09/05/2026
Something has been weighing heavily on my heart of late.
Although I strongly believe in how I do things on my own farm, I fully see the need for and the benefit of multiple ways of thinking and lots of ways of doing things. Calling people who believe differently than you, people with low IQ is just gross.
It is incredibly sad and disheartening to watch farmers tear down other farmers simply because they don’t do things the same way or honestly because they just don’t have the knowledge of what we do and why we do it.
There is more than one way to farm.
Some farmers raise animals on pasture. Some use barns. Some farm conventionally. Some farm organically. Some grow hundreds or thousands of acres, while others are trying to make a living from a few acres and a roadside farmstand. Some have generations of knowledge behind them, and some are still learning every single day. Honestly even generational farmers such as us are learning daily and if you’re NOT, shame on you!
We can disagree. We can ask questions. We can share what has worked for us. We can even believe strongly that there is a better way to do something.
But we don’t have to be cruel about it.
American agriculture is already losing small and family farms. Land is expensive. Equipment is expensive. Feed, fuel, seed, fertilizer, insurance and labor are expensive. Margins can be painfully thin. Farmers battle weather, predators, disease, drought, regulations, markets and circumstances completely outside of their control.
And behind those statistics are real families trying desperately to hold onto their farms and their way of life.
Even more heartbreaking is the mental-health crisis in agriculture. Farmers and agricultural workers have faced devastatingly high rates of su***de. Farming can be incredibly isolating, financially stressful and emotionally exhausting—and sometimes the people who understand those pressures best are other farmers.
So why are we making it harder on each other?
If another farmer feeds differently than I do, plants differently than I do, raises their livestock differently than I do, markets differently than I do, or simply has a different philosophy than I do, that does not automatically make them my enemy.
There is room for different farms, different methods and different beliefs.
I would much rather see farmers teaching one another than shaming one another. I would rather see experienced farmers helping the new ones than laughing at their mistakes. I would rather see us buying from each other, recommending each other, sharing knowledge, lending a hand and celebrating another farm’s success.
Because the real tragedy would be looking around someday and realizing that while we were busy arguing about who was farming “the right way,” another generation of small American farms disappeared.
We need farmers.
We need ranchers.
We need the young couple just getting started, the fifth-generation family trying to hang on, the backyard grower who dreams of becoming something bigger, and the small farm selling eggs, vegetables or meat to its neighbors.
There is enough working against American farmers already.
We shouldn’t be working against each other, too.
Support your local farmers. Encourage them. Teach when you can. Learn when you can. Give grace when someone does things differently.
And above all, remember that there is a human being on the other side of that farm gate before you so bravely type from the safety of your computer screen. ❤️🇺🇸🌾 👩🏻🌾 🐄 🐓 🐴 🐖
We LOVE the amazing farms around us in central OR and we’re so grateful to learn from them and offer what we’ve learned if and when we are asked!
