By Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval
Mike Langseth’s family home has stood for more than a hundred years in rural Barney, North Dakota. It was built by his great-great-grandfather and has been passed down through the family ever since.
“Every generation has just sort of been like, ‘Well, here you go, you fix it now,’” Langseth said. “Every generation has had to do some sort of a fairly serious remodel, and make it theirs.”
Langseth’s farming journey reflects the family home itself. Passed down through generations, each one has had to navigate their own era of the farm economy.
Taking on the family farm, though, doesn’t happen overnight. Over the past 14 years, Langseth has been gradually taking over more of the farm’s expenses.
“Every time it stepped up to a bigger percentage of the farm, it was always a little bit of a financial stretch to have that money to operate on a bigger scale,” Langseth said. “Same thing when it came time to start buying the machinery. All of a sudden, that felt like a stretch. It was like, ‘Whoa, okay, now I got to do that.’”
Three years ago, the farm was finally his to run. He took control just as crop prices began to fall and input costs started to rise. It has been a tough time for the agriculture economy.
“You make or lose an awful lot of money just based on when you do or don't market your crop or buy your other inputs, and so that's challenging,” Langseth said. “I know there were tough times previously, but the market volatility has gotten significantly more than it used to be.”
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