Notes on the State of American Agriculture: Young Farmers and "The Farm" After the 1980s Farm Crisis

Katje Armentrout, Purdue University

Abstract

As early as I can remember, my family always referred to it as “The Farm” – the 153-acre piece of property where my Gram lived in a one-story brick home with a large, red barn nestled into a hillside, a decaying corncrib, a rusty tin-roofed granary, and a thriving vegetable garden with as many raspberries and strawberries a growing girl required. Even though I know there were scattered agricultural relics across the property, such as a 1950 Farmall M series tractor, an out of commission hay-baler, a discarded plow, and coils of fencing, I do not remember a time in my childhood when my immediate family planted or harvested the fields there. In the early 1980s, I’ve been told that the last of the cattle were sold off or slaughtered mainly due to the passing of my grandfather; yet, also in part because of the Farm Crisis – after which my parents could not see their future in agriculture and took up occupations away from the property. However, our family would always live near The Farm to hunt, harvest firewood, and allow some Amish neighbors to till the land and plant crops. Over the years, I became interested in sustainable lifestyle practices and grew to respect farmers for the hard work required of them to survive in rural America and a profession that I realized was steadily shrinking in population. When I graduated high school at the turn of the millennium, I recall an influential teacher continually repeating, “Get out of here! This is a great place to raise a family but leaving is the best thing. You’ll learn so much elsewhere. Come back and live [in rural Michigan] after being away for a while.” I did move away for college but did not go far. Receiving my undergraduate and Master’s degrees from the same public university approximately twenty-five miles from The Farm, I remained immersed in a local (and familiar) lifestyle. The school I attended was surrounded by farms and the apartment that I lived in was encompassed with corn and soybean fields. My major and subsequent thesis project were chosen because of these interests, with a focus on traditional fiber art processes. Fast forward to two years after The Great Recession, I moved back to The Farm in 2010. At the time, I believed I was making the most financially responsible decision – paying less in rent and gaining the ability to pay off my student loan debt. I relied on the land more and helped my family by living in the vacant farmhouse. I planted a vegetable garden, just as my grandmother had done – although, I was not confident in my ability to grow raspberries and strawberries. On The Farm, I felt the most at home that I had since moving away for college. However, I could see radical changes of progress happening in my once deteriorating rural community. For the last two decades, the population of Amish people had been steadily increasing, roadside stands had begun popping up to sell produce grown at the local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), numerous advertisements were erected at the ends of driveways with the promise of “Farm Fresh Eggs,” and people travelling by The Farm started stopping on the roadside to take photos of its weathered, rustic barn.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Vostral, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Agriculture|Agronomy|Individual & family studies|Web Studies

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