Farm Side research was enough to make me cry this week, as I worked on a column a few yards from our empty cow barn. Taken in total bookmarks saved over the week amount to a bushel and a peck of sadness and hard times for hard-working people who did little to cause this situation.
I'm grateful that the mainstream media has finally taken notice of what is happening in the dairy industry, but it is too late for far too many.
The first farm in this story once belonged to my late best friend's family. So sad to see the parlor we often took the 4-H kids through, back when they were learning about dairy, on television for such an unfortunate reason. We all spent a lot of time in those very barns just a few years ago, teaching kids, talking to our friends, admiring their cattle, and enjoying their dogs.
This article tells the same story in perhaps less emotional terms. "Sell out as fast as you can."
Here's another.
Locally, empty barns have become the norm unless they are Amish. The boss recounts who owned each place when we drive by. What was once a vibrant community of small farms is fading fast, although our county is fortunate to still have a fairly strong farm economy and a good many well-run dairy farms still, including the one on our old friends' place.
This situation spills into every aspect of rural economy, from the closing of independent grocery stores, soon replaced by national chain convenience store, to local folks who lose their farm jobs as the milk check contracts.
Prices for beef and hay go down too, as more and more farmers try to put their lifelong learning to work and in some form stay in agriculture. It's ugly and grim and probably not going to stop soon.
from Northview Diary https://ift.tt/2KF5fVk
No comments:
Post a Comment