Farmers Are the Backbone of America
It’s not often that I find someone who loves and respects farmers the way I do. While I think farms and farmers are under fire here in North America, it seems that war has been declared on them in Europe. I ran across an essay that really resonated with me, and if you’re involved in agriculture, I suspect it will speak to you as well.
I am sharing this excerpt about why farmers are the backbone of this country, but I do hope you’ll click over and read the rest of this moving tribute:
Never forget – it’s farmers who hold the keys to our survival
WE WALK on concrete, but we live on bread. The modern world hums with the illusion of self-sufficiency – our smartphones deliver groceries with a tap, restaurants materialise meals on demand, and supermarkets present endless abundance as if by nature’s own hand. Yet this is a collective delusion.
The truth is simpler, starker: every society rests upon the bowed backs of farmers. They are the uncelebrated linchpin holding civilisation together, performing work so fundamental we’ve forgotten to see it.
Consider the sheer improbability of your last meal. That coffee you drank without thinking? A crop cultivated across continents, harvested by hands you’ll never meet, transported through supply chains stretched thinner than spider’s silk. The toast you buttered? Wheat sown in autumn, surviving winter’s bite, cut down in summer by a man squinting against the sun. We treat food as a given, like sunlight or air, when in reality it is a daily miracle wrought by farmers – the last alchemists who still turn earth into life.
Read the rest of “Never forget – it’s farmers who hold the keys to our survival” by Dominic Wightman at TCW.
If you enjoyed reading about how farmers are the backbone of America, read more here:
Farmers Make It Work
Farmers are skeptical, because you see, they have to “make it work,” to coin a Project Runway phrase. If what they are doing is successful, they are not going to jump at the newest idea. They’ve seen too many so-called revolutionary products come and go. Some of these products – after years of hype – have fallen flat right out of the gate. Farmers are also very careful about who they take advice from and can take apart performance data from the get-go. Read more.
Farmers Are an Endangered Species
Most people can’t stand a lot of stress. Farming is full of it. Farmers are some of the best people I’ve seen at understanding what they can and can’t control, and letting go of the past, good or bad. They can remember every season like the back of their hand but still have somehow gotten to the stage of acceptance. Some tell me they would have a heart attack otherwise.
How to Build Relationships with Farmers
Farmers want relationships. To them, relationships are real important. How do you start and build relationships?
Talk. Ask questions. Be genuine.
If you live in a big city, the world is transactional. You don’t see the same checker at the grocery store every week (if you see one at all); you don’t see your insurance agent at the Rotary meeting; you can go to church and not talk to a soul. Read more.
Get in Touch
If you’re struggling to understand what farmers need right now, get in touch.
