Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990 TAG: 9004040262
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Kegley has been a Wythe County farmer for almost 10 years and runs a farm that has been in his family for five generations. His own son will someday work the farm too.
Not only does Kegley sit on the Wythe County Board of Supervisors; he also writes a regular column that takes the plight of farmers to the public.
Unlike his forefathers, Kegley is not just content working and living on the farm; he believes that his farm, and many others like it, are a vanishing species.
And he wants people to know about it.
Kegley signed on nine years ago as owner of the 550-acre Kegley farm in the Farmview section of Wythe County. It was being run by two uncles while the youngest brother, Kegley's father, became a newspaper reporter in Roanoke. That was a switch since many members of a farming family would stay on the farm and work their whole life there.
Kegley, too, planned to go into the media, but instead he chose agriculture and so far does not regret his choice.
"It became a long summer and not one I've looked back on," he said.
Farm life has been changing faster and faster over the years.
At the Kegley farm, the first public road appeared in 1939; electricity and the first tractor came in 1940 and 1942. There were sheep, hogs and cattle and Kegley vividly recalls working many hours cleaning the cow barn.
Today, the hogs and sheep are gone and dairy brings 90 percent of the farm's income. And because of increased technology, production is up from 10,000 pounds of milk per cow per year to 19,000 pounds per cow per year.
Aside from increased production, another change has been that the farm must work with the environment. Kegley grows his own feed and hay and also practices soil conservation. The use of pesticides and other chemicals is yet another factor farmers must contend with.
Since regulations are more strict today, the quality of the product must be better than it was when Kegley's uncles ran the farm. That's also expensive. But meeting those requirements is better than paying penalties for distributing a tainted product.
Social aspects of farm life also affect the number of farms today. Income is needed to keep the homestead running and Kegley said "you must have shrewd financial planning."
Today, a spouse will usually have to work in town for a regular paycheck and probably even for health insurance. This factor has increased stress, divorces and suicides among farmers in this country, Kegley said. "Counseling for stress among farmers is a new phenomenon," Kegley said.
Kegley said farm life makes you innately optimistic, but you realize that working for yourself is not an easy life. "I romanticized about farm life, and that can be dangerous," Kegley said.
Kegley sees fewer and fewer farms from the hilltop and he believes that keeping the farm around in the United States will take work and care - from the government, from business and from the public.
"There's no telling what looms on the horizon for the small family farm," he said.
Other events Monday included an old-time and progressive concert with Wayne Seymour and Fred Reynolds; a look at the history of life in a mining town; and a folk concert with Idlewilde.
Appalachian Awareness Week continues through Saturday. All events are free and are held in the Richardson Auditorium in Rooker Hall at New River Community College in Dublin.
by CNB