Roger Pine doesn't get the same sense of satisfaction by looking out over his 325 acres of sod and turf grass as he did when the ground was planted in corn and soybeans.
But he does get a lot more money.
"I don't get the same sense of pride, but that doesn't matter," Pine said. "I know for me to be able to look out over my corn and soybean fields, we'd better have some sod planted somewhere."
That's because the Pines are among only a handful of Douglas County farmers who make their full-time living on the farm. Their Pine Family Farms Grass & Grain operation, headquartered just outside of north Lawrence, supports three families.
But today it is not traditional agriculture corn, soybeans, livestock that's carrying the bulk of the financial burden for the farm.
After starting a sod farm in 1997, the operation now represents only about 7 percent of the farm's total acreage the rest is in corn and beans but accounts for 73 percent of the farm's gross income.
"When sod is paying a bulk of the bills, that's what gets Roger excited about it," said Sue Pine, Roger Pine's wife and the company's business manager.
Roger Pine isn't alone in looking out over fields that no longer grow the old staples of eastern Kansas agriculture. Bill Wood, agriculture agent with the K-State Research and Extension in Douglas County, said those peering farmers may be seeing the future of farming in an increasingly urban county.
Wood said more and more area farmers were staring out over fields of fruit and vegetables to sell to local consumers, trees to sell to local landscapers, grapes to make and sell locally produced wine, or corn fields cut up into mazes and marketed as agricultural entertainment.
"More and more farmers are moving away from the traditional crops because they have to," Wood said. "If you want to stay on the farm full-time in this county, you have to look for new ways to afford it."
Odd numbers
The jury is still out on how successful the new strategies are at keeping county residents on the farm. A recently released report on economic trends in Douglas County showed that between 1994 and 1999 the number of people involved in on-farm employment increased by 2 percent, or a whopping 19 people.
But the Kansas University report also showed that farm employment continued to represent a smaller percentage of the county's overall job picture. In 1999, farm employment accounted for only 1.6 percent of all jobs in the county.
While the Pines and Wood were surprised that the actual number of farm jobs increased at all, they said that some of the boost might be attributable to an increase in the number of part-time workers on the farm.
The number of full-timers certainly hasn't grown, they said.
"If you were going to count the full-time farmers in this county who have no off-farm income, you could probably do it on one hand but certainly two," Wood said.
Salvation in sod
The Pines still represent one finger on Wood's hand, in large part, because of acres and acres of fescue and bluegrass. The Pines started their sod business in 1997 with 40 acres and have been adding to it every year.
The Pines' business plan is simple, Sue Pine said: They sell to "anybody with money." That includes individual homeowners, landscapers from Lee's Summit, Mo., to Manhattan, and to large projects like the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., and Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan.
The decision to move into the sod business, she said, came about when the family realized that the county's unmistakably urban ways were beginning to creep into their neck of the woods.
"We realized that we were going to have to learn to survive on smaller and smaller pieces of land," she said.
The Pines farm about 4,200 acres but own only about 10 percent of the ground. Until the mid-'90s, the Pines were optimistic that they would be able to acquire much of the ground, as its owners reached retirement age and beyond.
But after seeing more and more homes dot the rural countryside, the Pines shifted their focus.
"It used to be people were interested in selling their land for farm prices," Sue Pine said. "But now the next generation looks at what they can sell the land for if it's used for ag, and what they can sell it for if it's used for development, and the prices just don't compare."
That's when the Pines said they realized they needed to change what they were growing to better take advantage of the wants of the wealthier-than-average residents in Lawrence and surrounding area.
"What we have finally figured out is that people in an affluent society want to pay a minimum price for the necessities, like food, but are willing to pay for things they don't really need but may want," Sue Pine said. "And sod kind of falls into that category."
A farming future?
Sue Pine said the family wasn't sure how their sod business would fare during slow economic times, although business had remained solid during the ongoing recession. The family wants to start selling stoves that burn corn as a way to balance their business, thinking it might be a more attractive product during a tighter economy.
But the county's new home-occupation regulations won't allow it because the Pines don't actually manufacture the stoves. Sue Pine said the prohibition might be a sign of more things to come; after all, growth usually brings with it more regulations.
Time also seems to bring with it an above-average cost-of-living that puts pressure on the wages the Pines pay their 14 full-time employees.
"What it costs to live here versus western Kansas is a big difference, especially on a farm salary," Sue Pine said. "Our accountant looks at what we budget for labor, and it makes him a nervous wreck because it all depends on whether we get enough rain."
The challenges do make the Pines think about whether their future is on their farmland. Much of the land they own, most of it located around the Lawrence Municipal Airport, continues to be eyed by city and county leaders as a possible site for new industrial development.
"We remain farmers because it is a lifestyle we enjoy," she said. "We're business people, but it is not necessarily about the money. How long will we maintain that attitude? Well, we are business people.
"Roger and I probably will be here until we retire, but our son and his family built a house here on the farm five years ago thinking they would retire there. Now, I'm not sure they believe that."
But such decisions won't be easy. Roger Pine is a fifth-generation Douglas County farmer.
"He'll never give up his corn and soybeans," Sue Pine said. "No matter what happens, he'll still keep a patch somewhere."
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