Food Chain Radio Show #1228

Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist

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Coronavirus and Agriculture

Guest: Doug Fine – Dr. Ellen Bruno Cooperative Extension Specialist, UC Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics & Co-author: “The Coronavirus and The Food Supply Chain”

I hold on to some very wonderful childhood memories of the grandparents farm near Belfry, Montana. The farm consisted of 320 irrigated and very diversified acres, as well as all the farm animals typically found in children’s books.

Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – Do you think agriculture will or will not survive the coronavirus?

Though the grandparents grew many different crops, their principal crop was their family. I don’t think they ever did make much money, and the money they did make went right back into sustaining the independence of their farm. But for a pair of Olson boys, it was the richest place on earth to grow up.

One might still be able to find a farm like that of the grandparents today by visiting Amish country. Most farmers today are in the business of growing commodities for profit. Many have taken advantage of the economies of scale to grow very big. And, in fact, many farmers have moved off the farm to live in a nearby city.

I got to thinking about what would have happened to the grandparents’ farm had the coronavirus struck while the grandparents were still farming. I don’t think it would have changed the farm’s activities at all. Then I got to comparing that thought with what I see happening in farm country consequent to the coronavirus– the dumping of milk, the crushing of eggs, and the plowing under of crops, and I wonder…

Leave a comment below: Will agriculture survive the coronavirus?

Tune in here, for the syndicated the Michael Olson Food Chain Radio Show #1228 May 2, 2020 Saturday 9AM Pacific