I’ve been spending a lot of time with my parents lately. Both are in their 90s and age is taking its toll. Our time together is nearing its end. Dad and I have had our share of disagreements over the years, but I respect his wisdom, judgement, and experience a great deal. As I often say, dad is rarely wrong but never uncertain.
As I spend time with my parents, I’ve been thinking about the wisdom of our elders. Almost everything I was taught and believed as a young farmer interested in policy is being questioned and overturned and what was once accepted wisdom is now seen as hopelessly outdated, if not downright harmful.
Trade agreements, carefully negotiated within an international trading system that had provisions for settling disputes? Absolutely an awful idea. Rules that stay the same from month to month and year to year? That’s boring. Actually writing down agreements on something more long lasting and substantial than a social media post? International economic conditions change, often at 3 a.m., and it’s important to have the ability to change with them.
Do I sound bitter? Maybe it’s because I sold a bunch of soybeans a few hours before the last 50-cent increase in bean prices, a rally that happened as a result of a 3 a.m. post. Incidentally, dad sold his beans the next day. Old folks don’t sleep much. Maybe dad sees those posts before anybody else. I know he is better at marketing than I am. Seventy years of practice pays dividends, I guess.
Cut through the clutter! We deliver the news you need to stay informed about farm, food and rural issues. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse here.
My farm policy mentors often made the point that including both food programs and farm programs in the farm bill was a net benefit to agriculture. Urban and rural legislators both benefitted from the arrangement and Congressional majorities were the result. We young’uns often heard about Sens. Robert Dole and George McGovern working hand in hand to fight hunger and rallying members of both parties to support the farm safety net as well.
In the last few years that belief has changed. Farmers and farm state legislators began to argue that farmers would benefit if SNAP and traditional farm programs were split. The last farm bill, and I use last in the fullest sense of the word, was delayed over that very issue. Cooler and grayer heads prevailed, and the 2018 farm bill eventually passed in the traditional form.
This time around, farm programs and the farm bill were split. It’s no accident that we are still waiting on the full passage of the farm bill. I’m afraid it may be a very long wait.
Dad had a flip phone until about a year ago. He pays his bills with checks sent through the mail, trusting the U.S. mail more than the internet. Texting is an adventure, and his first experience with auto steer was a disaster that kept my brother hopping for an entire spring. Time is passing him by. As it turns out, he’s lived long enough to see time passing his son by as well.
Blake Hurst is a farmer and greenhouse grower in northwest Missouri.