Sell, sell, sell. It's not Wall Street. It's agriculture.

Selling commodities is the only way farms make money. That's why the industry can be financially hit and miss. One year the crop might be good, and the next year it may be nearly nonexistent. And then there are fluctuating prices, which often seem to fluctuate between low and very low.

Experts estimate that a farm's real income is somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of commodity sales income. The rest of the money goes strictly toward paying operating expenses.

Because of that, agricultural economists figure that a farm must have commodity sales in excess of $100,000 a year in order to sustain a family. Even at that rate, the annual family income is $15,000 to $20,000, which is still relatively low.

What's surprising is just how few farms are selling that $100,000 worth of goods each year. Only 30.1 percent of Miner County farms hit that mark in 1997. More than half of farms actually sold less that $50,000 that year.

Here's another statistic that might shock you: In 1997, those 30.1 percent of farmers with the highest commodity sales accounted for 81.2 percent of all sales. That means that more than 2/3 of the farms in the county combined made only 18.8 percent of the total sales.

The effects of economic difficulty on many farms are not hard to guess. People are working off the farm in large numbers. One or both parents in a farm family may have another job to bring in a steady income to supplement farm income.

It has been said that farms have become "places to live," rather than "places to make a living." It's a clever phrase with a distinct ring of truth to it, and it points out how farm economics are having an impact on the job market in other employment sectors.

People who used to work on farms have entered into competition for jobs in a market where stable, well-paying jobs are hard to come by.

How about that elusive term, "commodities"? What exactly are farmers selling these days?

Understanding the trends in agricultural commodity production in our part of the world requires two words: diminishing diversity.

The variety of crops grown and livestock raised in Miner County in the past has largely given way to high production of very few items. Barley is nowhere to be found today, and production of wheat, oats, and sunflowers all dropped over 50 percent from 1992 to 1997.

Corn is the current king of crops here, and soybean production is also important to a lesser degree.

In livestock, the name of the game is beef cattle. Milking enterprises and production of hogs, pigs, sheep, and lambs are all down significantly. In both crops and livestock, farmers are streamlining operations and focusing on a very few things that are most likely to bring financial gains.

It's what they've had to do, and it's a trend that can be seen in every county neighboring ours. In terms of crop de-diversification, Miner County is very much like our neighbors. Those trends are likely to continue.

So, farming is changing. That much has been established repeatedly in this column in the last few weeks. Is there any good news?

Always. Total commodity sales in Miner County actually increased from about $30 million in 1987 to about $40 million in 1997. That shows promise for the future, and agriculture, in one form or another, will be a strong force in our future.

Miner Notes was a weekly column written by Matt Laible for MCCR to promote understanding about the place we call home. All statistics and charts come from Dr. Daryl Hobbs at the University of Missouri. If you have questions or comments, please contact MCCR by calling 772-5153 or writing to P.O. Box 307 in Howard.