I stated a positive opinion about farmers in this forum a few years back and was surprised at the negative attitude towards them. I don't think agriculture subsidies warrant such hate. I'm starting this thread because I was watching a series on an educational channel following some farm families over a year. That aren't swimming in tax paid funds. Congress spends about $90 billion annually on subsidies. There are no guarantees of profit as their income depends on weather and the market and they experience bankruptcy higher than usual
Utmost respect for farmers. Some of the hardest working people I know. It's a damn ****ing shame most of them have fallen for culture war bullshit and voted away and continue to vote away their own rights. Utterly blows my mind how they helped elect their polar opposite in a crooked, rich, convicted criminal grifting city boy who has never done an honest minute's work in his life.
Can we get rid of Monsanto ? I love Farmers, Its always been a dream of mine to own land and cultivate it. Big agriculture is ****ing us up tho.
There are farmers and there are corporations who hide behind the image of farmers. Sometimes, we don't take the time to distinguish who we are talking about. Take, for example, our Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who regularly calls himself a soybean farmer. He's just a salt-of-the-earth guy scratching out a living, so don't criticize him for being out of touch or favoring policy that are anti-farmer. In fact, his whole business is buying farm properties and then renting the acreage back to poor farmers. He increases the price of farmland, takes huge tax write-offs, and creates a class of tenant farmers. But shucks, he's just a regular farmer who has never had dirt or grease under his nails. As for our true farmers out there, like many countries, the rural areas are losing population. Kids move away, older folks die off, farms get sold off and consolidated, and all the while many of our farmers are out there working with syndicated right-wing radio constantly spewing in the background because it is the only media left in most rural parts of our country. There have been numerous agrarian uprisings in our country, from the Whiskey Rebellion to the farm strikes during the Great Depression. Farmers were once quite radical and their political and economic views were forged by indignities put upon them by forces like Mother Nature, the railroad barons, and bankers. When asked what he would do about the Farm Bill, LBJ responded with, "Pay it!" He knew farmers were an important constituency. Now, there are fewer farmers and they have been boiling in right-wing hate for a few decades now. They serve a party that doesn't really care about them and hate the party that still tries to make things better. Meanwhile, they are getting squeezed from corporate consolidation and greed in everything from equipment to seeds and pesticides. In the last year, we have added tariffs, along with dramatically reduced ag research/science and enforcement shocks to the labor pool. Put it all in a world where the climate is changing rapidly, water is becoming more scarce, predictability is diminishing, and the vicissitudes of nature are trending heavily towards the unfavorable. It's not a good scene. And of course, agriculture affects us all profoundly. We need to think of farming like we're starting to think of AirBnB's and outlaw further corporate consolidation of things like housing and farming. Then, we need to begin to unwind some of the corporate aspects of agriculture. But alas, that will likely not happen. Oh well. NYTimes article from just Tuesday: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/us/politics/us-agriculture-warning.html
People can respect they work and they drive and determination and absolutely detest their attitudes, politics and various actions. Ask black Farmers how they are treated The concept that Farmers are self sufficient is not quite accurate they get alot of subsidies and government assistance (well not the black farmers so much) As stated above . . They so caught in the "culture wars" and wanting to control people in places hundreds of miles away that does not concern them . . . It's ok to not like what people in cities do .. . .but to try an vote in people to enforce your values on them is too much AND YES THAT DOES BOTH WAYS!! You have to Separate the Occupation and the People I have been telling people that MAGA literally vote to have JIM CROW laws expanded to include everyone These Farmers are about to be Sharecroppers Rocket River
From what I’ve read, as much as we demonize corporations like Monsanto we need them to sustain our population levels. Our farming practices are hyper efficient compared to pre-industrial farming. The grain yields were universally lower and the yields were the highest in the Near East explaining why civilization flourished there over the rest of the planet. Through genetic engineering and chemical fertilizers and pesticides we were able to turn lots of land into viable farmland.
You aren't wrong. Reminds me of the clientele at the custom boot place in the Stockyards in Fort Worth with $10k boots. I walked in there once and they looked at me like I was a skunk.
Double Edged Sword Let's say you have a job making 100K a year for and it was guarantee for like LIFE (20 years) The After your Second Year. . .they give you 200K a year but after 3 yrs you lose you job NOW During those three years they are your heros and paying you well After that you are f*cked That is what Monsanto's Genetic Manipulation does It will give you bigger yields. . . but you are dependent on them because they have made it so these crops CANNOT BE REPRODUCED WITH OUT THEM My grandfather grew corn (not professionally to sell) Every year we set aside a certain amount to plant next year So we didn't have to buy it every year Monsanto Corn does not do that. . . You put it in the ground and nothing will happen Because they are manufacture to grow that one time and the yeilds don't grow independently. So you always have to go back and buy from them Even worse. Because of Cross polination .. . if someone plants that crap by my grandfather's crops. . . over a couple of years. . his corn won't be able to go independently either What happens when they simply say .. no i won't sell you anything and then you go bankrupt and they buy your farm for pennies on the dollaR? but no one would do that ever . . .. right? Rocket River
fck the farmers that voted Trump…they can all go to hell they voted for everything this regime is doing, they just didn’t think they’d get screwed over again all those bankruptcies and loss of family farms, they deserve every single bit of it what they don’t deserve whatsoever is sympathy or a bailout
Farmers bust their tail to put food on our table. An unmatched work ethic. And they take huge risks in their business as their equipment is super expensive and the price of their output is volatile. Technology use is very high in farming, and if you aren’t an efficient operation, then you go broke. Ask Zimbabweans how important farmers are. They kicked out the efficent farmers and now they are on the verge of all starving. GOOD DAY
I can give them a pass on the first time, but they knew this was coming AGAIN.................................so at this point I have no sympathy, hell, they would vote for him again and if you're that dumb you get no sympathy
