch or two. “It stresses your management. The more pressure I have on management, the more serious I get and the better the job I do. I don’t procrastinate as much.”
Luckily, adding acres hasn’t created a lot of legal headaches. “We’re just a family farm,” Appert says. “We did set up two corporations as a result of the complexity of our operation and having my father still involved. But we’re just a family farm that in the last 20 years has kind of grown up and into a new scale. Our ancestors homesteaded here in 1884.”
Not every land deal offered to the Apperts fit the bill. “I certainly didn’t expand at every opportunity. I took the deals that I felt I could make work. Sometimes you get to work with some really neat people. The land wasn’t that attractive sometimes, but you like the people, so you do it.”
Farm size to support a young family in the Apperts’ region is sure to change. “I think it takes about 5,000 acres in our area to support a family and see the children come back,” Appert says. “Pretty soon for a dad and a son, 10,000 acres won’t be out of line. You need enough land base to justify investment in machinery and infrastructure. I don’t know what’s going to happen to agriculture in the next 10 to 15 years because it takes a lot of money to do this.”
Demographics will, predictably, come into play. “Most of the farmers are older now with a lot retiring in the next 10 years,” Appert says. “I think there will be some opportunity for young farmers, but future farm size is going to be bigger than we’ve seen in the past.
“Farmers will be farming more acres; it’s not going to be impossible for them to do it. The equipment and technology are so much better. But the financial hurdle is going to be high, which is why I think farms are going to have to be bigger to be profitable. Those are my thoughts, anyway.”
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In 1991, Mike Appert started farming with his father about 40 miles southeast of Bismarck. When asked if he had a long-range plan at that time he laughed. “After the 80s, our long-range plan was survival. The 80s were tough on people here. A lot of people quit farming. Then in the mid 90s, between retiring neighbors and others just quitting, a lot of land became available.”
Appert hasn’t added more land on an every-year basis since the early 90s – but just about. “At first I wasn’t actively looking for land. People who were quitting or retiring needed somebody to farm their land or buy it,” he says. “We considered the location of the land and the proximity to the rest of the farm. Seventeen miles is as far as we want to go from my yard.”
Through the years, Appert has taken on all kinds of land, some good and some in poor shape that a farmer wants to dump. “With the price of fertilizer and inputs, it’s not cheap to build up land, and you have to consider how adding more land affects the whole operation.”
Appert says 20 years ago when they had an old, mostly worn-out line of equipment they took on more acres to spread out and cover costs. “In survival mode we were just trying to spread costs and gain some economies of scale,” he says.
Appert is no stranger to pushing the envelope. On more than one occasion they considered adding another 5,000 acres to justify their capital investment in seeding and harvesting equipment, but sometimes that plan backfired, if only temporarily.
“At times we’ve probably taken on more land than we had the equipment to handle,” he says. “We wanted to push that capital investment and spread the machinery cost over more acres. We think we’re caught up with our equipment now – caught up to the land we’re farming. We’ve got pretty good balance.”
The Apperts’ biggest land gulp at one time occurred in 2008 when son Derrick got home from college. “I think we added almost 6,000 acres,” Appert says. “We added a combine and a sprayer. At present, we have two sprayers and three combines, and we’ve added a few more bins. This has mostly been an impact of Derrick coming back to farm.”
Appert says adding more acres makes sense to spread your fixed costs and become more efficient – or if you want to bring children into the operation. “Then you need to do it,” he says, “If you’re not generating enough income to be viable, adding more acres can help. Sometimes you just need to work with bigger numbers to generate more revenue. And sometimes adding more acres makes sense so you can fully utilize your equipment.”
By anybody’s standards, Appert is a big thinker, but he says not big enough compared to what he encountered in Brazil. “I see now that even from day one, I just didn’t think big enough. I got back from Brazil and, honestly, it’s like none of us are thinking big enough at all, compared to what they do. But in the beginning I just didn’t have the vision. I grew up in the 80s, and as I said, it was all survival mode. The goal was to not go broke. Growth wasn’t offense, it was defense.”
Appert says that farming big acres has boosted his grain marketing a notch or two. “It stresses your management. The more pressure I have on management, the more serious I get and the better the job I do. I don’t procrastinate as much.”
Luckily, adding acres hasn’t created a lot of legal headaches. “We’re just a family farm,” Appert says. “We did set up two corporations as a result of the complexity of our operation and having my father still involved. But we’re just a family farm that in the last 20 years has kind of grown up and into a new scale. Our ancestors homesteaded here in 1884.”
Not every land deal offered to the Apperts fit the bill. “I certainly didn’t expand at every opportunity. I took the deals that I felt I could make work. Sometimes you get to work with some really neat people. The land wasn’t that attractive sometimes, but you like the people, so you do it.”
Farm size to support a young family in the Apperts’ region is sure to change. “I think it takes about 5,000 acres in our area to support a family and see the children come back,” Appert says. “Pretty soon for a dad and a son, 10,000 acres won’t be out of line. You need enough land base to justify investment in machinery and infrastructure. I don’t know what’s going to happen to agriculture in the next 10 to 15 years because it takes a lot of money to do this.”
Demographics will, predictably, come into play. “Most of the farmers are older now with a lot retiring in the next 10 years,” Appert says. “I think there will be some opportunity for young farmers, but future farm size is going to be bigger than we’ve seen in the past.
“Farmers will be farming more acres; it’s not going to be impossible for them to do it. The equipment and technology are so much better. But the financial hurdle is going to be high, which is why I think farms are going to have to be bigger to be profitable. Those are my thoughts, anyway.”
Write a comment
- Required fields are marked with *.