N80
Super Member
I'm sure for most people the connection between tractors and food is obvious. But, it is easy to forget especially on a site like this where probably most of us do not use our tractors in the production of food outside of small gardens or food plots for wildlife. The truth is, tractors came into existence to help grow food. But that's not really what this post is about...its just how I'm tying it into a tractor website.
What I'm really posting about is food and how we have de-valued it. A discussion on farm subsidies got me to thinking about this when someone pointed out that subsidies from the government made it possible for us to have cheap food. I don't want to rehash the discussion on subsidies but I would like to throw out some 'food' for thought.
I recently bought a book of photography called 'On Earth's Furrowed Brow'. It is a documentary of farming in Appalachia, particularly farming done the old, less mechanized way. The photography in this book is spectacular and I highly recommend it. But, what got me to thinking along these lines is some oral histories in the back of the book that correlate with the photos. Most of these are from recordings of people who were in their 80's and 90's in the early 1980s. One of the recurring themes in all of this was how hard life was, especially before WWII and how food was such an issue. It is interesting to read how at any time food my be hard to come by, but at the same time how good it was when they had it (good, fresh country cooking). It was also interesting to read about laborers who would work all day on someone else's farm to be paid only a meal at the end of the day. And finally, despite all this hardship and privation, most of these folks remembered those days as the best of their lives.
Contrast that, with today's society. As a nation, we have more stuff than any other nation in history but it seems like all you hear about is how no one is ever happy or satisfied. I remember seeing stats that showed that in the 1930's the largest part of the average family's income was spent on food, shelter and clothing. Today, that has ben replaced by 'entertainment'. Shelter is still way up there but the percentage spent on food has dropped way down the list. And I think most people reading this would say, hey, that's great! Most people can afford food!
But I think there is another side to it. When food is cheap, so is the labor of the farmer. When food is cheap, the agrarian lifestyle is cheapened. And the industrial, technical and consumer lifestyle is elevated and worshipped. At the expense of agricultural and agrarian culture. So we hardly have to give a thought to food, but we'll go into debt up to our eyeballs for PlayStations, digital cameras, computers, cars, tractors (not used in agriculture), etc etc.
It seems like we have our priorities screwed up. We don't want to have to pay anything for the food that keeps us alive (and if it is good, fresh, local and wholesome can provide immense pleasure) but we'll get a second mortgage to send money to Mr. Sony for his technical goodies. Mr. Sony and friends (usually half way around the globe) prosper to no end, while the American family farm and agrarian communities shrivel up and blow away.
So maybe it wouldn't be so bad if food became more valuable and those who make it more valued. We may have less disposable income for movies, iTunes and computer games.....but that trade off might be good for our nation as a whole. That generation who remember the Depression as the good old days is the same generation that won WWII. We might still learn a thing or two from them.
What I'm really posting about is food and how we have de-valued it. A discussion on farm subsidies got me to thinking about this when someone pointed out that subsidies from the government made it possible for us to have cheap food. I don't want to rehash the discussion on subsidies but I would like to throw out some 'food' for thought.
I recently bought a book of photography called 'On Earth's Furrowed Brow'. It is a documentary of farming in Appalachia, particularly farming done the old, less mechanized way. The photography in this book is spectacular and I highly recommend it. But, what got me to thinking along these lines is some oral histories in the back of the book that correlate with the photos. Most of these are from recordings of people who were in their 80's and 90's in the early 1980s. One of the recurring themes in all of this was how hard life was, especially before WWII and how food was such an issue. It is interesting to read how at any time food my be hard to come by, but at the same time how good it was when they had it (good, fresh country cooking). It was also interesting to read about laborers who would work all day on someone else's farm to be paid only a meal at the end of the day. And finally, despite all this hardship and privation, most of these folks remembered those days as the best of their lives.
Contrast that, with today's society. As a nation, we have more stuff than any other nation in history but it seems like all you hear about is how no one is ever happy or satisfied. I remember seeing stats that showed that in the 1930's the largest part of the average family's income was spent on food, shelter and clothing. Today, that has ben replaced by 'entertainment'. Shelter is still way up there but the percentage spent on food has dropped way down the list. And I think most people reading this would say, hey, that's great! Most people can afford food!
But I think there is another side to it. When food is cheap, so is the labor of the farmer. When food is cheap, the agrarian lifestyle is cheapened. And the industrial, technical and consumer lifestyle is elevated and worshipped. At the expense of agricultural and agrarian culture. So we hardly have to give a thought to food, but we'll go into debt up to our eyeballs for PlayStations, digital cameras, computers, cars, tractors (not used in agriculture), etc etc.
It seems like we have our priorities screwed up. We don't want to have to pay anything for the food that keeps us alive (and if it is good, fresh, local and wholesome can provide immense pleasure) but we'll get a second mortgage to send money to Mr. Sony for his technical goodies. Mr. Sony and friends (usually half way around the globe) prosper to no end, while the American family farm and agrarian communities shrivel up and blow away.
So maybe it wouldn't be so bad if food became more valuable and those who make it more valued. We may have less disposable income for movies, iTunes and computer games.....but that trade off might be good for our nation as a whole. That generation who remember the Depression as the good old days is the same generation that won WWII. We might still learn a thing or two from them.
