They Feed the World. They Deserve to Survive It

I grew up in a small ranching community in South Dakota. In my community, neighbors helped neighbors but were fiercely independent. I grew up with people who were proud that they were 30 minutes from town and an hour from the hospital. Ranching and farming were the economy of my hometown. It was a hard life, but everyone was proud of their job and willing to work hard for the money they earned. I was young during the 1980s when the farming crisis hit my community. As a teenager there was a rough winter storm one year that killed off lots of animals. What I remember is not that the ranchers were mad that they lost money, but that they cried for these animals that had died.

I have been a military spouse for 25 years, so I have lived in different states and have noticed that farming in them is different, but not different, from what I grew up with. I now work in the USDA Farm Service Agency helping farmers navigate the bureaucracy of the programs that are there for them. Most of the farmers and ranchers just want to work the land as their ancestors did and then be able to fairly sell their products when the time comes. They want to be able to hand down the land to their children or the next generation, and they want the next generation to succeed.

I have also seen how much farmers and ranchers put into conserving the land only to have people tell them they are ruining the environment. They want the land to be productive and livable for generations. I wish we could help farmers and ranchers afford to do their jobs, and everyone to have food on their tables.

LeAnn Fechter

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