The Cinderella Farmer
Farmers don’t deserve this
I recently realized that the way many people imagine farmers is very much like a chapter in a children’s story book. People imagine the red barn with the white borders and green pastures with a variety of animals and crops. This is nothing like what farming is actually like, in fact the real version seems to cover only the bad parts of the fairy tale and eliminates the cheesy ending. The farmers that we imagine as happy while tending to their land are actually barely making enough to get by and only care for one type of crop or one type of animal. Farmers used to be able to own their own land and rotate crops in order to restore nutrients to the soil, but that’s not farming anymore.
Cinderella, plant my crops!
If only we asked we’d know: the majority of the world’s farmers are suffering. Farmers are just like Cinderella who was a slave to her stepsisters, miserably maintaining their huge house just to make them happy. Farmers are suffering in order for people in other parts of the world to enjoy products that they might not otherwise have without the free market. We know that crops are limited by the environment and climate, but the market also plays a huge role in what is grown on a farm. Farmers no longer own the land they work, but pay rent for it and are often required to meet a quota on one or two specific crops. Some farms in the United States are producing a record amount of product when prices for those commodities are low. Another problem with demand being the determinate factor for what is grown is that farmers that attempt to increase the share they receive for their product are opposed by the large companies they sell to. These companies want to continue buying their products at a steal and can easily find another farmer willing to sell for less just so he can make money too. Corporate food companies have manipulated the system they work in so that the price of running their business stays cheap. Food companies create so much product and sell at a price much higher than the raw product they purchased from farmers. These companies make so much profit and get to excuse it by saying that they put food in a package, added preservatives, and sold it to consumers that need to eat in order to live. Farmers, on the other hand, are stressing out over their work. The farmers are desperate to find ways to make their work enough for them to live a good life. They continuously try to produce as much product as demand requests, but the price of their crops drop. Prices drop because competition in the market means that other farmers are producing the same product and can sell it at a price that is more appealing. The unpredictable market makes it hard to determine how much will also be enough to pay their bills. It also isn’t easy planting huge crops with limited laborers and soil that can no longer support life.
Hurting the Earth and the Farmer
Most crops deplete soil nutrients during their growth cycle. Some of these nutrients leave the farm as harvested products, and the rest return to the soil as crop residues. When crops are expertly rotated, we have crops that take nitrogen from the soil and others that replace it. Crops should also be rotated by considering different root depths and the amount of nutrients demanded by the plant. There is a lot of effort that goes into making sure that soil can remain fertile. When this isn’t done, the crops don’t grow as richly, but farmers are on a contract to grow that one item. These types of contracts make it seem impossible to rotate crops. Their lenders aren’t asking for the other types of crops.
Farmers contract in order to lessen their risk in the market and to make sure they receive pay. Their contracts make sure that they will always have a buyer, but contracts can’t fix the fact that potential output levels are high while levels of what is actually produced tend to be low. Issues with production can cause farmers to become terribly indebted due to excessive advances. The difference between product and prices could lead to issues between farmers and bankers. The farmers are trying to keep up with demands and are starting to seem untrustworthy by lenders. Farmers are being asked to provide updates on their finances and to report inventory. They seem to always be looking at numbers that seem to have gone beyond their control. Farmers are always playing a game of catch up; catch up on bills, catch up on quota. Being in debt is stressful and being in debt to a point past poverty, despite the fact that you work hard everyday is devastating. This is why, for over ten years, one Indian farmer commits suicide every half hour. Our farmers all over the world are being taken advantage of. They easily have one of the most important job titles because they make sure food is always planted and that it gets sold to the public for consumption. Nobody, especially not someone in a job this important, should live a life so unlike the serene fairy tale lifestyle we ignorantly believe them to have.
