Have City People Lost Touch?
Rain brings a different reaction from urban people and rural ones. Some thoughts about farming for city people to consider.
I work in a tourist location about 1 hour away from a major city. A lot of city folk come out here for their vacations or as a day trip. It is a lake area surrounded by rich farm land.
Recently our weather has been very unseasonal. We had a long drawn out winter with many cold spring days, followed by a distinct lack of rain. Where I live rain is a fairly regular occurrence so none of the farmers irrigate.
After weeks of sunshine, and cool temperatures, fields were looking bare… nothing new was growing and cattle had been chewing anything down as fast as they could. Hay fields were weeks behind where they should have been.
Photo by Author
Finally we had a few days of warm weather and were flooded with tourists eager to get out to the lake. Great! I was happy for the warm weather too. However, we still needed rain. I personally do not have cattle, my animals were not suffering, but I have several co-workers who do have cattle and they were worried. Their was very little for them to eat, and to make matters worse, most cows now had calves at their side.
Well, sure enough it finally rained, not a huge down pour like we needed, but still something. All the locals were pretty happy and agreed that we needed it. Yet, a funny thing was happening. Most, if not all, the city people were complaining. Sure it was great for them to get away from the city, but they were miserable that it happened to rain.
Do they not realize the cost of their food is linked to availability? No rain now means higher beef prices in the fall. No rain now means some producers are taking their cattle to the auctions because they cannot afford to buy feed for them. As summer wears on, if rains do not fall, feed prices will rise. So will the price of beef. This is cattle country, but cattle are not cheap, feeding them is not cheap.
Image via Wikipedia
Farmers are not getting rich of the sale of their animals. Middle men, and grocers make the most. The farmer has to invest his earnings for next year, often subsidized by the government. Occasionally farmers are even bought off and discouraged from growing certain crops so the prices in stores will be good. Sometimes a dairy farmer is ordered to dump excess milk, rather than selling it.
Newer farms often have no better than a mobile home on them, while the farmer dreams of having a house, as the years go by, his money is needed for other purchases, the new house is not going to happen.
Image via Wikipedia
Farmers have their money invested in land, animals, and equipment. Property taxes. Tractors. Have you priced a tractor?
If a cattle farmer sells all his cattle he has no breeding stock for the following year, yet if he cannot feed his cattle, how can he keep them?
Factory farms, company owned, powerful forces, often try to buy out the smaller farmers. When all farms are owned by big wigs, what will happen to the prices? How much will your meat and potatoes cost?
Have you heard of terminator seeds? These are another area that should be of concern to the city person. Terminator seeds are often genetically modified seeds. They grow into plants which do not produce seeds. The reason given is so they do not “escape” and spread into the environment, but what happens when farmers cannot produce their own seeds and are forced to buy from massive companies like Monsanto? What will happen when seed prices escalate? When farmers have no choice but to buy seeds, the seller can set the price. How much will your bread cost then?
The next time it rains, think of the farmer. Next time you drive by a farm where there is only a mobile home, do not look down your nose at that person. The farmer maybe only lives in a mobile, but probably has millions tied up in land and equipment. If it were not for that farmer, and the rain, you would not be eating. If that farmer cannot exist, he sells to a company, the company will undoubtedly inflate the prices when they control the market.
Image via Wikipedia
There are a lot more things about farming that city people will never know or understand, such as why does a man chose to live in a remote area growing food for others who generally will look down their nose at him?
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User Comments
ken bultman
On June 24, 2009 at 6:41 am
It’s nice to know someone else understands the plight of the family farmer. Florida tourists hate rain, too. Citrus growers don’t.
clay hurtubise
On June 24, 2009 at 8:16 am
Good piece. People tend to think about what directly affects them, good to bring the background back into focus.
Thanks,
Clay
Mark Gordon Brown
On June 24, 2009 at 9:25 am
I wonder if it occurs to the farmer how the city person thinks about him? I try to grow as much of my own food as I can, but some years, that hasnt been very much.
Daisy Peasblossom
On June 24, 2009 at 10:46 am
In a sense, tourists are another kind of crop; unseasonal weather kinda hurts that one, too. However, this does highlight the problems of the small farmer in today’s world. There is a way around that last problem, however; and that is to purchase heirloom seeds which have not been genetically altered.
Southgate
On June 24, 2009 at 11:17 am
Nice account on the plight of the farmers.Thank you
jharmon
On June 24, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I was raised in tobacco country, with a little dairy. We had goats and chickens, a few hogs. Raised all kinds of crops for family use.
I’ve lived in both rural areas and big cities in my 40 years. I find both enjoyable for different reasons. But it bothers me the disconnect between rural and urban life that has developed, mainly along political and social lines.
I don’t think it’s a matter of one side being out of touch. If anything, both sides are out of touch with the other. It’s just a matter of perspective. People tend to focus on what’s important to them in their area. What’s relevant to the farmers isn’t relative to someone living downtown, but what’s important to that person downtown probably isn’t important to the farmer.
Deep Blue
On June 24, 2009 at 2:14 pm
That’s the irony about life these days, many people have to really work hard to earn while the rest may simply touch the finished product and they are earning twice as much as the people who did the heavy toil.
Lostash
On June 24, 2009 at 2:32 pm
How very true. I also like the comment liking tourists to crops…very relevant to small communities who also rely on tourism to survive.
s hayes
On June 24, 2009 at 5:04 pm
great article – your points about terminator seeds are particularly interesting and worthy of note – this is one of the biggest threats to our planet driven by greedy profiteers
Inna Tysoe
On June 24, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Interesting article. But I agree with jharmon, it’s not that “city people” or “country people” have lost touch but that people tend to focus on what’s important to them personally.
I also am not sure that “city people” “look down their nose” at “country people”. I mean, you could just as easily argue that the converse is true–but again, I don’t think it’s so much a matter of “looking down one’s nose” as it is a matter of what is important to you personally.
It’s a people thing; not a country/city thing.
Regards,
Inna
Ruby Hawk
On June 24, 2009 at 8:03 pm
All farms have gone from our area. We used to have many small farmers who grew, cotton, corn, peanuts, soy beans, Chicken houses were rampant,but no more. I don’t know when I have seen a field of cotton or corn, or a chicken house. We do have small and large farms south of us but not in north Georgia.I would be afraid to guess where our food comes from.
Figgins
On June 25, 2009 at 1:12 am
This piece is great, thank you!! We are a country area slowly and sadly getting grown up. It’s frustrating to have more and more people here say they just go to the store for food…But where does it come from?! I am more sensitive to the farmer side of life due to my grandparents having a dairy farm while I was growing up.
Emma C S
On July 3, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Very interesting, as usual. I’m a suburban kid so agriculture is another world for me. I still prefer rain to heatwaves though. *not a summer person*
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