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When I first moved to Western Kansas, I knew it was real farming country. All the TV and radio stations catered to the farmers but something else surprised me.

Just about everyone who wasn’t in the farming business did not care for the farmers. A typical story would be that they complained all the time about the Government while at the same time getting huge government subsidies.

Also that they complained how no one could make a living farming while driving new Cadillacs, Lincolns, and top of the line 4WD pickups.

I actually got to liking them OK as they all were gun enthusiasts and I belonged to a gun club with many of them. One day I brought to the shooting range a strikingly beautiful Argentine Model 98-09 Mauser made by Deutsch Waffen und Munitionsfabriken. It was unfired when I got it and was the finest made rifle I have ever owned.

A couple of them looked it over and read the inscription in German then began laughing and speaking German to each other. I thought it was amazing that these guys families had probably been in America since the 1890s yet they could still speak German fluently.

“Also that they complained how no one could make a living farming while driving new Cadillacs, Lincolns, and top of the line 4WD pickups.”

But they don't own them, the LLC Farm business owns them.

They get to use them 24/7/365, but the business owns them, and pays every dime of the costs. Ya see?

I've never known a farmer that owned a lawn tractor or ATV, but I've also never known one that didn't ride the very top of the line of both.

I know lots of farmers and like them, but they work the system like everyone else that owns a business.

I believe that we need to consider agriculture a little like national defense, and not be too concerned about providing the assurance that our nation preserves the ability to grow its own food.

Today we subsidize farmers because they must compete with offshore food producers. However, if we don't preserve our know-how then we could end up with some very deep regrets on down the road.

“Also that they complained how no one could make a living farming while driving new Cadillacs, Lincolns...”

Things haven’t changed a bit. I grew up in Iowa and in the 50’s that was still true...during the depression FDR’s Secretary of Agriculture (and later, VP), Henry Wallace, an Iowa boy, was responsible for initiating a lot of what is still wrong with agriculture today.