Brain Dump

"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field." ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

For those who say that the reference was to the past, the comment still displays gross ignorance. If a philosophy fits in a nutshell, it should probably stay there.

What farmers need to know:

The content of their soil. Do they need to add nutrients? What kind of nutrients? How much?

What crop to plant. Is it compatible with their soil? Will it survive or thrive? Do they need to rotate crops? If so, which crops will work best for their soil and weather. What if only one crop is suitable? How often will the field need to go fallow, in order to give it a rest?

What about water usage? Will they have access to irrigation? Do they need it? If they need it, do they have the necessary equipment? What's the average rain fall? How reliable is it? What kind of storms do they have? Hail storms are known to flatten wheat crops.

What kind of equipment do they need? Plows? Combine? Trucks for shipping? Fertilizer distributor? Bailer? How much will each item cost? Do they have the skills to fix it themselves? What's the cost to pay someone else to fix it?

Farmers have to decide how much seed to buy for the amount of land they own, without buying too much or too little. They have to figure all expenses, including fuel and any extra help needed. They also have to estimate what the market will be like, each and every year.

Farmers have to be meteorologists, watching the weather and determining when to irrigate and when to harvest. I remember family members talking about farmers coming together to harvest faster, because of coming storms. They also helped each other out when one of them was sick or hurt.

Farmers work hard and are constantly endeavoring to find better methods.

For the record, the agriculture revolution occurred in the 1700s. The industrial revolution followed.

Ask the Irish how easy farming is and make sure you mention the potato famine.

There's a reason farmers changed to other trades. I've tried to grow a garden. I was successful one year. The years I dug a hole, put a seed in, covered it with dirt, and watered were utter failures. My one successful year, I dug up the plot, used my horse's fertilizer, pulled weeds, watched it like a hawk, covered the seed mounds with chicken wire to keep birds out, and made sure it was watered properly, not higgledy-piggledy. It was a lot of work. I was also incredibly proud. I didn't grow enough to live on, but what I grew was delicious.

Farming takes hard work, skill, and a willingness to learn from mistakes and try new things. It also takes astonishing determination and tenacity.

God bless farmers.