Rural Ruminations

"Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man.  When tillage begins, other arts will follow.  The farmers, therefore are the founders of civilization."

- Daniel Webster, American Statesman

This afternoon I listened to a radio program extolling the wisdom of the electoral college in that it gives smaller states a voice in the Presidential and Vice Presidential election.  The broadcaster was extolling the brilliance of it, saying that if elections were based on popular vote, candidates would focus all their campaign on winning California, New York, Texas and Florida.  The electoral college gives small states a place at the table.  He then went on to speak of the widening gulf between wants of voters in highly concentrated urban centers and the wants of voters in 'fly-over' country.  There is a cauldron brewing.

As I drove down I-10, on my right and my left was farmland, but I began to think about how fertile farmland is being engulfed by urban sprawl.  Subdivisions are cropping up (pardon the pun) on land that used to grow rice, soybeans, and sugar cane.  Even though we live in a rural area, I was surprised to see concrete being poured to erect a Dollar General Store way out in the country.

I received a telephone call from a farmer friend who is going out of business after 16 years.  The rains in August decimated his family's vegetable crop.  He grows for farmer's markets and gets no disaster payments from the government for crop loss. His kids are growing up and taking 'off-farm' jobs.  He has formulated an exit strategy to be completely out of farming in five years.

Farming is hard work.  Cows must be milked every day.  Too much rain - or too little can result in crop failure.  Or everything can go perfectly fine until the crop pest or disease robs your harvest.  On the other hand, farming is incredibly fun and rewarding.  It is an honorable profession and is truly a labor of love.  The satisfaction of growing the majority of food on your supper table is fulfilling. There are character-building lessons taught in farming each and every day.  Lessons in patience, faith, work-ethic, perseverance, gratitude, and humility are all taught in the sweat and dirt filled classroom of the field.  I always find it interesting in Genesis 2 that God created Man, planted a garden and placed Man in it.

Yes, I think Daniel Webster was right - farmers are the foundation of civilization.