Well, this Logsdon fellow is at again. Read that link. This guy simply overwhelms me with his good sense and lack of fear of political correctness. I am a stone cold, Libertarian-Capitalist... yet Logsdon's analysis of the "business" of farming is unnerving - if you really take the time to think about it.
Agriculture gave rise to civilization - not the other way around. But most "civilizations" collapse at some point, and reorganize into another that eventually collapses once again... it amazes me that my fellow American's know how much the CD rate at the local bank is, but have no idea what food inventories are across the land, and while I fully recognize that is more likely a shortage of MONEY that causes food shortages, Logsdon's point on SOIL could not be more accurate. Just take a look at Haiti (or Africa, or China) in satellite photos to see what happens when soils are permitted to erode or are over produced.
I am more than an avid gardener, I am almost a rabid gardener. I care for my garden's soil like one of my children, and it returns the favor - we produce most of the vegetables we eat on the farm (not to mention, our meat, milk, and eggs).
I loved his essay, as well as his mind set, and taken a step further - that small scale farming/gardening IS (or could be) a money making enterprise for every family with access to a plot and the interest to work it in that growing stuff is fun, and anything you grow yourself you don't have to buy, or pay for the gas to get back and forth to the store. (A neighbor of ours in Boca Raton, FL, has chickens in their backyard! No big deal in rural Tennessee, but in Boca Raton? Could have knocked me over with a feather.)
You see, I am a big fan and supporter of "family farms" (and all small/family business for that matter... I told you I was a capitalist), but "family farms" means much more expensive food - not everybody is going to support that or can support that. Industrial farming is the low cost producer, no matter how many Farm-Aid concerts we have. Folks that cannot afford family farm prices can certainly grow their own, and all of this is going to come to pass over the next decade or 2 - but it sure would not hurt to motivate people, especially the 11% of the US population now receiving food assistance, in this direction. In the end, as any gardener worth his shovel knows:
If you keep taking the produce out of the garden without putting it back in (if you catch my drift) you won't be taking much out for long. What you are really selling is your soil, and once its gone you can't sell it anymore. Even a capitalist like me can grasp that.
Mr. Logsdon, keep it coming.
20 comments:
Brilliant G.
Logdson and Jeffers-What a pair! I think we sometimes miss the mental health benefits of feeding the soil, feedinig our bodies and feeding our minds that raising food promotes. My kids have all come from backgrounds of abuse and neglect. I give a lot of the credit for their good outcomes to living in the country. We are raising a generation of crazy kids in part because they are nature and nutritionally deprived. An afternoon of pulling the potatoes you planted, then an evening spent with your family, eating the meal you helped put on the table has more value for most kids than $90.00 an hour therapy.
Amen, Kathy. Amen.
Hard physical work, especially for young people, is vastly underrated for its theraputic value. The satisfaction one gets from being productive, working with your hands at something you can TASTE... is not easily replaced by any of the diversions our young people find themselves presented with.
Your friend Logsdon is a sharp fellow.
I never thought about the simple fact that farming is REALLY selling the soil. And soil is chemistry and physics - not economics. His larger point gonged around my head for a while... particularly with my fetish for gardening.
The point by extension, that home food production by gardening is simply a good idea for a family in every sense, can not be overstated either.
I live in rural Tennessee during the spring and summer, and in our county we have nearly 20% of the population receiving food assistance. That this could happen in a county with ENDLESS opportunity to garden, raise livestock, get part time farm work, etc... is just too absurd for me to put my mind around. These folk's grandparents would be hard pressed to understand the sad circumstances of their descendents.
You know, during more than a few periods in this nation's history, the whole "gentleman farmer" model didn't work, and people were lined up for gov'ment food assistance. One in 10 families are now on some form of food assistance. May your rutabegas always grow to the moon, but if they don't, all these awful government benefits that keep the children here alive will make you all FDR fans someday. :)
I read about some research last week where it was discovered that frequent contact with bacteria in the soil substantially reduces asthma, allergy reactions and depression!
Sadly, last year the World also reached the point where over 50% of the population live in cities, and an estimated 170,000 people PER DAY are leaving the land for the cities!
Do you ever get the feeling we're ALL heading in the wrong direction?
It comes down to too many of us. If everbody headed back to rural America, it wouldn't be rural anymore. I am the most compassionate of people and I have been rescuing children for the past 20 years. I could not let a child go hungry if it was in my power to feed them. The problem is where to draw the line. Handouts at the current rate can not be maintained. Don't get me wrong. I have no solution and I will continue to support my food bank with both time and money. I just worry about what happens when you set up a society to expect that level of support and then can no longer provide it.
Kathy:
That has been exactly my point since the inception of this blog. I just lack your street cred.
People are resourceful (when forced to be), they will figure this out albeit with some discomfort. The wasted energy on policies that are just plain silly is a pain in the ass, but I guess it keeps it interesting.
Bur:
I have traveled extensively in the 3rd world of Central & South America - by foot. The people living in rural areas seem to feed themselves (and brew some good booze) without much government help, I can't speak for the citi folks in these countries (I have not traveled in Cuba or Venezuela).
Bur:
During what period in American history was it that another industry besides farming fed the people?
From what you hear in the media, and all the sugary soda, artificial ingredients and raw fat that makes up the "comfort foods" of today's diet, you'd have to wonder if there is any wheat, rice, corn and soybeans even in food these days at all. :) I wasn't highlighting the tens of thousands of farmers that have collectively fed the country since the U.S. began (and before). I was concerned about the SINGLE farmer, who at various times in history had to fight the dust bowl, bow weevils, no rain, locusts and every other threat to a crop. If sufferers of these problems had had to feed their families during those times alone, they'd all be dead. Fortunately, with group dynamics, the majority of farmers with food to sell sold their calories. And the mighty government benefits ensured the transaction. :)
Bur,
During most of that time, there were no government handouts. You either made it or not. Most made it. The poverty level now is not too different from the poverty level before LBJ's great society. We have just made much less self-reliant poor people. Not a good thing. What happens when the government can no longer afford these programs you love so much? It will be very hard for people with no education, and no work experience to adjust. They are not prepared to do anything.
Regards,
Coal Guy
Coal Guy is stealing my thunder again...
Bur:
Too, bad crops, dust bowls, pests, droughts... these are all normal events and the people of the time made preparations for these events - storing food, contingency planning, community, etc...
Today poor folks have a credit card from the food stamp folks.
I grew up in a working class home and my parents came of age in the 1930's... we might not have had much money, but there was a year's worth of food - enough for a family of 9. We always had a whopper of a garden, too. My father could fix ANYTHING - cars, furnace, appliances, bikes - and built most of our house from the ground up. Even in his 70's the man could run like a deer - my parents were THIN.
Tell me the percentage of working class folks today sporting that profile? Not a lot.
And you got thru all that working-class familiy living and ended up malking millions on Wall Street. How many kids on the block ended up THAT way? You're comparing apples and oranges. Perhaps you don't need the horrible government benefits, but almost ALL people aren't Wall Street raiders! :)
What did the people in Ireland do during the famines? They had no benefits I bet, so they used the churches. And then they left, which is a possibility too.
Bur:
My point was my parents (and I) were/are regular folks. But my mother could sew and knit and cook (and still does at 86) like you read about and my father could fix or build anything. They were not "specialists", and feared not to turn their hand at ANYTHING.
My father would have rather cut his hand off than take unemployment (although he nearly burned his hand off in an work accident and got disabilty for a few months in 1980 or so) or any other sort of government program. Same with my Father's and Mother's brothers and sisters. I cannot say the same is true of some of their grandchildren (my parents were the youngest of their large families)
Our government's programs have removed that motiviation and PRIDE from most working class folks IMHO.
When you become a true working man who would love to be a Lehman Brothers top analyst making $300,000 a year, but who just plain doesn't have the ability or opportunity, and all the steel mills and car plants have been shut down because high-income people like you and me determined China would do the work for even less, so that we could make/save even MORE money!, just what is the average guy supposed to do? I'll tell you what they ARE doing. They are being snookered by the "education industry" to pay/borrow tens of thousands of dollars to become certified nursing assistants, radiological technicians, pharmacy assistants, and chefs, all jobs that used to be learned on the job for free. Westwood "College" will train you to be a cop! Your department will already TEACH you how to be a cop if you get a cop job! :) After 30 years of stagnant wages and the resulting borrowing to stay even, it should be no surprise that even the most able guys out there (like you and me -- someday) are filing for social security at age 62 cause they have no other choice. Bravo for your little piece of land and ability to take care of yourself. Get some friends who can't. Find out why they can't. Some are just plain lazy -- no doubt. But sometimes they aren't lazy at all. Sometimes the overindebted country of theirs just ain't hiring.
FYI oil's up to $80 today. :)
Bur:
You won't here a peep of an argument from me regarding the education "industry"... still, people are responsible for themselves - they don't have to fall for it.
Look, I am 100% self educated white trash (and comfortable with that) - I have no credentials whatsoever, yet I have as you point out in fact made money at this (though never the big payday, but not from lack of trying and I am still at it) and I still have some of it left (because I am frugal, though money is far more slippery than folks might believe... it is easy to be parted from - I have gone bust twice, but that's the way it us for us "scum bag speculators"). There were not a few working class guys on Wall Street back in the 80's and early '90's.... not so many today.
The point is, I get that some folks don't get the opportunities others do. Luck is a big factor in life, as much as we hate to admit it.
Expectations are the issue as much as motivation. I could go on and on on that one...
In the end, it is what it is... life really isn't fair...
Life can be mostly fair if certain segments didn't cheat. :) There is a reason why the gulf between rich and poor hasn't been this wide since just before the Great Depression. Demonizing and shutting down government (regulation) allowed a gifted few to rob the 90% of the country not as able as you and me. We differ quite a bit on these horrible government benefits and regulation. But you now have your chance! The top 10% have now robbed the other 90%, and we are in a Depression. Now what? Give everyone a farm?
Bur,
It's not that there is a lack of regulation, it is the WRONG regulation. This is the New American Fascism. Regulated industries LOVE IT. They love it especially when they can buy favorable legislation from Congress and send their Republican minions into public "service" during Republican administrations and Democrat minions during Democrat administrations. Look at the number and positions of GS guys at the Fed and Treasury.
GE contributed over $100,000,000 to the Democrats last election cycle, and expects to make billions on cap and trade and environmental legislation.
The most regulated industries are the worst offenders. They support Democrats because the Dems put on the face of defenders of the common man. HA!
Wanna guess how Obama came out of nowhere to be president?
Regards,
Coal Guy
Obama's #1 campaign contributor was Goldman Sachs -- several thousand "Jeffers" made that happen. :) And since cap and trade is all but dead, GE's $100 million didn't do much good, eh? Haha!
95% of government regulations apply to less than 5% of America. 40,000 pages of Federal tax regulations, and more than 2/3rds of individuals file a simple 2-page 1040 tax return. I have a dozen books of regulations at my desk here (the CFRs) that I barely ever open. Stop listening to Limbaugh. :)
Regulated industries LOVE regulation because it provides barriers to competition and the free market. GE ain't done yet. Neither is GS.
AT&T fought tooth and nail against deregulation of telecom. They love their regulation. It allows them to soak you good. I've personally seen the big s#!t eating grins on their faces when they talk about it. Same for big pharma, and banking.
If you want to believe that those billionaire "men of the people" are on your side, go ahead. But I'm just not feeling the love.
Regards,
Coal Guy
Post a Comment