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The Bainbridge Rotary Club met for their weekly meeting at the Kirbo Center on Tuesday. The guest speaker of the day was Dr. Paul Johnson, local dairy farmer, large animal vet, and owner of Providence Dairy.

“This presentation is not necessarily about dairy farms, or farming in general, it’s about the changing landscape of American business,” Johnson began. He would discuss the changing trends in the farm industry, including the consolidation of farms and decrease in number of farms.

“Farms keep going away. There are less farms every year than there was the year before, whether it’s corn, peanuts, cotton, dairy, whatever,” Johnson said. “Farm size has increased, while farm numbers have diminished.” He also added that most farmers are increasingly older, with fewer young farmers entering the field.

Johnson would go on to discuss the changes technology has historically brought to farming, from the introduction of tractors, to the expansion of machine farming, to the latest in computerized and automated farming equipment, as well as the effects of inflation on the farming industry.

After concluding, Johnson answered several Rotarians’ questions about current farming issues.