The voice of America's most prominent agricultural broadcaster was heard live recently in Grand Forks, N.D.
Orion Samuelson, best known for "U.S. Farm Report" and the current co-host of "This Week in Agribusiness," spoke Nov. 20 at a farmers appreciation banquet sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks (Minn.).
His wide-ranging talk included Norwegian jokes (Samuelson describes himself as 100 percent Norwegian), anecdotes from his six decades in agricultural journalism and thoughts about agriculture's past, present and future.
"The future in agriculture has never been brighter," he said.
Samuelson grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm. When he was 18, he told his father, "I'm not going to spend the rest of my life getting up in the morning at 5 a.m. to milk cows. So I left (and went into broadcasting) and for the last 62 years I've been getting up at a quarter to 3 in the morning," he said.
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He recalled the big U.S. wheat sale to Russia in the 1970s and the subsequent boom in U.S. agriculture. That was followed by "the terrible times of the '80s," when poor prices, crippling debt and sky-high interest rates led many farmers to encourage their children to get out of agriculture.
He also recalled tough times in the cattle industry, which have been followed by record-high prices.
"One thing I've learned in my 60 years of covering markets," he said. "Prices never go the same way forever. There's always a correction."
Farmers in general need to do a better job of marketing. They focus so much on selling at the top of market, for bragging rights at their local coffee shop, that they wait too long, miss the high prices and eventually sell at a much lower price, he said.
"One of the things that has bothered me over the years: The lack of wisdom that farmers use in marketing," he said.
Farmers and ranchers need to remember that many Americans have little or no firsthand knowledge of agriculture, he said.
"There are no dumb questions from people who are four or five generations removed from production agriculture," Samuelson said. "They have honest questions. Regardless of how silly it may sound to you, you've got to give them a sound answer. Because that's what they're looking for."
