Spring Green

psst, they don't care about us

Spring is here, and it’s in a hurry. The farm is full steam ahead with this record-setting warm weather. Ready or not, it’s time to go farming

It was a nice winter break. I needed to take some time to find myself. To figure out what exactly this writing project is. I still don’t have the answers. All I know is that I am going to be farming at least one more summer.

One reason I wanted to farm was to keep my head down. I wanted to decouple from the modern-day rat race of constant achievement. I wanted off the wheel.

Yet these days, if you’re farming and not paying close attention to everything that is going on, you will be swept up and spit out.

Most farms don’t need to make money. Their family paid for the ground and iron one way or another. They just need to cover the property taxes and ordinary operating expenses. This year, the outlook for farms is not ideal:

Less than half of U.S. farms are forecast to turn a profit in 2026, as farmers face continued tight margins, high production costs, and a 0.7% decline in net farm income. ~ Google Gemini

Yet, for those of us who purchased the equipment and land with debt, we must make a profit, and every decision matters. For us, it’s a high-stakes game of watching the grass grow.

So when, over the first three weeks of March, we saw our fuel costs rise by 36% and fertilizer costs rise by 34%, I was wondering if this felt like America First. These cost spikes, on top of tight margins, make survival difficult. I cannot absorb increases to two of my core costs. I can’t imagine many others can either.

Luckily, I got my fertilizer bought early, and I am just going to hope and pray fuel comes down sooner rather than later.

The winds of the world are influencing and dictating our every decision. So much for keeping my head down...

So I am still figuring out what this newsletter, Thoughts of American Farmer, is. What am I trying to achieve? Am I here to make money so I can support my farming hobby? Or is this just a glorified journal, a way to let off steam, to help me cope with the trauma that modern-day farming inflicts? Perhaps this is a call to action, a voice that others can trust to speak for a better tomorrow?

I am no dunce. I am not a farmer because that was my only option. I chose to be a farmer because I wanted to be connected to the land. I needed to be connected to something greater than myself, something beyond what a consumerist society can provide.

Yet this menace in the White House is inflicting mass chaos. His trade war and real wars are forcing ordinary operators like me to scrape and claw just to survive.

Here’s the thing: he doesn’t give a rip about us. None of them do. You know why? Because they own rural America. They know rural America will always vote red, no matter how poorly they treat us.

Everyone’s head is so spun up by Facebook and Fox News that no one can see clearly. “Well, at least she isn’t president.” Or, “well, as bad as this is, it would be even worse if the other side won.”

As f******* if. Trump’s trade war has lowered the prices of American agricultural products while increasing the costs of our inputs.

Farm profit margins would be significantly better under a democratic administration.

Look, I am not going to argue that Bidenomics was perfect. Or that I agree with all of the left’s cultural positions. But let us be honest, is it worth having brothers and sisters in the farming industry go bankrupt? Why do we, as farmers, have to be the main pawns in the Republican power game?

Farm incomes have been so poor under the Trump administration that American farms have been more reliant on welfare than either the Biden or Obama administrations.

So, for all our talk about less government and about reducing welfare, Trump’s policies have destroyed real margins and forced American farms to be dependent on the government for survival.

I am unsure if this newsletter will ever go anywhere. But my hope is that, through my writing and point of view, I can help rural America wake up from the anger-induced rage that convinces them they must vote against their own best interests.

Thanks for being here, and see you soon.