America’s breadbasket is disappearing. Where is it going?
America was founded on an idea of self-determination, an idea that anyone willing to put in the effort could pull themselves up by their bootstraps and could survive, nay thrive in these new United States. This idea has been echoed throughout the nation’s history. This concept’s roots in agriculture are clear all the way back to the first settlers to arrive to North America, and their notion of the “family farm”. They were influenced by enlightenment ideas and believed that families setting up their own farm was a noble way to provide for themselves in this new world. The biggest government endorsement of this new family farm came with the passing of the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act was meant to expand America westward and promote agriculture on the Western Frontier. The act allowed for anyone over the age of 21 to go west and find 160 acres of land and claim it as their own at no cost. The one caveat? You had to cultivate and farm the land for 5 years, and then the land was yours. The Homestead act would create the Midwest of the United States, in addition to giving America a signature piece of its culture, the small farm town.
Farm culture over the years in America has been pretty constant. It consists of typically local growers on family farms that live either in or near a little farming community of say 10,000. Through the farms, the city can support all different types of the jobs as well. Farming is truly a noble, tight knit community. Fast-forward to the year 2024, and that culture of noble farming and ranching in the U.S is disappearing. Farming towns formed in the late 1860s are turning into ghost towns as people move into urban metropolises in search of more lucrative work. Family farms all over the country are being bought up, or going bankrupt, but why the switch? The last 200 years had shown that the family farm was a great choice for families to make a living. The Midwest had blossomed into an agricultural powerhouse on the world stage, and family farms were thriving. What could have caused a cornerstone of American tradition and culture to suddenly become outdated and irrelevant? Is there anything to be done to save an American icon? In her essay, Sarah Mock attempts to not only identify the problem plaguing family farms, but to find a solution to bring them back to their former glory. One theme starts to present itself in her essay; family farms are simply outdated, and nothing can or should be done to save them. While I must agree that family farms are outdated and may not be the most efficient economically, efforts should absolutely be made to preserve and keep family farms afloat. They are simply to big a part of American History to cast them aside and let them die.
A main part of the essay talks about the romanticism of farming in the United States. Sarah Mock attributes a large part of the reason some family farms still exist and why people want to keep them to this. Mock claims that when you look at other countries and how they view farming, you see a drastic change compared to America. She says that the romanticism of farming is the only reason family farms are still relevant. And I think she is right again in this regard. Compared to other countries, America really does romanticize farming. We have a whole culture that has evolved from it, I don’t see German artists writing songs about wine growers but here in the U.S, Country is one of the most popular genres of music around. Growing up in Eastern Montana, I have become a huge fan of country music myself. Now that I live in Los Angeles, I really appreciate that not everyone is a country music fan, and it has made me appreciate my background even more. Having sort of grown up around the romanticism of country, I can confidently say that Americas romanticism of farming should be a reason to keep it. We shouldn’t aim to measure our agriculture and food production off other countries. We also shouldn’t try to base our This is America and we should be setting our own tone when it comes to things like this. Family farms may not be the most efficient ways of production, but they are an American icon and that if that’s the way we do things in America, we should own up to it.
Moving on from the motivations behind American farm and country culture, Sarah Mock says that commercial farming operations are just flat out more cost efficient and more productive, and she is right. A large-scale corporate farm will likely outproduce and out-do any family farm you stack it up against. To combat this, Mock describes a paradox where farmers are supposed to sell to consumers who are willing to pay a premium for products either grown locally or grown by a family farm in the United States. In this situation, Mock says family farms are also supposed to have access to “U.S. Department of Agriculture programs, grants, and GoFundMe money.”. Mock essentially says that any industry or business relying on consumers willing to pay more and government bailouts is an industry that should probably be left in the past. This is where I disagree again. The American public needs to be willing to go to bat for farmers once again. Someone going to the grocery store should make the choice to spend an extra dollar or two on corncobs if that is what it takes to buy local or from a family farm. Your average American needs to make an effort to keep a long-standing American tradition alive. Oftentimes, that choice is only paying an extra $2 on your $20 steak you buy from the grocery store so that it comes from your local grower rather than a giant commercial farm. It isn’t a huge sacrifice, but would go a really long way to preserving an American way of life.
This brings us back to the idea that the issue of family farms disappearing seems to be a simple case of capitalism and financial rules. Many will point to the fact that new, large commercially owned farms can simply farm more efficiently so they are replacing family farms. However, the issue is more philosophical than people think, and it is crucial to not think about family farming in terms of red and green, but to think of the history and tradition. At the end of the day it comes down to your everyday consumer to be mindful and make the choice that will preserve and promote family farms across America for years to come. And while Mock argues things like family farms are a thing of the past, I would say not only are they a thing of our past, but they also should play a huge part in our future.
