A recent survey conducted by ISU Extension found that 95 percent of the respondents, who were are all farmers, agreed that it’s likely low farm prices will put many of them out of business.

The annual Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll is intended to find out farmers’ views on a number of rural and agriculture-related issues. Questionnaires were sent via mail to a random sample of 4,947 Iowa farmers earlier this year; almost 2,600 surveys were returned.

This year’s poll discovered that many Iowa farmers view their futures as being uncertain.

“We’re in a period of rapid change in agriculture,” said Paul Lasely, an ISU Extension economist who helped conduct the poll. “It produces gains for some and losses for others.”

Lasely also said the current market is flooded, so prices are low.

Also in the survey, 96 percent of the respondents expect that, in the future, more farmers will have to take on work outside of their farms to support their families.

In order to keep their farms, 71 percent of the farmers said they will be forced into accepting production and marketing contracts from larger operations, but only 18 percent said these contracts will lead to a larger income.

Neil Harl, distinguished professor of economics, agreed with those numbers.

“This trend will do nothing but hurt farmers,” he said. “It will only benefit the larger operations.”

An overwhelming number of farmers replied that stress has greatly increased over the past years.

“I’m not surprised,” Harl said. “I am seeing more gloomy assessments by farmers than I have ever seen.”

Low prices getting lower and no assurance of when things will turn around has caused farmers to view the future as less than bright, Harl said. “One-third to 40 percent of farmers feel unstable,” he said. “They must increase their income or be forced to exit the profession while they still have equity.”

Eighty-five percent of the polled respondents said that without government intervention within the next few years, farmers will be treated like employees on their own farms.

Harl said he believes that if the farm crisis continues, it will “create a life of serfdom, as large companies integrate the sector.”

The poll didn’t paint an entirely bleak future for farmers. Seventy percent of the poll respondents see new opportunities opening for farmers in new areas such as organic, farm fresh and range-fed produce.

Also, 48 percent still see the future of their community as being bright; this is up 8 percent from 1995.

Farmers are for the most part satisfied with their communities, according to the poll, and 29 percent of the respondents expect new growth and prosperity in their communities in the years to come.

“The market is changing,” Lasely said, “just like in any other market. This is one of the very reasons why the Extension has conducted the poll since 1982.”