Multigenerational farmers an endangered species

Last fall was the 107th sugar beet harvest for the Schlagel family, a legacy that spans five Front Range generations. It may also have been one of their last. Within five years, no genetically engineered crops will be allowed on county open space — and currently, GE is the only sugar beet seed available. It was late December, and Schlagel, Lisco, and Scott Miller (who raises cattle, grains and pumpkins alongside his father, Dick) sat with me by a perfect Christmas tree. Large windows gave a long view of the fields outside. These families have generations-deep experience in this land, and advanced academic degrees in agricultural science. Farming is their entire financial livelihood. They all rotate crops through their fields, a best-practice for soil health, so removing a linchpin like corn or sugar beets doesn't affect just one planting, it upends the entire operation. Schlagel was humble but clear. "We've been here for over a hundred years. We aren't going to do things that will hurt the land. No one is perfect, but every year we try to get better and better." "To survive in agriculture," said Miller, "you have to be looking for anything you can change and improve on, those little incremental things." The arrival of GMOs was a big thing. It enabled new conservation tillage methods, which, due to limited water and weed pressure, currently are possible locally only with GE. Schlagel was a part of a 2004 National Resources Conservation Service trial of the system designed to improve nutrients and water retention of soil.