Oats

In every farmer interview for this book, I’ve asked, “What do you wish nonfarmers knew about farming?” My friend and colleague Wesley Rieth responded, as he usually does, in an extremely thoughtful way, and at just that moment, my voice memo app stopped working (and I wasn’t taking handwritten notes). I emailed him to ask if he could repeat his thoughts. He sent me this:

So, what do I wish nonfarmers knew? That there is no such thing as an agnostic farmer. Each farmer possesses some deep-seated belief, however repressed or expressed it might be, that their work is inseparable from an inherent purpose far greater than their own self. “Belief” seems like the proper term here because farming instills in us a certain type of illogical, unreasonable, and by most accounts unwise hope that each growing season holds the intoxicating promise of growing and cultivating and harvesting like we never have before. This is why farming, as an occupation, and all the things that go with it—farm policy, farm ownership, farm economics, farm health, and so on—are so very complex. A farmer does not just carry on their shoulders the burden of a physically demanding job; each carries with them the history, the dreams, the connections, the family, the obligations, the vision, and the knowledge that they have been given from those before them. My own suspicion is that human will alone is not strong enough to carry this burden through years of unprofitability, debt, consolidation, physical and emotional pain, and untimely death; it is only with the addition of belief that farmers are able to remain ready, even hopeful, for the years that lie ahead of them.