Welcome to my blog! For this project I am going to explore family farms and their impact. Progress may be diminishing the traditional family farm. The recent popularity of organic or home grown produce, farmers markets, and living more simply could be ensuring the small farms will still have a place in the future. However, with growing population and general demand, corporate farms may take over entirely. This is an important topic because food is a basic need, and it's important to know where our food is coming from. I grew up in farm country and I know several families with farms that have been around for a few generations. I know generally that maintaining a farm is very difficult, and it is not known for always being financially lucrative. In this blog I hope to:
Dig deeper.
What struggles do farmers face while maintaining their land, crops, and/or animals? Some farms rely solely on family members to run, and some have to hire people to help. What kind of equipment is necessary and what are the costs? Large equipment is obviously very expensive, and things can and do break down. What happens when a crop doesn't produce well that year, or some disaster takes it out? This is an especially big worry with farm animals and the many diseases they can contract. For crops, it's difficult to keep pests away. What worries does a farmer face with pesticides?
Plant some seeds.
What goes on in a corporate farm? Is it better to engineer foods to grow faster to meet demand? Is the cost of land and other expenses worth it for the family farmer to maintain? How much help still exists for farmers to keep their farms running?
Harvest.
I love going to a farmer's market in a small town, or getting fresh tomatoes from a neighbor's garden. I have always wondered in the back of my mind if this would someday go away and I would have to get produce from a grocery store forever, or grow my own. For many of the farmers I know, farming is a passion and they are loyal to what the generations before them started. But so many are struggling to stay above water and many are forced to downsize or sell entirely. Will the family farm one day become obsolete? Or will there always be a place for this piece of Americana?image 1 from
image 2 from
One thing that I found interesting about your topic, is people never really consider things that go into it, such as cost, equipment or if your crops have a bad season, it really opens a new perspective on the matter and allows you to appreciate all the work that goes into it. Some things you could maybe add, are maybe locations and the type of crop that is being harvested. Maybe see if different crops are more difficult to manage compared to others. One question it raises for me is ultimately what could cause a farm to produce more and be more successful. I do disagree that farming could actually become obsolete, it may slow down greatly and have less demand for it, but there will always be some demand for it, I believe there are to many people who rely on fresh produce, I know I do.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about the parts we don't consider! My next post will contain some info about what farmers do if there is a crop disaster. I touch on it, but there is so much more information I hope to share in other posts. I don't think farming will go away entirely, I just hope the smaller farms can continue instead of being overrun by corporations!
Delete1. What did you find interesting about the post? I found your topic super interesting. I really enjoyed reading about this topic. What I found interesting was how big corporations might take over family run farms completely. I hope family farms can continue to succeed and not let big corporations take over. I think this is actually quite a serious topic because it is dealing with the bigger issue of fresh produce.
ReplyDelete2. What would you add to this post? or What questions does the post generate for you about the topic? You did a great job of posing questions. The questions I have would be how many family run farms are struggling? How do family farms make a recovery? Do Americans have a choice in the matter of where their produce is coming from? How does this get resolved?
3. What do you agree with or disagree with and why? I completely agree with you. I stand with your viewpoints on how important family run farms are and fresh produce. I agree how this is people's livelihood and passions and how important it is. I agree with how visiting farms or going to farmers markets and getting fresh food is a treat and how sad it would be if those luxuries went away. I am very interesting in hearing more about this topic!
Thank you for your reply! There is so much more information on this topic than I imagined. The more research I do the more interested I am in learning more about agriculture. My next blog post will answer some of one of your questions: How do the farms recover. I learned about some government help that can cover for disasters. You are right in this being a more serious topic, we all eat! Farmers want to provide for their families as well as yours and mine.
DeleteI completely agree with you that family run farms are having struggles. I can relate to your topic. My step dad's family owns a farm in North Dakota. One question though, does you research vary based on the region your looking at? I think you have a wonderful topic though, very interesting with all of the points you reach within itself.
ReplyDelete