Imagine my surprise when I read an article in
April 2005 edition of Reader's Digest informing me that membership in Future Farmers of America (FFA) has hit a 22-year record high.Since 1994, number of farmers' markets around country also has more than doubled, article said.
I find these two bits of information especially interesting because small family farms have been disappearing from countryside at an alarming rate over past 30 years. According to statistics from U.S. Census of Agriculture and American Farm Bureau Federation, since 1969, United States has lost 85 percent of its dairy farms.
Why do I care that United States has lost so many dairy farms? I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, which has always been known as America's Dairyland. Except that today, in areas where there used to be farms all up and down roads, there isn't a single farm left. During same time period in which United States lost 85 percent of its dairy farms, Wisconsin has lost 70 percent of its dairy farms.
So what is going on here?
Family farms have disappeared. Subdivisions have taken over what were once cornfields and hayfields and pastures. Creameries have been abandoned or converted to other uses. Feed mills have been torn down to make room for parking lots. And yet -- FFA has highest membership that it's had for last 22 years? And in past 10 years, number of farmers' markets has more than doubled?
The Reader's Digest article speculates that reason for increases in FFA membership and farmers' markets is that as United States has lost more and more farms, and as more and more people live in cities or suburbs or subdivisions, farm life has become a fascinating subject for those who have never experienced it.
