That, and economic and social opportunities that simply aren’t available in areas with low population density. As a rule, Rural internet access is barely functional. Going grocery shopping takes more planning, and time, due to the longer distances. And the food selection isn’t nearly as wide as you’ll find in the city. Police, fire, and medical services are slower to arrive when needed. Many of the children of farmers go to university, and comparatively few major in areas that would be useful in the rural areas. As a result, a majority move to urban and suburban areas.
This is in part due to a lack of good jobs, and in part due to the quality of the local workforce. “It’s hard to find good help” is especially true in this area, according to the merchants I’ve talked with.
Poverty in the rural south is generational and widespread. I don’t know the proportions, but From what I gather from folks working in local government, a significant portion of the local population receives some sort of government assistance.
But farmers are some of the hardest-working people I’ve had the pleasure to meet. They don’t get regular days off, and if weather or equipment issues intervene, they work even harder and longer. They by necessity are resourceful, and many have embraced new technologies applicable to remote sensing of crop yields, rainfall patterns, and calibrating the application of soil amendments and seeds based on soils tests.
Yet in this region of the country - the south- many family farms are within a generation of being lost.
On one hand, I find it truly odd that this is happening, in that every one of us relies on the food and other agricultural products that come from farms. And farmers by and large are up to the task of providing us with those things.
On the other hand, given market and political forces that affect farming - both directly and indirectly - it is understandable why this apparent decline is happening.
Most of the people I work with in my job are farmers, were once farmers, or come from farm families. I have been welcomed into the community, and honored to be so. Which it makes even more personally distressing to see the local and Regional trends in farming.
So this afternoon I think I’ll get on the tractor, hook it up to the Bush Hog, and go trim some of the overgrown areas on this farm that desperately need it. And that’s just maintenance. There are broken fence posts that need replaced or repair. And I just finished replacing a rotted bathroom floor in the house.
Come tomorrow morning, it’s back to my day job at the mining company. A large part of which involves maintaining landowner relations, and trying to keep them happy while helping the company do what it needs to do.
Guess I’ll get to some of those fenceposts during the evenings this week. Got to have good fences, as goat breeding season is mere weeks away.
It never ends.
