Garrett Harshbarger
Garrett is a third generation cattle rancher. He has been the owner/operator of his ranch for 6 years after buying it out from his parents. Garrett runs a cow calf operation and makes hay for winter feed. He sells excess hay to other ranches. The cattle run on owned and lease ground in the summer and his main summer grazing is in the snowline grazing association near Lima Montana.
Garrett has sat on the board of directors for the Southwest Montana Stockmen association and is a graduate of MSGA’s M Bar Leadership Academy.
In my opinion the biggest challenges for the beef industry will be the transition to the next generation, barrier to entry, and water.
Transitioning agricultural operations to the next generation is a current problem and will continue to be going forward. With poor succession planing and the current estate tax limits many operations will face a situation where they may have to sell some or most of the ranch to pay the tax burden. We also will face a generational phasing out with not many younger producers there to take there place.
The barrier to entry for producers looking to start their own or buy into an existing operation is going to be another challenge for the beef industry. It is very expensive to enter the industry and continues to get more expensive. With the consolidation of local banks by large corporate lenders the hoops to jump through to start an operation can be extremely difficult without any prior relationship with a lender. There are programs through the FSA and USDA but there lending limitations are not high enough for most to start a sizable operation. 
Lastly, water will most likely in my opinion be the biggest fight we face. There is only so much water and with urban sprawl and the continual population increase in agricultural areas there is more pressure on the water supply. We will have to fight to keep agriculture as a top priority of use for the available water.
Garrett Harsbarger is a third-generation cattle rancher and has owned and operated his ranch for the past six years after buying out his parents. He manages a cow-calf operation and produces hay for winter feed, selling any excess to other ranches. Garrett’s cattle graze on both owned and leased ground during the summer, with primary grazing in the Snowline Grazing Association near Lima, Montana.
