When I was growing up, my family always had a large vegetable garden. Since my father was a teacher, he generally had more time in the summer to work in the garden. And I enjoyed helping him.
We also had relatives who lived on farms, whom we often visited and assisted with gardening and chores. So I had instilled in me a love of the outdoors and appreciation for nature and fresh food.
On May 15, we celebrated the feast of St. Isidore the Farmer, so this is an appropriate time to reflect on issues involving farmers and their impact on all of us.
Farmers provide much of the food we eat, so we should all be concerned about the state of agriculture.
Unfortunately, things do not look good for the farm industry in many parts of the United States. A Catholic News Service (CNS) backgrounder article by Mark Pattison reports that family farmers are facing the worst financial stretch since the 1980s.
This is the time of year when we usually see farmers out in the fields harvesting their crops. It’s usually a time of plenty, with pumpkins, squash, and other produce filling the roadside markets.
However, this year many farmers in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the Midwest are facing tough times due to the effects of the drought. University of Wisconsin Extension officials reported that the corn crop was hit the hardest, while alfalfa is down from an average of five tons a year to just one to two tons an acre. Soybeans seem to have survived better, thanks to August rains.
People living in cities rarely get the chance to meet the people who grow their food. That’s one reason why the Churches Center for Land and People (CCLP) has developed an opportunity to connect farmers with urban consumers.
