A Broken System

How do you fix something that’s broken?

My husband and I were listening to an agricultural podcast… not super exciting, but very enlightening. Do you know what they were talking about? The hog farms that have no where to take their hogs to be processed, the cattlemen who have no where to take their cattle… and the dairymen who are dumping their milk. They went on to interview guests, who spoke about getting government loans or subsidies for these farmers. And something in me just… clicked.

We have this system in place, where we’ve ALLOWED and even INVITED the government to step in, and try to FIX things. Do you know what happens when you accept government subsidies, loans, grants, etc.? They get to tell you how to farm. Want a grant to build a greenhouse? They are going to give you stipulations on what to do with that greenhouse. Want money to turn your field into pasture? They are going to give you rules to follow. And arguably, so they should. If my kids ask me for money, I’m going to give them perimeters to follow. But is the government really in the farming business? NO.

So we’ve allowed these politicians to give stipulations on how farmers now have to operate… because they are bailing them out here, there, or everywhere.

So how do we fix this broken system?

I’m a big fan of Dave Ramsey. He talks all the time about ‘changing your family tree’ financially. I think the same is true for farming- we’ve got to start ‘changing the family tree’.

As new generations tackle farming, I’m excited to see people farming in different ways! I’m excited to hear farmers making massive changes to their pastures by rotational grazing practices. I’m excited to see chickens actually out on fresh grass. I’m excited to see less grain feeding for animals that thrive on grass. Do you know what happens? The animals start grazing, they drop their manure… and you move them on to the next pasture… leaving time for the parasites to die (or be eaten by the chickens!), and that good urine and manure to sink in and fertilize the soil!

And do you know what’s happening with the farmers farming in this more natural way? Not only is it better for the animals, it’s better for the soil… and the pocket. No longer are farmers needing to borrow money to purchase that piece of machinery. No longer are farmers having to mortgage their lives away to build huge confinement buildings… no longer are they needing to ask the government to bail them out when the government systems end up broken.

Support your local farmers- let’s get farming back where it belongs, in the Farmer’s hands.