You’re Only As Far Away From Agriculture As Your Next Meal

You’re only as far away from agriculture as your next meal.

But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is miffed that rural America voted so overwhelmingly Republican last month and continually resists federal government regulations. Because of this, he says, farmers are “becoming less and less relevant.”

A full reading of what Vilsack had to say indicates that his heart may be in the right place, but his total lack of agricultural experience shows that — like most of the  lawyers and career politicians who run America — he simply does not understand the realities on the ground.

That’s understandable for people who’ve never gotten mud on their boots or dirt under their fingernails. But that’s what happens when an industry is regulated by people without the basic understanding of what it takes to make it a success.

AGRICULTURE: THE STEALTH MIRACLE

U.S. farmers feed more people at a lower cost than anywhere else in the world.

It’s an everyday stealth miracle that remains well hidden, especially to the growing urban population who think that pasta is harvested from trees and that no animals were harmed in the making of the shrink-wrapped meat in their refrigerated grocery cases.

Farming is a hard, Darwinian business where reality stares you in the face every day. The weather can make or break you and a room full of commodities speculators can pave a greased road to bankruptcy.

GOVERNMENT IS THE FARMER’S SANDY SUPERSTORM

Government is the Sandy Superstorm of the plains, the vineyard, the orchard, the hen coop, and every other place where food grows. Arbitrary water decisions based on political correctness and bad science leave land fallow. Class warfare tax rates leave less to put aside for lean years and estate taxes mean that family farms have to be sold or broken up to avoid taxes that cannot be afforded by heirs.

While cities breed dependency and a detachment from harsh realities, agriculture demands independence, and toughness of body mind and soul. Cities have bred a fantasy world where the food on the table is divorced from the reality on — and in — the ground.

This urban detachment from the actual reality of farming breeds ridiculous laws and regulations, and now a clueless statement  from the Secretary of Agriculture.

MAYBE FARMERS SHOULD TAKE A PAGE FROM EUROPE

Perhaps it’s time for American farmers to take a page from European farmers who have long suffered from clueless overregulation from the hordes of fat Eurocrats who are allergic to dirt, work and sweat: maybe the U.S. needs farmer strikes, commodities protests, tractors and honey wagons on Capitol Hill.

Perhaps that will raise the relevancy of agriculture to the level it deserves.