“Covering agriculture — that’s got to be a pretty good gig,” said the man who accidentally sat down at a table filled largely with Agweek personnel.
Covering agriculture as a journalist means not having to write about the late night basketball game, he pointed out. And you don’t have to worry about politics.
While we nodded a little on the basketball game front, the politics comments brought on some laughs from our little group. It was a happy occasion, so we didn’t bombard the friendly man with all the details of how agriculture and politics are hopelessly intertwined.
“I cover more politics now than I did as a regular old newspaper reporter,” was my response.
He acknowledged not thinking about
such things as a farm bill.
The man, though he grew up in a family with close farm ties, is not a farmer, nor does his day job closely involve agriculture. So we can certainly forgive him for not realizing how modern agriculture works.
But his comment has been playing in my head for days. And I wonder how many people in and around agriculture also feel like agriculture and politics are running on parallel tracks.
You hear that regularly, especially in today’s environment of hyper-partisan opinions often shaped by half information. “I don’t read or watch the news.” “I don’t follow politics.” “I don’t really pay attention to current events.” But most of them have opinions, shaped by what, I’m not sure.
I understand the news can be stressful and confusing. And I catch people’s drift that they don’t always trust what they read or hear — in particular if it is in dispute with what they want to believe to be the truth. But it’s vital to have an understanding of what’s happening that impacts your industry.
On the national level, there are farm programs, crop insurance, trade deals and tariffs,
labor,
nutritional standards, pesticide labeling and so much more. Tangential to those traditional farm policy items are things like
taxes and depreciation.
Closer to home, county commissions, zoning boards, state legislatures and even nearby city commissions if you happen to be in or near an extraterritorial zone all can impact your farm.
I could list topic after topic in agriculture that deal with policy and politics. The more government programs and interventions there are, the more closely tied we all are to politics. And the more we need to pay attention and watch what our elected officials are doing.
The national news has been spending some time on the plight of farmers who voted for President Donald Trump and are now dismayed that trade relations in China have
virtually shut down the flow of soybeans to the Pacific Northwest and the China market.
Agree or disagree with the administration, they’ve been pretty consistent in their messaging about tariffs. A trade war happened in the first Trump administration and
seemed destined to happen again.
So only someone who wasn’t paying attention should be surprised.
If you are a voter or you are in an industry impacted by politics — meaning pretty much everyone — you need to pay attention. Schools need to churn out students adept in reading comprehension and media literacy.
Find some good news sources. Read critically and from a variety of places. Seek out things like livestreams of Congressional hearings or your county commission meetings to see news happen for yourself. Ignore “news” passed by way of social media with no source or citation attached. Be skeptical of your own opinions, and remember the adage of the late U.S. Sen. Patrick Moynihan: “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”
Agriculture is politics. Don’t put your head in the sand and ignore the things that can impact your business. It may seem distasteful, but things will only get worse if good people continue to fail to pay attention.
Jenny Schlecht is the director of ag content for Agweek and serves as editor of Agweek, Sugarbeet Grower and BeanGrower. She lives on a farm and ranch near Medina, North Dakota, with her husband and two daughters. You can reach her at [email protected] or 701-595-0425.
