The Family Farm

On Thursday night I attended the Farm Bureau Association of Dunklin County’s Annual meeting at the Kennett Country Club.

Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe was the featured speaker and of course he spoke on farming.

It started me thinking about my relatives and the history of farming in my family.

It brought back memories of a simpler time.

The time of the family farm.

These farms dotted the landscape of our region years ago.

Things have certainly changed.

Today, men and women whose great-grandfathers or grandfathers worked the land with mules and horses, progressed to tractors and are now using GPS, and computers.

Today, computers, smart phones and social media have changed the way we communicate, live and work.

Those old family farms were a family centered operation. All family members shared responsibilities and the children learned the vocation from their parents.

They represented values.

Values such as responsibility, honesty, dignity in work, neighborliness, self-reliance, and concern and care for future generations of farmers.

Values that the workforce seems to be missing now.

It appears the small family farm is disappearing.

I sure hate to see it go.

It’s been a part of rural culture since our nation’s beginning.

Innovative technology is a wonderful tool, but I’d really like to see my grandfather, climbing off his tractor, coming into the house, to a home cooked meal of fried ham, eggs, biscuits, and red-eye gravy.

I miss the family farm, and the families that went with them.

See you out there.