A City Boy’s Case for Rural America

Part 1: Food and Farming

During the waning years of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin toured NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Yeltsin, who would later become the President of Russia, made an unplanned stop at a neighborhood grocery store while visiting the area. Many accounts report that the Russian leader was amazed at the variety and quantity of food available at the American supermarket, reportedly stating, “Even the Politburo doesn’t have this choice. Not even Mr. Gorbachev [the leader of the Soviet Union at the time].”

This famous story is generally offered as evidence of the stark contrast between a free-market economy and a communist system, which is a completely accurate assessment. Only free enterprise can produce the wealth of variety and availability that American consumers enjoy. However, I believe Americans forget that this small anecdote is also a testament to our nation’s role as a leading agricultural producer.

America’s heartland has long been heralded as the breadbasket of the world. Our farming industry and fertile natural resources have played a key role in securing our nation’s place as the world’s premier superpower. Sadly, our agricultural sector’s place in our culture has slowly declined over the last few decades – to the point that some Americans don’t even understand the basic origin of the food in their local grocery store or restaurant.

For context, Americans have a long track record of exhibiting unfamiliarity with their food. The Washington Post reported on this phenomenon, noting a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) study commissioned three decades ago, which found that nearly one in five adults weren’t aware that hamburgers were made from beef. A widely-reported 2017 survey by the Innovation Center of U.S. Dairy revealed that some 17 million Americans thought chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

While these findings make great headlines, they shouldn’t surprise anyone. A declining number of people involved in any kind of process almost guarantees a declining number of people who understand it. Agriculture is no exception.

Some Americans have rarely been within a few miles of a live cow, much less witnessed the process by which the meat in their hamburger or the milk in their cereal was procured. Plus, some school systems today appear to spend more time discussing the latest social justice theories than the building blocks of human society. We, unfortunately, can’t just assume that every child will learn these basic ideas in the classroom anymore.

Yet, the food illiteracy of some members of the population is not nearly as concerning as the declining agricultural workforce and expanding agricultural trade gap. For example, the USDA recently reported that the United States became a net importer of agricultural products again in 2023 and predicted in their 2024 forecast that the country’s agriculture trade deficit would grow this year. In a world now plagued by turmoil, Americans should be concerned that we are becoming more dependent on other nations for our agricultural products, rather than more independent.

Furthermore, farm employment in the United States has declined by 35 percent since 1969, according to the US Bureau of Economic analysis. In 2022, direct on-farm employment accounted for only 1.2 percent of U.S. employment, according to the USDA.

There are many factors contributing to these economic shifts. It is evident, though, that technology played some role in the declining employment, by allowing more efficiency and production with less labor. Demographics also seem to be playing at least some part in the decline as well. Despite the growth of corporate controlled agriculture, the overwhelming majority of farms are still a family affair. According to the USDA, 96% of U.S. farms are classified as “family farms.” While this dynamic certainly creates part of the rich culture found in rural America, the data clearly shows that the practice of farming is largely failing to be passed on to the next generation in sustainable numbers, with the average age of the American farmer now rising to nearly 60 years old.

Economic concerns, including the ability to obtain land, naturally seem to be on the minds of young farmers, according to industry reports. America loses roughly 4.3 acres of farmland every minute, according to the USDA, totaling up to 50 million acres over the last two decades. In fact, according to the American Farm Bureau, we have lost 140,000 farms in just the last five years alone, amounting to more than 20 million acres of farmland – an area equivalent to the size of Maine.

In total, these findings reveal an agricultural sector that is facing significant obstacles and a general public who has never been more disconnected from it.

In response to this state of our farmlands, I will be the first to admit that I am no expert on agricultural issues. My thumb isn’t the slightest shade of green. I am just an individual who has come to realize just how fragile our society has become. As evidence, we need not look any further in history than the recent pandemic to see how quickly supply chains can be disrupted and how some Americans react to even the slightest inconvenience.

Statistically speaking, most of us here in the heartland do not actually work on a farm or ranch for their primary income. Thus, non-farmers and ranchers will ultimately play a key role in protecting the future of our nation’s food production within our public institutions. The most important decisions regarding agriculture could be determined by people who drive a minivan, rather than a combine. This idea might be frightening to some, but it is no less fact. That’s just how our system works.

Mark Twain once wrote, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” Perhaps, those of us who live outside of the agricultural world should take Twain’s advice and begin to listen and to learn more about this important part of our culture and community.

But more importantly, as people who believe in personal responsibility, more Americans need to take ownership of what they eat and how they obtain their food.

It cannot be denied that industry has made incredible advances through science and technology in meeting the food demands of the world’s growing population. However, as individuals, Americans have taken a significant step back in learning and maintaining the skills and resources necessary to produce and obtain food for our ourselves and our families – whether that be farming, ranching, or hunting.

Every American may not all be able to produce their own food, but we can all take steps to better understand the process and to support the security of food production in our nation.