Extension Communications
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
9/16/99
Contacts:
Paul Lasley, Extension Sociology, (515) 294-0937, plasley@iastate.edu
Del Marks, Extension Communication Systems, (515) 294-9807,
dkmarks@iastate.edu
Farmers Say Running a Farm Business is Becoming More Risky
AMES, Iowa -- Nearly nine out of 10 Iowa farm operators say the business of running a farm has become more risky during the past five years.
Eighty-nine percent of the 2,583 farmers who responded to the 1999 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll said risk levels have increased during the past five years, and 87 percent also said that they expect farming to continue to become more risky during the next five years, reported Paul Lasley, Iowa State University Extension sociologist who directed the poll.
While farmers agreed that farming in general is becoming more risky, they were slightly less concerned about their own farming operations. One farmer in four (25 percent) said the level of risk in their own farm operation had remained the same during the past five years, and 8 percent said their personal risk had actually declined. Sixty-seven percent said their personal risk had increased, however.
Lasley said a major finding of the 1999 poll is that the extent and magnitude of economic risk and uncertainty on the farm is creating significant stress among farm families. "Current financial harship, along with perceptions that risk and uncertainty in farming are likely to increase, have resulted in numerous adjustments and changes on Iowa farms," Lasley said.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents to the 1999 poll said their personal stress had increased during the past five years, while 30 percent said it had not changed, and 13 percent said it had declined. Those figures compared with 60 percent who said stress levels had increased when a similar question was asked in 1994, and 44 percent who said stress levels had increased in the five years before 1989.
While farming is becoming more stressful, only 45 percent said they are becoming more concerned about their personal level of stress, and 43 percent said their concern has not changed. Forty-four percent said their stress has increased on a day-to-day basis, while 42 percent said it has not changed, and 14 percent said it has declined.
Those figures compared with 29 percent who said day-to-day stress had increased in 1989, and 29 percent who said it had decreased. "As we look to the prospects of a large crop this fall, with continued low prices and considerable economic stress, those in farming will be faced with mounting personal stress," Lasley said. "It is important that farm families recognize the stress they are under and seek ways to reduce stress levels," he said.
In response to two new questions asked this year, Lasley said 81 percent of Iowa farmers reported that community stress levels have increased duirng the past five years, and 53 percent reported stress levels have increased in their families.
The Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll is funded by ISU Extension and the Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. The purpose of the poll, conducted since 1982, is to ask farmers' views on a variety of rural and agricultural issues. A random sample of 4,947 Iowa farm operators were sent mail questionnaires in mid-February, with a 52 percent response rate.
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