Iowa Farm Bureau president Ed Weiderstein says the organization is more optimistic about agriculture’s future. Last year at this time, Weiderstein said farmers, particularly pork producers, were in the midst of a “disastrous” situation that could bring a wave of farm foreclosures. This year, he has a different perspective, as he says there is more of a sense of farming being a way of business.A story in this Sunday’s New York Times headlined “Is the Sun Setting on Farmers?” chronicled the evolution of farming — with big farms now accounting for 72 percent of all agricultural sales. Weiderstein says the independent Iowa farmer is being forced to make concessions to that “bigger is better” reality.The Farm Bureau is holding its annual convention this week in Des Moines.
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