AVERAGE ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH

             With farm bankruptcies up 8 percent and the federal government doling out an unprecedented $33 billion in direct payments to farmers this year, average isn't good enough.  In Virginia, the average cattle farmer loses half of his hay to weathering--all those round bales you see stacked outside along the field edges.

             That's been going on for 40 years.  I remember when round balers first came into use the Virginia Tech ag economics department showed the return-on-investment from building a shed to cover hay.  These pencil pushers could not understand why farmers preferred to see half their crop wasted rather than investing one time in a structure to protect it. 

             As I see the mainstream articles about suffering farmers, my heartbreak is tempered by knowing that for the most part they've been spurning ideas that would put them above average.  And they've been spurning those ideas for a long time.  Personal responsibility requires that you own your decision.

             Goodness, every self-help group like AA starts with promoting the notion that we have to own our decisions.  If a farmer decides to build a Tyson chicken house, that's a decision he has to own.  Nobody required it.  If a dairy farmer decides to build a confinement facility, slurry lagoon and feed his cows corn, that's a decision.  It's not required for milking cows.  It's not de facto. 

             With all the dire agriculture news out there, I'm glad to report that an entire above average group of farmers exists.  We are doing things differently and enjoying spectacular results.  Whether it's direct marketing to customers, building compost instead of buying chemicals, or encouraging perennials instead of planting annuals, we embrace being non-average.

             Certainly the USDA, land grant universities, the agri-industrial complex and mainline food system does all within its power to stifle anyone or anything that dares to rears its head above average.  But even with the deck stacked like it is, individual farmers must own their decisions. 

             When our family came to this farm in 1961, Dad sought both public and private farm counsel:  "How do I make a living on this farm?"  Every single expert said "borrow more money, plant corn, graze the forest, build silos."  He didn't do it.  That choice has been placed before farmers for a long, long time.  It's still being placed in front of them.  Some drink the Kool-aid and others walk away.  My dad walked away, and that has made all the difference.

             Until farmers make different choices, handing them bail outs is like giving money to a drunk.  Nothing changes; it just fuels the addiction. 

             Is it unloving to tell these struggling farmers "no more?"