What does a small farmer look like?
Jan 18th, 2009 | By Edson | Category: Pints |What does a small farmer look like?
Well, according to Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas):
“That small family farmer is about 5′2″…and he’s a retired airline pilot and sits on his porch on a glider reading Gentleman’s Quarterly — he used to read the Wall Street Journal but that got pretty drab — and his wife works as stock broker downtown. And he has 40 acres, and he has a pond and he has an orchard and he grows organic apples. Sometimes there is a little more protein in those apples than people bargain for, and he’s very happy to have that.”
By contrast, here’s the picture Senator Roberts paints of a big farmer:
“That person is in Iowa. He’s got 2,000 acres and he farms and he farms with his dad. Two brothers are gone because they can’t really sustain that on the farm. His counterpart in Kansas, in my part of the country, has 10,000 acres. And his tractor costs about $350,000. It’s amazing, in terms of the costs. But these folks are the folks who produce the food and fiber for America and a troubled and hungry world.”
You can read more at The Ethicurean.
So what do small farmers actually look like – as opposed to the ones Senator Roberts’ comic book?
You can add your own photos by uploading to Flickr with the tag robertsmeetsmallfarmers
It sounds like Roberts really knows the people he’s representing in Washington.
Hmm, I guess I would have to agree with the “small farmer is about 5′2″…” that is pretty small!
The way I look at it, it isn’t the size of your farm that matters as much as how you use it! We’re urban homesteaders, growing our food on less than a full acre .. but we are both almost 6′ tall. Does that make us big miniature farmers?? hee hee
I’d rather see more small, multi-generational, family run, sustainably and organically run family farms than big ones with really expensive tractors!
How on earth can he be from the middle of farming country and make those statements???