Farmers: Today's Indentured Servants

Farming has never been an easy living to make. Before heavy machinery was manufactured, farmers plowed, planted, weeded, and harvested by hand. They could eat their crop, but they still needed to sell enough (mostly at local markets) to pay their bills. Plots of land would yield only so much food, but it required long hours and dedication. Despite the hardships, farmers were a proud group dedicated to their charge, and because of their agricultural endurance, America has been able to thrive.

The face of farming has changed drastically in the past 50 years. Machines do much of the manual labor. Herbicides do the weeding, and pesticides (modified nerve gas like DDT) protect crops from insects. Seed providers have been bought up by chemical corporations to become hubs for genetic engineering. Food has transformed, and it now travels farther than ever before. Fields yield 300% more than even 30 years ago. The farm has become efficient, but at what cost? Are farmers finally able to sit back and relax? The truth is that they cannot. In fact, the farmer’s life has recessed to the likeness of the indentured servant.

An indentured servant is a person that works for food and shelter (sometimes up to 7 years). They usually do not get paid wages, but they survive. This is the life of the 21^st century farmer. Through subsidy programs, debt, and constant harassment from Genetic Engineering corporations like Monsanto, farmers are barely able to get by.

The government subsidizes four major crops grown in America. Corn is one of them, and it has become a source of controversy in recent years. Today’s corn is not the corn of 100 years ago. It has been modified by Monsanto and other corporations to resist chemical sprays sold by the same group (Round-up, anyone?). The cost of seed, chemicals, machinery, and fuel makes the cost of producing corn extraordinarily high. One bushel of corn costs the farmer $3.20. The net return is only $2.20, which creates a loss of $1. How can farmers continue if they do not make money? The answer is subsidies. The government gives farmers money for growing corn (no matter what corn it is). To get as much profit as possible, farmers buy the cheapest and easiest corn seed they can. However, their profits are once again snatched away by the chemical sprays they have to use on their fields and the fuel they need to power their machines. Using wheat as an example (it follows a similar parallel to corn), the $1.50 you spend on bread at the store will reach the farmer as a mere profit of a single nickel after the retailers get their hands on it. Even then, that nickel is up for grabs for the chemical and seed corporations.

There are other problems out there for farmers: cross-contamination. Corporations like Monsanto and many others have been allowed to patent genetic material (plant, animal, and sometimes human) since 1978. Under patent laws, they have the right to sue anyone that possesses their genetic material without a license even through unwanted cross-pollination. Many lawsuits have been made against famers large and small by Monsanto for illegal possession of patented material, and in all cases Monsanto is backed by the government, forcing the farmers to settle out of court or go bankrupt trying to fight the suits. Consequently, the farmers are forced to destroy stored seeds,which are sometimes hand-developed by families for over 100 years, in case they are contaminated. How could the government allow this to happen over and over without any resistance? Perhaps it is because the same people who work for the government also work for Monsanto.

Linda Fisher	Exec. VP for Monsanto	Deputy Admin. for EPA
Justice Clarence Thomas	Monsanto Lawyer for Regulatory Affairs	Supreme Court Justice
Micky Kantor	Board of Directors, Monsanto	Secretary of Commerce
Lidia Watrud	Biotech Researcher, Monsanto	EPA
Anne Veneman	Board of Dir., Calgene, Purchased by Monsanto	Sec. of Agriculture
Michael Friedman	Senior VP, GD Searle, Division of Monsanto	Acting Commissioner, FDA
William Ruckelshaus	Board Member, Monsanto	Chief Admin., EPA
Donald Rumsfeld	President of Searle, Subsidiary of Monsanto	Sec. of Defense
John Ashcroft	Received largest campaign contribution in 2000 election from Monsanto	Attorney General

Where does this leave today’s farmer? Today’s farmer has become the modern day servant to corporate profits. They are an endangered group. The only way they can survive is if we, the consumer, educate ourselves and buy locally from organic farmers. Some people may not believe it, but the consumer ultimately controls the market. If we persuade a movement towards truly organic food and away from genetically engineered crops, we can bring the farmer back from the edge.

Written by Robert Marshall

Edited by Joann Agoglia

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please let us know.