Farming and the Future

Hello, this is George Anderson with some news about our rural crisis. Although less than two percent of Americans are engaged in agriculture, over half of the congregations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are in small towns and rural settings, which means they are directly affected by the economic and spiritual health of rural America. They have seen their communities dwindle, as population goes down, as schools consolidate and local businesses close or move away.

Farmers are certainly working as hard as ever, many now holding other jobs, with spouses working as well. Yet, they can't seem to make ends meet. It's a direct challenge to our American myth that if you work hard, you will succeed. There's something in the pricing and marketing system itself that needs fixing.

This church has a statement on economic life. It’s titled "Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood For All." It maintains that farmers ought to get a fair share of the product of their labor. We'd like to stand with our members who make their living from agriculture, from the production of food or fiber, but where should we stand when there are so many points of view? Everybody from presidential candidates to farmers at the local café have a solution. The problem is that they can't agree. So, we end up with gridlock and things get worse.

The three biggest farm organizations in this country—the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Farmers Union and the National Farmer's Organization—each have their own prescription for a remedy, but they sometimes find themselves on opposite sides. An interesting opportunity presented itself this year when we discovered that all the presidents of the big three farm organizations are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I invited them to come to my office to talk about how their church could help them in their efforts to improve the future of farming. My goal was to find a few basic points that we could all agree on. That was not too difficult to achieve.

Sandra LaBlanc, our director for rural networking and resources, is now working with the farm organizations on the final formulation of a half-dozen points that would help agricultural producers and their communities. A new idea surfaced, as well. If the farm organizations can get together and find some common ground, why not gather representatives from the various faith communities who have an interest in agriculture, and organize a national conference that would address the rural crisis from spiritual, social and economic points of view? It could help focus public opinion on the problem, but it would also give encouragement and help to the folks who are dealing with it every day. We're going to ask our colleagues and other church bodies whether they would be interested.

Stay tuned, and may God support you in your own ministry, whether at work or at worship.

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