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Join us in learning about our next feature farmer: Sam Fawcett.

Sam is a full-time grain farmer in Gambier, Ohio, located in Knox County. His family has been farming some of the same land since the turn of the 18th century. Sam is currently the last remaining Fawcett to farm the land, which he finds interesting to think that five or six generations have done that before him.

Sam said what he loves most about being a farmer is being able to see the entirety of his work. Prior to going back to his family’s farm, his vocation only allowed him to see a sliver of work in a greater project. “With farming I literally plant a seed and watch it grow until harvesting it. I gain a lot of satisfaction in that, something I didn’t have while sitting in an office in Chicago.”

Even though he grew up on the same farm as a teenager, the only thing he could think of was finishing his “jobs” on the farm as fast as he could each day. He wanted to move to the city when he turned 18. For that reason, when he moved back to his farm five years ago, he started with minimal useful grain farming knowledge. He has no living family members to re-tell him the things he should have paid attention to years ago. All of this is what makes his operation different: He is willing to try just about anything new.

Sam said in the off-season, he likes to tell people that he is slowly taking care of 20 years of different maintenance on the farm. He said one of the biggest challenges he faces is one that is common across all small businesses, not just farmers: “How do I run a profitable enterprise in today’s environment? Farming is like any other small business. It is seeing the emergence of large-scale operations that through economics of scale can run at thinner profit margins. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with large;scale farm operations; that’s the inherent nature of capitalism and a growing global marketplace. However, I feel it is getting harder for small family farms to say profitable in this environment.”

Sam said being a Farm Bureau member been beneficial. He said it gives a single farmer a voice, not only on Capitol Hill, but with the state government as well. He said a great example of this was Farm Bureau’s recent victory in getting CAUV taxes adjusted to a more realistic rate. He also enjoys reading the agriculture information that he gets from various publications and emails sent from Farm Bureau.

Thank you Sam for dedicating your time to Farm Bureau!