Can you imagine our world without farmers? Our society does very well at creating great comfort and in moving one breakthrough to another in terms of technological gadgets and high tech processes. Yet, one thing that is sometimes not given attention to, or minimal care for, are agricultural advancement. Not many countries are trying to put this in their list of high priority developments. The focus is more on industrialization. What will happen if everyone would jump into highly technological research and disregard applying knowledge to agriculture?
Even if we could imagine a world thriving on pills and not physical food, we cannot imagine total independence from carbon based things because most of our daily needs are carbon based. Needless to say, farmers are indispensable part of our society. There is no doubt about this but there is also no doubt that farmers are not given the proper regard for their noble task.
In many societies, farmers are always treated as belonging to the lower class. In some jurisdictions farmers are being taken advantage of by big landlords – and yes these landlords are the ones benefitting from the farmer’s blood, sweat, and tears. Tenancy is being practiced in different countries. The farmers who are working from the dawn to dusk do not even own the land that they are tilling. Agreements vary. It may be that there is pre-set percentage on the produce. Or they may foresee the target produce per hectare or acre and they will set a price to be given to the land owner. The first agreement gives the farmer better security because crop yields are very inevitable. It is dependent on both natural occurrences and the care given by the farmer.
In tropical regions where storms or typhoons are as frequent as twenty in a year, farmers’ faith is put almost totally on the hands of Mother Nature. If the agreement reached is the second one, that is, a predetermined amount to be given. The farmer may find himself indebted after the harvest if the crops are devastated. On the other hand, if the yield is a golden harvest, the farmer will gain. This does not usually happen because landlords are wise and sometimes greedy.
In other cases, the farmer may own the land that he is tilling but he is held captive by businessmen who would offer loans for seedlings, fertilizers, and pesticides. The farmer has no other choice but to settle into an agreement that will deprive him a considerable portion of his yield.
Farmers are indispensable. This is repeated for emphasis. Whatever is your job or status in life, you should thank a farmer.
