Farmers losing hope, suicide up

[Omran]

It is really very sad article, but just to be fair, Human must be stronger, there is nothing on earth will give us human the right to end life or kill our selves, yes nothing, good times come and go and so bad times, so I am not trying to make anybody mad, but hey, bad times came on everybody (most everyone) and if each one of us will kill him/herself over that, then, that's what I call it bad.
Trusting God what we need, and if we believe in that deep from the heart, then things will get back better than today, why ppl don't kill themselves when economy was great

 

[Katy]

As a farmwife who farms alongside my husband, I can relate to the hopelessness and depression that is becoming all too common. My husband is almost 63 and at a point in his life that he should be looking at slowing down. Unfortunately that is not possible and we have to work harder than ever to make ends meet. Two of our children would love to take over the farm, but we can't afford to retire and there's no way our operation could support two more families. Our farm is about 1000 acres which only a couple of generations ago would have supported several families. Luckily we have no machinery payments since our "newest" tractor is almost 30 years old and our combine was made in 1976. Despite all the hard things that come along with our chosen way of life....and that's what it is...it's a lifestyle, as well as our job because you live it 24/7, I wouldn't trade it for anything. All three of our kids grew up working hard and knowing that the food on the table was probably going to be their only "paycheck" but they developed a work ethic that has served them well. Now we're trying to pass that same thing on to the grandkids. Yesterday the 9 and 11 year old grandsons spent all afternoon helping Grandpa fix the 30 year old baler and they had a great time doing it. I hope there's a way to pass this farm on to another generation of our family. It's been in my husband's family since 1882 and it would be so sad if we aren't able to pass everything we've worked for all these years on.

 

[cariboujaguar]

Quote:

When the "Farm Boys" pack it in and this fool is starving I want to be a fly on the wall! What a moron!

was this %$#@#$#@$%^ stupid enough to leave any contact info? I HATE people like this! They talk about being intelligent and holding a worth while job, but how the heck will they eat when all the farmers quit or lose their "hobby's"?

 

[deeredawn]

I really stink at the copy/paste/post thing.

To the farmwife: yes, it IS so hard. But when I'm sitting down at night, and all is well, I'm fed, I'm tired, and my dogs at my feet.... I'm so blessed. I know I must sound like I've got stars inmy eyes when it comes to the land, I do and I don't. I know the hardships, the tragedies, the struggles. (Sigh), still, I'd have it no other way I guess. And I HAVE lived in the city too... it's all in what you know.

 

[Rosalind]

Sadly, I know some big city people like that commenter. I work with many, unfortunately.

These people spent their entire lives eating cardboard processed mass-produced melamine-poisoned food their entire lives--and I mean that very literally. Some grew up in countries that don't have any food safety laws and the closest thing they've had to "clean" food is Oscar Mayer bologna. Which to them, tastes like ambrosia. When one of our corporate overlords takes us out to a business lunch at a decent restaurant, the food (which is normal, everyday stuff for anyone who grows/catches/butchers their own) seems glorious to them, a real delicacy.

Once in a while, I bring in extras from my garden and coop to give away at work, and they seriously, no kidding, try to pay me big bucks for them. One lady insisted I take $20 for a few dozen eggs--$6/doz! They figure I must do something special to my garden to make things taste like that, feed it special fertilizer or something.

I can see why farmers get so deep in debt, though. Equipment is a big cost, and monocropping anything is taking on all the risk on behalf of a grain purchaser who is not going to act in good faith. I wish more farmers would follow Joel Salatin's advice about growing multiple crops to lower the risk and maintain quality, I really think that would save them. At the same time I can see how hard it is to change as soon as you take on so much debt--monocropping, especially corn, is an in-for-a-penny type of thing, hard to stop once you've started. But Mr Salatin's method is a business model that my Mennonite and Amish relatives have done fabulously well with.

Productive jobs.

Half the darn country sits around in Marketing, deciding whether the new 15-second TV ad should have a blue background or yellow! And this person thinks THAT'S "productive"? You could fire half the middle managers at nearly every job I've worked, and the only difference would be the server would be less cluttered up with computer games and dirty pictures! I can only dream that such individuals would get a pink slip and have to turn their grassy lawns into vegetable gardens to put food on the table! Unfortunately, we do not live in a just world, so that will never happen.

 

[beak]

The farmers on the northeast plains of Colorado are having difficulties with water rights. They have been renting their water rights for years and the charges were being deferred. They were supposed to do something that involved money to keep from having to pay the deferred charges. Most of them didn't do it and now the bill is due. I saw a bunch at an auction where they were selling all their equipment. They were getting much less than it was worth because of the economy. Naturally the big boys were there scooping it all up. What a bunch of dejected looking people. Dry farming doesn't work too well in most of Colorado. If you don't have irrigation you usually get a pretty sad crop. It's just like everything else in the country. Only corporations can afford to do business. Farmers have always had a tough life though. Too much depends on the weather and the markets.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

I cant believe anyone could say that!


I have wished all of my life, however short that may be, that I could grow up on a farm!!! Do they not have any kind of clue how fundemental farms are to EVERYONE?! Do they not have any kind of clue what a good person living on a farm can model you to be?

I dont see hardly anything wrong with living 5 miles from the nearest house! In fact, I would ENJOY it, if not to get away from people who are like that!!!!!

 

[beefy]

farmer suicides are nothing new, really. just lost one up the road about 3 miles a couple of weeks ago. pretty common around here every year. money is the main reason. people have no clue what it takes to be a farmer. whats amazing is all the morons who actually look down on farmers such as that idiot who responded. it certainly is discouraging to know you are working your tail off to feed such ungrateful imbeciles. secretly, i would love to see what would happen with a major collapse when everyone's money and important jobs are worthless and people are left standing around in the grocery stores scratching their heads wondering what happened to all the food that used to magically appear. i would venture to say that after all the farmers were pillaged, farmers would be the ones that would still be able to survive. i feel that it will take something devastating like that to get people's heads out of their butt.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

Friends of ours are farmers in Colorado. They are trying to sell off their land as their water rights will be gone in a few years. They have had alot of problems since they started farming there. You put in a crop and the price of wheat is one price when it finally time to harvet its selling for half of what it cost you to plant it. I feel sorry for them but when they were mving there I couldn't understand why they had to pay for water rights. He spent 35,000 putting in a well and doesn't own the water that comes out of it. Then your told you have only so much water for the farm and so much for the house. Is it like that in other states. Hopefully the sale of their farm goes through and they can get out from under.

 

[beefy]

water is being regulated more and more everywhere i think. its only a matter of time looks like.