Farm Credit Leader

Volume 14, Issue 2

ONE CHANGE-UP THAT HAS TURNED INTO A HOME RUN:  FROM BASEBALL TO BIRDS

Story and Photos by:  Michelle Kunjappu

Transition has been a hallmark of Gene Garber's life.
     Over his 19-season career, the sidearm pitcher-now farming full-time in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania-managed to keep two jobs going:  working on the home farm in Lancaster County, where he partnered with his brother in running a dairy operation; and pitching for four different professional franchises.
     Gene entered baseball in the 1965 amateur draft and over the years pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Kansas City Royals, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Atlanta Braves.
     During those seasons he racked up 931 career pitching appearances and ranks second on the Atlanta Braves all-time save list, behind John Smoltz.  He is, however, perhaps best remembered for a pitch he delivered on August 1, 1978 while he played for the Braves.  In the ninth inning, he threw a change-up, his go-to pitch, to strike out Pete Rose and end his 44-game hitting streak.  Today he is ranked 32nd amongst Major League Baseball's all-time saves leaders.

family operation

Gene, who was raised on a dairy farm that he can see by looking out of his living room window, never really left farming.  In the early 1980s he bought his father's share of the partnership and he and his brother, Herb, managed a 90-cow operation.
     "I bought my father's share of the partnership so my father could semi-retire, which means that he worked while I was in Atlanta, but when I came home over the winter he didn't work quite as much," he says.
     Gene and his wife, Karen, raised two sons, Greg and Mike.  "I was in Atlanta for ten years," he says.  "During baseball season they went to school in Atlanta, and then came home [to Lancaster County] during winter months.  They attended schools here and worked on the farm, and then at the beginning of February we went back down to Atlanta.  They had two sets of classmates."
     After baseball, Gene returned to farming full-time, and was soon joined by his sons.
     "In 1997, when Greg graduated from college and wanted to return to the farm, we decided to split the brother partnership and make it a father/son business." explains Gene.  In 1999 they started a family corporation and bought a farm with an 82,000 layer house and rented three farms already owned by Gene.  GMG Farms, in addition to the egg operation, grows corn, beans, wheat, and barley on 400 acres.  "One thing that I insisted on was that they weren't working for Dad when they got out of college," says Gene.  "It makes a big difference for young guys trying to start out, that they're not working for Dad, they're working for themselves."
     Since 1992 Garber has been the chairman of the Lancaster County Ag Preserve Board, a nine-member organization that administers a program to purchase development rights to farmland.

small acreage solution

It was his involvement in the Ag Preserve Baord that led him to another change-an agircultural diversification-raising emus.
     "When I first got into this business of preserving farmland, there was resistance from farmers before they understood what the program was about," says Gene.  "They said things like 'I only have 30 acres-why should I protect it if I can't make a living off of it?'"
     Consequently Garber began investigating solutions for making small acreage viable, and as a result ran across the idea of raising emus.  "I began reading about how emus would fit on a small farm and eventually I thought, 'You know what?  I think we ought to have these,'" he says.  "It was neat to learn somehting totally different."  In 1996 Gene bought his first emus, and now has four breeding pairs, a barnyard full of juveniles, and two chicks, plus two incubators full of fertilized eggs.
     Besides yielding about one to two gallons of oil per bird, emus also provide meat, which they make into a lot of bolognas and meat sticks, hamburgers, and steaks as well.  Also, emu hide makes beautiful leather.
     Mainly, though, the oil is the key profit prospect of an emu.  "It's an incredible product!  It's a skin conditioner and provides pain and injury relief," says Gene.  Emu oil penetrates the skin extremely well and contains essential fatty acids the skin needs.  The oil, produced from a thick layer of backfat, improves virtually all skin problems-dryness, eczema, psoriasis, cuts, burns, and bites.  "It also has natural anti-inflammatories which help reduce swelling from arthritis and muscle sprains and strains."  Emu oil is not a greasy product and because it penetrates so well, doesn't stain and has no odor.

pure relief

Interest is increasing for the oil, which they market under the farm's "Pure Relief" label.  In February the family the family launched a website, PureReliefEmuOil.com, to help market the oil.  Prior to that the Garbers had been selling emu oil primarily word-of-mouth, directly off the farm.  They plan to expand their line of products from strictly oil to a muscle and joint cream and hand and body lotion.
     "Lancaster is full of farmers with a niche," says Gene.  "Mike felt that we already had the emus, we should start marketing the oil."  "Basically the challenge is you have to self-market," says Mike.  "The product is excellent; we just have to get people to try it."
     "Long term, I see demand growing, and with our breeding pairs it won't take long to increase the size of our flock," says Gene.  "We can hatch out what we know our demand is going to be."

StartRight

Gene worked with Farm Credit a number of years ago, so he was familiar with them and knew the strengths and reputation of Farm Credit.
     "The StartRight program was what won them over," says loan officer, Garret Barbush.  "I met with them, discussed what they needed, and thought this would be the best solution for them."  Gene adds, "It's a great program for Mike to get started-it is a good fit."
     The "Start Right" program for young (younger than 35) and beginning (less than 10 years of experience) farmers is designed to help farmers launch or maintain their businesses and to keep agriculture viable, "Which is one of the goals of Farm Credit," says Garret.
     The Garber family has seen a lot of change over the years.  Being back home in Lancaster County has brought them full-circle, back to where it all started-on the farm.