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The Crisis Farmers FaceAwake!—2003 | October 8
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The Crisis Farmers Face
RICHARD plows the same fields his great-grandfather farmed some 100 years ago. Yet, in 2001 this Canadian farmer was the first in four generations of his family to fail to harvest any crops. They were ravaged by drought. Low crop prices in previous years and rising costs have added to his distress. Lamented Richard: “The hole just keeps getting deeper and there’s no way out.”
In the Corn Belt of the United States, Larry owned a farm that had belonged to his family for 115 years. “I felt I had a responsibility to keep the farm going, make it profitable . . . , and I wasn’t able to do it,” he says. Larry and his wife lost their farm.
Larry and Richard are not alone. In Britain the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among farm animals exacted an enormous financial and emotional toll on farmers. One news report stated: “Daily life on a British farm—even one which the disease has not reached—is marked by anxiety, isolation, and a desperate struggle to stave off creditors.” In some developing lands, war, drought, rapid population growth, and a host of other factors have frustrated the efforts of farmers. Governments are forced to import food—food that many families cannot afford to buy.
Thus, the problems of farmers have widespread impact. Even so, few urban dwellers give much thought to the challenges of agriculture. Almost 50 years ago, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower aptly stated: “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” Farmers today likewise feel that much of the world is out of touch with agriculture and the important role of farmers. “We’re pretty complacent about where our food comes from,” laments one Canadian farmer. “Before the plastic wrap gets put on it and it gets put on a store shelf, a lot of people’s hands have touched it.”
Since we are all dependent upon the farming industry, the problems of farmers cannot be ignored. Sociologists Don A. Dillman and Daryl J. Hobbs warn: “In our highly interdependent society, rural problems quickly become urban problems and vice versa. Neither the urban nor rural portions of our society can flourish for long while the other languishes behind.” Furthermore, in today’s global village, an economic downturn in one nation can drastically affect the sale of crops and the cost of production in other lands.
Little wonder, then, that the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health reported: “Farming is one of the 10 most stressful occupations in the United States.” What are some of the factors behind the farm crisis? How can farmers cope? Is there any reason to believe the crisis can be solved?
[Blurb on page 4]
“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field”
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What’s Behind the Farm Crisis?Awake!—2003 | October 8
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What’s Behind the Farm Crisis?
“The staff at the Farm Stress Line are trained to help you deal with farm stress. We’re farmers and former farmers—just like you—and we understand the challenges facing rural families. We can put you in touch with people who can help. . . . All calls are confidential.”—From a Canadian government Web site.
STRESS is now recognized by many health professionals as an occupational hazard of farming. To help farmers cope, there are clinical psychologists who specialize in farm stress, offering such services as support groups and stress hot lines for farming communities.
A farmer’s wife named Jane attends a Thursday night group counseling session. “I came because my husband committed suicide,” explains Jane. “His dream had always been to farm the family farm, and I guess if he couldn’t do that, he didn’t want to do anything else.”
Many have observed an unprecedented rise in the number of farmers seeking relief from stress. Just what is behind the crisis many farmers are facing?
Natural Disasters and Disease
The government Web site quoted at the outset states: “The very nature of farm work means that a large portion of your daily lives—weather, market prices, interest rates, equipment breakdown—are not under your control. Even choosing between two things like which crop to grow or selling land [versus] transferring it to a creditor can create stress, as the outcome can be positive or negative.” When these factors are compounded by the threat of serious drought or disease or of losing a farm, the stress can become overwhelming.
Drought, for example, can be a double-edged sword. Farmer Howard Paulsen explained that the drought of 2001, one of the worst in Canadian history, affected his crops and his livestock. Without pastures to graze or crops to harvest, animal feed had to be purchased. “I’ve already spent $10,000 on feed and now I’m feeding them stuff that should be used in the winter time,” he said. “You start doing that, there’s no profit even in the livestock end of it.” In other areas, flooding has devastated many farms—ruining entire harvests.
In Britain the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001 was only the latest in a string of problems British farmers had experienced, including mad cow disease and swine fever. These diseases—and the fear they generate in the public—do more than wreak economic damage. Reported Agence France-Presse: “Sturdy countrymen, not the type easily moved to tears, have been seen sobbing as they watch government veterinarians stacking onto a burning pyre the herds they spent a lifetime building.” Following the outbreak of the bovine disease, police even began confiscating shotguns from farmers liable to commit suicide. Counseling services were flooded with calls from anxious farmers.
Economic Instability
There have also been dramatic changes in the economic landscape. “Between 1940 and the mid 1980s,” reads the back cover of the book Broken Heartland, “farm production expenses in America’s Heartland tripled, capital purchases quadrupled, interest payments jumped tenfold, profits fell by 10 percent, the number of farmers decreased by two-thirds, and nearly every farming community lost population, businesses, and economic stability.”
Why have profits failed to keep up with rising expenses? In today’s global community, farmers are subject to the forces of international markets. Farmers thus find themselves in competition with food producers thousands of miles away. True, international trade has also opened up new markets for farm goods, but the global market can be dangerously unstable. For example, in 1998 several grain and hog producers in Canada faced bankruptcy when their customers in Asia suffered an economic setback.
Loss of Community
Professor Mike Jacobsen, of the University of Iowa, who specializes in rural issues, observes that the farm crisis is also a rural community crisis. He says: “These places are child-centered, clean, where you want to get married and raise your kids. The schools are pretty decent. Safe. That’s the image, right? Well, the economic status of these towns is highly dependent on a number of small family farms in the surrounding area.” As a result, the farm crisis also shows its face in the form of closed hospitals, schools, restaurants, stores, and churches in rural towns. One of the greatest charms of agrarian life, its close-knit community, is disappearing.
Not surprisingly, then, according to Newsweek magazine, almost 16 percent of rural Americans are under the poverty line. In his report “The Rural Crisis Downunder,” Geoffrey Lawrence writes that in Australia, “unemployment, underemployment and poverty rates are very much higher in rural than in urban areas.” Economic instabilities have forced many families—especially younger ones—to move to the city. Sheila, who works a farm with her family, asks: “How far can this go before we run out of people willing to farm the land?”
Because of the exodus of the younger generation to cities, the population of many rural towns has become noticeably older. These communities have lost not only the vigor of youth but also the availability of support for the elderly—often when this care is most needed. Understandably, many older residents are confused and frightened by these rapid changes.
The farm crisis is thus devastating and far-reaching. It touches all of us. Nevertheless, as our next article will show, there is reason to believe that the farm crisis will end.
[Blurb on page 6]
In today’s global community, farmers are subject to the forces of international markets
[Blurb on page 6]
“How far can this go before we run out of people willing to farm the land?”
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