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southern MN | Years ago at a friends party in affluent Twin Cities had a couple interesting conversations. When I was introduced as a farmer, got different reactions depending what their backgrounds were.
Few gals wanted to relate somehow, and started talking about going to the farmers market and buying local and avoiding the big chemical companies.
It was hard to really say much in such a limited, social setting.
They weren't wacko anti farmer/ anti technology types - heck that party probably had some of the smartest technology people in the state in it, Control Data was big back then before the fall.....
They just are so far removed from the current food supply chain, they have no idea how to relate to 'a farmer'. They think of us a fella with a hoe and some rows of lettuce and sweet corn and being oppressed by the big players in agribusiness.
I smiled and nodded a lot and tried for some middle of the road average conversation under the curcuomstances.
Such encounters are a learning experience, for both sides if we can smile and be calm and just converse. That can be difficult in a situation like you had, but calm and smile is the way to go. I enjoy learning their perspective of things, try to understand where they are coming from.
Here in Minnesota we have that setback deal the governor set up, stealing 16-50 feet of the best land along all the waterways of the state. It is really interesting to see city folk view of that. My wife's brother can't even grasp the deal; he figures there are easements across his town lot for power lines, water pipe, ain't no big deal. He can't grasp that this is affecting 125,000 acres of the best farm land in the state, and that it is a land stealing for hunters, it makes no sense as it is being done. Watching the letters to the editor in the 'Trib, and so on, is just a trip as to how disconnected rural and city folk are.
Paul | |
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