Family Farms???
June 13th, 2006 by Northern FarmerA beautiful sunny day in the north land and more hay was cut again today. The acres are going down steadily and a couple of days behind the cutting come the raking and baling. At this point it’s going like clock work and the end is in site a few days from now. And with our pattern of weather that we’ve been having the last month and a half there should be no “problem†with rain. Rain’s getting to be a rare thing on this place and if some would show up it’d be more than welcome. But, all in all, things are moving along just fine.
The last couple of days I finally broke down and decided that we’d better water the gardens if we want to have any garden produce this year. Some late planted seeds aren’t even germinating in the dry ground, so we’d better give em a boost. Same in the last corn field we planted, what a mess, some’s up and some ain’t. Depends on if there’s any moister in the ground or not. But farmers have an incredible faith that things will work out, or else we’re plain dumb. Either way, life goes on here.
Back in the 80s when I decided to farm full time we had the worst drought since the dirty thirties here, do I know how to pick em or what, and I kinda cut my teeth on disaster farming, so to speak. This dry spell is no disaster by any means compared to that three year drought that was my introduction into the wonderful world of full time farming. I very seldom think about those three years any more, but sometimes it’s good for a person to look back and see if they learned anything from the past. Thinking back, those three years flamed up the spark that was smoldering inside of me, the spark, or idea that something was wrong with the way everybody was saying how to farm. And a person has to consider that farmers were pretty free back then compared to nowadays. Thinking back there were very few of the issues that farmers face now. Back then, who’da ever imagined that the hog farmers would be smashed out of business by the multi national corporations; who’da ever thought that they’d have corporate dairies taking over? Now some folks might say, “most of the big dairies are family ownedâ€, OK, and Mickey Mouse is real too!
The trouble with getting older is that you learn more, lose your innocence, so to speak. So when I come across statements like that all I can do is shake my head, wondering if the guy making the statement is ignorant or was kicked in the head by a mule a while back. Now, if he was kicked in the head, my condolences, and next time remember stay away from the rear, but I figure most are just plain ignorant. We live on the north edge of a large dairy region, still mostly dominated by family farms, you know, the traditional kind. But as time goes on some are sucked into becoming bigger, a thousand cows or over. And they are not family farms no more, period! To raise up capital for the operation they get “investors†from out of state to carry them. That’s besides the massive debt that is borrowed, and we are talking millions here. All decisions gradually have to be investor approved, all bills paid for feed, vet, etc, are paid from a corporate office on the east or west coast. The buildings have very little life expectancy, so they are depreciating more rapidly than the debt pay down. The investors make sure that the milk is forward contracted, they make all the purchasing decisions. The family becomes little more than somebody to milk when the hired help is too hung over to show up. If there are kids, they’ll go to college and get the off the farm as soon as possible, heck they’d make more and have a more secure living at Burger King. Getting into college is no problem for these kids, because the family’s income will qualify them for any government grant. The farms that have been in the family for a hundred years or more, more than likely will not go another generation. IN fact, I’d put money on that. They might be called a family farm, but it isn’t at all. The souls were torn out. Another farm reduced to serfdom. And never again will it be a family farm, never.
The “industry†knows that “Family Farms†sell product. They can’t advertise, factory farmed, it just doesn’t sell. So the multi national corporations lie, lie, lie! And most people don’t know any better, thinking they’re buying something from a good old fashion family farm. I can’t blame the consumer, but I can blame the liars that spew this propaganda, and I will blame the stupid farmers that think that they are a part of the “industryâ€. In the end they will all lose, no more family farms for them.
I wrote this because I heard on the radio this morning a dairy industry spokesman saying that 99% of dairies were family owned and that is the message they are getting out to questioning consumers. I almost fell out of my chair! But it shouldn’t surprise me, Cargill is classified a family farm, they write the farm bill, they say what goes in trade policy. The good thing I see is that these liars are having to scramble and make more and more propaganda to keep their product selling, while more and more folks are looking for real family farms to purchase from. And the corporations see the people looking for good foods, and it’s a tide that won’t be stopped.
June 13th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Tom, as I was reading your post, this thought struck me……as new creations in Christ, we have been freed from the slavery of sin. I see a different kind of enslavement, though, and that is debt. This is a shame. The “family farm” being led down the path to hell at the hands of the big agricultural corporations until its legacy is simply a slogan used to sell a product. Why are they doing this? Money? Good grief, is that all it ever comes down to? That, and power, I suppose. The further in debt, the more enslaved, and all the while they are dancing to the tune of the piper, the one in command. There is ignorance, and then there is deceit. I’m thankful for voices like yours. God bless you for speaking out; hopefully you will help in waking people out of their stupor. Long live the true family farms, like yours. May it prosper to His glory.
June 13th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
HI Tom!!!
Applause!!!! Taking my hat off and standing up first!!!!
You describe a life that I could have been trapped into. I was supposed to take over my Dad’s dairy farm. I was supposed to take over an ever increasing load of debt and that was over 35 years ago. All I could see was an ever increasing spiral downward. Talk about loss of freedom!!! Being chained to an ever increasing debt load. No thanks!!!
I regret leaving the family farm but I certainly don’t regret or question the reasons WHY I left.
May the Lord continue to bless you with ‘eyes to see and ears to hear!’
June 13th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
The guy who owns the farm has a family so it makes him a family farmer, right?
It is a modern definition of family farm…that’s all. It is like Brian’s company is a family friendly company. Ha ha. After he puts in 70 hours a week he gets to be with his family.
June 14th, 2006 at 3:43 am
Emily,
Enslavement, and not just short term. I do hope folks catch the drift of what I’m saying about the false notion that these are family farms. Thanks much!
Steven,
I think you made a wise decission years ago. Being trapped in the modern spiral downward is not the place to be. Thank you!
Christina,
The “modern definition” is just a fat lie! I do welcome debate on this subject because the ammunition box is over flowing with facts. And I’m loaded for bear on this subject. Thanks!
Tom
June 14th, 2006 at 5:31 am
Hey Tom
I had a very similar post last week. You will see more and more of this crap from the dairy sector. Huge amounts of paper have been wasted the last couple of months in the industry magazines teaching people how to combat what we’ve been teaching consumers. A few articles even talked about “misinformation being spread on the internet”, I think they noticed us
The battle lines are being drawn in the dairy world, and its starting to get intense. I can’t remember a time when they have so defencive.
June 14th, 2006 at 7:41 am
Tom, wonderful post, and oh so true. It always cracks me up how when the big farms get scared about something they will run to us little guys and say “We’re all in this together” (usually about manure management) to get our support, then they will turn around and use their muscle with the banks and politicians to try and squeeze us out. “Family farm” indeed. Seems like they wouldn’t know a pitchfork from a potato, they do their farming with a steering wheel and leave the grunt work to illegal immigrants.
June 14th, 2006 at 10:27 am
Tom,
I have a friend who is a partner in a 750 cow dairy. I took my wife’s niece there last fall to watch them milk. I suspect that after watching them milk, she will not ever want to buy milk from the store. The person who was milking was from someplace in Africa. We watched a few of the claws drop off onto the floor and into manure. They appeared to be milking without first washing off the blue teat dip from the previous milking. A neighbor who has worked at this dairy says that you would be amazed at the feed that the cows sometimes get - nothing gets wasted.
I would much rather have my milk come from a real family farm where the family actually does the work instead of a bunch of hirelings who really don’t care how the job is done.
Jim
June 14th, 2006 at 11:22 am
Hey, Sister,
I haven’t been actively blogging or surfing for the past few weeks as well, was busy & just fell really sick…I am down with gastric flu & ulcers in the throat that boils me down with fever & pain…
Yet, I know I am healed in Jesus name, not trying to be…manage to wrote a new entry just on my blog after a long fiasco…pray for me the Devil is trying to deceive me with the pain…
Thank you for your concern, really appreciate your thoughts!
May the Lord keep you & bless you!
June 14th, 2006 at 11:24 am
Pardon Me, it should be “Dear Brother in Christ”, Typo Error not “Hey, Sister”
My apologies…
Godwyn
June 14th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
No debate here. Just pointing out how distorted the definition of family is these days. Just like the definition of marriage. Just like the definition of Christian. My! It looks like anything goes, doesn’t it?! We need to see the truth for sure. But so many have been fed lies so long they don’t even know what is true anymore.
June 14th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
Scott,
Thanks for the input! I don’t keep up all that much on the dairy “industry”, so that’s interesting finding out about their propaganda as of late. Keep on hammering at them buggers! It’s the same way in all the different forms of agriculture now, nothing but deception. And as far as them being defensive, well, I think they have no choice when they’re that guilty, like I said on the post, “lies, lies, lies!”
Brent,
You got that right! Every time there’s some legislation the corporates snuggle up to the family farmers, and when they get what they want they stick a knife in the family farmers back.
Jim,
Hey, we should post a blog here on the worst modern farming practices that we’ve ever seen. I know I could write some humdingers! What I’ve witnessed, sheeeesh! Might just do that in the very near future.
Godwyn,
At least it’s human!
Never fear, I’ve been called about everything a person could imagine at one time or another. So sister ain’t all to bad
And our prayers are coming your way, rest assured. God Bless!
Christina,
Good point! The distortion of the definition of family, hmmm, you hit the nail on the head. I’ve never quite thought of it that way, but will from now on. I owe you one! Thanks!
June 15th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Tom:
Thinking about this more: Not only is the definition of FAMILY farms distorted, but the definition of family FARMS is distorted. How can such abuse, rape and pilage of the land be called farming? Now I better quit thinking before I hurt myself. Blessings!!!
June 15th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
Christina,
I’ll have to get off my butt and post about how food production would be so different if the multi national companies that bought and paid for our government would collapse. I was just reading an excellent article in an old Small Farmers Journal with the facts. It’s so good, we’d have the capability to boost food production 4 times over with small family farmers farming organic or semi organically. And the food would be healthy, the life would return to the soil, life would return to the rural areas and small towns, businesses in small towns would thrive, people would return to the faith of their fathers. WOW!
But, nnnoooooo…… We have to be concerned about the economy, about the huge souless corporations that just bring death, misery, broken families. I could just……
Maybe that’s why we blog, we’re enemies to the culture of death, we want to see corporate prolapse, (I love that one).
Funny, sometimes I go for a while not blogging about all that stuff and all of a sudden it comes back strong. I’ll post about this very soon, I’m in the mood lately.