Where Have All The Farmers Gone? Long Time Passing!- Part Two

A biblical approach to farming may be described in three words: justice, compassion and stewardship.JUSTICE: “Let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream”- Amos 5:24.

COMPASSION: “The eyes of all look expectedly to You, and You give them their food in due season”- Psalm 145:15.

Stewardship is a recognition that the creation has inherent worth and therefore should be cared for, used responsibly and enhanced for future generations. Farmers employing the above are keepers of creation (Genesis 1:28; Genesis 2:15). The ancient Scriptures still apply to the modern farmer awash in technological innovation.

When the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, God divided it equally among all their families and required that the land revert to the original owning families every fifty years. “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine, for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land”- Leviticus 25:23-24. Those principles still hold. My grandparents owned a farm which my family visited during summer vacations which I looked upon as our “Ponderosa” when a young boy. Now the land is someone else’s so you see the land was never my grandparent’s. but God’s and for that matter still is.

The family farm is the central form of tenure enabling the most stewardly and just care of land and animals. Those doing the work should be actively involved in ownership and management. Family farming instills in participants a high degree of motivation, initiative and personal responsibility.

Some farms are too big for these principles to apply consistently. Some retired farmers can be heard telling their children they have too much land. In other cases the transfer of ownership to the next generation is impossible because of the price of large farms. Such farms are ripe for takeover by large nonfarm corporations that do not generally come to farming with a compassionate attitude (Part One made that abudantly clear). The prophet Isaiah’s words seem to have been written only yesterday: “Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, till there is no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land”- Isaiah 5:8. Abandoned farmsteads everywhere testify to this desolate picture.

Our nations would be blessed by more people farming. Rural communities would be revitalized, enhancing family life and small business. More people would be in touch with creation. Smaller farms can be more efficient in timing and application of operations. Smaller farms tend to have a mix of enterprises, including livestock, and so contribute naturally to soil fertility. Intensive livestock operations may not be large in acres but raise questions of stress on livestock and of collection and disposal of manure.

Smallness is no guarantee of good stewardship any more than bigness automatically means careless use of the creation. Large farms could bring people back to the land by decreasing mechanization and adding livestock. Rotating a variety of complementing crops and designing systems of farming that prevent soil erosion are also possible on a relatively large scale. Minimum till and no-till practices have been adopted on large farms with benefit to the soil.

The most valuable agricultural resource is soil. It is finite, fragile, disappearing and therefore in need of legislated protection. Soil stewardship recognizes the inherent worth of creation and its potential for food production. Farmers have a responsibility to use cropping practices that build soil, produce high-quality food and fiber, and pose the least risk to the environment and human health. “I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness, but when you entered you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination”- Jeremiah 2:7. This we see as farms disappear and housing projects or commercial land spring up in their place.

To sustain soil fertility the nutrients removed with a crop must be replaced. Manures supply a broad range of nutrients with long-term residual effect. Manufactured or mined fertilizers can replace specific known depleted nutrients. Decisions on fertilizer use must take into account not only crop effect, but possible long-term effect on the soil. Blanket or routine fertilizer application is wasteful and can pollute.

Taking advantage of natural pest enemies and preventative measures should be the first line of defense against pests. Pesticides ought to be applied as a last resort and with regard to toxicity warnings. Prolonged use of the same pesticide on any given location will almost certainly develop resistant pest species. Some farmers are successful growing crops by using little or no pesticides.

The proverb “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” may seem impossible to a farmer. The bigger-is-better idea long promoted by farm suppliers and advisers, including government, is a trap of escalating costs and indebtedness. But where an individual may not survive alone, a community of small landholders working together may thrive. It is important that farmers own co-ops to preserve competition in farm product supply and farm product sales where large private companies dominate.

Farm work is designed to be a joyful, purposeful response to God’s call to keep creation and till the earth. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden TO TEND AND KEEP IT”- Genesis 2:15. Agricultural work is to provide for the needs of food and fiber.

Humanity’s God-given resourcefulness has resulted in the development of technology used in work. Have you ever heard of Bezaleel? He was called up the Lord thusly: “He has filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship”- Exodus 35:30-31. The impact of technology on agriculture has been particularly significant. Technology has liberated humanity from drudgery and, through advances in medicine, transportation and communication, allowed us to appreciate creation more fully. Because of sin, however, technology has often been used to abuse the earth and its people. Many current ecological problems result from the unwise use of technology. To sustain farm production, the farmer must choose methods and applications that will grow useful crops without violating the creation.

Four criteria derived from the Christian faith help us to evaluate and use technology responsibly.

1. Technology should help to build strong families and communities.

2. It must affirm the dignity of persons as the image bearers of God and not as mere accessories to machines.

3. As God’s stewards, we must use technology to preserve and enhance creation.

4. We must endeavor to view technological advancements in their proper relation to God, ourselves and the creation. We should not allow them to become objects of worship or to seduce us away from dependence on God. Developing and using technology that nurtures the land, crops, animals, workers and the community at large will be of service to God and of benefit to creation.

Our series continues in two days.