One of my friends on the Cafe forum just talked about the Iowa Public Television viewing of The Farm Crisis. That era really makes me angry. I saw good farmers go under for no good reason while the rest of us just watched. Farm policies flat out failed in that era.
John Mellencamp's song, Rain on the Scarecrow epitomises the movment. Those three young guys in the front of this video, I would really like to talk to. They all have on the same seed corn hats but they speak a truth few of my neighbors had back in that day. I guess that is why they are in the video. They might be my age now and I know we could share some stories.
With the boom in land prices we have witnessed in the last 10 years or more, you have to wonder, will this repeat itself? Now if you live northeast Ohio or North Dakota, the fracking we talked about yesterday might make farming more fun!
I think so, in some fashion. I don't know how it will happen but I think it will. The will of man is so greedy in the name of making a dollar at any cost, I don't see how human discipline can exceed human greed. Do you?
The film notes that we lost half our farmers in this country in the 20's and another half in the 80's. BTO's or Big Time Operators are everywhere. Can this not repeat again? $4 corn this fall and many farmers with little crop would take its toll. Parts of Iowa and Minnesota don't look too good and we didn't see great crops on our 500 mile trip to New York.
Some STO's or Small Time Operators like me have done everything in the world to make a living but just farming alone. I couldn't do what we've done the last nine years without my pension plus LuAnn's hard work.
Farming is hard again this year with too much water at the wrong time and not enough last year. Those of us who have a good crop feel pretty lucky compared to all those who don't.
No one ever said it would be easy and it isn't.
Ed Winkle
Sunday, 7 July 2013
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