Hello Summit County Farm Bureau! Your Farm Bureau family hopes that you and your families have had a safe holiday season and (with any luck) will have a safe and prosperous new year!
My name is Timothy J. Luther and I am the new Summit County Farm Bureau President. I reside in the North-West part of Summit County in Richfield and operate our family farm with my father, Bob, and my cousin, Andy. I have been a Farm Bureau member since 1999 and was elected to the Board of Trustees in September 2009.
I’ve lived on the family farm since the day I was born and was hooked after that first tractor ride. Farming here since 1900 means a lot to me and the rest of my family. Generations have come and gone and with that so has land.
Thanks to the advancements in technology and research, farmers are able to do more with less land. But less land, also means less farmers. Less farmers means less food for the general public. I’ve seen drought, flooding, hail, snow on sweet corn and pumpkins, crops thriving one day then flat on the ground the next.
Unfortunately, to experience what we have been facing the past few years with the Corona Virus, is one for the books. Big T (Tim Walsh) and I were representing Summit County Farm Bureau at the President’s Meeting in Washington D.C. in March 2020 when it all hit causing our meetings to be cut short. Since then, we have seen dairy farmers going out of business due to lack of use of their milk, increased input prices for all farmers, labor shortages, inability to get livestock processed and people just plain terrified to leave their houses.
2022 has now set in motion some realities; some of the input prices for farmers has doubled, supplies are becoming scarce and farmers I talk with are up in the air as to what to do for the season. All we know is we are going to be paying more for gas, diesel fuel, fertilizer, seed, and anything and everything that goes into producing that glass of milk you might drink, those strawberries you get in June, the sweet corn and tomatoes you look forward to every summer and those hamburgers and hotdogs you put on the grill.
Farmers, farms, and farming are things we cannot live without. It takes long hours, hard work, dedication and a little bit of luck to produce food and supplies for a growing population. Farm Bureau is a great organization looking out for and protecting the Great American Farmer. And I am proud to say I AM A FARMER!
Thank You,
Timothy J. Luther
5th Generation Farmer