RidgebackRanch said:
I'm sure most city folk that don't understand where their food comes from think what farmers do is easy. Farmers are scientists, engineers, chemists and miracle workers in my opinion. And to think that their family depends on them making the right decision makes the whole process even more impressive, in my opinion.
Hats off to Americas' Farmers!
I live adjacent to farm fields, in IL, north of where the glaciers stopped, where pretty much any seed you put into the ground (that doesn't get eaten by birds) will sprout.
Still, the farm soil is wearing out bc the farmers have stopped rotating their crops. It used to be, at LEAST, every other year, corn or soybeans. This is year #3 of corn behind me. It's NOT that the farmers here are greedy. Do a search here and on the I'Net about Monsanto and the seed companies who police their seeds so vigorously that the farmers are caught between a rock and a hard place about who they HAVE to buy from and what they NEED to plant in order to stay in business. The field behind me is owned by family who has since moved to Arizona, but pay the next guy over to do the work for them.
Farmers canNOT save their seeds and sell them in a Coop (or other) to others bc the litigation would put THEM out of business. So, they are held hostage.
It USED to be a 5 crop rotation, with Alfalfa right before corn bc alfalfa fixes nitrogen in the soil, and corn leaches more nutrients out than the other 4 crops do. RARELY do I see a local crop of wheat here anymore. The farm report is
constantly talking about last year's, this year's and next year's YIELDS bc the famers HAVE to make/sell enough to stay in business. Wifezilla, we hear THIS as often as KOA talks about the water shortage, LOL!
Here's hoping a new President will repair the economy and we can start working on keeping our farms going and their fields fertile.
