SOME HISTORICAL NUMBERS ON LOCAL AGRICULTURE
Starting more than 150 years ago, Platte County’s early settlers began a tradition of working the land that continues in some areas of the county today.
As long ago as Civil War time, row crops and grazing livestock were scattered on the fields as the county established a reputation as an agricultural hub. While not heavily agricultural, the county’s southern half (generally south of KCI Airport ), which also earlier held some early working farms, has been transformed into a densely developed suburban landscape, including housing of all types, retail, light industrial businesses, and amenities that support such living, including gas stations, restaurants, and convenience stores.
However, statistics differentiating between farms in the county’s north and south are not available, making it impossible to numerically compare farms in the two regions.
The county’s southern portion was not historically as rural as that in the north and, therefore, recent development has not displaced farmland.
But witnessing recent development in the southern region caused this Landmark reporter to wonder if the county’s northern territory, currently largely untouched by such development, also, someday, will be overcome by development.
The federal government established the Platte County territory after buying land from several Native American tribes, according to a paperback book published in 1929 by The Landmark Newspaper “in honor of the National Corn Husking Contest…”
The publication called the area “replete with historical incidents, beautiful in crops and produce, peopled by splendid men and women and abounding in inestimable opportunities.” The book continues to chronicle the area’s early settlers, stating that they “choked the roads into the county in 1837-’38 and ’39.”
When much of the state grew at a rate of 4.5 people per square mile, Platte County had 20, according to the booklet. The area was dotted with “rude huts (homes) of round logs, chinked with mud, puncheon floors, all held with wooden pins…” During this era, Weston was the second largest city in Missouri and hemp was the county’s principal crop, according to the book. In fact, Platte became “the largest hemp-producing county in the country and all the world was supplied with famous Platte hemp,” it stated.
What follows are statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, specifically the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Of the 322 respondents to a survey, 33 percent were farmers or landowners while the rest were comprised of lenders, government employees and those working in other occupations. However, the survey respondents are small as reporting was voluntary and don’t represent a complete picture of farming in the county.
While the 2017 census report is more thorough, its results are more dated and includes information indicating change since 2012.
The 2017 data indicates there were 490 farms in the county, down 18 percent since 2012. Farmland was listed as nearly 161,500 acres, up about six percent while the average farm size was 330 acres, up about 30 percent since 2012.
In 2017, 96 percent of farms in the county were family operations and only about 20 percent hired farm labor. The 785 farmers were overwhelmingly white and top crops included soybeans, corn (for grain), forage (hay) and wheat (for grain). Livestock inventory included cattle, goats, hogs and pigs, horses and ponies, sheep, lambs and turkey.
A survey report prepared by the University of Missouri Extension shows statistics about farmlands sold but was not telling for our purposes since the survey did not differentiate between northern and southern Platte County. The purpose of the report was to show farmland values as compiled in October 2023.
However, several farm owners/operators in northern Platte County reported in telephone interviews with The Landmark that they plan to continue farming the land, carrying on a tradition set by their ancestors.
Marty Richardson, 71, whose family began farming in north central Platte County near Camden Point soon after the Civil War, said he has not heard of any in the area who plan to sell. Richardson still resides in the family’s two-story farmhouse, built by his grandparents during the 1920s.
The family mainly produces corn, soybeans, and grass (for grazing and cattle), he said. Throughout the years, he and his family have been forced to adjust the way they farm, leading to today’s methods barely resembling those of the past.
“Farming is a lot different than it was (even) 50 years ago,” he said, which now includes modern, computerized equipment, he said. However, despite the differences, he’s heard farmers in the area state they do not plan to sell their land anytime soon.
He said the area still boasts a rural feel with a strong, good market for crops. “I hate to see farms go into concrete,” he said, however conceding, “I know that’s progress.”
Several factors will help ensure the stability of farms in the northern part of the county, Richardson said. Gravel roads and rural water and sewer that wouldn’t suffice for manufacturing purposes will help ensure it remains as rural farmland, he said. Besides, he has upheld his promise to his mother that he would strive to keep the family’s farmland.
“Land’s a good investment—always appreciating, never depreciating,” he said.
Darren Furbeck, 49, has been farming since the age of 16 and, like his father, holds a master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri. His grandfather first farmed the land during the 1940s. In fact, Furbeck said he lives in his grandfather’s two-story farmhouse. He and his father own and farm about 2,500 acres, some of which is the family’s original land. Furbeck said few non-farmers realize the breadth of skills necessary to operate a farm today.
“Even though equipment used is nice and modern, it still breaks,” he said of today’s expensive, computerized farm machinery. Furbeck vividly remembers family discussions about the potential impact of the just-built Kansas City International Airport when it opened in 1972. Many farmers, as was the case in his family, feared developers would snatch up farmland in order to build airport amenities, such as parking lots and hotels, but farms, such as his family’s, continue to thrive.
Gary Oberdiek and his family operate on a farm with more than 1,000 acres, most of which has been in his family for more than a century. They grow corn, soybeans, melons, and peppers in addition to raising cattle and hogs, he said. The 65-year-old said his German immigrant great-grandparents established the farm during the 1880s. His father farmed the area, located across the river from Leavenworth, until retiring in 1985. He said no one has approached the family about selling the river-bottom property.
Besides, Oberdiek said, “It’s not for sale.”