Farming culture necessary aspect of healthy, productive America, world
Hicks, hillbillies, uneducated farm boys! Those are stereotypes South Carolinians often use to demean the school up the road located in Pickens and Anderson counties. Such a rivalry is not uncommon between land grant and liberal arts institutions from state to state. Alabama projects the same about Auburn as does UNC-Chapel Hill about N.C. State. In jest this is perfectly justified, but in modern culture, this lack of civility toward agriculture in general may not be beneficial.
The annals of American history are dominated by agriculture, from the settlement of South Carolina to the expansion west to the Civil War. George Washington said he knew of "no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture." The most important facet of daily life is food, produced by agriculture.
Why, then, is there such an overwhelming lack of concern for agriculture as a whole and a prevalent demeaning attitude in the media, from TV shows to offhanded remarks in news outlets?
Of major importance for the negativity in media is that an interaction disconnect has developed between those in agriculture and those in the cities and suburbs. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more 20 percent of the population was employed in agriculture in 1930. In 2000, that number was 1.9 percent, less than a 10th of what it was during our grandparents' youth. While much of this is due to advances in modern industrial agricultural practices, how many farmers that you know personally can you name off the top of your head? Wendell Berry, in his essay "The Agrarian Standard," draws the distinction between agrarian culture, which understands limitation and living within one's boundaries, and the industrial complex, which, after depleting one resource location, simply moves on to another.
The division is apparent along ideological lines as well. While a large percentage of those benefiting from organic and family farms are often stereotyped as hippies shopping barefoot at Earth Fare, the majority of individual farmers are traditional and what many urban dwellers might consider backward. Agricultural areas overwhelmingly vote Republican and tend to be more religious. Looking at county data by state, zones with high farm production are red across the board. Thomas Jefferson said, "Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens ... tied to their country and wedded to [its] liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds." This is reflected in the support for more Jeffersonian-style candidates running for public office in rural areas and matched with the same zealous support for more left (or "progressive") leaning candidates in urban areas.
Agriculture's influence on the United States is undeniable. Society as a whole should work to dispel negative stereotypes of those in agriculture and uphold it as a viable career choice and one necessary for our nation's independence and security and for the longevity of its unique cultural contribution to the American story.