Rural Routes/Margot Ford McMillen

Getting to Know Farmers

After the last round of tariffs, which is the same as saying the last round of pay cuts for family farmers, my neighbor “J” went on TV and said he’s never before seen all the commodity markets get slammed at the same time. This is coming from a guy that has learned over the years that diversity means safety—he raises cattle, soybeans, milo, wheat. Most of the experts agree that diversity is the best way to protect yourself, but those same experts also agree that the farm economy today is worse than any time since 1985, the last big farm crisis.

Fortunately, the US media is beginning to follow farmers, so people are seeing that farmers are in trouble. And people are beginning to think about where they get their food. Really, it’s not manufactured in the back of the grocery store.

While it’s always been easy for rural folks to learn about city places, which are on the news 24/7, it’s been nearly impossible for city folks to get more than an “If we build it, they will come” picture of farm life. Here’s what we see if we live here: each farm is a small business with debts, employees, income, and need for markets. This is almost never seen on New York media. But, suddenly, farm stories dominate the press. A few notable titles to get you started watching:

Documentary “The Biggest Little Farm” is an optimistic journey through the lives of John and Molly Chester, who left the city to create their dream farm. It’s going to be sustainable, with inputs that they raise themselves, and it’s going to co-exist with nature in a beautiful way. John, a documentary film director, chooses a peppy soundtrack and the filming captures the landscape and the mostly happy lives of the critters on their California farm. Molly, a chef, embodies the joy and fun of day-to-day life on a 200-acre farm that raises 250 crops. The big threat—California wildfires—can take out their years of work in a few hours, but seem far away and freakish. As entrepreneurs well-connected with the foodie community, they suffer from existential fears that involve crises of spirit rather than finances. News Flash for idealists: it’s possible to do a lot on a farm if you have financing to make a film. And, as John said in one interview, if you have a good marriage counselor. So, watch this film for the views (Foodie Guru Alice Waters said, “on the biggest screen possible”), but know that real life’s gonna be harder.

PBS-created “The Farmsteaders” shows a less-optimistic vision drenched with sappy music and sentimental scenes, but one that rings truer. The farm, the equipment, everything except the landscape, Ohio-style mountainous, is pretty much like the rest of small-town midwest if you haven’t plowed thousands of acres with your big John Deere and put it in corn. The main players—a family working to resurrect their family dairy farm by installing their own processing equipment, making cheese and direct selling to a few outlets—seem like some of the dairy folks I know. And, trust me on this, those small dairy farm products are thousands of times better than what comes from the big producers. Are they organic? Better! Organic plus.

Dairy, at present, might be the hardest type of farming to succeed in. Milk checks haven’t covered expenses for years and one dairyman told me his entire neighborhood has taken all their equipment to the auction house, meaning that even if prices come back they won’t be able to build up. Fifty years ago, farmers milked at dawn and dusk and the milk was pumped into big stainless-steel tanks on the farm. A co-operatively-owned milk truck came to the milk house and pumped out the milk, took it to a facility where it was processed, sending cheese, yogurt, ice cream and, of course, bottled milk, to the grocery store. Today, most of those products are created in huge factories from milk powders, which come from industry and not from farmers. To make up for the poor flavor, processors add sugar and flavorings. You call that pudding stuff in a plastic carton yogurt?

The final film for your attention is “Right to Harm,” a documentary from a crew that wanted to learn about what impact a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) has on a neighborhood. It features, in part, John Ikerd, an ag economist who admits that in his career he saw farmers doing worse if they followed advice from universities. And it follows the stories of a few folks who found CAFOs moving into their communities, including one family that abandoned their home.

So take this opportunity to get educated. Go to the farmers’ market and get acquainted with some of the folks in your community raising your food. This year, for many of them, is make-it-or-break it and they deserve our support!

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts Farm and Fiddle on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. She also is a co-founder of CAFOZone.com, a website for people who are affected by concentrated animal feeding operations. Her latest book is “The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History.” Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, October 1, 2019

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