A 1927 Farming List That Still Rings True
Nearly a century ago, the University of Tennessee’s ag college published a list of ways to go broke in farming. You would think the world of agriculture would have changed so much by now that those ideas would feel ancient, even irrelevant.
Turns out? Not even close.
Originally printed in Farm and Dairy in 1927, the list still speaks of real risks. Let’s break it down with a 2025 mindset:
1. Grow Only One Crop
Call it what you want, monoculture, specialization, streamlined production, relying on a single crop is still risky. One bad season, one price collapse, one new pest or disease, and that’s it.
Sure, specialization has its place, but smart farming in 2025 is about managing risk, and diversity is still one of the simplest risk management tools we have. Crop rotation, companion planting, or even just hedging your bets across a few varieties can make the difference between surviving a tough year and folding.
2. Keep No Livestock
Not every operation needs animals, and many are thriving without them. But there’s still something powerful about integrated systems. Turning your own feed into meat, milk, or eggs can create a more resilient, circular operation.
Add in composting and manure management, and now your soil fertility starts to take care of itself. Livestock isn’t for everyone, but if you’re in the right setup, they can add more value than a second tractor ever could.
3. Ignore Small-Scale Production
Originally: Regard chickens and a garden as nuisances.
This one’s more cultural than operational. It’s a reminder not to dismiss the “small” stuff because it often carries more value than we give it credit for.
Fresh eggs and produce from your own backyard aren’t just nice-to-haves; they cut grocery bills, build local food security, and offer a level of quality and traceability money can’t buy. The side hustle your great-grandmother ran with her flock might be more relevant than ever in the era of $7 eggs.
4. Deplete Soil Without Rebuilding
Originally: Take everything from the soil and return nothing.
Soil isn’t a factory floor, it’s alive. If you’re pulling crop after crop without putting anything back, it’s only a matter of time before yields crash. Between cover cropping, compost, rotational grazing, and precision fertility, the options to build your soil have never been better.
The catch? You have to prioritize it. The return isn’t always instant, but neglecting it is basically scheduling your bankruptcy.
5. Let Erosion Win
Originally: Don’t stop gullies or grow cover crops – let the topsoil wash away, then you will have ‘bottom’ land.
Topsoil loss isn’t a history book problem, it’s still happening, and sometimes faster than ever. If you’re seeing erosion and saying, “I’ll fix it later,” you might not have a later.
Modern agriculture has sustainability tools to hold soil in place and regenerate landscapes: no-till, cover crops, water management, riparian buffers, but none of it works if you don’t use it. Land care is still the foundation of farming.
6. Skip the Planning
Originally: Don’t plan your farm operations. It’s hard work thinking – trust to luck.
It’s funny how we’ll track every little thing our tractors do but balk at sitting down to crunch numbers on crop rotation or long-term goals.
Farming today involves a lot of data, and if you’re not thinking like a planner, you’re flying blind. Planning doesn’t mean perfection, but without it, you’re guessing. And guessing in agriculture is expensive.
7. Mismanage Your Wooded Land
Originally: Regard your woodland as you would a coal mine, cut every tree, sell the timber and wear the cleared land out cultivating it in corn.
Timberland isn’t just background scenery; it’s part of your farm. Whether you’re using it for selective harvest, wildlife habitat, maple syrup, mushroom production, or just carbon storage, treating forested land as a living asset, not a short-term payday, is smart management.
Clear-cutting and burning through it might make this year look good on paper, but the long-term loss is real.
8. Refuse to Evolve
Originally: Hold fast to the idea that the methods of farming employed by your grandfather are good enough for you.
Respect for tradition is good. But pretending agriculture hasn’t changed is not. The pace of innovation is relentless: precision tech, biological inputs, digital forecasting, market analytics, and refusing to adapt doesn’t make you principled.
It makes you obsolete. Farming in 2025 demands curiosity, humility, and an openness to better ways of doing things.
9. Go It Alone
Originally: Be independent – don’t join with your neighbors in any form of cooperation.
There’s a difference between being independent and being isolated. Farmer co-ops, buying groups, shared equipment, and marketing alliances still offer real value.
No one’s saying you need to hold hands with your neighbors at dawn, but cutting yourself off from shared knowledge, shared risk, and shared resources is just self-sabotage with a smile.
10. Overspend on the Wrong Things
Originally: Mortgage your farm for every dollar. It will stand to buy things you would have the cash to buy if you followed a good system of farming.
Debt is a tool. Used right, it builds capacity. Used wrong, it sinks the ship. Borrowing to buy a planter that saves time and fuel? That’s investment.
Borrowing to grab a new pickup because the neighbor did? That’s ego and it has a high interest rate. The shiny stuff is tempting, but long-term success in farming is still built on patience and planning, not flexing at the coffee shop.
Farming in 2025 is different, but not that different. The risks are real, and the margins are thin, but basics: good land management, strong planning, and collaboration matter more than ever. That 1927 list doesn’t read like a relic. It reads like a roadmap. Not for failure, but for how not to fail.
We’d be smart to keep listening.
Original list as published in Farm and Dairy
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