Family farms -- tough way to make a living

The Matson family farm Ligonier Township was the site on Saturday of children climbing on giant farm vehicles, fishing in the pond, an inflatable bounce house and slide, eating food and seeing cows — all part of the family’s third annual Agricultural Appreciation Days.

“We do this all for the kids,” said Justin Matson, who is the fifth generation of his family to operate the farm along Route 259.

One of those youngsters was Charlotte Tommasini, daughter of Ashley and Anthony Tommasini of Derry Township. Her father carried her up the several steps into the cab of giant corn-harvesting combine, where she plopped behind the steering wheel of the behemoth machine.

They brought their daughter for a day of fun on a gloomy day to have fun, Ashley Tommasini said, but also “to appreciate what the farmers do to get us our milk.”

Matson, 43, said he farms 1,000 acres of his own and leases another 1,500 acres. As if that wasn’t enough, Matson said he farms a total of 20,000 acres in Westmoreland, Washington, Somerset and Fayette counties.

Much of it is land he farms for the owners, producing feed crops like hay, for their cattle.

Underlying the fun events Saturday was the seriousness of the business of farming and the challenges that farmers face on daily basis. Some factors they can control and many they can’t.

Matson ticked off such variables as the weather, the cost of vehicles, seed, the cost of the animals and the veterinary care they need, the prices for their products and the difficulty in getting someone to work on the farm and the cost of that labor.

There also is a need to strengthen Pennsylvania’s animal health and diagnostic system to ensure that farmers have the biosecurity, testing and other resources needed to protect their animals. Threats include avian and dairy highly pathogenic avian flu, as well as other animal diseases, such as African swine fever, said Grant Gulibon, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau regulatory affairs specialist, in a statement.

“That could have devastating effects on the Commonwealth’s economy,” Gulobon said.

“Everything is a problem. We’re just trying to survive. That’s our goal. No one’s getting rich doing this,” said Matson, who shares that burden with his wife, Connie.

For a host of those factors, “there’s not a lot of family farms in this area,” said Matson, whose farm in rural Ligonier Township is seven miles north from what might be considered a bit of civilization — Idlewild & SoakZone.

An Agricultural Appreciation event is important for the children is because they don’t see that many farms anymore, said Morgan Eslary, who grew up in a neighboring dairy farm, which the family sold five years ago.

“It makes them more aware of farming, and maybe they’ll become interested in agriculture,” said Eslary, 27, who still works with animals, although they’re horses at a barn on the Rolling Rock property east of Ligonier.

It’s a lifestyle, Eslary said, “that takes a lot of responsibility and work ethic.”

The next generation of farmers is needed because the average age of farmers in the county is constantly rising, said Dustin Heeter, livestock educator for Penn State Extension Service in Westmoreland County.

But starting a farm these days is an expensive proposition, one that amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars regardless of size, before they earn any income, Heeter said.

Cattle farmers have it tough these past three or four years because drought.

“There was no grass for feed,” Heeter said.

So tough, in fact, that farmers sold off their cattle to the point that Westmoreland’s inventory of cattle is at its lowest point since the 1950s, Heeter said.

And the price they get does not reflect the true impact of supply and demand because of investors buying cattle futures, Heeter said.

Farmers don’t have a luxury of making a big profit on the commodities that they do sell, said Amy McChesney, vice president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s Westmoreland County chapter.

“Agriculture is always struggling. Farmers are buying at retail (to grow crops and feed animals) and selling their product at wholesale prices,” said McChesney, a Derry Township resident.