We Need Farmers

Drawing from Paul Harvey’s speech in 1978 to the FFA (Future Farmers of America)

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

An American radio broadcast for ABC News Radio, Paul Harvey delivered one of the most touching speeches about our need for farmers in 1978 to the FFA in Kansas City, MO. Paul Harvey originally wrote an opinion piece published in 1975, it was titled “What it is to be a farmer”. Shortly after, Harvey was invited to the 51st National FFA Convention where he was to be a keynote speaker, it was then that he delivered his speech, “So God made a Farmer”.

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker”

— so God made a Farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board”

— so God made a Farmer.

“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild; somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife’s done feeding visiting ladies, then tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon — and mean it”

— so God made a Farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt, and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say, ‘Maybe next year.’ I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps; who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, and then pain’n from tractor back, put in another seventy-two hours”

— so God made a Farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds, and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place

— so God made a Farmer.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark.”

It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners; somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church; somebody who would bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says that he wants to spend his life “doing what dad does”

— so God made a Farmer.

As I’ve studied the environment, worked on various farms, and greenhouses, and have been staying up to date on what the world says about farmers and the environment, I’ve seen a lot of negativity.

In classes and articles, I’ve been told and believed that industrial agriculture is terrible for the environment. It destroys soil health, diminishes biodiversity, wastes water, pumps chemicals into our food that then run off into nearby water sources, and pushes small farmers out of business. Industrial agriculture is fueled by profit and capitalism and doesn’t seem to care about what its unsustainable practices are doing to our already degrading environment.

I’m torn by this. I am passionate about sustainable agriculture, better farming practices, and better food systems that provide accessibility to healthy foods. But this is not a black-and-white issue.

In 2022, the World Bank reported that the United States was about 45.09% agricultural land. The American Farm Bureau Federation says that direct-to-consumer sales make up about 6% of U.S. farms- meaning that about 6% of farm sales are done locally. They also shared that 40% of U.S.-produced/grown food is never eaten.

Why is it that almost half of the U.S. is being used to produce all of this food, yet almost half of the food being produced is never consumed? Why can’t we cut down on subsidized crops, reduce land use, and rely more on locally grown foods?

The Cato Industry reports that more than $30 billion a year is spent by the federal government on agriculture. This funding puts farmers in a position to keep producing as much as they can, regardless of the waste and harm it’s doing to the environment… money talks.

The facts don’t lie, and industrial agriculture is painted in this negative light. Despite this negativity and pessimism when it comes to the farmers of America coupled with my desire to help the environment, I still respect these farmers who get up every morning and work until the sun goes down bent over crops, riding a tractor, watering their plants, feeding their cattle, prepping seeds for the new growing season, heaving bails, and more.

Being a farmer is hard, providing food for people who don’t agree with how you’re growing things but still doing the work is hard, being trapped in the way the government pays for you to work is hard.

Farmers are the backbone of America, but they are not the enemy. The people funding non-sustainable practices and promoting profit over growth that is healthy for the environment are the enemy.

At the end of the day. These farmers want to feed their own family, and need money to live like the rest of us. Grassroots efforts can work, but the real change needs to come from the top of the chain.

So, God made a farmer. A resilient, hard-working, determined, and strong provider of our food.