Farmers in America are killing themselves in staggering numbers

CBS Money Watch ^ | June 26, 2018 | Irana Ivanova

[jjotto]

Massive farm bills are mostly food stamps and welfare. Actual farmers get little more than some crop insurance guarantees.

[Tammy8]

Farm bills have been and are being abused, often by huge corporate farms that can afford politicians, lobbyists, ETC., but there needs to be a greater understanding of why and how things came to be. Things that sound silly to you and I may well be part of what keeps the system going. I do not want to tinker with what is going on until I understand how it all works. I have a greater understanding than a lot of people but I do not know details enough to be proposing specific changes. I don’t argue that changes need to be made, just urge caution with that. People say leasing government land to ranchers is another form of welfare but there is no way we could produce the amount of beef we do without that option. So...I will be the last to say all of the farm subsidies are welfare...some may be, some may be vital to us having food on our table. As to payments for growing or not growing things- we don’t have (THANKFULLY) a government that can order farmers to grow or not grow certain things in certain years- so how else can the government get the farmers to do what needs to be done for the overall success of feeding the nation and part of the world?

Your average business does indeed struggle, I had my own business for many years. The difference is the average business is not engaged in feeding our population + so we- meaning everyone in this country has a huge stake in the success of farming, ranching, fishing- food production. The problem is most people do not see it that way at all. Food production deals with all the things any other business deals with and then mother nature on top of that. While other businesses may worry about a hurricane they don’t have to worry about ordinary rain coming or not coming at the right time, their business is not closely related to mother nature on a daily basis.

[Hot Tabasco]

For a few years myself and several friends used to pheasant hunt out in N.W. Kansas in a really, really small town called Logan.

We stayed in the farm house of the land owner who was also the president of the only small bank in town and he lived in a small house in town.

I don't know how much land he owned (one doesn't ask) but he grew wheat and other stuff to feed the cattle he raised.

During the planting and harvesting season, his typical day was up at 4:00 a.m., head to the farm, do chores, go back to town, clean up then head to the bank. After the bank closed for the day, it was back out to the farm.......

He had lots of farm equipment around the yard and I asked him where did he take them to get them repaired if needed. He said he didn't, he would get the parts he needed and fix them himself. He also had welding equipment in the machine shed and could weld if needed.

We got to talking one night and he said if all hell broke out in the U.S., folks out there would just sit back and watch. They are the ultimate self sufficient preppers without actually prepping.............

At the time I last saw him, he was in his 70's and doing all that stuff I mentioned above. One of the most amazing men I had ever met in my life........

As a side note, his son Mitch had his own farm several miles away and his daughter was a social worker up in Nebraska..........