by Patricia Stewart

Created on: February 13, 2009

Family farms have been a part of America since the first colonists came to this country 400 years ago. The tradition of raising one's own food was considered "normal" for Americans until after World War II. But now, there is a growing crisis, who will raise America's food in the coming generation and where will it be raised?

Our culture has changed from valuing hard work and responsibility, to valuing prosperity and delegation of work. Though farmers have long been viewed as subordinate, there was a recognition of the valuable service they offered in raising food for those who did not live "on the land." However, since the dawn of the "technology age," our society has come to value those who do little in the way of hard, physical labor, and look down upon those who choose to work with their hands. Until the age of television, this attitude was limited to a few "in town," who denegrated their farming neighbors. But now, television expands that attitude and farm children see it, and the alternatives. As a result, children of farmers are moving away from the farm, learning more technological and financially based skills, and stopping what has been a long tradition of inheriting the family farm.

One of the reasons for this, besides cultural pressure is the idea that in order to farm a person must own and maintain a large fleet of machinery. Young farmers are told repeatedly that in order to succeed as a farmer they must increase their crop yield, and grow their farm acreage. This financial toll wears on a young person. Though they value the life they have grown up with, they do not wish to continue their parent's load of debt, hard work and loss of respect in the eyes of the community. They are also told that they must align themselves, either as corporate subsidies, or as their own Limited Liability Corporation, with the idea of middlemen, monoculture and receiving less than adequate payments for the food they produce.

The government has been working since WWII to create a centralized food system, giving subsidies to those who create the most food, though they are far from sustainable, or family farms. The farmers who still practice family style farming are exempt from these subsidies, and therefore cannot compete with their corporate neighbors, and often just sell out.

Intensively managed farms, using agricultural chemicals and heavy machinery, takes a tremendous environmental and financial toll on the ecology and family on the farm. Using "accepted practices," for

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