ENDANGERED FARMERS.

This past weekend, farmer Bren Smith penned an op ed for the New York Times titled, "Don't Let Your Children Grow up to be Farmers," and I cannot tell you how accurately it describes us and every farmer we know.The premise of the article is neatly summed up in the second paragraph with "The dirty secret of the food movement is that the much celebrated small-scale farmer isn't making a living." It goes on to state that negative $1,453 was the median income last year for farmers. Ouch.The reasons for this are myriad, but if we want the food movement to continue––for local food, grown with well-meaning hands to still be available––something has to change. Something big. In the article Bren makes an interesting point, that it is time for farmers to start shaping their own agenda. He goes on to say we need "loan forgiveness for college grads who pursue agriculture; programs to turn farmers from tenants into landowners; guaranteed affordable health care; and shifting subsidies from factory farms to family farms." But farmers, who make up such a small percentage of the population, can't do it alone. They need, and I cannot overstate this, their shareholder's help.You hear often that small farmers make up less than one percent of the farming population. Most farmers are conventional farmers. But that percentage is skewed, because it does not take into account CSA and market customers who, at least for the season in which they are participating, are in some ways farmer's themselves. Our friend Brent once said of the Bugtussle CSA that he and his wife can't farm––be it time or knowhow, they cannot grow the food they want to eat––thus they hire farmers to grow their food for them. And have for over ten years. They are investors, partial-owners or shareholders––however you would like to label them––but they depend on the success of Bugtussle in order to get the food they desire. So they, too, and every market shopper like them, have vested interest in the success of their small farm and should be counted in that percentage. With that in mind, for every small farmer who runs a CSA or who has regular market customers, they should know there are tens, if not hundreds of families in it with them. That percentage suddenly doesn't look so small.But the farmers need those shareholders to step up now––now before it gets to be too out of hand. Farmers need grant writers and lobbyists. The new agrarians need political allies, if not their own political party. Moreover, the country needs to create an environment in which young people would want to become small farmers––would feel the support. Because the world needs small farmers. They need them to protect wildlife, to increase habitat, to improve land and air quality, to prevent erosion, and to offer chemical-free, healthful food to those who want it. But they can't do it alone, and they can't do it for negative money. Farming has to be able to support a family, but right now it barely supports itself. If we want to keep small farms from extinction then, everyone has to acknowledge that we are all farmers, and do everything possible to keep ourselves, our farms, afloat.- Jesse