Thanks to Lori McGrath and Steve Bemis for putting into perspective (in comments on my previous post) the basic desire by many owners of small farms to produce wholesome foods. It’s all so basic. Lori explains it as "a need." I interpret "need" as a desire or passion to do good and help others. Lori has walked the walk. Like Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures, Lori has been a victim of the latest government harassment routine–the listeria label. And like Mark, she has spoken out, refusing to be cowed (so to speak).
Steve Bemis tells a story that has both a Biblical and an entrepreneurial ring to it. A farmer starts as simply as it’s possible for a farmer to start–with one cow. A trade here, a birth there, and suddenly there are three cows nourishing a growing circle of friends and neighbors. The farmer is similarly pursuing a passion.
I’m just an excitable journalist, while these individuals are combatants out in the field. In my previous post, I encouraged Alison in Ohio to shy away from fear. I realize in reading these latest comments that having the will to stand up to the nay-sayers in public health, agriculture, and medicine involves more than overcoming fear–it requires commitment, passion, a refusal to be bullied.
This is what many readers were observing last week in discussions about Mark McAfee. It’s what Joel Salatin has argued in his book, "Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal". Passion and commitment sometimes cause individuals to mis-speak or over-promise in their zeal, which can be difficult for some to handle in today’s "gotcha" political and media circus. But those qualities are a prerequisite for anyone who is serious about succeding with a small farm in today’s regulatory and social climate.
A century ago, a family could buy a plot of land and know that if they were willing to do the back-breaking work, chances are they would survive and possibly even make a few dollars. After all, people needed to eat.
Today, the odds are long against the small farm. In major dairy states like Vermont and Kentucky, 80% or more of the dairy farms that were around in the 1950s have disappeared, bought up by corporate dairies, as well as housing developers. If the dairy lobby has its way, more will be forced out in the consolidation push that has dominated the industry for decades.
Dairy farming, with a commitment to unpasteurized milk, requires even more commitment than for a technology entrepreneur trying to produce a new chip or software application. Not only are you up against large well-financed corporate competitors, but you are up against a government bureaucracy that wants you to go away. It’s a lot to take on. The good news is that there is a growing army of supporters out there eager to buy the farmers’ products.
They had a bon-fire in the evening and we ended up staying late into the night, and as we were driving home with our four year old son and baby passed out from exhaustion in the seats behind us it struck me that what a great experience it is for us and our children to come to think of this life as ‘normal.’ We have people from all walks of life involved in our herdshare, urban and rural, Amish, Mennonite, ‘English,’ Asian, white and black. It’s ironic that the authorities are so aghast at the thought of anyone giving raw milk to children after they received the incredible gift of their experiences that day. I was talking with our farmer afterwards and he mentioned that he was a bit amazed when he saw a ten year old girl just sobbing when it came time for her to leave his farm and go home!