The current face of agriculture

As a "city girl" many of the images that I saw of the country growing up were the rows of corn as I was driving on the interstate. Actually living in the country has allowed me to see what the country actually is today.  It has come a long way since "Little House on the Prairie" and not all of it is as magnificent as it may seem. As a group of interns we discuss these issues often. 

The drive into Alexandria offers just a small glimpse of what agriculture is. The following pictures are taken from my drives in and out of Alex. One Sunday I drove to Brainerd to visit family and took mainly the smaller county roads, and this was where I actually saw the face of agriculture. No longer are farms the small family farms, but they are large farms that grow mainly one or two different crops. Often times as interns we discuss what this has done to society and to our food (I'm interested in the society part, many of the other interns are concerned about the environment). One thing that sticks in my mind is the government policies that play a large role in the current system. They say that if a farmer grows a certain amount of a certain crop they will  receive a subsidy. So the farms continue to grow. Then, the farmer stops seeing his crop as food and it he/she perceives it as merely a product to be sold, and therefore the use of pesticides and chemicals do no worry the farmer. Some of the farmers in the area have gardens in their front yards, but they are  very small. They would never spray chemicals on these vegetables because they don't want to eat the stuff. They also become much more dependent on a grocery store, which is a really silly idea." Why would you buy your food from a store when you can produce a lot of it in the land that you own?" 

There are two things on the drive to Alexandria that are so juxtaposed and show the current system. The first is an abandoned small farm house, barn etc. that I like to imagine was a lively flourishing farm many years ago. 

The other is a large farm with two silohs and a grain machine that I can't recall the name of right now. They obviously have a lot of land and grow a lot of food. (Sorry that the picture is hard to see, I took it while driving)

This is not a one time site, I see properties like these all the time. And maybe the barn is falling apart and they are no longer farming, but the family is still living in a small house on the land. What's sad is that these small farms (and even large ones) are continuing to die. The younger generations are not interested in working in the kinds of job that the work is hard and the rewards are little. Not only is the pay low but you are not producing much to be proud of. Not only are the generations dying, but so is the knowledge that came with it.