Amish Agricultural Economics

From Amish Farming in Lancaster County

While farming was not an integral tenet of Anabaptism, agriculture has always been a major part of the Amish lifestyle. Believing that practical knowledge, hard work and long hours are the "technological marvels" that make farm life fruitful, the Amish in Lancaster, PA practice impressive levels of thrift and self-sufficiency, which they believe are mandated by the Bible. Farming is not merely a job or career; it is viewed as a way of life anchored in Scripture, blessed by God and handed down over the generations by Amish ancestors. It provides a seedbed for nurturing strong families in the values of hard work, frugality, responsibility, simplicity and family cooperation.

Horses are a trademark identity of the Lancaster Amish and their farming, used to plow, cultivate and harvest crops. Tractors are commonly used on Amish farms in Lancaster, PA, but only for power around the barn - to blow silage to the top of large silos, power feed grinders, spin ventilating fans and the like. They are not used for field work. Why the distinction? Over the decades since the invention of the tractor in the early 1920s, several versions were rejected for field use, most notably because of the fear that their self-propelled, mobile nature would surely lead to cars. Moreover, using horses in the fields helps to limit the size - and corresponding cost - of Amish farms, thereby promoting equality and protecting the small family farm. Horses also maintain a slower farming pace, preserving jobs that are the heartbeat of the Lancaster, PA Amish community.

Over time, additional farm equipment with independent powers sources (such as wagons, corn planters, plows and sprayers) was permitted on the fields to increase productivity, as long as it was adapted for horse-drawn use. Pulling such modern machinery with horses is a compromise that preserves the Lancaster Amish tradition and identity while allowing just enough progress for farmers to remain competitive....
Horse-drawn equipment became increasingly scarce after 1940, as more American farmers began using tractors. Consequently, several Amish mechanics opened machine shops to refurbish horse-drawn implements, and welders and mechanics began producing parts to repair the equipment. Taking a major turn, they also began buying equipment designed for tractors and adapting it for use with horses. Thus, somewhat ironically, the Amish in Lancaster, PA were nudged into business in order to preserve their horse farming in the face of a booming agriculture business enamored with tractors.

By the 1970s, making a living by farming was becoming more difficult. The increasing Amish population, coupled with decreasing farmland and higher prices, made getting started difficult or impossible for some. Others found the payments on the farm, building, loans, mortgages and interest a hardship. One alternative was to move to another area where farmland was available and cheaper. Others looked at ways to supplement their income by having a family member work out for others, sometimes on a carpentry crew, as a farmhand, or as a cleaning lady in homes of non-Amish. But of most concern to the Amish in Lancaster, PA was the concern of known as the "lunch pail" problem - the possible necessity of having to work in a factory. They were concerned about work that involved going outside the family and community for economic survival, fearing it could drive a wedge into the family and cause disruption.

A good compromise between farming and factories came to be in the 70s and 80s - that of Amish manufacturing shops and cottage industries. During this period of explosive business growth, Amish entrepreneurs ventured into industry within the Lancaster Amish community, then to non-Amish neighbors, then to tourists. Over the years, they have found that Amish industry has enriched community life. Work remains near the home, family members often work together, and financial resources are kept within the community. Moreover, Amish control eliminates Sunday sales, fringe benefits, adverse personnel policies and other influences that sometimes accompany factory employment.

Four types of Amish industries in Lancaster, PA consume much of work that is done away from the farm:

1. Cottage industries located on farm or beside home: crafts, repair work, light manufacturing
2. Large shops: farm machinery, lawn furniture, storage sheds, etc.
3. Mobile carpentry and construction crews: contruct homes, install kitchens, build silos
4. Retail stores: sell hardware, appliances, clothing, furniture, quilts and crafts for the PA Amish community, non-Amish neighbors and tourists

Word to the wise

Become Amish? One Amish writer responded this way, quoted in Small Farm Journal some years ago:

"If you admire our faith, strengthen yours. If you admire our sense of commitment, deepen yours. If you admire our community spirit, build your own. If you admire the simple life, cut back. If you admire deep character and enduring values, live them yourself."

From here.

Amish Farms

UC Small Farm Program on Amish Farming; from the website:

What could people with an eighth grade education possibly teach us about farming let alone life in a high-tech society?

Apparently a lot, if family and farm well-being in Amish communities are any indication. At a time when many conventional farmers across the US are in desperate financial straits, Amish farms are still making money and turning a profit with a cautious disregard for get-big-or-get-out modern technology and no participation in direct government subsidies, other than those built into market prices, which they can't avoid. In fact, the Amish have been exempted from paying Social Security tax, not because they don't want to pay taxes, but because they are opposed to accepting the benefits. They resist receiving money from the government for any reason....

Farming still remains today a way of life for the Amish, not a way to make a fortune so one can retire early and travel. Land is not bought for speculation, it is purchased forever. There is no pressure to pay off the mortgage in a short span of years. If it takes three generations to clear the mortgage, it is of little consequence- the farm is in the family to stay. There is a pity among most Amish for people who cannot live on or near farmlands.

Amish in the Driftless area make up 80% of Organic Valley's vegetable cooperative members (here)

While all the Amish farms are diversified—meaning they raise chickens, goats, hogs, and other crops—selling their vegetable crop to Organic Valley for a fair pay price has been a great source of stability for our neighboring Amish community. Providing healthy, delicious food to folks close to home is equally important.

Amish farms are small, devoting anywhere from two to four acres to veggies. The day’s work is divvied up over the family breakfast. No matter the season, daily chores always include animal care and feeding, milking cows, and collecting eggs. There is always water to be drawn, fires to be tended, and other general chores to see to, along with whatever seasonal work awaits.

Heavier chores are turfed to the toffee-colored, Belgian draft horses that plough and harvest crops and haul wood, produce, hay and lumber. Off-farm travel, which often includes meetings at nearby Organic Valley headquarters—is accomplished via buggies pulled by horses whose long legs and distinctive gait are compliments of their Standardbred roots. The Standardbreds are often crossed with Morgans for strength, durability and temperament.

The Amish

And of course, a budding fascination with the Amish, possibly the only example of a semi-subsistence people living within a fully developed market economy. Several things fascinate me the most about the Amish:

1. The capacity of their way of life to resist the fragmenting effects of modernity (for example, as described here):

   The main factor behind the growth is simple: Big families and a high “retention rate.” Part of Amish culture calls for youth to make a conscious decision before they join the church and remain in the community and the Elizabethtown College researchers estimate more than 85% of children raised in the communities choose to remain Amish as adult.

2. The way their preferences are shaped by their culture to wonderfully befuddle economic expecations

   ...a member wanted to purchase a round baler for hay, which enables a farmer to do hay solo. But some in the community felt that the team approach to hay is an important part of neighborliness and keeping community bonds strong. Eventually they allowed the baler, but only one farmer uses it. (and more examples from here)

3. Their perpetuity on the margins of a mature economy; interesting critique of that here

   Many people view full employment as the primary purpose of society. It is a concept that animates much of the discussion in economics and politics. If full employment truly is the primary goal of our society, then we should follow the lead of the Amish. They have developed a social structure that provides full employment for every member. In fact, the problem is not too little employment, but too much employment. They have to have large families with many helping hands to absorb all of the employment that the lack of modern equipment affords them.
   
   Because they do not use tractors, they need many hands to plow, cultivate, and harvest the fields. Milking cows by hand is time-consuming manual labor. Shoveling manure by hand provides employment for some of the less fortunate members of the family. Cutting, transporting, and stacking wood for heat and cooking provides more work that can keep someone busy and sweaty for a considerable period of time.
   
   By being fairly self reliant, rather than maximizing the benefits of national and international divisions of labor, they choose to be less efficient and to perform activities that subtract from the time they can devote to what they do best. By shunning modern labor-saving devices and technologies — such as electricity, hay bailers, power equipment, and modern milking facilities — they choose to live with less of everything. Many fall within the modern definition of poverty. Nearly all use child labor. They would starve without it.
   
   Living with less is not necessarily a bad thing. I believe that most Amish people are very satisfied with their chosen lifestyle. Most do not regret the choices they made and find their lives quite rewarding. They are generally people of character who stand up for what they believe in, for the whole world to see.
   
   Should full employment really be the primary goal of modern society? The Amish live in an agrarian economy. It thrives in the midst of modern society, not because of inherent advantages, but rather because it borrows much more from that society than meets the eye.
   
   Most third-world countries are also agrarian societies, mired in a state of misery, reflecting the primitiveness of their economies. What they don't have, that the Amish in America do, is economic freedom, secure property rights, a well-developed system of trade, legal protections, fairly reliable money and access to the fruits of capitalist society. Yes, Amish do go to the store to purchase some things that make their lives simpler and more pleasant. They rely on cars and busses to transport them long distances. They use telephones when necessary. Trucks bring their milk to market.

The Amish will, I think, become a touchstone of this blog. And the series, "Amish: World's Squarest Teenagers, about 5 Amish kids on Rumspringa, will be my evening entertainment for the next few weeks. And after that, turning the tables and sending English kids to Amish country.