Be thankful for farmers.

Tomorrow we’ll all celebrate that most American of holidays – a gluttonous celebration of food. What could be better? But on Monday, I read a troubling article in the NYTimes about the particularly hard year Southern farmers have had. If you’re looking for things to be thankful for as you sit down to your feast, be thankful that people are still willing to farm at all.

The wet weather the past few months has wreaked havoc on farmers of all sizes. But small-scale, diversified vegetable farmers have a little more flexibility and resilience than their behemoth industrial brethren. If you have 1,000 acres growing only one crop - like the farmers in this article - your livelihood and your family's well-being are at the mercy of forces far beyond your control. When every sale is contingent upon global supply and demand, it leaves you in a precarious place not only imperiled by the fluctuation of the market, but, like farmers throughout history, at the mercy of the weather too. I hate the grim prospects of the farmers quoted in this article - many who are considering getting out of farming all together.



So here's the rub: There are scores of people across our state who would love access to more local food and who would gladly support farmers growing things they could actually eat. Imagine if more households across Alabama were having a meal like Rashmi and I will enjoy this Thanksgiving – with a majority of the ingredients locally sourced. What kind of change would that make in our state’s agricultural economy? And in the face of such dire prospects for industrial agriculture – especially with developing nations producing corn, wheat, and soybeans at rates that threaten to trample global prices – why is it that more industrial farmers don’t consider a return to vegetable farming? It would preserve their way of life, allow them to keep their land in production, and, if equipped with the right marketing strategy, provide a stable and secure income. So what’s missing?

Well, about a dozen things. First, there’s no structure in place to support industrial farmers who might consider making the transition to grow vegetables. The physical implements of industrial farming - the huge combines, the tractors, the grain elevators, etc. - are mostly worthless devices in diversified vegetable farming. And when a used combine can cost you a quarter of a million dollars, you're not just making a change in what you're growing - you're basically changing industries! 



Second, there’s the issue of perception. Because industrial farmers are so accustomed to the mantra of agriculture in the last 50 years - "Go Big or Get Out" - there's a dismissal of the notion that one could make a living growing vegetables on less than 10 acres of land. When you've watched your acreage expand almost exponentially in the past dozen years, the idea of shrinking down production to farm merely a fraction of your land seems laughable. 



Third, and perhaps most overwhelming, is the issues of subsidies. Much of the resistance to vegetable farming is tied to the fact that industrial growers receive huge government subsidies while fruit and vegetable growers receive none. Many large-scale farmers have become so accustomed to the subsidies they receive for growing (or not growing) their crops, that a return to actually producing food that could be sold locally on the open market seems not only daunting but dangerous. And subsidies are a huge part of their income. Tuscaloosa County farmers alone received over $14 million of subsidies in the last ten years. 


Of course, it’s not as simple as just switching what you grow. A lot of the knowledge about vegetable farming has been lost in the last 50 years. Add to that that I’m painting an overly rosy picture of the small-scale growers. In many ways, they’re just as susceptible to the wind and rain and hail and freezes as the farmers in this article. In fact, the argument could be made that they’re even more susceptible given their small size.

So here we are. Large-scale industrial farming is dangerous. Small-scale vegetable farming is dangerous. Everyone is imperiled by market forces and the weather. I don’t think there are any easy answers, but we must at least start asking what we can do. A good place to start is to pay fair prices for good food. Farming is dangerous because the profit margins are so low. The margins are so low because Americans pay less for food than any nation ever in history. Any nation ever in history. It’s true. Think about that when you sit down to your Thanksgiving meal. So pay fair prices for good food. That’s a place to start. Maybe have a local food inspired Thanksgiving – at least a dish or two. And when you sit down to the family table, be sure to give thanks to the farmers who grew the food.

Comments

[Chantel]

What a great article!
I give thanks to all local farmers willing to take the risk.

p.s. Our Thanksgiving meal was almost entirely local. Yay Alabama!