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A lot of people are scouring the Help Wanted and Employment pages of their local newspapers these days looking for work. What do you think the reaction would be from someone looking for a job after reading the following want ad?
Help wanted, farmers. Applicants must: have a lifetime of experience; be highly educated in agriculture; have a great deal of capital to invest; be willing to work dawn to dusk including weekends and holidays without any guaranteed salary; purchase their own health and medical plans as well as retirement plans without company compensation; and, they must have patience to deal with a host of critics who do not produce food themselves, but want to regulate the farmers who do.
Farmers are frequently blamed for the high cost of the farm bill, but the vast majority of the cost of the legislation is for conservation programs and food stamps, not for keeping our farmers in the business of producing our food supply.
Farmers are often criticized by self-proclaimed environmentalists - critics who claim to care more about the land, water and animal life than farmers.
It is the farmers, however, who actually do care for the land, water and animal life under their purview.
Farmers are regularly targeted for the higher prices of food in grocery stores, even though the farmers who produce all of our food still only receive 19 cents of our food dollar while many large food processing companies reported large profits.
I find it quite ironic in this overfed country of ours, where so few people know hunger, farmers would have any critics at all. Less than 2 percent of our population has the knowledge, skill, gumption and courage to try to make a living as farmers. Few of us qualify to respond to the fictitious help wanted ad included in this column, and of those who do qualify, few accept the job.
Friday, March 20 is National Agriculture Day. Let us vow to do everything we can to support those who have what it takes to meet the rigid demands of farming for a living. Our food supply is only secure if we ensure American farmers remain productive and competitive in today’s world market.
-Denny Banister
Missouri Farm Bureau |
| 3/18/2009 |
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