Farmageddon: The Old Farm Problem
A Tale as Old as Time
Recently, the old farm problem has reared its ugly head again. The farm problem, if you have forgotten, is the fact that farmers can’t afford to farm. This is an old problem that dates back to the beginnings of civilization, when in Mesopotamia, in 5342 B.C., the price of water buffalo dung spiked to all time highs and the flax seed market bottomed out, mostly because ancient Egypt decided to stop buying flax seed from Mesopotamia and instead started importing it from Brazil, which at the time was a burgeoning flax seed producer.
From its infancy in the cradle of civilization, the farm problem grew and spread to other cultures and civilizations. The Hebrew culture, for instance, took a run at solving the problem by forgoing crop production and relying on manna from a distant trading partner. But after forty years, the supply of manna dried up and they had to go back to growing their own crops, so manna was only a temporary solution for the farm problem.
Eventually, the ancient Greeks took a crack at solving the farm problem. They put their best and brightest marble bust models to the conundrum. For instance, Aristotle started out by writing about agriculture, but then he soon gave up and transitioned to easier topics like metaphysics. Then the ancient Romans came along and tried to solve the farm problem by building lots of cobblestone roads, only to realize they built their roads too small for their mammoth wheat carts and potholes led to the fall of their civilization.
Fast forward many centuries to America where, to solve the farm problem, the citizenry enslaved others to do their farming for them, but this did very little to solve the farm problem and, in fact, led to many tangential problems. That more or less brings us to modern times when the farm problem is reawakening with a new sense of urgency. Due to rising input costs and low commodity prices, some farmers will likely be forced to sell their farms. Unless manna falls from heaven or the federal government, this will be a very bad year for the farm problem.
Truly, I wish I knew the solution. Federal manna will likely fall, but that will not solve the farm problem. Nor is the solution is as simple as eschewing all modern farming in favor of old agrarian ways, as the farm problem is as old as time. Many farmers are keeping the faith and hoping that newly installed policies will pay dividends and lead to a revival in the bread basket of America. That’s what they’ve been told at least.
But I doubt it. I believe, if I remember my history right, that once ancient Egypt started buying flax seed from Brazil, Mesopotamia was left holding the bag.
Possibly. In fact, I have often thought that ancient deer hunters likely had a lot more leisure time to relax and think deep philosophical thoughts while waiting in their deer stands with spears at the ready 😉
Very good contribution to solving the problem ! More thoughts please , perhaps on the role the various plagues played and how an expose of the very real dangers of processed junk food could help ….. I believe you are close to a solution !