Learning

I've been learning a lot lately.  That's probably a good thing, considering that I'm in school.  The cool part about the learning, though, is that it isn't all happening at school.  I want to talk about some of the different learning experiences I've had in the past few months.  To keep it simple, I'll stick to instances in which I've learned about agriculture-related things.

1. School

This one's pretty obvious.  I mean, the whole point of going to school is to learn, right?  I have to admit, though, that I never expected to learn as much as I am.  Somehow, I always figured that whatever I would learn at school, I would just learn again at home (and vice versa).  The only thing I knew I wouldn't learn from my dad is everything computer-related (sorry Dad).  But, I'm learning so much more and it's exciting and interesting and sometimes it makes my brain hurt.  Do you know how many business-related classes I have to take?  Let me fill you in on a few of them.  There's Agricultural Management Principles (read, hardcore economics), Agribusiness Accounting (our professors like to remind us that we will be in charge of multi-million dollar businesses), Workplace Communication, Principles of Marketing, Advanced Product Marketing, and more!  And that's not even counting all of the crop science, animal husbandry and simple ag mechanics courses I have to take!

I have a confession to make.  When people used to tell me that I'm too smart to be a farmer, I used to believe them.  Once upon a time, so very long ago, when I was in high school (okay, so it was only about seven years ago that this happened) I had a friend from town with whom I loved to argue.  One day we were talking before church and he said, "I think farming must be the easiest job in the world."  As you might imagine, I nearly took his head off for that and quickly set him straight.  In an effort to calm me down (and perhaps save himself from my wrath) this friend quickly amended his statement: "Oh, I know it's physically hard, but I mean mentally it's one of the easiest jobs out there.  I mean, you just drive the tractor all day and don't think about anything."  That had me so mad that I just sat back in my chair and didn't say anything.  I wasn't particularly mad at my friend, though.  I was mad because I had no good response.  At that point, I just did whatever my dad told me to and really, I did just drive the tractor all day with nothing to think about (unless, of course, the tractor broke down).  Since then, I have been slowly learning that my friend was indeed wrong.  There is so much to think about and to know to become a successful farmer!  Most of what I have learned regarding this has been in the last little while in school, as I contemplate my future as a farmer, rather than a farm hand.

2. The Farm

Working for my dad the past four summers and growing up on the farm has allowed me to learn more than I even know.  I learned to drive standard before I could drive automatic (to save my city friends from an  alarming case of high blood pressure, I won't tell you how old I was when I started to operate the heavy equipment on which I learned to drive).  I can tell what's wrong with a piece of equipment when it breaks down (given enough time to investigate), and can occasionally figure out how to fix it.  I have learned some basic carpentry skills (no thanks to the shop classes I took in Jr. High that gave me a terror of power tools).  There's so much else that I have learned in my work and in listening to my dad, but a lot of it is random snippets of information that I can only remember when I need them.  It always amazes me to think of how much my dad knows.  I can only hope to one day keep as much knowledge in my brain as he does.  And he didn't even finish high school!

A lot of other things that I have learned on the farm I don't even remember learning.  It is so natural to have these skills that I don't even realize that they are special until I talk to someone who doesn't have those skills.  That brings me to the next section of learning:

3. Talking with City Slickers

First off, I mean no disrespect when I use the term "city slickers."  It's just what you are.  My professor calls you urbanites, but that just sounds odd.  Now that that's cleared up, I must explain what it is that I have learned from interacting with city slickers.  Often when I talk about all that I do on the farm, I run into some city slicker that stares at me in awe and says that they can't believe I know how to do all of that.  Really?  You're impressed that when the neighbour was away at work and the cows got out and his wife didn't know what to do, I went over, chased the cows back in, fixed the fence, and fed the cows?  That's not impressive.  It's normal to be able to do all that - right?  Apparently not, because there were people who were impressed that I did all that.  It was weird.

The other night I was talking with someone who recently moved to Calgary from Toronto.  We were talking about learning to drive and I'm afraid I may have shocked her a bit when I told her that it's totally normal for farm kids to learn to drive early and that we operate equipment when we are still fairly young (again, I won't specify ages).  It was very strange for me to realize that the skills I assume are normal, might not be, especially in the city.

Finally, it is interesting to learn what city slickers think about agriculture.  Do they think we all live on idyllic acreages, raising crops and animals in primitive conditions?  I know that children are still taught that farms have cows, horses, dogs, cats, pigs, sheep, ducks AND chickens.  At home, we have cows, dogs, and cats.  And we used to have horses.  Almost no one has that many different animals on the farm anymore.  Then there are the people who think we all live and work on "factory farms," where we keep animals in cramped conditions and ruthlessly pollute the environment.  Yes, these things do happen, and the media goes wild with such stories, but it's not normal.  The people I most enjoy talking to are the ones who know that they haven't got a clue what happens on the farm and are interested in learning and in sharing what they have heard.  

4.  Farm Friends

Here at Olds College, I've made friends with a lot of farm kids, most of whom somehow know a lot more than I do about farming.  Sometimes it's almost embarrassing how little I know about farming compared with these friends, especially when it comes to talking about equipment.  This Sunday after church some of my classmates invited me to hang out with them at Tim Horton's.  I ended up being the only girl there, which was a bit strange, but it was sure a fun and educational experience.  The young men covered every topic from cattle dogs  to trucking.  At one point (during an intense discussion about air seeders that I was barely able to follow), they asked me what kind of seeder my family uses.  My embarrassed answer was, "Um, not an air seeder," which the guys correctly interpreted as, "oh, so you use a seed drill instead.  What kind?"  This took a little more thought, but I eventually answered, "I think it's an International.  It's red."  I still can't believe that was best answer I could give.  The best part of these kinds of conversations is that I am challenged to learn more so that I can actually contribute to an intelligent farming conversation.  For the record, I called my dad later that day to find out what kind of machinery we have.  I now have a list to study as soon as midterms are over.  Next time, I'll be ready: "What kind of seeder do we use?  Why, we have an International 6200 drill."

I'm sure that there are many other situations in which I have learned about agriculture, but my brain is too full of midterm exams to think of them.  For now, I hope this list is sufficient to adequately express how much I have learned and to explain that farming is not the easiest job out there (mentally or otherwise).

Barriers

I was talking to an acquaintance from Olds College one evening several months ago.  He grew up in a town, but has spent a lot of time working on his relative's farm.  Because of this, he is quite knowledgeable and can hold his own in a conversation with farmers.  He has also come to love farming.  Even though we met at Olds College, neither of us were in the Agricultural Management program at the time.  I was in the horticulture program, planning to switch to Ag. Management and he was in another program.  In our conversation that night, I asked him, "If you like farming so much, why aren't you in the ag. management program?  Why not become a farmer?"  This young man gave me an answer that told me he had given up on his dream of farming long ago.  He said, "It's different for me than it is for you or any of those other kids who have farms to go home to.  I'd have to start from scratch, buy all the land I need, and the equipment and everything else and that's just too expensive."  I tried to argue: "Well, it's not as if my dad will just hand the farm over to me.  I'll have to pay for everything, too.  Nothing is given to us who grow up on the farm."  He acknowledged that I was right, but reminded me that there is a difference between paying the bank and paying your parents for land.  I had no response to this and the conversation ended on that discouraging note.

Later that spring, a number of my friends and acquaintances from Olds College had gathered for a wiener roast before we left school for the summer.  We were talking about how the year had gone.  One girl, who was about to graduate from the ag. management program mentioned something about how she sometimes worried that she would not be able to make it as a farmer, because it is hard for girls.  I was surprised that she would so closely echo my own inner struggle as I prepared to switch programs shortly.

There are many "barriers to entry," as economists call them, to the agriculture industry.  Land is one of the biggest barriers.  It is insanely expensive and these days, as I am learning at school, you need a lot of it just to be able to make back your costs of production if you are raising traditional crops.  The costs to produce crops and livestock (even if the land is paid for) are enormous and the pay is often poor.  Farmers are limited in their opportunities to dictate what price they will take for their crops.  We are "price takers," generally forced to sell our crops at whatever price the market dictates, even if it means selling at a loss.  And for those of you in the city, you should know that only a small fraction of what you pay for your food at the grocery store gets back to the farmers.  Even if we can pay for the land, equipment, seed, labour, supplies, machinery expenses, and everything else, our struggle to enter and remain in the industry is far from over.  We work long hours with slim margins and put our lives in danger every day to produce the food and fibre products that everyone needs and demands.  Five minutes of hail can wipe out an entire crop.  One bad winter storm can take out an entire herd.  The smallest mistake, as I have learned, can have us staring death in the face.  Every farmer faces all these difficulties and more.  So why do we do it?  Why do we enter the industry?  We do it because farming is not just an industry.  It is a lifestyle.  And while that lifestyle is often brutal and uncompromising and the eyes of the public are ever upon us, judging our methods of production, for some of us it is the only lifestyle worth living.

Female farmers have it worse.  On top of the economic and physical barriers to becoming a farmer, we face various sociological and cultural barriers.  I have no idea how many times people have told me that I need to marry a farmer or that I would make a good wife (as I wipe the crumbs off of a table, because that's so important to being a good wife).  I don't know how many people are talking about me behind my back, saying that it's not right that I should be a farmer or that they don't think I can do it because it's too hard.  These people don't know that I know what they are saying, but it gets back to me all too often.  Even my family seems to have a hard time imagining me farming without the help of a husband or my dad.  I try not to think about all of this, but I know that one day I will be finished with school and I will have to do a lot of the work on my own.  I will have to some how come up with enough money to pay for the land and equipment and cattle that I will buy from my dad.  In addition to that, I will need to be able to make enough money from my crops and cows to pay off the expenses that I will incur in raising them.  I am small and not particularly strong and how on earth am I supposed to do the work of a man?  I can't even climb up the granary because the steps are too far apart for me to reach (I tried it the other weekend)!  Sure, Dad will be there.  At first.  He's an old(ish) farmer.  There's no way he'll just up and retire.  That just doesn't happen.  But one day, hopefully not for a very long time, but one day nonetheless, he will not be there to help me.  What then?  Will I be all alone?  Will I run the family farm into the ground?  There are so many questions that bump around in my mind some days that I am sure it will never work.  These barriers aren't just hurdles that need to be jumped, nor even mountains to be climbed.  They are a solid wall, hundreds of feet high, holding me back.  I do not wish to be some extraordinary, inspiring woman.  I want only to be a farmer.

Despite these worries and barriers, there are some days when I sit in class, soaking in all that I am learning and some how finding hope.  I stare at that big wall and think that maybe, just maybe, I can get around it.  That's where I am right now.  I've got ideas ready to burst forth, ways of making it work.  Maybe the barriers don't have to be so big.  Maybe I can sneak around them.  I may do it all alone or I may one day marry a farmer (or a man of some other profession), as so many people want me to.  How ever I do it, I will be a farmer.  No one is going to tell me, "I told you so."  I won't quit, no matter hard it gets.  And yes, I do get discouraged, especially when I hear from those of you who think I can't be a farmer.  But you should know that all you are doing is making me more determined.  So go ahead.  Keep telling me I can't.

A New Adventure

I started this blog as a student of horticulture.  I have since discovered that horticulture is not my field.  With a three year bachelor of arts degree and one year of a diploma in horticulture under my belt, I enrolled in the two-year agriculture diploma at Olds College.  While I wallow through economics and accounting (grudgingly admitting to myself that these classes will eventually come in handy), I live for my crops and livestock classes, eagerly looking forward to learning all I can about these subjects.  When I go home for a weekend, it's always exciting to put what I have learned into practice and to learn more from my dad.  I appear to have my field of work: farming.  Good old-fashioned farming, with a few crops, a few animals, and a fairly small amount of land.  Somehow my dad doesn't need specialty crops to make money on his three quarter sections.  Somehow, I hope to accomplish the same and keep the family farm going as it has been for decades.  As a woman, I know this will be difficult.  Some days the impossibility of the task rises up and threatens to choke my dreams, and yet I cannot let go.