Farmers As An Endangered Species

It is hard for me to tell you how good this looks to me as a farmer. 

For over twenty years we had trees around the house. A year and a half ago we took them down. Last year we had open ground as we let the ground rest. In February we planted these trees and it looked soooooo much better just having sticks in the ground. Now they are growing out. It is looking more like an orchard every day.

Farmers As An Endangered Species

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright July, 2012

                  I’d like to talk about another endangered species—our farmers.

            There are fewer and fewer of us every year. For example, this past year dozens of dairies in our area have been squeezed out.  And, while I hate to admit it, some of us are getting older. Many of our kids have looked at what we do for a living and said, “No thank you!”

            One of the biggest surprises my last year as Farm Bureau president were the number of academics, politicians, regulators and journalists who said, “If we can’t grow our own food, we’ll just import what we need.” Seriously? We’re over a barrel importing oil, Do we really want to import our food too? These are the same guys who say they support family farmers and want to make farming harder by piling on new rules and regs for this and that.

            Farmers don’t need much—just an opportunity. If we see a chance to farm and keep our noses above water we will work our fannies off. But, right now, the mix of increased regulations and tight economics make farmers an endangered species.

This piece was written three years ago. Since then more farmers have gone out of business. Tens of thousands of acres have been fallowed with the drought.

   The one thing I would add to this piece is the story of one of our neighbor families. The father went to high school with Sheryl's Dad. His three sons farmed with him. They were good farmers. Thirty years ago they looked at what was happening and made a decision as a family. They quit farming. 

   Two sons went into law enforcement and one went into education. The eldest has already retired with a secure pension. That is something he would not have done at this age, if ever, if he stayed farming.

   I can't argue with this family's choice. They made the right choice for themselves. But, look what happened to the rest of us. They went from being producers and taxpayers to government jobs. No, there is nothing wrong with government jobs. But, can you see the difference? We lost some good people who otherwise would have been increasing prosperity for all of us. Just another example of farmers as an endangered species.