Nat McKnight grew up riding tractors and checking on crops -- rice, corn, and soybeans -- on his family’s farm in Cleveland, Mississippi. But before he started farming there full-time, he worked for several years as an input supplier, traveling throughout the Mississippi Delta selling seed and fertilizer to fellow farmers. “That was the best experience I ever had, seeing firsthand, every day, the high input cost a crop accrues before anybody ever steps foot in a field.”   

That’s certainly not the romantic picture most people have of life on a farm but it’s the reality of modern food production. Nat says, “One of the biggest challenges for farmers today is finding a banker who understands the risks involved in agriculture. Most people don’t have a clue how much goes into producing crops that feed the world.”

Out of all the money Americans spend on food, at home and away from home, only 15 cents of every dollar actually goes to farmers. The rest goes for costs beyond the farm on things like wages, supplies, equipment, processing, transportation, and distribution. To stay viable and committed to bringing safe, nutritious food to our tables, farmers like Nat remind us of the old saying: ‘Keep your money at home, support local farmers.'