Selling the farm

Your daily dose of bittersweetness comes from KARE 11’s Boyd Huppert, who has covered the decision by farm families to cash out, thanks to low milk prices.

But this is different. This is the Huppert farm in River Falls, Wis.

“I’ve got a neighbor down the road three miles this way that sold his cows last Friday,” Huppert’s brother, Jay, says. “A guy down the road this way is selling his cows next week – we’re selling ours – it’s just kind of the trend, all the small farms are just quitting and moving on to something else.”

“We can borrow all kinds of money, but you know someday they’re going to want it back,” Jay says.

“The hardest thing he said to me was, he was afraid he was letting me down that he was quitting,” says his wife. “And I don’t feel that way at all. I want him to feel good and be happy.”

The auctioneer says he’s sold off a dozen farms so far this spring.

There’s a lot of this going around. Reporter Dylan Wohlenhaus says his family sold the farm, too.