A rite of summer begins when I see the first advertisements in the newspaper for corn detasselers. It's a dirty, dusty job done in the hottest days of the summer. The advertisement is obviously geared towards teens and these detasselers can be as young as 13 years of age. The last line of the advertisement reads that transportation can be arranged.
Detasseling is a necessary process in the production of hybrid corn. Fields are planted with two different strains of corn but only one strain will be allowed to pollinate the ears of corn in the field. That means that the strain that will not be allowed to pollinate must have the tassels removed before the pollen is produced. There is a certain urgency to this endeavor as Mother Nature encourages corn to tassel almost overnight in hot and humid weather. The corn that is produced from these detasseled fields is the seed corn for the following planting season.
Organic farmers do not use hybrid corn as a rule, preferring to select ears from their own open pollinated corn fields. Having grown open pollinated corn, I know it is possible to select ears that will consistently produce large, well filled ears year after year.
Hybrid corn is bred for speed of growth, disease and insect resistance and large yields. Well grown and beautiful fields of hybrid corn get a sign along the roadside telling passerby that the corn in the field was seed from a certain producer such as Crow, Golden Harvest or DeKalb to name a few. The signs are quite attractive along the road.
Can little Billy come out and work?
I'm not quite sure about the procedures of growing or harvesting corn, but I do know that the "corn-fed" men and women of the midwest are some of the most beautiful people in this country. So I tip my hat to those farmers and the children they employ. You know what they say, "Child labor keeps prices down and smiles on a rich man's greedy face."
Farm Kids
I didn't grow up on a farm but my husband did. I know that he participated in the farming activities as soon as he could safely operate machinery. I also know that farmers struggle to make ends meet every growing season. My husband's father worked off the farm in order to have enough money to support his family and farming.
When my husband was growing up, farming was the province of the family farm. Everyone participated in planting, cultivating, haying, animal care and harvesting. Many hands were necessary to complete all the jobs that had to be done and days would run from sunup to sundown. His dad's farm was a smaller one so he never had the fanciest equipment. Tractors were purchased used, the combine was a never ending black hole of repairs, the baler required constant tweaking and the kitchen table often had alternators or other motor parts spread out on paper while his dad fixed them. Fences were always in need of repair as evidenced by joyful cattle escapees.
I might do a blog about farm prices sometime. Farmers, I think, are the only "industry" where the prices for their product are set by someone who has nothing to do with the production. It's a constant struggle to grow a crop, paying set seed and fertilizer prices and worrying whether you'll get your crop flattened by hail, flood or other natural disaster. It affects all of us, too. When dairy farmers can't get enough money for the milk to meet their production costs, they cut back their herds or get out of dairying. The result, as we've seen in the past month, is the steady rise in milk prices at the store due to less milk coming on the market from the dairies.
Farming is everybody's bread and butter.
(from an old PCA bumper sticker)
Sounds like a battle!
I certainly understand the meaning of forced home labor, but working on your family's farm during the summer is an entirely different situation. Do the kids have a choice if they feel overwhelmed at the wheel of a combine? Can they decide not to be involved in the cropping of the seasons? Do they have to become farmers themselves? There was a movement of people that seemed to just have numerous kids to man the farm. Would that be why midwestern families were and are so big and why sons are more sought after? Just rhetorical questions more than anything. I certainly would not have been happy working on a farm when I could have been playing with my friends, but I do "get it". It's why we have food on our plates. What do the farm kids do on a farm that the goverment pays to NOT grow crops? Just wondering...
Set Asides and Farm Kid Play
First, I will comment on the government set asides--the program that pays farmers not to plant crops on x amount of acreage. The set aside program is not for a whole farm, only for a few acres. It is my opinion that if farmers were able to charge for their crop what it cost to grow it plus a profit, set asides would not be necessary. But farmers are the victim of their own success at producing enough product to feed the world. The only way they can get enough cash flow is to have large amounts of product because someone else decides how much they will pay for that product--not the farmer who produces it. The amount of corn on the market affects the price that the markets will offer to pay. So, the government answer is to take acreage out of production. The amount is not large, in general, but because the farmer does not have to buy seed and fertilizer or till, it is money in the pocket. However, the set aside acreage must be planted in a tilth crop--a hay field, for instance--and can be mowed but any use of the land is prohibited--it cannot even produce hay for baling. The government does enforce this, believe it or not. So, only a portion of any farm is ever entered into set asides. So, there is never a time when the farm isn't producing anything unless the farmer falls ill (health insurance questions, anyone?).
My husband grew up on a farm and while chores were many, there was also time to play. He played baseball with his siblings and friends in the large, grassy back yard where disputes were resolved by negotiations between themselves, without adult supervision--invaluable lessons of life. They went on trips across the USA by car. They camped out and fished. My husband picked wild asparagus from a former truck farm nearby and sold it by the side of the road to earn money for his first new bicycle. He made money and he was also cheated by adult purchasers who took advantage of a kid. Another of life's lessons learned.
A lot of farm kids don't want to stay and move on. There is only a finite amount of land on a farm and not every kid that grows up on a farm can stay and make a living. It's a hard and chancy life but not without it's rewards. It's not idyllic but it can have its moments. There are family problems, just like anywhere else but there is also family love. Meth lab nuts steal anhydrous ammonia tanks from the fields and farmers have had to contend with things that never were on their horizon just a few short years ago.
Farm kids have projects for 4H. They raise animals to show, grow gardens. Go to a State Fair sometime to the agricultural exhibits and see all the kids there working very hard with their animals and visiting with their friends.
I think the use of the word "forced" farm labor shows a bit of lack of knowledge of the farm situation. Yes, kids were assigned chores and tasks and were expected to do them. Tasks were assigned, usually, on an age appropriate basis. Kids on horse farms water the horses in their stalls at age 8 or so--younger under supervision. As they grow up, while they learn to ride, they also learn how to feed, groom, turn out and show. Kids on farms start with feeding chores, if there are animals, and only get the mechanized equipment when they show the maturity to operate it. Combines are complicated pieces of equipment and dangerous so late teens to adults are usually the only operators. You have to earn your way to this level.
My husband, raised on a farm, is an engineer. One of his brothers, a crop farmer, decided to change and became a grape grower and vintner because he couldn't make enough money growing corn--renting out the rest of his farm to a crop farmer. The other brother is a chemical plant operator and his sister is an elementary school teacher. Yes, farm kids leave but the lessons in hard work, sharing and being able to work through problems remain.
Is the problem price controls?
Or would deregulation just cause the price to drop through the floor? My general feeling is that Free Trade has not helped Farming or Manufacturing in the US. IMHO, it is a real problem that we are addicted to paying everday low WalMart prices. Hence we don't care about where it came from or how it was made. The Organic movement has helped some, as did the Made in the USA program, but for the most part convience wins over home grown/built ideals. But the argument could also be made that Free Trade helps level the worldwide playing field.
Also, I would like to say your comment is really comprehensive. I wish I could write like that.
"Do not offend the Chair Leg of Truth; it is wise and terrible."--Spider Jerusalem
Markets
When you get your newspaper today, turn to the business section to the grain, cattle and pork markets. It should look a bit like the stock market listings. This is what farmers turn to every day to follow what the Chicago Board of Trade says they will pay for the farmer's soybeans, corn, oats, wheat, steers and hogs among other agricultural products. Farmers watch the futures markets and hope to lock in a price they feel might be fair. There is a risk involved because if they commit, in March, to selling 20,000 bushels of corn for $3.00 per bushel at harvest, there are factors which affect the production of the crop. If his cornfield is flattened by a tornado or hail or affected by drought, that farmer may only have 10,000 bushels produced. He, then, has to BUY 10,000 bushels to cover his contract--at whatever the prevailing price is at that time.
There are price supports for dairy and tobacco. However, when dairy prices fall so far, even price supports won't keep the cows on the farm and the dairyman sells off part of his herd--or maybe all of it if times are bad enough. It takes two years to bring a heifer into production so increasing the national dairy herd once it has dropped in number is a long process. Milk, by the way, is sold by the hundredweight and must contain a minimum amount of butterfat. The price you see in the grocery for a gallon of milk is far higher than what the dairy farmer gets for his product.
Europe, on the other hand, subsidizes their farmers and is quite protectionist with regards to purchasing agricultural products from the USA. And before anyone mentions bovine spongiform disease in the USA, the outbreaks first began in Europe.
I've also seen articles locally about USA farmers buying thousands of acres of Brazilian land and farming corn and soybeans there for a fraction of the cost of doing business in the USA. The reason given is that the Brazilian soybeans are driving the price of soybeans down worldwide, causing American farmers price duress.
It is a WalMart mentality. But WalMart still charges what they want to for their product and make a profit. Farmers accept what the Chicago Board of Trade says they will pay--whether it covers the cost of planting and harvesting or not. They have no choice unless they grow a specialty crop and not everyone can do that.
We have an organic farmer organization locally that is fairly well organized. They put out a newspaper listing all the farms and their products. A person living here could peruse the listings and call to find out if they can purchase a lamb raised on grass, strawberries, eggs and such. It's still hard to find organic meat in a supermarket but the organic produce section has increased in size tremendously.
Speaking of price controls, check this out:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Tobacco-Buyout.html
and this editorial:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/16/opinion/16FRI2.html
hmmm...I need to pay more attention to this stuff.
Much food for thought...
But I would like to say that while Walmart may be profitable, my point is that they do so by using unethical business practices in dealing with manufacturers, suppliers, and even their own employees.
But we trade our ethics for everyday low prices, instead of going to support our local Mom and Pop stores...All for a bit more convenience or to save a few bucks.
Fairness starts at home.
"Do not offend the Chair Leg of Truth; it is wise and terrible."--Spider Jerusalem
I sort of grew up on a farm.
Although I was not required to do much in the harvesting department, it was really not a producing farm. I have mixed feelings about kids working large machinery, but it is a different world on a farm. I remember 10 year olds driving cars all over the farm property with free reign to do whatever they pleased - and this was not an uncommom occurance. As I said before, it's different on a farm. You almost have your own set of laws and rules and the parents are essentially the police and judiciary of the property.
I had the pleasure of driving a combine twice (I drove a tractor a bunch of times) and it was quite an experience. I was supervised, but I was in control of the machine. I'll never forget THAT! I was 11.
Detasseling Redux
It's interesting that today's newspaper (in our town) ran an Associated Press article about corn detasseling. I think I wrote a more interesting article overall but the AP article did address the fact that the youngsters who work this job are typically paid minimum wage. It is usually the only paying job that 13-15 year olds can get. The crew chief mentioned in the article made $10 per hour and he was 16 years old.
A 16 year old girl, interviewed for the article, said that the work was hard and dirty but she enjoyed the work and the cameraderie.
It was also mentioned that many fields are detasseled by machine but the kids hired for detasseling go in the fields and cut out the tassels that the machines miss. There are also two ways to do the followup detasseling--one is to ride in a little chair, pulled by machine, going about 1 mph and cut from there. The other is to actually walk the fields, getting muddy, cut by the sharp edges of the corn leaves and getting dusted by the pollen. There's no shade in the fields, so the sun is unrelenting.
The day starts semi-cool but as the sun gets higher, the humidity and the heat start to build and the dirt and pollen start to stick to sweaty skin.
These jobs, typically, only last about 5 weeks, depending on the rate of tasseling.
These kids are tough, always remember that. I can't imagine a Radio Shack mall dude doing this kind of physical labor.