A thought provoking piece that has been being shared around recently. Farming for us is the only income we have right now. My family and I have had to make a lot of sacrifices to make this dream job work for us, but I am still always pondering different ways to make farming financially sustainable. By the governments standards, we fall below the poverty threshold, but by staying out of debt and figuring out alternative ways to acquire the things we need to farm, we have made it work. Just as important as the prior is opting out of being lured into the typical consumption habits that most Americans subscribe to. We limit ourselves to needs. I will say, I have to disagree with the author in their assertion that what is needed to make farming financially sustainable is loan forgiveness for college grads who pursue agriculture; programs to turn farmers from tenants into landowners; guaranteed affordable health care; and shifting subsidies from factory farms to family farms. I can think of several ways to make more money as a farmer, but the vast majority of those ideas are restricted by bureaucratic red tape. Let sustainable farmers have the same liberties as the industrial food system and we will come up with innovative ways to not only change the food system for the better, but make agriculture a viable carrier option for those in it and interested in it. nytimes/2014/08/10/opinion/sunday/dont-let-your-children-grow-up-to-be-farmers.html?ref=opinion&_r=3
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 19:43:04 +0000