This topic has been brewing within for awhile and this article is more of a heads up to my friends and family than anything else. After 10 years in this profession here are some of my observations.
When people ask me what I do to keep things simple I usually just say farmer. Since 2010 at least a portion of my income and at least half of my work year has been dedicated to vegetable farming, and I am trying to figure out how to just do that and not have to work anywhere else. Every year I get a little closer. This past year was around 5 months working for the man and 7 months freedom. Some farmers that just farm don't think I am a real farmer but I don't care. My goal is to be entirely food and energy self sufficient on my own land and I am over half way there. We don't yet grow all our food and we do go to the store (I don't know anybody that is entirely food sufficient and I have looked for a long time). However, what we do grow we have enough to last us the entire year and there is extra to sell. There is enough to sell that I can make a profit and buy all the other food we need. The food we grow is zero applications of any sprays and we do not cover the earth in plastic (gross). We feed the soil and the plants respond and feed us. Our farm is very much a low waste farm with everything edible either sold or processed to eat later. This also means less guilt because everything edible ends up in a human mouth. But I am not the typical farmer.
In a world of extremes, our food system is a shining example. As I write this in late June 2019 we are in the midst of one of the worst times to ever be a farmer in the United States. President Trump has began taxing Chinese imports to strengthen US production. So in retaliation the Chinese did the same and stopped purchasing our grain exports, primarily soy. The farmers who went big on this crop have now lost one of their biggest customers. Most years this would mean a glut of product on the market and temporarily decreasing prices. Some farmers on the edge might go out of business. To put a cherry on top of that, it has rained an enormous amount this spring and it is estimated that the current year production will be under 50% of a normal year. Another tipping point for farmers on the edge.
And lets chat briefly about farmers on the edge. Those two examples are going to push many off the edge but the trends were already going in the wrong direction. Per the US government, the average age of the US farmer is 58 years old. 90% of farmers under the age of 30 must maintain a second job. The wages in this industry are pitiful. The most genius wizard level farmers I can find in our entire region maybe make $10 per hour net. And to get into the game requires large amount of capital investment for work that is hard and low on the glory scale. Many factors that have been at work for decades are at play, we are just seeing many of them fully materialize in front of our eyes.
The US government tilts the hands in favor of big factory farms by making it illegal to sell value added foods produced at home, subsidizing oil, subsidizing some crops and not others, providing crop insurance and allowing known carcinogens to be sprayed all over. There are at least two departments that could shut down the poison game but won't (EPA, FDA). It is sick that we have two types of food in the grocery store, the cheaper food with the poison and the more expensive food with less poison. The farmers that spray less poison must jump through the hoops and pay fees to prove they use less poison (organic didn't start out this way). Food without contamination of any kind and full of life and flavor is harder to find because fewer people grow food like that, it isn't encouraged financially speaking. Our food system is about as gangster as our health care system and that is largely the fault of the US government.
If I were a betting man I would bet on food prices going up in the next few years. Many farmers are going to go out of business. The land will continue to be consolidated into the hands of investment firms. All of this could actually be a good thing for the ones that remain. If food prices go up maybe people would eat less, seeing as about 1/3 of the US population is obese. If food prices go up maybe there would be less food waste. Roughly 15% of edible produce grown actually ends up in the mouth of a human being in the US. About 1/3 if not pretty enough so it never leaves the field. About 1/3 is wasted in the distribution process. And about half of what is sold is wasted in the home and not eaten. If food prices go up wages will go up. If wages go up more farmers will want to farm. If more farmers farm the supply will go up and the market will balance itself. Market forces at work, without the manipulation of government.
Being the optimist I keep my nose to the grindstone and dream of a better farming future. I will always farm and homestead and am looking forward to the day when more people do the same.
Comments
Post a Comment