An Interview With Sean Freedman
Farming is a way of life. It is not nine to five. It is not on five days and off two. Dealing with any living creature requires adaption to a new timetable dictated by needs. It is the ability to see a need and be both willing and able to satisfy the situation. Empathy and assets are necessary. Farming quite often takes a family to succeed, and all members need to be equally invested. Corporate farming and technology aim to minimize the personal investment. One doesn’t need to get up in the middle of the night to check temperature if he is trusting in a thermostat.
Modern farming is actually very different from common conceptions. Farming today is dramatically different from the farming done a few decades ago. In this interview series called The Future Of Modern American Farming, we are exploring the modern technological changes that American farms have been making. We are also exploring how farmers are adjusting to the supply chain challenges, the challenges of climate change, and the challenges of sustainable farming.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Stan Miklis.
Stan Miklis is a modern, ag-educated, and experienced farmer. With limited resources he attacks current supply lapses with guerrilla tactics. At the local farmers market for four short hours, he provides a better product at a cheaper price, in a word value, and the customers are clamoring.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
The backstory. I grew up in the natural world. In high school I was president of the school’s FFA chapter. I remained a Future Farmer obtaining a Horticultural degree from Texas A&M in 1979. I interned with the largest production nursery in Texas before moving to Big-Ag in California. I worked in the corporate world in hydroponics in Florida. I settled a ten-year sales job, still in agriculture, with a Fortune 500 corporation while establishing my side hustle into a viable Ag-Enity. I have taught plant propagation at the community college level.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?
The most interesting story. Farming is a way of life. It is not nine to five. It is not on five days and off two. Dealing with any living creature requires adaption to a new timetable dictated by needs. It is the ability to see a need and be both willing and able to satisfy the situation. Empathy and assets are necessary. Farming quite often takes a family to succeed, and all members need to be equally invested. Corporate farming and technology aim to minimize the personal investment. One doesn’t need to get up in the middle of the night to check temperature if he is trusting in a thermostat.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Success is relative. Leadership is relative. Nurturement, nurses, nursery as in daycare, nursery as in agriculture all do one thing. We care for the infirm until the time when those units are able to care for themselves independently. To hold on longer is more like codependency. Do I want to be a cult leader, or do I want to encourage people into free, independent, critical thinking? A person may lead in front of his followers but for the legacy to continue without his presence and control is greatness.
Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?
What makes me most proud. I have invested in people, growing people as well as plants and animals. People living on the bottom pay scale, troubled teens, criminals, addicts, and immigrants who do not speak English have shared my life. I have saved not one, but I have influenced many and perhaps diverted and deferred catastrophe.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about Modern Farming. It seems that most industries have all converted to tech and modernized their old ways. Can you share with our readers a few of the ways that modern farming has modernized? Can you share how tech has improved your business model?
Have I allowed technology to improve my business model? The universe is unfolding as it should. I fight against technology for a better thing Sustainability. If the power grid goes out the life of an Amish family may never notice. In Texas an Artie blast removed electricity from many households for many days. Many people were deeply affected. My homestead started out collecting water from the roof into a cistern. Now I have no desire to give up municipal water. Technology is great until it isn’t. Technology was lost with the fall of Rome. Rome may fall again.
The President speaks to the State of the Union, we must manufacture locally. This is what I have been actively addressing for decades only with food grown in the community for the community. To persevere continually is sustainability. Sustainability limits the inputs and adherent costs to produce fresher, riper, more nutritional produce and meat to the consumer with less delivery costs. No place is closer than the back yard garden.
The past agricultural system featured large acreage owners, individuals or corporations, scraping the ground with large and expensive equipment to establish a monocrop maintained by pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Recently lack of trucking displayed how quickly your super center can run out of food. Supporting locally grown food is a hedge against any collapse.
Do you think modernization for farming is a slower process than for other industries? Can you explain what you mean?
Modernization is about control without people. There is art and there is science. A technical orientated person will have a difficult time dealing with the extreme issues of weather, insects and disease which may be uncontrollable. Exact answers do not exist. The guerrilla artist is more adaptable, fluid and less frustrated by the lack of control in the natural world. Horticulture is the art and science of trying to control the environment with moisture, nutrient, temperature, and pest controls. Horticulture includes the transportation, storage and distribution of fruits, flowers, herbs and vegetables.
Are there farms resisting the “tech bandwagon”? Why do you think this is so?
If a greenhouse salesman finds a technically orientated investor, he will make the sale by showing many shiny bells and whistles but at the end of the day the product will bring only a low value at market regardless of how many inputs the farmer has invested in.
Agricultural technology seems to appeal to the corporations and investors who will delegate responsibility to a manager. Some persons will feel the responsibility of dealing with the natural world. The floods and droughts. The extremes of temperature. The plagues will come. Some persons will relate with the farmer, the rancher, the fisherman, the oilfield worker, the lineman, or lumberjack to know raw nature outside of the technical control box.
The idea of farming has a very romantic and idyllic character to it, especially to some people living in a busy cosmopolitan context. Do you think now would be a good time for younger people with no farming history to get involved in the farming industry? Can you explain what you mean?
This is an industry for young people. Start with FFA or 4H if your school offers it or start a chapter. The current generation is excited to implement technology as well as being committed to organics. Many State colleges offer introductory courses especially in urban agriculture. I can recommend WWOOF: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms this organization provides worldwide opportunities and education. GoFarm Hawaii represents an isolated island state. “The mission is to enhance Hawaii’s food security and economy by increasing the number of sustainable, local agricultural producers. We do this by offering those with an interest in agriculture a combination of knowledge, experience, and support to reach their full potential.”
Where should a young person start if they would like to “get into” farming?
Any farm in any state will be seeking employees at this time.
How does inflation affect farms? What steps have you taken to keep costs down?
Inflation is a real thing. Passing the cost on to the consumer is a difficult task but everyone seems to expect it.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.
Stan Miklis Of Caliper Farm to Market On The Future Of Modern American Farming was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.