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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?