The New York Times this past week ran an editorial written by a Lan Samantha Chang, who lives in Iowa City, Iowa, and is director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. This was part of the Times' "Home Economics" effort - which involves allowing guests to write pieces that provide a snapshot of their local economy.
The "Meet the Farmers" column by Chang was very well done - it talks about the Fuhrmeister farm near Iowa City that has been in the family since 1868.
It highlights the hard work the farm family puts in, plus all the other things that impact farmers: dramatic changes in commodity prices, weather, land costs and more. Importantly, Chang explains how closely tied the general farm economy is to the state's economy as a whole. (This is true for all farm states.)
Chang notes that the Fuhrmeisters are the only farmers she and her husband know after living in Iowa for four years. She also - rightly - points out that "even in our farm state, many city folk are detached from the Fuhrmeisters' way of life."
I'd argue that is true across the country - and that it's not just city folks who are detached. It's also often true in smaller, more rural communities where people who live in town don't really know what goes on just a mile or two away. Even those who have retired from farming may not have a clear understanding of the changes that have taken place in agriculture over the last decade.
(Is this even true, to some extent, among active farmers? Where a poultry or cattle producers really doesn't know what goes on in the hog facility on the other side of the county?)
In either case, Chang's article re-emphasizes an issue that is quickly becoming a priority: Reintroducing the American farmer to people across the country.
Or, as Change put it in the Times: Meet the Farmers.
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