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Compulsion to be Farmer is an Inherited Disease
 I fear an "informational overload" is occurring across this great country on the subject of diseases. How great of an expert does one have to become on Anthrax, Foot and Mouth, West Nile Virus, and Mad Cow diseases? Unless your living in a cabin in the mountains with no newspapers, radio, television and the Internet, escaping educational lessons on diseases is next to impossible whether you want them or not.
Information on diseases through the popular press is not limited to mammals. About every three years there seems to be a report of a new disease in plants. Examples of this are Sudden Death Syndrome in soybeans and Microdochium Blight which affected this year's pumpkin crop. This article deals exclusively with a little known disease that affects mainly the farming community. It seems to be a disease that is highly heritable from previous generations; but as in my case can skip a generation since I got this affliction from my Grandfather Caldwell. There has been no research that I am aware of on this disease, but it must be a gene that affects the blood and once in the blood you cannot eradicate it. There seems to be no cure for this disease, I once was told that a banker could cure it; but in several cases the condition "flared" back up after a few years following the treatment. This disease does not have a name. For the purpose of this article I will call it the "I have to farm no matter what" disease. Once this is in your blood the only alternative is to farm. Four years in a row of lousy prices, drought, barn fires, neighbor complaints, corn borer, stalk rots, landlords raising rents and a full-time job in town will not stop these affected people from farming. As the ole church hymn is written "there is power in the blood." In this article I'm going to "name names." I'll begin with the County Agricultural Agent. My father was born and raised in downtown Cincinnati. Until he was twenty he believed that the difference between a cow and a bull was whether they had horns or not. Needless to say a green thumb was not in his vocabulary. Yet his only son, me, woke up one day at the age of twelve and wanted a cow. How could this be? The answer is Grandpa Caldwell was a Kentucky Registered Hereford breeder and passed that gene on to me. This resulted in my unrest until I purchased a farm and had ownership of cows from the age of twelve till now. With my government job I spend my vacation hauling manure, baling hay, building fence, repairing and painting barns and working cattle. My wife wanted to go to the beach for a week but I told her a used manure spreader was more important! From the east side of the county to the west there are afflicted people everywhere. The Agle family has been farming around South Vienna for generations. Every Agle male has to farm. The latest afflicted one is Adam. Bill tried everything to convince Adam to attend O.S.U. Adam's response was "Dad, I have to plow ground, bale hay, drive farm machinery and castrate bulls now!" At twenty he already owns farmland, rents ground and owns equipment. On the west side is the Steele families. Phil graduated from college, had a teaching career but could not resist "chucking" security and risk it all farming. Decades later his only passion is to farm. His young nephew, Adam, is the classic case of a severe affliction of the "I want to farm no matter what" disease. His father, Ray, said to me "Adam wants to farm so bad he can taste it." Despite the family farm not being large enough to support two families, Adam is growing his own farming business. He raises crops foreign to past generations of Steeles. You will find him selling at the Springfield Farmers Market when it is operating. He built a new home on the farm and in his front yard is vegetables for sale. He repairs automobiles during the day so he can farm after 5:00 p.m. He will farm to the end because there is no cure. With recent events that have affected all our lives, we hear a lot about unsung heroes. My friend, we are very fortunate in this great county to have had unsung heroes for generations called the American Farmer. Despite constant adversity, he preserves no matter what, to feed us and a hungry world. We take him for granted, and one day we will pay for it. Food security is a must. The Worldwide Institute in Washington, D.C. reports that we now have more full-time prisoners than we have full-time farmers. Our prosperity and future depend on this disease continuing to afflict the next generation of farmers. God Bless America and God Bless the American Farmer. Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Admin. and Director, OSU Extension TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868 Updated: August 2001 |