When millennials hear the world “rural”, our minds invariably flash through pictures of dirt roads, main streets and cotton fields, supplemented with the occasional church steeple or watermelon stand.
In Mississippi, these symbols are abundant enough.
A ten mile drive in any direction will most likely bring you within a stone’s throw of a corn field. Those of us who are native to the colorfully named towns of rural America often have a hard time grappling with the nostalgia that is often associated with the simple lifestyle provided by small towns and the forces that pull us away from them.
While we remember the musings of Thoreau in Walden from high school English class, we don’t think that the rural lifestyle is “for us”. Our universities tell us to take highly technical degrees, preparing us for the industrial workforce, or we decide ourselves to follow our hearts and bask in the intellectual stimulation of a liberal arts education.
Rarely, however, are we prodded towards farming, animal husbandry or any other essential agrarian trades.
We need to reevaluate how we look at rural America as well as what we consider a fulfilling lifestyle.
I’ve lived in a rural town this summer, working on a sustainable hog farm that strives to provide pork to consumers in an ethical and affordable manner.
The sweat and mud that clings to my skin and clothing reminds me daily that I am producing something palpable and life-giving for someone. I am productive and surrounded by people who value the same thing I do: to provide food to people, one of life’s only necessities.
Last summer, I would have told you that this type of lifestyle wasn’t “for me”, but in reality, I think I and many other people my age are just scared of hard work.
We’ve been raised on Pizza Rolls and Hot Pockets, completely disconnected from the toil that so many farmers have endured to keep us fed. We all want “cool” jobs – to be writers, executives and politicians. I think that farm life can be entirely fulfilling.
So, what happens to the heart of rural America and the farms that are the life-blood of urban America if young growers don’t take up the mantle?
Over 60% of American farmers are 55 years old or older. In a country where 200 years ago, over 98% of the people farmed to some degree, now only 2% of Americans farm. The number of farms in the U.S. peaked in the 1930s at over 6 million and has steadily dropped to the present number of 2.2 million.
Small farms are disappearing and the entire culture of farming is moving towards factory farming, an industry that often puts much more emphasis on profit margins than on ethics and health.
Many of us will excel in our areas of work and feel very validated in what we do after college, whether we are physically producing a product for consumption or offering a service that makes someone else’s life much easier.
We often relegate the small town, agrarian lifestyle to an idyllic but unsuitable existence. I challenge all of us to shed these preconceived ideas and try out the hard work for ourselves, if only for a few months as a part of an internship.
Someone has to feed the world, and even if it means simply visiting a farmers’ market for your produce, it is important that we all wake up and realize that food just isn’t a given; a farmer is behind every bowl of cereal and every glass of orange juice that you have for breakfast.
Rural America still exists and is pining for young people to bring life back to its aging ranks.
Alex Borst is a junior international studies major from Madison.
