posted on May, 12 2021 @ 01:45 PM
originally posted by: Xtrozero
originally posted by: rickymouse
Black farmers got the same right to sell their produce at a price that causes them to be close to bankrupt every year just like white people do.
Farming does not pay that great for all the hard work and risk involved. But people in the cities want cheap food, so farmers don't get what they
should get for their products.
The sad part is it doesn't take much difference in the price to make it much better for the farmers. I have a good friend that owns a cherry orchard
and some years they just let the cherries rot on the trees as the cost to pick and process is more than the going price.
That is even using illegals to pick and process who can do about 10 times more in a day than a typical American.
Yeah, I grew up on a farm so I feel at home talking to farmers. They feel comfortable talking to me because they can sense I was a farm boy by the
way I talk. I get along well talking with the small farmers at the farmers markets, we discuss things like pesticides and fertilizer use. I am not
against pesticides if used responsibly, it depends on how much they use. Farmers worried about insects eating their crop and causing them to lose the
farm will use more of these pesticides, often using way more than needed. I also have no problem with roundup being used once in a field to control
crab grass, but only once, then the proper amount of the proper fertilizer will keep the crab grass from coming back for ten years. But Monsanto
wants them to be misinformed and dump the chemical on the fields every year until the ground won't grow anything but roundup ready seeds which they
sell. It is sad.
I tend to talk to potato and berry farmers the most because I know the most about those, but have worked in big fields picking carrots and green beans
and grading them for sale too. Never had much luck with onions, I usually just plant green onions to eat and now I have traveling onions that reseed
the area in my yard. I still grow a small garden, mostly cukes and potatoes, and usually have planters with tomato plants and green onions and super
hot chili peppers. A half of one of those peppers will flavor my soups so your forehead sweats.
Most big farmers make barely enough to survive. The majority of the people selling produce at the farmers markets have full time jobs and they get
extra spending money by farming and also get to talk to everyone at the farmers market....the farmers markets around here are social events. I like
walking around at them looking at stuff and buying some foods. Forty years ago nobody went to them very much, it was taboo to grow natural foods, I
belonged to the food coop here and people thought I was nuts for spending a little more for organically grown foods.. back then the conditioning that
pesticides were harmless was pretty well accepted which led to so many sick people today because of side effects coming from long term consumption of
foods treated with chemicals. This is still happening today, I still buy a quarter or more of our food organic but do not need a certified organic
label on it either, just a responsible honest farmers word it is natural.